UPSC Prelims 2015 · Question 51 of 98
UPSC Prelims 2015 question on Cabinet Mission Plan
- ExamUPSC CSE
- Year2015
- PaperGeneral Studies Paper I
- SubjectModern History
- TopicConstitutional Development
- DifficultyHard
- TypeStatement
With reference to the Cabinet Mission, which of the following statements is/are correct?
1. It recommended a federal government.
2. It enlarged the powers of the Indian courts.
3. It provided for more Indians in the ICS.
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Show answer
Answer: A. 1 only
Verdict
The answer is 1 only. The Cabinet Mission recommended a federal arrangement, but it did not enlarge the powers of Indian courts or provide for more Indians in the ICS.
Analysis
Statement 1 is CORRECT. The Mission proposed a loose three tier confederation in which India remained united with a weak central government controlling only foreign affairs, defence and communications, while the provinces were grouped into Sections A, B and C for the purpose of electing the constituent assembly, with intermediate level executives and legislatures of their own. Statements 2 and 3 are INCORRECT. Judicial powers and civil service composition were not the Mission's subject matter; its brief was the constitutional framework for the transfer of power.
Source
NCERT, Themes in Indian History Part III, page 389.
How to crack it
Identify what the body was actually set up to do, then reject every statement outside that remit. The Cabinet Mission of 1946 was a constitution making exercise, so proposals about courts and services belong to earlier reform Acts rather than to it. This remit test disposes of two statements without any specific knowledge. Keep the grouping scheme in mind as the Mission's signature feature, because it is the element the whole plan later foundered on.