Daily Current Affairs MCQ / UPSC / IAS / 3-08-19

Table of Contents

MCQ 1

Parliament of India in J & K can alter the definition of PR through a law passed with two-thirds majority
35A mainly dealt with the extension of Indian citizenship to the Jammu and Kashmir “state subjects“

Choose correct

(A) Only 1

(B) Only 2

(D)None

Autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir: Structure and limitations

India’s constitution is a federal structure. The subjects for legislation are divided into a ‘Union List’, a ‘State List’ and a ‘Concurrent List’. The Union List of ninety-six subjects, including defence, military and foreign affairs, major transport systems, commercial issues like banking, stock exchanges and taxes, are provided for the Union government to legislate exclusively. The State List of sixty-six items covering prisons, agriculture, most industries and certain taxes, are available for States to legislate on. The Concurrent List, on which both the Centre and States may legislate include criminal law, marriage, bankruptcy, trade unions, professions and price control. In case of conflict, the Union legislation takes precedence. The ‘residual power’, to make laws on matters not specified in the Constitution, rests with the Union. The Union may also specify certain industries, waterways, ports etc. to be ‘national’, in which case they become Union subjects.
In the case of Jammu and Kashmir, the ‘Union List’ and the ‘Concurrent List’ were initially curtailed to the matters ceded in the Instrument of Accession, but they were later extended with the concurrence of the State Government. The ‘residual power’ continues to rest with the State rather than the Union. According to the State Autonomy Committee, ninety-four of the ninety-seven items in the Union List currently apply to Jammu and Kashmir. The provisions of the Central Bureau of Intelligence and Investigation and preventive detention do not apply. Of the ‘Concurrent List’, twenty-six of the forty-seven items apply to Jammu and Kashmir. The items of marriage and divorce, infants and minors, transfer of property other than agricultural land, contracts and torts, bankruptcy, trusts, courts, family planning and charities have been omitted, i.e., the State has exclusive right to legislate on those matters. The right to legislate on elections to state bodies also rests with the State

Applicability of the Indian law to Jammu and Kashmir

Acts passed by Indian Parliament have been extended to Jammu and Kashmir over a period of time.

All India Services Act
Negotiable Instruments Act
Border Security Force Act
Central Vigilance Commission Act
Essential Commodities Act
Haj Committee Act
Income Tax Act
The Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017
Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017
The Central Laws (Extension To Jammu And Kashmir) Act, 1956
The Central Laws (Extension To Jammu And Kashmir) Act, 1968
The non-applicability of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Act by claiming recourse to Article 370 was set aside in 2010
Article 370 of the Indian constitution is an article that gives autonomous status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The article is drafted in Part XXI of the Constitution: Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions.
The Constituent Assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, after its establishment, was empowered to recommend the articles of the Indian constitution that should be applied to the state or to abrogate the Article 370 altogether. After the J&K Constituent Assembly later created the state’s constitution and dissolved itself without recommending the abrogation of Article 370, the article was deemed to have become a permanent feature of the Indian Constitution Article 370 embodied six special provisions for Jammu and Kashmir:
It exempted the State from the complete applicability of the Constitution of India. The State was allowed to have its own Constitution.
Central legislative powers over the State were limited, at the time of framing, to the three subjects of defence, foreign affairs and communications.
Other constitutional powers of the Central Government could be extended to the State only with the concurrence of the State Government.
The ‘concurrence’ was only provisional. It had to be ratified by the State’s Constituent Assembly.
The State Government’s authority to give ‘concurrence’ lasted only until the State Constituent Assembly was convened. Once the State Constituent Assembly finalized the scheme of powers and dispersed, no further extension of powers was possible.
The Article 370 could be abrogated or amended only upon the recommendation of the State’s Constituent Assembly.

According to the Constitution of India, Article 370 provides temporary provisions to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, granting it special autonomy.
The article says that the provisions of Article 238, which was omitted from the Constitution in 1956 when Indian states were reorganised, shall not apply to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Dr BR Ambedkar, the principal drafter of the Indian Constitution, had refused to draft Article 370.
In 1949, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had directed Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdullah to consult Ambedkar (then law minister) to prepare the draft of a suitable article to be included in the Constitution.
Article 370 was eventually drafted by Gopalaswami Ayyangar
Ayyangar was a minister without portfolio in the first Union Cabinet of India. He was also a former Diwan to Maharajah Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir
Article 370 is drafted in Amendment of the Constitution section, in Part XXI, under Temporary and Transitional Provisions.
The original draft explained “the Government of the State means the person for the time being recognized by the President as the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers for the time being in office under the Maharaja’s Proclamation dated the fifth day of March, 1948.”
On November 15, 1952, it was changed to “the Government of the State means the person for the time being recognized by the President on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly of the State as the Sadr-i-Riyasat (now Governor) of Jammu and Kashmir, acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers of the State for the time being in office.”
Under Article 370 the Indian Parliament cannot increase or reduce the borders of the state.

