CDS (II) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 92 of 120

Correct — C, Internal disturbance. Article 352(1) lets the President proclaim a National Emergency when satisfied that a grave emergency exists whereby the security of India or of any part of its territory is threatened, 'whether by war or external aggression or armed rebellion'. Those three, and only those three, are the grounds now written into the article — so war, external aggression and armed rebellion all belong in the list and internal disturbance does not. It used to. The Constitution as adopted in 1950 read 'internal disturbance' where 'armed rebellion' now stands, and the Emergency proclaimed in June 1975 was made on precisely that ground. The 44th Amendment Act of 1978 replaced the loose phrase with the far narrower 'armed rebellion' and hardened the procedure around it, so that a disturbance falling short of armed rebellion can no longer support a proclamation under Article 352. The wording that was removed is the option the paper wants you to spot.

• (a)War — War is the first ground named in Article 352(1), and it has been used — the emergencies of 1962 and 1971 were both declared in the face of armed conflict on India's borders.
• (b)External aggression — Also expressly in Article 352(1). It covers hostilities that stop short of a formal declaration of war, which is why the article names it separately.
• (d)Armed rebellion — This is the ground that the 44th Amendment put into the article in 1978. It is therefore the newest of the three, but it is very much part of the present text.

The Constitution provides three kinds of emergency, and they should not be blurred together. A National Emergency under Article 352 rests on war, external aggression or armed rebellion. President's rule under Article 356 rests on a failure of the constitutional machinery in a State. A Financial Emergency under Article 360 rests on a threat to the financial stability or credit of India. Only the first of the three has been the subject of the 'internal disturbance' controversy.

The phrase 'internal disturbance' has not disappeared from the Constitution, which is what makes the distractor bite. It survives in Article 355, where the Union is placed under a duty to protect every State against external aggression and internal disturbance. A candidate who remembers that phrase from Article 355 and does not remember that the 44th Amendment took it out of Article 352 will pick one of the other three options. The clean way to hold it is by the history: the 1975 proclamation was made on the ground of internal disturbance, and the Parliament elected after that Emergency amended the article so that the same thing could not be done again.

• Article 352(1) as it now stands names war, external aggression and armed rebellion as the three grounds for a proclamation of National Emergency.
• The 44th Amendment Act, 1978 substituted 'armed rebellion' for the original 'internal disturbance'.
• Under Article 352(3), the President may issue the proclamation only on the written recommendation of the Union Cabinet.
• A proclamation must be approved by both Houses by a special majority within one month, and thereafter continues for six months at a time with fresh approval.
• Article 355 still uses the phrase 'internal disturbance', in the duty it places on the Union to protect every State.

• Reading 'internal disturbance' from Article 355 back into Article 352.
• Treating 'armed rebellion' as the original wording — it was substituted in 1978.
• Confusing the special majority needed to approve a proclamation under Article 352 with the simple majority that suffices under Article 356.

Almost always as a 'which one is not' item on the grounds under Article 352, or as a match between the three emergency articles and their triggers.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  By which Constitutional Amendment was the expression 'internal disturbance' in Article 352 replaced by 'armed rebellion'?

  • (a)The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976
  • (b)The 44th Amendment Act, 1978
  • (c)The 38th Amendment Act, 1975
  • (d)The 24th Amendment Act, 1971

  Answer(b) The 44th Amendment Act, 1978 — enacted after the Emergency of 1975, which had itself been proclaimed on the ground of internal disturbance.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Constitution of India, a Proclamation of Emergency under Article 352 can be issued by the President only on the

  • (a)advice of the Chief Justice of India
  • (b)resolution of both Houses of Parliament passed beforehand
  • (c)written recommendation of the Union Cabinet
  • (d)report of the Governors of a majority of the States

  Answer(c) written recommendation of the Union Cabinet — a safeguard inserted by the 44th Amendment Act, 1978; parliamentary approval follows the proclamation, it does not precede it.