CDS (II) 2024 General Knowledge · Question 32 of 120

Correct — C, Both 1 and 2. Statement 1 is a point about the paperwork of flag display. Until 2002 the rules were held in an older compilation called the 'Flag Code–India'; the Flag Code of India, 2002 took effect on 26 January 2002 and replaced it, bringing together the older code, the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 in a single document, and — the change everyone remembers — allowing private citizens to fly the flag on any day of the year. Statement 2 is the standard description of the state emblem. India's emblem is an adaptation of the Lion Capital that Ashoka set up at Sarnath: four lions standing back to back, of which three are visible in the emblem, on an abacus carrying a wheel, with a bull and a horse, and the motto Satyameva Jayate in Devanagari added below. Both statements hold, so the answer is that both are correct.

• (a)1 only — Accepts the flag-code point but rejects the emblem point. The emblem's descent from the Sarnath Lion Capital is not a resemblance but a formal adaptation, adopted on 26 January 1950.
• (b)2 only — Accepts the emblem point but rejects the flag-code point. The 2002 code did supersede the earlier 'Flag Code–India'; that is precisely why it is dated and named as a fresh code.
• (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Rejects both. Each statement is separately verifiable — one from the 2002 code itself, the other from the description of the state emblem adopted in 1950.

Two different national symbols and two different instruments sit behind this item. The national flag's display is governed by the Flag Code of India, 2002 together with two statutes — the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971. The state emblem is the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka in adapted form; its use is separately regulated by the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005.

The item looks like current affairs but is really about knowing that the 2002 code is a replacement rather than an amendment, and that the emblem is an adaptation rather than a copy. Statement 2 is the safer of the two to judge, so settle it first: if you are sure the emblem comes from Sarnath, options (a) and (d) are gone at once and the question reduces to whether the 2002 code superseded an earlier one. It did. Note the paper's own punctuation — it prints the older compilation as 'Flag Code–India' with a dash, which is how the name is usually written; nothing in the question turns on it. One present-day line worth carrying: the code has been amended since, notably in 2021 to allow polyester and machine-made flags and in 2022 to permit display by night when the flag is in the open and on a house, which is what made the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign possible.

• The Flag Code of India, 2002 came into effect on 26 January 2002 and superseded the earlier 'Flag Code–India'.
• The code brought the older code together with the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, and permitted private citizens to display the flag on all days.
• The state emblem of India, adopted on 26 January 1950, is an adaptation of the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath; in the emblem only three of the four lions are visible.
• The words Satyameva Jayate, from the Mundaka Upanishad, are inscribed below the emblem in Devanagari and are not part of the original capital.
• The Constituent Assembly adopted the national flag on 22 July 1947, in the form moved by Jawaharlal Nehru.

• Assuming the 2002 code is a statute — it is an executive code that consolidates rules and reads alongside two Acts of Parliament.
• Saying the emblem shows four lions; four exist on the capital, but only three are seen in the emblem's frontal view.
• Confusing the date the flag was adopted by the Constituent Assembly, 22 July 1947, with the date the emblem was adopted, 26 January 1950.

As a two-statement item pairing a symbol with the instrument that governs it, or as a single question on what the state emblem is adapted from.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Flag Code of India, 2002 came into effect on which one of the following dates?

  • (a)15 August 2001
  • (b)26 January 2002
  • (c)22 July 2002
  • (d)26 January 2003

  Answer(b) 26 January 2002 — the code took effect on that date and replaced the earlier 'Flag Code–India'.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The words 'Satyameva Jayate' inscribed below the state emblem of India are taken from which one of the following texts?

  • (a)Rig Veda
  • (b)Mundaka Upanishad
  • (c)Bhagavad Gita
  • (d)Arthashastra

  Answer(b) Mundaka Upanishad — the motto is added in Devanagari below the emblem and forms no part of the original Sarnath capital.