RAS question
The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes was created by separating it from the combined SC/ST Commission through which Amendment?
Correct answer: (C) 89th Amendment.
The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes was created by the Constitution (89th Amendment) Act, 2003, which separated it from the earlier combined SC/ST Commission.
Explanation
The Constitution (89th Amendment) Act, 2003 is the key because it did not merely rename the earlier body; it changed the constitutional arrangement. The combined National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, created under Article 338 by the 65th Amendment, was bifurcated into two separate commissions. PIB states that Article 338 was amended and a new Article 338A was inserted. After that change, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes continued under Article 338, while the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes was placed under Article 338A. That is why the answer is the 89th Amendment, not the earlier 65th Amendment that had created the combined commission.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The 65th Amendment relates to the earlier combined National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under Article 338, not the later separation of NCST into Article 338A.
- (B) The 103rd Amendment did not create NCST by separating the combined SC/ST Commission; that separation came through the Constitution (89th Amendment) Act, 2003.
- (D) The 102nd Amendment is not the amendment that amended Article 338 and inserted Article 338A for the separate National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
Concept
This tests constitutional bodies under Articles 338 and 338A, especially how amendments reorganised commissions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It recurs in RAS because polity questions often ask candidates to match constitutional institutions with their amendment history and article numbers.