Which of the following is not a generally accepted parameter for granting special status to a state in India?
- (a)Hilly and difficult terrain
- (b)Low population density
- (c)Sizeable SC and ST population
- (d)Strategic location along international borders
Correct — C, 'Sizeable SC and ST population'. The parameters the National Development Council actually adopted in 1969 for Special Category Status speak of a sizeable share of TRIBAL population — Scheduled Castes were never part of the list. The accepted set is: (i) hilly and difficult terrain, (ii) low population density and/or sizeable tribal population, (iii) strategic location along borders with neighbouring countries, (iv) economic and infrastructural backwardness, and (v) non-viable nature of state finances. Options (a), (b) and (d) are lifted straight from that list; only (c) alters it by adding SC, so it is the odd one out.
- (a)Hilly and difficult terrain — This IS a criterion — it is the first parameter on the accepted list, and the reason every north-eastern state plus Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand qualified.
- (b)Low population density — This IS a criterion — 'low population density and/or a sizeable share of tribal population' is a single accepted parameter. Many candidates wrongly rule this out because density sounds like a geography fact rather than a fiscal one.
- (d)Strategic location along international borders — This IS a criterion — states bordering China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal or Pakistan qualified precisely on this strategic-location ground.
Special Category Status (SCS) was an administrative category, not a constitutional one. It was created in 1969 by the National Development Council, following the approach of the Fifth Finance Commission, to give structurally handicapped states more generous central plan assistance. Under the Gadgil (later Gadgil–Mukherjee) formula, SCS states received central plan assistance in a 90% grant : 10% loan mix, against a far less favourable grant-loan ratio for general category states, and a preferential share of the total plan pool.
The question is a 'spot the tampered item' test. Three options reproduce the official parameters word for word; the fourth quietly swaps 'tribal population' for 'SC and ST population'. Students who memorised the list only loosely tend to strike out (b) low population density — which is in fact a genuine parameter — and miss the SC insertion in (c).
- Special Category Status was granted by the National Development Council (1969) — the Constitution nowhere mentions it.
- Accepted parameters: hilly/difficult terrain; low population density and/or sizeable tribal population; strategic location along international borders; economic and infrastructural backwardness; non-viable state finances.
- Eleven states held the status — the eight north-eastern states plus Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir.
- SCS states got central plan assistance largely as grant (90:10) rather than loan, and a preferential share of the plan pool under the Gadgil–Mukherjee formula.
- The Fourteenth Finance Commission (2015–20) made no special/general category distinction in devolution and raised the states' share of the divisible pool to 42%; with the Planning Commission replaced by NITI Aayog, the old plan-assistance route for SCS benefits ended.
The NDC's 1969 criteria never mention Scheduled Castes — that single word makes option (c) the answer.
- Striking out 'low population density' — it is a genuine parameter, paired with tribal population.
- Believing SCS is constitutional or that a Finance Commission grants it — it was an NDC decision.
- Confusing SCS with Article 370/371 special provisions or with Fifth/Sixth Schedule status.
MPPSC and UPSC both use the 'which is NOT a criterion' framing, or attach it to Finance Commission devolution criteria — so learn the five NDC parameters exactly, and note that ST, not SC, appears in them.
Consider the following: 1. Demographic performance 2. Forest and ecology 3. Governance reforms 4. Stable government 5. Tax and fiscal efforts For the horizontal tax devolution, the Fifteenth Finance Commission used how many of the above as criteria other than population area and income distance?
- (a) Only two
- (b) Only three
- (c) Only four
- (d) All five
Answer(b) Only three — demographic performance, forest and ecology, and tax and fiscal efforts
Same skill on the same subject — separating the parameters that officially count for central transfers to states from plausible-sounding ones that do not.
Who among the following constitute the National Development Council? 1. The Prime Minister 2. The Chairman, Finance Commission 3. Ministers of the Union Cabinet 4. Chief Ministers of the States Select the correct answer using the codes given below:
- (a) 1, 2 and 3 only
- (b) 1, 3 and 4 only
- (c) 2 and 4 only
- (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4
Answer(b) 1, 3 and 4 only — the Prime Minister, Union Cabinet Ministers and the Chief Ministers; the Finance Commission Chairman is not a member
The National Development Council is exactly the body that created and conferred Special Category Status in 1969 — UPSC tested its composition, MPPSC its criteria.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Special Category Status to Indian states was granted by which body?
- (a)The National Development Council
- (b)The Finance Commission
- (c)The Inter-State Council
- (d)The President under Article 371
Answer(a) The National Development Council — it introduced the status in 1969; there is no constitutional provision for it.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Gadgil formula was used to determine:
- (a)Devolution of central taxes among the states
- (b)Allocation of central plan assistance to the states
- (c)Grants-in-aid under Article 275
- (d)Sharing of inter-state river waters
Answer(b) Allocation of central plan assistance to the states — adopted by the NDC in 1969 and revised as the Gadgil–Mukherjee formula in 1991.