Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

Supplementary Grant

• It is granted when the amount authorised by the Parliament through the appropriation act for a particular service for the current financial year is found to be insufficient for that year.
• The Comptroller and Auditor General of India brings such excesses to the notice of the Parliament.
• The Public Accounts Committee examines these excesses and gives recommendations to the Parliament.

Additional Grant

• It is granted when a need has arisen during the current financial year for additional expenditure upon some new service not contemplated in the budget for that year.

Token Grant

• It is granted when funds to meet the proposed expenditure on a new service can be made available by re-appropriation.
• A demand for the grant of a token sum (of Re 1) is submitted to the vote of the Lok Sabha and if assented, funds are made available.
• Re-appropriation involves transfer of funds from one head to another. It does not involve any additional expenditure.

Constitutional Provision

• Article 115: Supplementary, additional or excess grants.
• Article 116: Votes on account, votes of credit and exceptional grants.

Explanation :

• Under Article 340 of the Indian Constitution, the President may by order appoint a Commission consisting of such persons as he thinks fit to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes within the territory of India and to make recommendations to remove such difficulties and to improve their conditions.
• The One Hundred and Second Amendment of the Constitution of India, officially known as the Constitution (One Hundred and Second Amendment) Act, 2018, granted constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).
• The Amendment Act inserted new Articles 338 B and 342

Explanation :

• The Ninth Schedule contains a list of central and state laws which cannot be challenged in courts and was added by the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951.
• It was created by the new Article 31B, which along with Article 31A was brought in by the government to protect laws related to agrarian reform and for abolishing the Zamindari system.
• The First Amendment added 13 laws to the Schedule. Subsequent amendments in 1955, 1964, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1984, 1990, 1994, and 1999 have taken the number of protected laws to 284.

Article 31A and 31 B

• While Article 31A extends protection to ‘classes’ of laws, A. 31B shields specific laws or enactments.
• Article 31B also has retrospective operation: meaning if laws are inserted in the Ninth Schedule after they are declared unconstitutional, they are considered to have been in the Schedule since their commencement, and thus valid.
• Although Article 31B excludes judicial review, the apex court has said in the past that even laws under the Ninth Schedule would be open to scrutiny if they violated fundamental rights or the basic structure of the Constitution.

Explanation :

• Article 142 provides for the enforcement of decrees and orders of Supreme Court.
• Article 142(1): It states that Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it and the orders shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India.
• Article 142(2): It states that Supreme Court shall have the power to make any order for the purpose of (a) securing the attendance of any person, (b) the discovery or production of any documents or (c) the investigation or punishment of any contempt of itself.

Article 142 Used Earlier

• In November, 2019, it was also used during the Ayodhya judgment, making the first such case where it was invoked for a civil dispute over an immovable property that involved private parties.
• To cancel allocation of coal blocks granted from 1993 onwards without any specific finding.
• For restoring the white marble of the Taj Mahal
• To probe the 2013 Indian Premier League spot-fixing scandal
• To provide relief to the thousands of people affected by the Bhopal gas tragedy.

Explanation :

• Under the Article 72 of the Constitution, the President of India can grant a pardon or reduce the sentence of a convicted person, particularly in cases involving capital punishment.
• It says that the President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence.
• A similar and parallel power vests in the Governors of each state under Article 161.
• However, the pardoning power of the president is not absolute. He is advised by the council of ministers under article 74 even though he is not bound to act on their suggestions.
• The power of the President to grant pardon extends in cases where the punishment or sentence is by a Court Martial but Article 161 does not provide any such power to the Governor.
• The President can grant pardon in all cases where the sentence given is sentence of death but pardoning power of Governor does not extend to death sentence cases.

Explanation :

• Article 131 of the Constitution of India grants original jurisdiction to the Supreme Court on all cases involving the enforcement of fundamental rights of citizens.It involves the following cases:
  • Any dispute between the Indian Government and one or more States.
  • Any dispute between the Indian Government and one or more States on one side and one or more States on the other side.
  • Any dispute between two or more States.
• Article 131 can be invoked by a state whenever there is a difference of opinion between the Centre and state on the question of interpretation of the Constitution, which will affect the exercise of government powers that are attributes of a state.
• This cannot be used to settle political differences between state and Central government headed by different parties.

Explanation :

• The idea of Fundamental Duties is inspired from the Constitution of Russia.
• The fundamental duties were incorporated in Part IV-A of our constitution by 42^nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976,on the recommendations of Swaran Singh Committee.
• All the eleven duties are listed in Article 51-A of the Constitution.
• The fundamental duties serve as a reminder to citizens that while enjoying their rights, they have also to be quite conscious of duties they owe to their country and society .

Explanation :

• The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution deals with the administration of the tribal areas in the four northeastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram as per Article 244(2).
• It provides provision for creation of the District Councils and regional councils. Each district / regional council is a body corporate which is empowered for administration of the area under its jurisdiction. They are named as “District council of (name of district) and Regional Council of (name of region)
• The Governor is empowered to include any other area, exclude any area, increase, decrease, diminish these areas and alter the names and boundaries of these autonomous districts and regions.
• The sixth schedule to the Constitution includes 10 autonomous district councils in 4 states. These are:

• Assam: Bodoland Territorial Council, Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and Dima Hasao Autonomous District Council.
• Meghalaya: Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council and Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council.
• Tripura: Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council.
• Mizoram: Chakma Autonomous District Council, Lai Autonomous District Council, Mara Autonomous District Council.

Tribes to be excluded

• The five minor tribes - Bodo-Kachari, Hajong, Koch, Mann and Rabha are grouped together as ‘unrepresented tribes’ for nomination in Meghalaya’s autonomous tribal councils.
• These minor tribes are indigenous to Meghalaya and have been living in the state much before its creation in 1972.

Explanation :

Article 371A grants special status to the people of Nagaland in terms of:

• Religious & social practices of Nagas;
• Nagas customary law & procedure;
• Administration of civil or criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga customary law; and
• Ownership & transfer of land and its resources.

Explanation :

• Earlier, the Constitution mentioned that decision of the Speaker is final and cannot be challenged in court of law vis-à-vis Money Bill, but in the recent Aadhar Judgement, SC opined that decision of the Speaker vis-à-vis Money Bill can be challenged in court of law.
• The President himself administers the oath of Pro-tem speaker.
• Speaker continues in his/her office till the meeting of next Lok Sabha, so his/her office is not co-terminus with his membership to Lok Sabha.