Target Exam

CUET

Subject

History

Chapter

Modern India: Framing the Constitution

Question:

Read the passage and answer the questions:

Vision of the Constitution

On 13 December 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the "Objectives Resolution" in the Constituent Assembly. It was a momentous resolution that outlined the defining ideals of the Constitution of Independent India, and provided the framework within which the work of constitution-making was to proceed. It proclaimed India to be an "Independent Sovereign Republic", guaranteed its citizens justice, equality and freedom. In the winter of 1946-47, as the Assembly deliberated, the British were still in India. An interim administration headed by Jawaharlal Nehru was in place, but it could only operate under the directions of the Viceroy and the British Government in London. Lahiri exhorted his colleagues to realise that the Constituent Assembly was British-made and was "working the British plans as the British should like it to be worked out". The Constituent Assembly was expected to express the aspirations of those who had participated in the movement for independence. On 27 August 1947, B. Pocker Bahadur from Madras made a powerful plea for continuing separate electorates. Minorities exist in all lands, argued Bahadur; they could not be wished away, they could not be "erased out of existence". Most nationalists saw separate electorates as a measure deliberately introduced by the British to divide the people. "The English played their game under the cover of safeguards," R.V. Dhulekar told Bahadur, "With the help of it they allured you (the minorities) to a long lull. Give it up now". ...The Draft Constitution provided for three lists of subjects: Union, State, and Concurrent. The subjects in the first list were to be the preserve of the Central Government, while those in the second list were vested with the states. As for the third list, here Centre and state shared responsibility. In one of the earliest sessions of the Constituent Assembly, R. V. Dhulekar, a Congressman from the United Provinces, made an aggressive plea that Hindi be used as the language of constitution-making.

The Draft Constitution provided for three lists of subjects. Which among the following is not one of them?

Options:

Union List

State List

Concurrent List

Emergency List

Correct Answer:

Emergency List

Explanation:

The correct answer is Option (4) → Emergency List

The Draft Constitution (and later the Constitution of India) provided for three lists of subjects:

  1. Union List → Subjects under the authority of the Central Government.

  2. State List → Subjects under the authority of State Governments.

  3. Concurrent List → Subjects on which both Centre and States could make laws.

There was no "Emergency List" in the Draft Constitution.