Which of the following functions were performed by Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950 ?
A. Adopted the National Flag
B. Adopted the National Anthem
C. Adopted the National Song
D. Elected Dr. Ra

Question

Which of the following functions were performed by Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950 ?
A. Adopted the National Flag
B. Adopted the National Anthem
C. Adopted the National Song
D. Elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as a First President of India

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — option (4), 'Only B, C, D'. 24 January 1950 was the last day the Constituent Assembly sat, two days before the Constitution came into force, and it packed three distinct pieces of business into that final sitting. Rajendra Prasad, presiding, announced that Jana Gana Mana would be the National Anthem (statement B), and that Vande Mataram, the song that had carried the freedom movement, would be honoured equally with it as the National Song (statement C) — both adopted on the Assembly's own authority that day, without a separate constitutional article, which is exactly why they are remembered as decisions rather than as provisions of the Constitution's text. The same sitting also saw the Constituent Assembly, functioning for this one purpose as an electoral college, elect Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India (statement D), a mandate he took up two days later on 26 January 1950. Statement A is the item that breaks the set: the National Flag was not adopted on this date at all. The Constituent Assembly had already adopted the tricolour as independent India's national flag on 22 July 1947, more than two and a half years earlier, in the run-up to Independence — a separate, earlier decision that has nothing to do with 24 January 1950. Because A does not belong with B, C and D, the only combination that survives is B, C and D together, which is option (4).

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Keeps the flag and drops the President's election. The flag is the error here — it was adopted on 22 July 1947, not 24 January 1950 — while dropping D wrongly excludes the one action of 24 January 1950 that is arguably the best remembered of the three: the Assembly's election of Rajendra Prasad as India's first President.  (b) Correctly keeps the anthem and the presidential election but drops the national song and keeps the flag. Vande Mataram's elevation to National Song, announced in the same address as the anthem, is as much a part of 24 January 1950 as Jana Gana Mana's adoption is — dropping one while keeping the other is inconsistent, and the flag still does not belong on this date regardless.  (c) Correctly keeps the song and the presidential election but drops the anthem and keeps the flag. Jana Gana Mana and Vande Mataram were adopted together, in the same announcement, so treating one as belonging to 24 January 1950 while excluding the other breaks a pairing that happened as a single act — and the flag, again, belongs to 22 July 1947.

Concept: 24 January 1950 was the Constituent Assembly's final sitting before the Constitution of India came into force two days later, on 26 January 1950. The Assembly used that last sitting for three things that fall outside the Constitution's own numbered articles: it adopted Jana Gana Mana as the National Anthem, gave Vande Mataram equal honour as the National Song, and elected Dr. Rajendra Prasad as the first President of India. None of these three required a constitutional amendment because none of them is written into the Constitution's text as an enumerated article — the anthem and the song rest on that day's declaration by the Assembly's President, and the presidential election was a one-time act performed by the Assembly sitting as an electoral college for the transition.

State PCS 2025 Q82 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2025 Q82 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer