CDS (II) 2024 General Knowledge · Question 46 of 120

Correct — D, Ownership and transfer of natural resources. Article 371G, inserted by the Constitution (Fifty-third Amendment) Act, 1986 when Mizoram became a state, lists exactly four subjects on which no Act of Parliament shall apply to Mizoram unless the Legislative Assembly of the state so decides by resolution: the religious or social practices of the Mizos; Mizo customary law and procedure; the administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Mizo customary law; and ownership and transfer of land. Three of the paper's options reproduce the first three of those word for word. The fourth changes the last one — the Article protects 'ownership and transfer of land', a narrower and older idea than 'natural resources', which would take in minerals, forests and water. That single substitution is the whole question. The Article also requires the Mizoram Legislative Assembly to consist of not less than forty members.

• (a)Religious or social practices of the Mizos — Religious or social practices of the Mizos is the first subject expressly named in Article 371G, so it is covered and cannot be the answer.
• (b)Mizo customary law and procedure — Mizo customary law and procedure is the second subject named in the Article.
• (c)Administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Mizo customary law — Administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Mizo customary law is the third subject named, reproduced here almost exactly.

Part XXI of the Constitution carries temporary, transitional and special provisions, and Articles 371 to 371J give particular states special arrangements. Article 371A for Nagaland was the model, introduced in 1962; Article 371G for Mizoram, added in 1986, follows it closely, as does Article 371H for Arunachal Pradesh in a different respect. The design is the same in each case: Parliament remains competent, but its law does not reach the protected subjects in that state unless the state's own Assembly adopts it.

Read the option set as a quotation test. When three options are lifted from a constitutional provision and the fourth is a plausible modernisation of its language, the modernised one is the answer. 'Natural resources' sounds like the sort of thing a special provision would protect, which is exactly why it was planted; the Constitution's word is 'land'. The same trick works on Article 371A, where the Nagaland provision protects 'ownership and transfer of land and its resources' — a different formula again, and worth learning alongside this one so that the two are not merged in memory.

• Article 371G was inserted by the Constitution (Fifty-third Amendment) Act, 1986, when Mizoram attained statehood.
• The four protected subjects are religious or social practices of the Mizos, Mizo customary law and procedure, administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Mizo customary law, and ownership and transfer of land.
• An Act of Parliament on any of these applies in Mizoram only if the Legislative Assembly of the state so decides by a resolution.
• The Article also provides that the Legislative Assembly of Mizoram shall consist of not less than forty members.
• Article 371A makes a parallel provision for Nagaland, protecting Naga religious or social practices, customary law and procedure, justice according to Naga customary law, and ownership and transfer of land and its resources.

• Reading 'land' as 'natural resources'; Article 371A for Nagaland says 'land and its resources', but Article 371G for Mizoram says only 'land'.
• Assuming Parliament cannot legislate at all on these subjects; it can, but its law does not apply in the state without an Assembly resolution.
• Confusing these special provisions with the Sixth Schedule, which operates through autonomous district councils and is a separate mechanism.

As an odd-one-out over the subjects a special constitutional provision protects, or as a match of Article to state.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Article 371G of the Constitution of India, which makes special provision for Mizoram, was inserted by which Constitutional Amendment Act?

  • (a)Fifty-second Amendment
  • (b)Fifty-third Amendment
  • (c)Fifty-fifth Amendment
  • (d)Sixty-first Amendment

  Answer(b) Fifty-third Amendment — the Constitution (Fifty-third Amendment) Act, 1986, passed when Mizoram became a state.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Special provisions on the same model as Article 371G, protecting customary law and land, are made for Nagaland by which Article of the Constitution?

  • (a)Article 370
  • (b)Article 371A
  • (c)Article 371H
  • (d)Article 371J

  Answer(b) Article 371A — which protects Naga religious and social practices, customary law, justice according to it, and ownership and transfer of land and its resources.