SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 23 September 2024, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 5 of 97

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Which of the following is mentioned in Article 1 of the Indian constitution?

(a)India that is Bharat as parliamentary democracy
(b)India that is Bharat as federation of states
(c)India that is Bharat shall be a Union of states
(d)India that is Bharat as presidential form of democracy

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Article 1(1) reads: "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States." That is the sentence option (c) reproduces, almost word for word.

The word Union was chosen over 'federation' on purpose. B.R. Ambedkar told the Constituent Assembly that the federation was not the result of an agreement among the states, and that no state therefore had a right to secede from it.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
India that is Bharat as parliamentary democracy — Article 1 says nothing about the form of government. The parliamentary scheme is built by Articles 74 and 75, which place a Council of Ministers answerable to the Lok Sabha beside the President.
(b)
India that is Bharat as federation of states — This is the wording the Constituent Assembly deliberately avoided. 'Union of States' was preferred to 'federation' precisely to signal that the states did not contract into India and cannot leave it.
(d)
India that is Bharat as presidential form of democracy — India does not have a presidential system: under Article 74 the President acts on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. Article 1 does not describe a form of government at all.

Concept

Part I of the Constitution, Articles 1 to 4, is headed 'The Union and its Territory'.

Article 1 has three clauses. Clause (1) declares India, that is Bharat, a Union of States. Clause (2) says the states and their territories shall be as specified in the First Schedule.

Clause (3) defines the territory of India as the states, the Union territories, and such other territories as may be acquired.

Articles 2 to 4 follow from it. Parliament may admit or establish new states, and may form new states or alter the areas, boundaries or names of existing ones.

Key facts

Article 1(1) states: 'India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.'
Article 1(2) provides that the states and their territories shall be as specified in the First Schedule.
Article 1 falls in Part I of the Constitution, 'The Union and its Territory', covering Articles 1 to 4.
Article 3 empowers Parliament to form new states and to alter the areas, boundaries or names of existing states.

Study next

Articles 2, 3 and 4, and the procedure for creating a new stateWhy the Constitution says Union rather than FederationThe First Schedule and how its entries are altered

Common traps

Reading 'Union of States' as a claim that India is a federation of consenting states. The phrase was chosen to deny that.
Confusing Article 1 with the Preamble. The Preamble names the sovereign socialist secular democratic republic, Article 1 names the Union.

SSC's polity block runs on article numbers. Most of its questions name a subject and ask which article covers it; a block of articles with a Part number, as here, is the rarer shape.

Bands are asked on 19 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.10 (Articles 245-255 in Part XI) and on 23 Sep 2024, 12:30, GA Q.24 (Articles 214-231 in Part VI).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.