Article 35A of the Indian Constitution is an article that allows the Jammu and Kashmir state’s legislature to define “permanent resident” of the state. It was added to the Constitution through a situationary Presidential Order, i.e., The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954 – issued by the President of India on 14 May 1954, exercising the powers conferred by the clause (1) of the Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, and with the concurrence of the Government of the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
A debate is going on to abrogate Article 35A. However, if Article 35A is abrogated it may lead to constitutional crisis. Article 35A is a bridge between India and Kashmir relation.
Any dilution with the Article will lead to violation of whole Presidential Order 1954 which supersedes Presidential Order 1950 and Kashmir will become an autonomous state as it was Pre-1954 restricting Indian relationship to Kashmir on three folds – Communication, Defense and Foreign Affairs
The Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 1954 was issued by President Rajendra Prasad under Article 370, with the advice of the Union Government headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. It was enacted as a subsequent to the ‘1952 Delhi agreement’, reached between Nehru and the then Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Sheikh Abdullah, which dealt with the extension of Indian citizenship to the Jammu and Kashmir “state subjects”.
The state is empowered, both in the Instrument of Accession and the Article 370, to decree exceptions to any extension of the Indian Constitution to the state, other than in the matter of ceded subjects. So Article 35A is seen as an exception allowed by the Article 370, clause(1)(d).
Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference was the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir at the time of the 1954 Presidential order.
As the Article 35A was added to the Constitution by the executive head without any discussion in the Parliament, questions have been raised about the manner of its enactment

MCQ 2

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the national Standards Body of India working under

Ministry of Finance
Ministry of Consumer affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
Ministry of commerce & industry
NITI Aayog

BIS Is The National Standard Body Of India Established Under The BIS Act 2016 For The Harmonious Development Of The Activities Of Standardization
Its headquarters are in New Delhi, with regional offices in Eastern Region at Kolkata, southern Region at Chennai, Western Region at Mumbai, Northern Region at Chandigarh and Central Region at Delhi and 20 branch offices. It also works as WTO-TBT enquiry point for India
In the twilight years of British rule in India, when the country was faced with the gigantic task of building up the industrial infrastructure, it was the Institution of Engineers (India), which prepared the first draft of the Constitution of an Institution which could take up the task of formulation of National Standards. This led to the Department of Industries and Supplies issuing a memorandum on 03 September 1946, formally announcing the setting of an organization called the “Indian Standards Institution”. The Indian Standards Institution (ISI) came into being on the 06 January 1947 and in June 1947 Dr. Lal C. Verman took over as its first Director.
In the initial years, the organization concentrated on standardization activity. To provide the advantages of standardization to common consumers, the Indian Standards Institution started operating the Certification Marks Scheme under the Indian Standards Institution (Certification Marks) Act, 1952. The Scheme, which was formally launched by ISI in 1955-56, enabled it to grant licences to manufacturers producing goods in conformity with Indian Standards and to apply ISI Mark on their products. To meet the requirements of the Certification Marks Scheme, the nucleus of a laboratory was started in 1963. While the product certification wasbeing operated under the Indian Standards Institution (Certification Marks) Act, 1952, the formulation of standards and other related work were not governed by any legislation. A Bill with this objective was therefore introduced in the Parliament of 26 Nov 1986.
Bureau of Indian standards (BIS) came into existence, through an act of parliament dated 26 November 1986, on 1 April 1987, with a broadened scope and more powers taking over the staff, assets, liabilities and functions of erstwhile ISI. Through this change over, the government envisaged building a climate for quality culture and consciousness and greater participation of consumers in formulation and implementation of national standards.
The Bureau is a Body Corporate consisting of 25 members representing both Central and State governments, Members of Parliament, industry, scientific and research institutions, consumer organizations and professional bodies; with
Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution as its President and with Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution as its Vice-President.
Each World Trade Organisation member must set up a national enquiry point which is able to answer all reasonable inquiries from other members and interested parties as well as providing the relevant documents concerning standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment procedures whether impending or adopted, as well as on participation in bilateral or plurilateral standard-related agreements,regional standardizing bodies and conformity assessment systems.
Ministry of Commerce, the nodal ministry for WTO matters in India, has designated Bureau of Indian Standards as the WTO TBT Enquiry Point for India for all queries except those related to the telecom sector (for which the TBT Enquiry Point is Telecommunication Engineering Centre – TEC)

