RAS question
Article 48A, directing the State to protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wildlife, was added by which Amendment?
Correct answer: (C) 42nd Amendment, 1976.
Article 48A, which directs the State to protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wildlife, was inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976.
Explanation
Article 48A belongs to Part IV of the Constitution, the Directive Principles of State Policy. The official Constitution text states that Article 48A requires the State to endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the country’s forests and wildlife, and its footnote records that it was inserted by the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976. The same amendment also inserted Article 51A, whose clause (g) makes protection and improvement of the natural environment, including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, a Fundamental Duty. The explanation’s wider point is therefore constitutional: the Forty-second Amendment placed environmental protection both as a state directive and as a citizen duty, while also moving forests and wildlife into the Concurrent List.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The 73rd Amendment, 1992 does not match the official insertion note under Article 48A, which names the Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976.
- (B) The 44th Amendment, 1978 is not the amendment cited in the official Article 48A footnote, so it cannot be the source of this environmental Directive Principle.
- (D) The 86th Amendment, 2002 is ruled out because the official Constitution text attributes Article 48A’s insertion to the Forty-second Amendment Act, 1976.
Concept
This tests the Directive Principles of State Policy and their linkage with Fundamental Duties after the Forty-second Amendment. RAS repeatedly asks this because environment, forests and wildlife sit at the intersection of constitutional governance and public policy.