Under which Section of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is 'economic boycott' defined?
- (a)Section 2(b)
- (b)Section 2(b c)
- (c)Section 2(b f)
- (d)Section 2(b g)
Correct — B, Section 2(bc) (printed in the booklet as 'Section 2(b c)'). 'Economic boycott' is defined in Section 2(1)(bc) of the Act — a clause inserted by the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015 (brought into force on 26 January 2016). It covers refusing to deal with, employ, do business with or provide services and opportunities to a person, and abstaining from the normal professional or business relations one would otherwise maintain, when done to target SC/ST members.
- (a)Section 2(b) — Section 2(1)(b) defines the 'Code' (the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973), not economic boycott.
- (c)Section 2(b f) — There is no economic-boycott definition at '2(bf)'; the definition sits at 2(bc).
- (d)Section 2(b g) — Not the clause — 'economic boycott' is defined at 2(bc), not 2(bg).
Section 2 of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act is its definitions clause. The 2015 Amendment Act broadened the law to tackle newer forms of caste-based discrimination and inserted the definition of 'economic boycott' at Section 2(1)(bc). Economic boycott means refusing to deal, employ, do business with or provide services/opportunities to SC/ST members, or withdrawing normal professional and business relations with them, on caste grounds.
The trap is the near-identical clause labels — 2(b), 2(bc), 2(bf), 2(bg). Two anchors settle it: 2(b) is the definition of 'Code' (the CrPC), and the 2015 amendment tucked 'economic boycott' into 2(bc).
- 'Economic boycott' is defined in Section 2(1)(bc) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
- That definition was inserted by the 2015 Amendment Act (in force 26 January 2016).
- It covers refusing to deal with, employ, do business with or provide services/opportunities to SC/ST members on caste grounds.
- Section 2(1)(b), by contrast, defines the 'Code' (the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973).
Definitions live in Section 2; 'economic boycott' is the 2015-inserted clause 2(bc).
- Confusing 2(b) ('Code') with 2(bc) ('economic boycott')
- Assuming economic boycott was in the original 1989 Act — it was added in 2015
MPPSC asks 'which section defines / deals with X' from the SC/ST Act; UPSC tests the Act's scope, the 2018 amendment and Supreme Court rulings on it.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The definition of 'economic boycott' was inserted into the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by which of the following?
- (a)The 2015 Amendment Act
- (b)The 1995 Rules
- (c)The 2018 Amendment Act
- (d)The original 1989 Act
Answer(a) The 2015 Amendment Act — which added Section 2(bc).
- practice — not a real PYQ
In the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, Section 2 primarily contains:
- (a)punishments for atrocities
- (b)definitions of terms used in the Act
- (c)the constitution of Special Courts
- (d)the appeals procedure
Answer(b) definitions — Section 2 is the definitions clause.