UPPSC 2022 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 126 of 150

Correct — D, Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002. This amendment, which received presidential assent on 12 December 2002, did three things at once and they are best learnt together. It inserted Article 21A into Part III: 'The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine' — that insertion into Part III is what makes education a Fundamental Right and is what this question is asking about. It substituted Article 45 in the Directive Principles, which had previously carried the education promise, so that the Directive now reads: 'The State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years.' And it added Article 51A(k), a new Fundamental Duty on a parent or guardian to 'provide opportunities for education to his child or, as the case may be, ward between the age of six and fourteen years.' Article 21A was drafted to operate through an enabling law, and that law is the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 — passed by Parliament on 4 August 2009, assented on 26 August 2009, and brought into force across most of India on 1 April 2010, with its well-known requirement that private schools reserve a quarter of their seats for children from disadvantaged groups. So the constitutional amendment is 2002 and the operative statute is 2009-10; questions in this area often turn on keeping those two dates apart.

• (a)Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act, 2005 — The best-laid trap in the set, because the number is genuinely part of this story — the 86th Amendment was introduced in Parliament as the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Bill, 2002, so 'Ninety-third' and 'education' really do belong to the same episode. But the Act numbered 93rd is a different measure altogether: it inserted Article 15(5), enabling special provision for socially and educationally backward classes and for SCs and STs in admission to educational institutions including private aided and unaided ones, with minority institutions under Article 30(1) exempted. It received assent on 20 January 2006 and led to the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006. It concerns reservation in education, not a right to education.
• (b)Constitution (71st Amendment) Act, 1992 — The 71st Amendment has nothing to do with education. It amended the Eighth Schedule, adding Konkani, Manipuri (Meitei) and Nepali to the list of scheduled languages and taking the total from fifteen to eighteen. It was assented to and came into force on 31 August 1992.
• (c)Constitution (103rd Amendment) Act, 2019 — The 103rd Amendment touches education but does not create a right to it. It amended Articles 15 and 16 to provide a 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections in educational institutions — central and private, minority institutions excepted — and in central government employment. It received assent on 12 January 2019 and took effect on 14 January 2019.

The right to education began life in the Directive Principles, not in the Fundamental Rights. The original Article 45 directed the State to endeavour to provide free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of fourteen within ten years of the Constitution's commencement — a goal, not an enforceable right. The 86th Amendment of 2002 converted the substance of that promise into Article 21A, placing it in Part III and so making it enforceable through the writ jurisdiction, while re-writing Article 45 to cover the age group the new right left out: children below six. The same amendment balanced the new State obligation with a new citizen duty under Article 51A(k). Because Article 21A said 'in such manner as the State may, by law, determine', it needed enabling legislation, which arrived as the RTE Act, 2009 and came into force on 1 April 2010.

Amendment-number questions are decided by association, so build two or three firm hooks for each number rather than trying to memorise a table. For this set: 71st equals languages, 86th equals education, 93rd equals reservation in education, 103rd equals the EWS quota. The trap here is subtler than usual, because the 86th Amendment was numbered 93rd as a Bill — UPSC set precisely that point in 2002, asking what the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Bill dealt with, and the answer then was free and compulsory education. A candidate who has learnt that old question and not updated it will pick option (a) here. The rule that resolves it: Bills are numbered when introduced and Acts when enacted, and the two numbers diverge whenever other amendments are passed in between. Always read whether the option says Bill or Act.

• The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002 received presidential assent on 12 December 2002 and was introduced as the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Bill, 2002.
• It inserted Article 21A (free and compulsory education for children aged six to fourteen), substituted Article 45 (early childhood care and education for children below six) and added Article 51A(k) (fundamental duty of parents and guardians).
• The enabling law is the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 — passed 4 August 2009, assented 26 August 2009, in force from 1 April 2010 — which requires private schools to reserve 25 per cent of seats for disadvantaged children.
• The Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act, 2005, assented 20 January 2006, inserted Article 15(5) on reservation in admissions to educational institutions including private unaided ones, exempting minority institutions under Article 30(1).
• The 71st Amendment, 1992 added Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali to the Eighth Schedule; the 103rd Amendment, 2019 amended Articles 15 and 16 to create the 10 per cent EWS reservation.

• Choosing the 93rd Amendment because the education amendment was numbered 93rd as a Bill. The Act that made education a Fundamental Right is the 86th; the 93rd Act is about reservation in admissions.
• Confusing the amendment year with the operative year. The constitutional change is 2002; the RTE Act is 2009 and came into force on 1 April 2010.
• Assuming Article 21A covers all school-age children. It runs from six to fourteen; children below six are covered by the redrafted Article 45, which remains a Directive Principle and is not enforceable.

UPPSC sets this as a single-line amendment-number question or as a four-row match of amendments to their years, and it has used both forms in recent papers. UPSC frames it around consequences instead — which right an amendment created, which article it inserted, or which judicial interpretation it was meant to overcome — so learn the article numbers and the content, not just the amendment number.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act, 2002 did all of the following EXCEPT

  • (a)insert Article 21A making education a Fundamental Right for children aged six to fourteen
  • (b)substitute Article 45 to cover early childhood care and education for children below six
  • (c)add a Fundamental Duty on parents and guardians under Article 51A(k)
  • (d)provide for reservation in admission to private unaided educational institutions

  Answer(d) provide for reservation in admission to private unaided educational institutions — that came from Article 15(5), inserted by the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Act, 2005.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 came into force on

  • (a)26 August 2009
  • (b)1 April 2010
  • (c)12 December 2002
  • (d)26 January 2010

  Answer(b) 1 April 2010 — the Act was passed on 4 August 2009 and assented on 26 August 2009, but it commenced across most of India on 1 April 2010.