Under which Article of the Constitution of India has the National Commission for Scheduled Castes been constituted?
- (a)Article 332
- (b)Article 338
- (c)Article 342
- (d)Article 328
Correct — B, Article 338. Article 338 of the Constitution (Part XVI) provides for the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), which safeguards the interests of Scheduled Castes — investigating complaints, monitoring constitutional and legal safeguards, and reporting to the President.
- (a)Article 332 — Article 332 deals with reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in State Legislative Assemblies — a representation provision, not the Commission itself.
- (c)Article 342 — Article 342 empowers the President to specify, by public notification, the Scheduled Tribes of a State/UT — a listing provision for STs, not the SC Commission.
- (d)Article 328 — Article 328 deals with the power of a State Legislature to make provision for its own elections — an unrelated election-law provision.
Article 338 sits in Part XVI of the Constitution (special provisions for certain classes). It originally created one combined National Commission for SCs & STs (1990, 65th Amendment); the 89th Amendment (2003) split it into two separate bodies — NCSC under Article 338, and NCST under a newly inserted Article 338-A.
MPPSC/UPSC test the Article-Commission-amendment chain directly. The trap is assigning a nearby-numbered but unrelated Article (332's reserved-seats provision, 342's ST-notification power, or 328's state-election-law power) to the Commission.
- Article 338 → National Commission for Scheduled Castes
- Article 338-A → National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (added by the 89th Amendment, 2003)
- Article 338-B → National Commission for Backward Classes (added by the 102nd Amendment, 2018)
- Articles 341/342 are separate — they empower the President to notify the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes lists, not create the Commissions
Only Article 338 itself creates the National Commission for Scheduled Castes; the nearby-numbered Articles cover entirely different things.
- Assuming Article 338 still covers STs — it was split off in 2003
- Confusing the Commission-creating Articles (338/338-A/338-B) with the list-notification Articles (341/342) or the seat-reservation Article (332)
MPPSC/UPSC frequently frame this both ways — 'Article 338 relates to which Commission' and 'the NCSC is constituted under which Article' — plus match-the-following across 332/338/341/342.
According to the Constitution of India, it is the duty of the President of India to cause to be laid before the Parliament which of the following? 1. The Recommendations of the Union Finance Commission 2. The Report of the Public Accounts Committee 3. The Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General 4. The Report of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 and 4 only
- (c) 1, 3 and 4 only
- (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Answer(c) 1, 3 and 4 only.
Tests the same NCSC/Article 338 institution — specifically Article 338(6)'s requirement that its report be laid before Parliament via the President.
MPPSC_2021_PRE_PaperI_Q712021Article 338 of the Constitution of India is related to the
- (a) National Commission for Scheduled Castes
- (b) National Commission for Scheduled Tribes
- (c) National Commission for Backward Classes
- (d) National Human Rights Commission
Answer(a) National Commission for Scheduled Castes
MPPSC's own 2021 Paper-I asked the reverse framing of the identical fact — which Article 338 relates to.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) was constituted under which Article of the Constitution, inserted by the 89th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003?
- (a)Article 338
- (b)Article 338-A
- (c)Article 338-B
- (d)Article 342
Answer(b) Article 338-A.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which Article of the Constitution empowers the President to specify the Scheduled Castes of a State or Union Territory by public notification?
- (a)Article 338
- (b)Article 341
- (c)Article 342
- (d)Article 332
Answer(b) Article 341 — the SC-notification power; Article 342 is the parallel provision for Scheduled Tribes.