Consider the following statements regarding the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution of India : 1. It added three words to the Preamble—‘Socialist’, ‘Secular’ and ‘Integrity’. 2. It added eight Fundamental Duties to the Constitution. 3. It added new Directive Principles, i.e., Article 39A, Article 43A and Article 47. 4. It granted power to the President, in consultation with the Election Commission, to disqualify members of the State Legislatures. Which of the above statements are incorrect ?
- (a)1 and 2
- (b)3 and 4
- (c)2 and 3
- (d)1 and 4
Correct — C, 2 and 3. Read the direction of the stem first: it asks which statements are INCORRECT, so the two you must find are the false ones. Every claim below is checked against the Act itself, the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976, assented on 18 December 1976. Statement 1 is CORRECT. Section 2 amended the Preamble in two places — for "SOVEREIGN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC" it substituted "SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC", and for "unity of the Nation" it substituted "unity and integrity of the Nation". Three new words: Socialist, Secular, Integrity. Statement 2 is INCORRECT. Section 11 inserted a new Part IVA carrying Article 51A, and the article runs from clause (a) to clause (j) — TEN Fundamental Duties, not eight. Count them in the Act: abide by the Constitution; cherish the ideals of the freedom struggle; uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India; defend the country; promote harmony and renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women; value the composite culture; protect the natural environment; develop the scientific temper; safeguard public property and abjure violence; and strive towards excellence. An eleventh duty, clause (k), was added much later by the 86th Amendment Act, 2002, obliging a parent or guardian to provide education to a child between six and fourteen years. Statement 3 is INCORRECT, and the whole error is one article number. Sections 8, 9 and 10 inserted Article 39A (equal justice and free legal aid), Article 43A (participation of workers in the management of industries) and Article 48A (protection and improvement of environment and safeguarding of forests and wild life). The third is 48A, not 47. Article 47 — the State's duty to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to prohibit the consumption of intoxicating drinks and drugs injurious to health — has been in Part IV since the Constitution commenced on 26 January 1950 and the 42nd Amendment did not touch it. Two of the three articles named are right, which is exactly what makes this the hardest statement on the list. Statement 4 is CORRECT. Section 33 substituted a fresh Article 192 reading that where a question arises about a State legislator's disqualification, "the question shall be referred for the decision of the President and his decision shall be final", and that "Before giving any decision on any such question, the President shall consult the Election Commission". So incorrect = 2 and 3, which is option (c). One caution worth carrying away: statement 4 is true of what the 42nd Amendment did, not of the law today. The Constitution (Forty-fourth Amendment) Act, 1978 substituted a new Article 192, and the article as it now stands sends the question to the Governor, who "shall obtain the opinion of the Election Commission and shall act according to such opinion". The stem asks about the 1976 Act, so the 1976 position is the one that counts.
- (a)1 and 2 — Right about statement 2, wrong about statement 1. The three Preamble words are exactly Socialist, Secular and Integrity — section 2 of the Act adds "SOCIALIST SECULAR" to the description of the Republic and turns "unity of the Nation" into "unity and integrity of the Nation". Candidates pick this when they half-remember that the Preamble gained only two words, forgetting that Integrity was inserted in a different line of the same Preamble and is counted as the third.
- (b)3 and 4 — Right about statement 3, wrong about statement 4. Section 33 of the Act did move the decision on a State legislator's disqualification to the President acting after consulting the Election Commission — the constitutional text is explicit. The pull towards calling statement 4 false is that today the power lies with the Governor, because the 44th Amendment of 1978 substituted Article 192 again; but the stem is asking what the 42nd Amendment did, not what the Constitution says now.
- (d)1 and 4 — This calls both of the true statements false and leaves both of the false ones standing, so it is the exact inversion of the answer. It is the option a candidate reaches for after misreading the stem's direction word — treating "which of the above statements are incorrect" as "which are correct" and then answering a question that was never asked. Checking the direction word before scanning the statements costs three seconds and saves a third of a mark.
The Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 is the largest single amendment ever made to the Constitution — 59 sections touching more than fifty articles, the Preamble and the Seventh Schedule — which is why it is nicknamed the mini-Constitution. It was passed during the Emergency, and it is best understood as an attempt to shift power in three directions at once. Towards the executive: section 13 rewrote Article 74(1) so that the President "shall ... act in accordance with" the advice of the Council of Ministers, making that advice binding for the first time in the text. Towards the legislature: sections 17 and 30 lengthened the term of the Lok Sabha and of State Legislative Assemblies from five years to six, and section 55 inserted Article 368(4) and (5) declaring that no constitutional amendment could be questioned in any court and that there was "no limitation whatever" on Parliament's amending power. And away from Fundamental Rights: section 4 widened Article 31C so that a law giving effect to any Directive Principle in Part IV was protected. Much of that was undone — the Supreme Court struck down the new clauses (4) and (5) of Article 368 in Minerva Mills v. Union of India (1980), and the 44th Amendment of 1978 restored the five-year terms. What survived intact is precisely what this question tests: the Preamble's new words, Part IVA, and the three new Directive Principles.
