CDS (II) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 73 of 120

Correct — C, Insurance does not come under the Union List. That statement is false, and in a question asking which one is not correct, the false statement is the answer. Insurance is Entry 47 of the Union List in the Seventh Schedule, and has been since 1950 — which is why insurance regulation, the nationalisations of 1956 and 1972 and the later opening of the sector to private and foreign capital were all done by Parliament rather than by the States. The other three statements are accurate as printed: taxes on agricultural income are Entry 46 of the State List, price control is Entry 34 of the Concurrent List, and forests are Entry 17A of the Concurrent List, having been moved there from the State List by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976.

• (a)Taxes on agricultural income is a subject under the State List. — This is correct and so not the answer. Taxes on agricultural income are Entry 46 of the State List, which is why agricultural income is outside the central income-tax net and why States alone can tax it.
• (b)Price control is a subject under the Concurrent List. — Correct as well. Price control is Entry 34 of the Concurrent List, so both Parliament and the State legislatures can legislate on it, with central law prevailing in case of repugnancy.
• (d)'Forests' is a subject under the Concurrent List. — Correct. Forests moved from the State List to the Concurrent List as Entry 17A in 1977, under the Forty-second Amendment, which also moved education and the protection of wild animals and birds.

The Seventh Schedule divides legislative subjects into three lists: the Union List, on which only Parliament may legislate; the State List, on which the States ordinarily may; and the Concurrent List, on which both may, with Article 254 giving central law the upper hand where the two conflict. The lists are not frozen — the 42nd Amendment shifted education, forests, weights and measures, the protection of wild animals and birds, and the administration of justice into the Concurrent List, and the 101st Amendment removed the entries superseded by goods and services tax.

A question phrased as which one is not correct is a small logic puzzle on top of the constitutional content: three statements will be true and one false, and the false one is what you tick. Option (c) is also phrased negatively, so a hurried candidate has to hold two negations at once — the statement says insurance is not in the Union List, the stem asks for what is not correct, and the answer is that the negative statement is itself false. Anchoring on entry numbers helps: insurance at Union 47, taxes on agricultural income at State 46, price control at Concurrent 34, forests at Concurrent 17A.

• Insurance is Entry 47 of the Union List in the Seventh Schedule.
• Taxes on agricultural income are Entry 46 of the State List.
• Price control is Entry 34 of the Concurrent List.
• Forests is Entry 17A and protection of wild animals and birds Entry 17B of the Concurrent List, both inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976.
• Article 254 provides that where a State law on a Concurrent subject conflicts with a central law, the central law prevails.

• Missing the double negative when the stem asks for the incorrect statement and an option is itself framed negatively.
• Assuming forests have always been a Concurrent subject; before 1977 they were a State subject.
• Confusing taxes on agricultural income, a State entry, with taxes on income other than agricultural income, which is Union List Entry 82.

As a subject-to-list pairing, as a which-pair-is-not-matched item, or as a statements set on subjects the 42nd Amendment transferred.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Insurance appears in which one of the following lists of the Seventh Schedule?

  • (a)Union List
  • (b)State List
  • (c)Concurrent List
  • (d)It is a residuary subject

  Answer(a) Union List — Entry 47, which is why insurance legislation and regulation come from Parliament.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Forests were transferred from the State List to the Concurrent List by which one of the following amendments?

  • (a)24th Amendment
  • (b)42nd Amendment
  • (c)44th Amendment
  • (d)73rd Amendment

  Answer(b) 42nd Amendment — it inserted Entry 17A for forests and Entry 17B for the protection of wild animals and birds.