MCQ 3

Controller General of Accounts (CGA) works under CAG 2. It is a constitutional body according to article 150

Choose correct

(A) Only 1

(B) Only 2

(D) None

Controller General of Accounts (CGA)

Recently Mr. Girraj Prasad Gupta took over as the CGA.
CGA works under Department of Expenditure, ‘Ministry of Finance’.
The office of CGA is the apex Accounting Authority.
It is the principal advisor on Accounting matters to the Union Government.
It is not a constitutional body, but it derives its mandate and exercises the powers from Article 150 of the constitution.
Article 150 states that, the accounts of the Union and of the States shall be kept in such form as the President may, on the advice of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
It is responsible for establishing and maintaining a technically sound Management Accounting System. Other functions are:
It formulates policies relating to general principles, form and procedure of accounting for the government.
It administer the process of payments, receipts and accounting in Central Ministries.
Prepares, consolidates and submits the monthly and annual accounts of the Central Government.
It is responsible for maintaining the requisite technical standards of Accounting.
It administers banking arrangements of Government expenditures and collection of government receipts.
It is responsible for coordination and monitoring the progress of submission of corrective action taken on the recommendations contained in Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) and the CAG reports.
It brings out an annual booklet titled “Accounts at a Glance” that brings out broad features of Government Receipts and Expenditure.
CGA does the Cadre management of Group ‘A’ (Indian Civil Accounts Service) and Group ‘B’ Officers of the Central Civil Accounts Offices.

MCQ 4

Indus Script is the mother of devanagri Script
Indus Script sometimes used ‘rebus principle’, where a word-symbol used only for its sound value.
All Lines were written from right to left strictly

Choose correct

(A) 1 & 2

(B) 1 & 3

(D) 2 only

Indus Script
It is the earliest form of writing known in the Indian subcontinent, developed by the ‘Indus Valley Civilization’.
It is also known as the Harappan script.
The origin of this script is poorly understood and it remains undeciphered.
The languages that the script represents is still unknown and its connection with proper Indian writing systems is uncertain.
There is no known bilingual inscription to help to decipher the script.
The earliest known examples of the Indus Script signs, attested on ‘Ravi’ and ‘Kot Diji pottery’ was excavated at Harappa.
It dates back to early Harappan phase (3500-2700 BCE).
Examples of Indus writing has been found on seals pottery, bronze tools, stoneware bangles, bones, ivory.
Square stamp seals are the dominant form of Indus writing media.
The Indus Script was generally written from right to left but there are some exceptions where the writing is bidirectional.
It combined both word signs and symbols with phonetic value.
This type of writing system is known as “logo-syllabic”, where some symbols express ideas or words while others represent sounds.
A majority of the Indus Valley inscriptions were written ‘logographically’ (by using word signs).
Indus Script sometimes used ‘rebus principle’, where a word-symbol used only for its sound value. • For example, the combination of the pictures of a honey bee and a leaf to signify the word “belief” (bee+leaf).
The Indus script has been assigned the ISO 15924 code “Inds”

MCQ 5

Thudumbu is a

Tribal festival
Temple ritual
Martial art in southern india
None

Thudumbattam

It is one of the folk art form belongs to the Kongu region (Coimbatore, Erode, Salem) of Tamil Nadu.
It is the ‘Rhythm of celebration’ and are played at temple festivals.
The instrument ‘thudumbu’, locally known as jamab, kidumutti, thidumam, uruti and chera thudumbu.
The origin of the name thudumbu has been attributed to the ‘Thudumbars’, a tribal community.
They are living in Pollachi, Mettupalayam, Karamadai, Nilgris and Kovai areas.
This community used to serve and entertain the Chola, Chera and the Pandya kings, who went for ‘vana bhojana’ in the forests.
The thudumbu was also played to chase away the wild animals.
It was also said tha ‘thudumbu’ was introduced by the Vijayanagar empire.
The bowl-shaped thudumbu that resembles the bayan of the tabla is made of mud.
Its single face is covered with skin and connected with chords to the bottom of the instrument.
It is either hung over the waist of the performer and played or held between the legs and played with two sticks.
It is mostly performed by a group of men.
This instrument has found its way to Kerala, where it is known as the ‘thambolam melam’.
This is performed during festivals in and around Palakkad, Koyyamarakkadu and Attapadi and Kizhakkumpattukara.