____________ Directive principles of State Policy were added to the Indian Constitution by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1976.

Correct — B. The 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1976 is credited with adding four Directive Principles to Part IV.

Three of them are new articles: Article 39A (equal justice and free legal aid), Article 43A (participation of workers in the management of industries) and Article 48A (protection of the environment, forests and wildlife).

The fourth is the rewritten Article 39(f), which the same amendment substituted so that the State secures opportunities for children to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Three — Three is the count of freshly inserted articles, 39A, 43A and 48A. It leaves out the substituted Article 39(f), which the standard polity reading counts as the fourth.
• (c)
  Five — Five overshoots. Article 43B, on the promotion of cooperative societies, is often seen on a modern DPSP list, but it came with the 97th Amendment in 2011.
• (d)
  Two — Two would cover only a pair of the new articles. The 42nd Amendment rewrote Article 39(f) and inserted three more directives on top of it.

The 42nd Amendment of 1976, passed during the Emergency, is the largest single change ever made to the Constitution, which is why it is called the mini-Constitution.

Its work on Part IV runs in two directions. It added directives — legal aid, worker participation in management and environmental protection — alongside a rewritten children's clause.

It also tried to elevate the Directive Principles. Article 31C was widened so that a law implementing any Directive Principle could not be struck down for violating Articles 14 or 19, a change the Supreme Court cut back in Minerva Mills in 1980.

Key facts

• The 42nd Amendment Act, 1976 inserted Articles 39A, 43A and 48A into Part IV.
• It also substituted Article 39(f) on the healthy development of children, which is why the count is usually given as four.
• Article 43B on the promotion of cooperative societies was added later, by the 97th Amendment of 2011.
• The Supreme Court struck down the 42nd Amendment's widening of Article 31C in Minerva Mills v. Union of India, 1980.

Common traps

• Counting only the newly numbered articles and answering three.
• Attaching Article 43B to the 42nd Amendment. It belongs to the 97th.
• Confusing these DPSP additions with the Fundamental Duties, which the same amendment added as Part IVA, Article 51A.

No directly related past PYQ was found.