Two habits decide this question. The first is reading the direction word. The stem asks for the statements that are INCORRECT, and BPSC sets the options so that the exact inversion — (d) 1 and 4 — is available to anyone who scans for the true ones instead. The second is checking article numbers rather than themes. Statement 3 does not fail on its idea; it is entirely true that the 42nd Amendment added new Directive Principles, and two of the three numbers it gives are the right ones. It fails on a single digit: the environment principle is Article 48A, and Article 47 is the older nutrition-and-prohibition principle that has been in Part IV from the start. That is the trap most candidates walk into, because a statement with two correct particulars reads as correct. Statement 2 is the easier of the two errors and is worth banking first: the 42nd Amendment inserted ten Fundamental Duties, clauses (a) to (j) of Article 51A, and the total became eleven only in 2002. Once you have statement 2 as false, options (b) and (d) are gone and only (a) and (c) remain, so the whole question reduces to whether the Preamble gained three words or not — and it did.
- Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976 — assented 18 December 1976, 59 sections; the largest amendment ever made, hence the nickname mini-Constitution
- Section 2 amended the Preamble: "SOVEREIGN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC" became "SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC", and "unity of the Nation" became "unity and integrity of the Nation"
- Section 11 inserted Part IVA with Article 51A, clauses (a) to (j) = ten Fundamental Duties; clause (k), on educating a child aged six to fourteen, was added by the 86th Amendment Act, 2002, making eleven
- Sections 8, 9 and 10 inserted Article 39A (equal justice and free legal aid), Article 43A (workers' participation in management) and Article 48A (protection of environment, forests and wild life) — the 42nd added no Article 47
- Article 47 (nutrition, standard of living, prohibition of intoxicating drinks and drugs) is an original 1950 Directive Principle, untouched by the 42nd Amendment
- Section 33 substituted Article 192 so that a State legislator's disqualification was decided by the President after consulting the Election Commission; the 44th Amendment Act, 1978 substituted the article again and the Governor decides today, on the Election Commission's opinion
- Section 13 rewrote Article 74(1) to make the Council of Ministers' advice binding on the President; section 55 inserted Article 368(4) and (5), struck down in Minerva Mills v. Union of India (1980)
- Sections 17 and 30 raised the term of the Lok Sabha and of State Legislative Assemblies from five years to six; the 44th Amendment restored five years
The stem asks for the INCORRECT statements, so the answer is the two highlighted rows: 2 and 3 = option (c).
- Answering the opposite question — the stem asks which statements are INCORRECT, and option (d) is the exact inversion waiting for a careless reader
- Accepting Article 47 in a list with 39A and 43A because two of the three are right; the 42nd Amendment's third insertion is Article 48A
- Saying the 42nd Amendment added eleven Fundamental Duties — it added ten; the eleventh came from the 86th Amendment Act, 2002
BPSC tests the 42nd Amendment as a multi-statement audit in which one statement carries a wrong number — an article, a count of duties, an office — while the theme around it is correct, so the marks come from remembering figures, not concepts. UPSC almost never asks 'what did the 42nd Amendment do' directly; it asks which principle sits in the Directive Principles rather than the Fundamental Rights, which item is not a Fundamental Duty, or which amendment was enacted to overcome a judicial interpretation, and expects you to place a provision in the right Part of the Constitution.
Which of the following is/are included in the Directive Principles of State Policy? 1. Prohibition of traffic in human beings and forced labour 2. Prohibition of consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of other drugs which are injurious to health Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(b) 2 only
Its second statement is Article 47 itself — the original Directive Principle on intoxicating drinks that BPSC's statement 3 wrongly credits to the 42nd Amendment. Knowing what Article 47 actually says is what breaks that statement.
Under the Constitution of India, which one of the following is not a fundamental duty?
- (a) To vote in public elections
- (b) To develop the scientific temper
- (c) To safeguard public property
- (d) To abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals
Answer(a) To vote in public elections
Tests the same Article 51A list that BPSC's statement 2 miscounts — three of these four options are clauses (h), (i) and (a) of the ten duties the 42nd Amendment inserted.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following Directive Principles was inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976?
- (a)Article 44 — uniform civil code
- (b)Article 47 — prohibition of intoxicating drinks and drugs
- (c)Article 48A — protection and improvement of environment and safeguarding of forests and wild life
- (d)Article 51 — promotion of international peace and security
Answer(c) Article 48A — inserted by section 10 of the 42nd Amendment Act, along with Articles 39A and 43A; Articles 44, 47 and 51 are all original 1950 provisions.
- practice — not a real PYQ
How many Fundamental Duties were inserted into the Constitution by the 42nd Amendment Act, 1976?
- (a)Eight
- (b)Nine
- (c)Ten
- (d)Eleven
Answer(c) Ten — Article 51A, clauses (a) to (j); the eleventh duty, clause (k) on educating a child aged six to fourteen, was added by the 86th Amendment Act, 2002.