RAS question
The President's power to proclaim an Emergency under Article 352 is now subject to the written advice of:
Correct answer: (D) The Union Cabinet (not merely the Prime Minister).
Under Article 352(3), the President may proclaim a National Emergency only after the Union Cabinet's decision to issue it has been communicated to the President in writing.
Explanation
Article 352 deals with the Proclamation of Emergency when the security of India, or any part of its territory, is threatened by war, external aggression or armed rebellion. The key safeguard is clause (3): the President cannot issue a proclamation under Article 352(1), or vary such a proclamation, unless the Union Cabinet's decision that it may be issued has been communicated in writing. The text defines the Union Cabinet as the Prime Minister and other Cabinet-rank Ministers appointed under Article 75. This matches the 44th Amendment safeguard noted in the explanation: the advice must come from the Cabinet as a collective body, not merely from the Prime Minister, to avoid a repeat of the 1975 pattern.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) The Rajya Sabha Chairman has no Article 352(3) role in advising the President to issue or vary an Emergency proclamation.
- (B) The Chief Justice of India is not the written-advice authority under Article 352(3), which assigns that safeguard to the Union Cabinet.
- (C) The Lok Sabha Speaker is connected with the House, but Article 352(3) requires written communication of the Union Cabinet's decision, not the Speaker's advice.
Concept
This tests emergency provisions and the post-44th Amendment checks on executive power. It recurs in RAS because Article 352 links constitutional text with the Emergency experience and the Cabinet-responsibility safeguard.