Article 338 of the Indian Constitution mandates formation of which of the following Commissions ?
- (a)National Commission for Women
- (b)National Commission for Minorities
- (c)National Human Rights Commission
- (d)National Commission for Scheduled Castes
Correct — D, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. Article 338 provides for a Commission for the Scheduled Castes: the 65th Constitutional Amendment (1990) replaced the earlier one-man Special Officer with a multi-member National Commission for SCs and STs, and the 89th Amendment (2003) split that body — Article 338 now carries the SC Commission alone, while a newly inserted Article 338A creates the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. Because it is written into the Constitution, the NCSC's members are appointed by the President, it enjoys the powers of a civil court while investigating, and its reports are laid before Parliament.
- (a)National Commission for Women — A statutory body, set up under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 — no Article of the Constitution creates it, so Parliament could alter or abolish it by ordinary law.
- (b)National Commission for Minorities — Also statutory — created by the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. The Constitution protects minority rights (Articles 29-30) but does not set up this Commission.
- (c)National Human Rights Commission — Statutory, under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. Its stature makes students assume it is constitutional, but no Article mentions it.
Article 338 is one of a small cluster of Articles that create standing commissions inside the Constitution itself. As it stands today: Article 338 — National Commission for Scheduled Castes; Article 338A — National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (89th Amendment, 2003); Article 338B — National Commission for Backward Classes (102nd Amendment, 2018). Each has a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other members appointed by the President, investigates and monitors safeguards for its group, and sends its reports to the President, who lays them before Parliament along with a memorandum on the action taken.
All four options are real national commissions, so the discriminator is constitutional versus statutory. Three of them were born of ordinary legislation — NCW (1990), NCM (1992), NHRC (1993) — and no Article names them. Only the SC Commission is written into the Constitution at Article 338. The quick mental ladder is 338 → SC, 338A → ST, 338B → BC; everything else in the 'national commission' family is statutory.
- Article 338 — National Commission for Scheduled Castes; Article 338A — National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (89th Amendment, 2003); Article 338B — National Commission for Backward Classes (102nd Amendment, 2018).
- The NCSC has a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other members appointed by the President, and has the powers of a civil court while investigating.
- Its reports go to the President, who causes them to be laid before Parliament with an action-taken memorandum.
- NCW (Act of 1990), NCM (Act of 1992) and NHRC (Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993) are statutory bodies, not constitutional ones.
Only the SC, ST and BC commissions sit inside the Constitution — and Article 338 is the SC one.
- Swapping Article 338 and 338A — 338 is Scheduled Castes, 338A is Scheduled Tribes
- Assuming the NHRC or NCW is constitutional because it is a high-profile 'national commission'
- Confusing the pre-1990 Special Officer/Commissioner for SC & ST with today's multi-member Commission
Nearly always article-to-body matching ('Article 338 relates to…', 'under which Article was the NCSC constituted') or a 'which of these is a constitutional body' set. MPPSC has asked this exact pair in both directions — 2021 and 2022.
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 Article 338 machinery from the other end — the NCSC's report is one the President must lay before Parliament, precisely because the Commission is constitutional.
Consider the following organizations/bodies in India: 1. The National Commission for Backward Classes 2. The National Human Rights Commission 3. The National Law Commission 4. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission How many of the above are constitutional bodies?
- (a) Only one
- (b) Only two
- (c) Only three
- (d) All four
Answer(a) Only one
The same constitutional-vs-statutory sorting: only the Backward Classes Commission (Article 338B) is constitutional; the NHRC and the rest are statutory.
Article 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
The identical fact, asked four years earlier by MPPSC itself — Article 338 means the SC Commission.
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
Answer(b) Article 338
Same linkage asked in reverse — body to Article — showing MPPSC recycles this pair in both directions.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes was carved out as a separate constitutional body by which Constitutional Amendment?
- (a)65th Amendment, 1990
- (b)86th Amendment, 2002
- (c)89th Amendment, 2003
- (d)102nd Amendment, 2018
Answer(c) 89th Amendment, 2003 — it split the combined SC & ST Commission and inserted Article 338A for the ST Commission.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following is NOT a constitutional body?
- (a)National Commission for Scheduled Castes
- (b)National Commission for Backward Classes
- (c)National Human Rights Commission
- (d)Comptroller and Auditor General of India
Answer(c) National Human Rights Commission — it is statutory, created by the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.