An amendment of the Constitution shall require to be ratified by the legislatures of not less than one-half of the states:

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, Article 279A. The proviso to Article 368(2) lists a specific set of federal provisions that need ratification by not less than half the State legislatures before the amending Bill is presented for the President's assent, including Articles 54, 55, 73, 162, 241 and 279A (the GST Council). Article 279A was added to this list by the Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016 — the same amendment that created the GST Council — because GST decisions affect the fiscal-federalism balance between the Centre and the States.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Article 53 merely vests the executive power of the Union in the President; it is not among the provisions listed in the Article 368(2) proviso requiring state ratification (it is Article 73, on the extent of Union executive power, that is on that list — not Article 53).  (b) Article 239A empowers Parliament to create a Legislature and/or Council of Ministers for certain Union Territories; it can be amended by ordinary Parliamentary law and is not in the Article 368(2) ratification list.  (c) Article 243A deals with the Gram Sabha under the Panchayati Raj provisions of Part IX; it is not among the specific provisions requiring ratification by half the state legislatures.

Concept: Article 368 lays out multiple routes for amending the Constitution: a simple majority route, a special-majority route (2/3rd of members present and voting, and a majority of the total membership, in each House), and a special-majority-PLUS-ratification route — reserved for a specific, named set of provisions that touch the federal structure.

State PCS 2024 Q13 — Indian Polity PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2024 Q13 — Indian Polity PYQ with Answer