Political Science Test - 8

The correct answer is Urban Roads.

Key Points

• The Programme aims to provide momentum to schemes relating to poverty alleviation, employment generation in rural areas, housing, education, family welfare and health, protection of the environment and many other schemes having a bearing on the quality of life, especially in the rural areas.
• Hence Urban Roads is not part of the Twenty Point Programme 2006.

Additional Information 

• Twenty Point Programme 2006:
  • The Twenty Point Programme was first launched in the year 1975 and restructured in 1982, 1986 and again in 2006.
  • The restructured programme, known as Twenty Point Programme (TPP) – 2006, became operational with effect from 1st April 2007.
  • Two meetings of the State level monitoring committee of twenty point programme should be held in a year.
  • The Programme aims to provide momentum to schemes relating to poverty alleviation, employment generation in rural areas, housing, education, family welfare and health, protection of the environment and many other schemes having a bearing on the quality of life, especially in the rural areas.
  • Twenty Point Programme- 2006 consists of 65 monitorable items out of which 15 rankable items are being monitored at the state level.

The correct answer is Congress for Democracy.

Key Points

•  Babu Jagjivan Ram:
  • ​Jagjivan Ram, popularly known as Babuji, was a national leader, a freedom fighter, a crusader of social justice, a champion of depressed classes, and an outstanding Parliamentarian.
  • In 1931, he became a member of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party).
  • He was instrumental in the foundation of the All India Depressed Classes League, an organization dedicated to attaining equality for untouchables, in 1934-35. 
  • In 1935, he proposed at a session of the Hindu Mahasabha that drinking water wells and temples be open to untouchables.
  • In 1935, Babuji also appeared before the Hammond Commission at Ranchi and demanded, for the first time, voting rights for the Dalits.
  • He was jailed twice in the early 1940s for his political activities associated with the Quit India movement against British rule.
  • When Jawaharlal Nehru formed the provisional government, Jagjivan Ram became its youngest minister. 
  • He also holds another record for being the longest-serving cabinet minister in India (30 years). 
  • He left Congress in 1977 and joined the Janata Party alliance, along with his Congress for Democracy (new party).
  • He later served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India (1977–79).
  • Jagjivan Ram was a member of the Parliament uninterrupted from 1936 to 1986 (40 years) and this is a world record.

The correct answer is Chandra Shekhar.

• Chandra Shekhar Singh
  • He became the President of the Janata Party in 1977.
  • He was an Indian politician who served as the 8th Prime Minister of India, between 10 November 1990 and 21 June 1991.
  • He headed a minority government of a breakaway faction of the Janata Dal with outside support from the Indian National Congress.

Additional Information

• Janata Party:
  • The Janata Party was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 to 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress.
  • In the 1977 general election, the party defeated the Congress and Janata leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister in independent modern India's history.
  • Nitish Kumar started his political career with Janata Party.
  • The rationale of the formation was that of preserving national security.
  • When the State of Emergency was lifted and new elections called in 1977, opposition political parties such as the Congress (O), Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Bharatiya Lok Dal as well as defectors from the Congress (R) joined to form the Janata Party, which won a sweeping majority in the Indian Parliament.

The Janata Party was formed as a coalition of Indian political groups hostile to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress's Emergency, which was implemented from 1975 and 1977. Important Points

• Between March 1 and 10, 1971, India conducted general elections to elect members of the 5th Lok Sabha.
• The elections were the sixth since the country's independence in 1947.
• 518 constituencies, each with a single representative, representing the 27 Indian states and union territories.
• The Indian National Congress, led by Indira Gandhi, ran a campaign centred on alleviating poverty and won a landslide win, overcoming a party rift and reclaiming many of the seats lost in the previous election.  

Additional Information

• Lal Bahadur Shastri served for roughly 19 months after temporary Prime Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda (who took over after Nehru's death). In 1966, Indira Gandhi took over as Prime Minister after the death of Shastri.
• In 1991, no party was able to gain a majority in the Lok Sabha, resulting in the Indian National Congress creating a minority administration with the assistance of other parties, led by new Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao.

Hence, in 1977  the Janata Party became the ruling party in the centre of India.

The correct answer is Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed.

• Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was the first president of India who declared a national emergency in 1975.

Key Points

• The national emergency was set in motion under Article 352 on June 25, 1975, on the grounds of internal disturbance and was in place for 21 months till its withdrawal on March 21, 1977.
• The four major occurrences of the 1975s following which Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency.
  • Navnirman Andolan in Gujarat.
  • The JP movement.
  • The railways’ protest.
  • The Raj Narain verdict.

