RAS question
The 91st Amendment Act (2003) deals with:
Correct answer: (A) Limiting the Council of Ministers to 15% of Lok Sabha strength.
The Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003 limits the Union Council of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, to fifteen percent of the total strength of the Lok Sabha.
Explanation
The 91st Amendment is tested because it links two anti-defection-era reforms: a numerical cap on ministerial offices and tighter party-switching rules. The official Constitution text shows that Article 75(1A), inserted by the Constitution (Ninety-first Amendment) Act, 2003, says the total number of Ministers, including the Prime Minister, in the Council of Ministers cannot exceed fifteen percent of the House of the People. The same amendment is also tied to the State-level ministerial cap in Article 164 and to the Tenth Schedule change that removed the earlier split provision. So option A captures the central institutional control introduced by the amendment: limiting the size of ministries to reduce incentive-driven defections and oversized governments.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Right to Education is not the 91st Amendment issue; it belongs to the 86th Amendment instead.
- (C) GST implementation is unrelated to the 91st Amendment; it belongs to the 101st Amendment.
- (D) Panchayati Raj is not covered by the 91st Amendment; it belongs under the 73rd Amendment.
Concept
This tests constitutional amendments related to executive accountability and the anti-defection framework. It recurs in RAS because amendment numbers, institutional limits, and anti-defection provisions are frequent polity traps.