UKPSC Prelims 2024 General Studies Paper-I · Question 36 of 147

Correct — C, Planning Commission.

The keyed option is Planning Commission. It was created by a resolution of the Union Cabinet on 15 March 1950, and it was wound up the same way: a Cabinet resolution of 1 January 2015 replaced it with NITI Aayog. The other three bodies are statutory commissions that continue to function.

The idea to carry away: a body created by executive resolution can be dissolved by executive resolution. Parliament passed no law at either end of the Planning Commission's life. A statutory commission, by contrast, exists until Parliament repeals or amends its Act.

• (a)
  National Commission for Women — The National Commission for Women is functioning. It was constituted on 31 January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990, and it still takes up complaints, reviews laws affecting women and advises the Union government.

  It is the right answer to a question asking for the statutory commission set up under an Act of 1990 to safeguard the rights and interests of women.

• (b)
  Minority Commission — The option's informal name refers to the National Commission for Minorities, which is functioning. A non-statutory Minorities Commission was set up by a Home Ministry resolution in 1978; the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 put it on a statutory footing, and the first statutory commission was constituted on 17 May 1993.

  It is the right answer to a question asking which commission moved from an executive resolution to a statutory basis rather than being abolished, the mirror image of the Planning Commission's story.

• (d)
  National Human Rights Commission — The National Human Rights Commission is functioning. It was constituted on 12 October 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 (first through an ordinance of September 1993), with Justice Ranganath Misra as its first Chairperson.

  It is the right answer to a question asking for the statutory body headed by a former Chief Justice of India or a former Supreme Court judge, an eligibility widened by the 2019 amendment to the Act.

Indian polity sorts commissions by their legal source. Constitutional bodies are named in the Constitution: the Election Commission, the Finance Commission, the National Commissions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes.

Statutory bodies are created by an Act of Parliament (NCW, NCM, NHRC). Executive bodies rest on a government resolution alone (the old Planning Commission, today's NITI Aayog).

The legal source decides how a body ends. An executive body ends with a resolution; a statutory body ends when Parliament repeals its Act; a constitutional body needs a constitutional amendment.

• The Planning Commission was set up by a Union Cabinet resolution on 15 March 1950; it was neither a constitutional nor a statutory body.
• A Cabinet resolution dated 1 January 2015 replaced the Planning Commission with NITI Aayog; the change had been announced from the Red Fort on 15 August 2014.
• The Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2012–17) was the last; NITI Aayog does not prepare Five-Year Plans.
• The Prime Minister was ex-officio Chairman of the Planning Commission and is ex-officio Chairperson of NITI Aayog.
• The National Commission for Women was constituted on 31 January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990.
• The National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 made the 1978 Minorities Commission statutory; the first statutory commission was constituted on 17 May 1993.
• Six communities are notified as minorities under the 1992 Act: Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis (notified 1993), and Jains (notified 2014).
• The National Human Rights Commission was constituted on 12 October 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993; Justice Ranganath Misra was its first Chairperson.
• Since the 2019 amendment, a former Supreme Court judge, not only a former Chief Justice of India, may chair the NHRC.
• The 2019 amendment also cut the term of the NHRC Chairperson and members from five years to three.
• In July 2023 Uttarakhand wound up its State Planning Commission and created SETU Aayog (State Institute for Empowering and Transforming Uttarakhand), chaired by the Chief Minister.

• Reading 'Minority Commission' as a body that does not exist because its formal name is 'National Commission for Minorities'; the option uses the informal name of a functioning statutory body.
• Assuming NITI Aayog is statutory: like the Planning Commission it replaced, it rests on a Cabinet resolution, so a question on statutory bodies must exclude it.
• Answering that the Planning Commission was abolished by an Act of Parliament; a Cabinet resolution created it and a Cabinet resolution replaced it.
• Mixing the two dates: 15 August 2014 was the announcement, 1 January 2015 the resolution that actually replaced it.
• Dating the National Commission for Minorities to 1978 when the question asks about the statutory body, which came in 1993 under the 1992 Act.

No eligible match among this question's citable set.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Consider the following statements about the Planning Commission of India: 1. It was established by a resolution of the Union Cabinet. 2. It was abolished by an Act of Parliament in 2015. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  • (a)1 only
  • (b)2 only
  • (c)Both 1 and 2
  • (d)Neither 1 nor 2
  Answera — Statement 1 is correct: the Commission was created by a Cabinet resolution of 15 March 1950. Statement 2 is wrong: it was replaced by NITI Aayog through another Cabinet resolution on 1 January 2015, with no Act of Parliament. So (b), (c) and (d) fail.
• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following bodies is not a statutory body?

  • (a)National Commission for Women
  • (b)National Commission for Minorities
  • (c)NITI Aayog
  • (d)National Human Rights Commission
  Answerc — NITI Aayog was set up by a Union Cabinet resolution of 1 January 2015 and has no parent Act.

  The National Commission for Women (Act of 1990), National Commission for Minorities (Act of 1992) and National Human Rights Commission (Act of 1993) each exist under a statute, so (a), (b) and (d) are statutory.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Arrange the following in the chronological order of their constitution: 1. National Human Rights Commission 2. National Commission for Women 3. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights 4. National Commission for Minorities (statutory) Select the correct answer using the code given below.

  • (a)2, 4, 1, 3
  • (b)4, 2, 1, 3
  • (c)2, 1, 4, 3
  • (d)1, 2, 4, 3
  Answera — The NCW was constituted on 31 January 1992, the statutory NCM on 17 May 1993, the NHRC on 12 October 1993 and the NCPCR in March 2007 under the Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005.

  Option (b) puts the NCM before the NCW, (c) puts the NHRC before the NCM, and (d) puts the NHRC first.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In Uttarakhand, which one of the following bodies was set up in 2023 in place of the State Planning Commission?

  • (a)State Finance Commission
  • (b)SETU Aayog
  • (c)Uttarakhand Rural Development and Migration Prevention Commission
  • (d)Uttarakhand Human Rights Commission
  Answerb — In July 2023 the state government wound up the State Planning Commission and the Governor approved SETU, the State Institute for Empowering and Transforming Uttarakhand, modelled on NITI Aayog and chaired by the Chief Minister.

  The State Finance Commission is a constitutional body under Articles 243-I and 243-Y. The Migration Prevention Commission studies out-migration from the hills. The State Human Rights Commission is a statutory body under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. Each of the three exists alongside SETU and did not replace the Planning Commission.