Additional Information

• Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed:
  • ​Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was born on 13 May 1905 in the Hauz Qazi area of Old Delhi, India.
  • Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed served as the 5th president of India from 1974 to 1977.
  • He was a member of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee from 1936 and of AICC from 1947 to 1974.
  • He was a  Minister of Finance, Revenue, and labor in 1948 Gopinath Bordoloi Ministry.

Important Points

Indira Gandhi was defeated by Raj Narain in the 1977 Lok Sabha Elections in the Rae Bareli Constituency.

• She was defeated by a margin of over 55,000 votes.
• Raj Narain was the candidate from the Janata Party.
• He went on to become the Health Minister in Morarji's Cabinet.
• Post this, Raj Narain accused Indira Gandhi of corrupt practices in elections and filed a petition for the same in the Allahabad High Court.
• The High Court upheld the accusations and disqualified Indira Gandhi from fighting the elections for six years.
• Consequently, the emergency was declared in India.

The correct answer is Jayprakash Narayan.

Key Points

• Jayprakash Narayan was born on 11 October 1902.
• Jai Prakash Narayan is known as Loknayak.
• Jai Prakash Narayan is also Known as the Hero of the Quit India Movement.
• He is a freedom Fighter, socialist, and theorist.
• He is the main leader of the Total Revolution Movement against Indira Gandhi.
• On June 5, 1974, Jayprakash Narayan gave the slogan of Sampurn Kranti (total revolution) against Indira Gandhi. 
• Jai Prakash Narayan was Posthumously awarded Bharat Ratna in 1999.

Additional Information

• Bhagat Singh:​
  • They were members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
  • In 1929, they threw bombs at the Central Legislative Assembly. 
  • Batukeshwar Dutta along with Bhagat Singh was the main accused in Assembly Bomb Case.
  • On December 17, 1927, revolutionaries Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru shot and killed Police Assistant Superintendent John Saunders. 
  • This case was called the Lahore Conspiracy Case. 
  • They were supported in this act by their compatriots Sukhdev Thapar and Chandrashekhar Azad.
• Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar:
  • Dr. Ambedkar is known as the chief architect of the Indian Constitution.
  • He was bestowed with the country’s highest civilian honour, Bharat Ratna in 1990 posthumously.
  • He became the 1st Law and Justice Minister after independence.

The correct answer is Loknayak.

Key Points

• Jayaprakash Narayan, Indian freedom fighter, activist, and political leader popularly know as "J.P" or "Loknayak"
• He is well known for his mid 1970 peaceful "Total revolution" against the government of India for the cause of high inflation, unemployment and lack of supplies and essential commodities. This movement finally culminated in the proclamation of Emergency.
• Although Jayaprakash Narayan is known for his Gandhian Ideology, he actively worked underground for Indian Freedom Movement for fighting the tyranny of British rule, he organised an “Azaad Dasta” (freedom brigade) in Nepal.

Additional Information

The correct answer is Socialist, Secular, and Integrity.
Key Points

The ‘Preamble’ of the Constitution of India is a brief introductory statement that sets out the guiding purpose and principles of the document, and it indicates the source from which the document which derives its authority, meaning, the people.

• It was adopted on 26 November 1949 by the Constituent Assembly of India and came into effect on 26th January 1950.
• After the 42nd amendment, three new terms "Socialist, Secular, and Integrity" were added to the Preamble.
  • 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 is one of the most important amendments to the Indian Constitution.
  • It was enacted by the Indian National Congress headed by Indira Gandhi then.
  • Due to the large number of amendments this act has brought to the Indian Constitution, it is also known as the ‘Mini-Constitution.’ 
• Only one time the Preamble was amended in 1976 till date.

Additional Information

The correct answer is 25th June 1975.

Key Points

• The Indian Emergency was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 during which Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency across the country.
• President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed proclaimed an emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution in response to widespread "internal disturbance" on June 25, 1975, and it lasted until March 21, 1977.
• A state of emergency in India is a time of governance under a modified constitutional structure that can be declared by the President of India when a consultant group perceives and warns of major threats to the country from both internal and external sources, as well as from financial crises.

• Article 352 allows for a national emergency to be proclaimed in the entire country or a portion of it due to "external aggression or war" and "internal instability."
• During the 1962 conflict (China war), the 1971 war (Pakistan war), and the domestic unrest of 1975 in India, such a state of emergency was implemented (declared by Indira Gandhi).
• However, since the 44th Amendment Act of 1978, National Emergency can only be proclaimed in the event of "external invasion or war," also known as External Emergency, or "armed revolt," also known as Internal Emergency.