RAS question
Which Article of the Constitution empowers the President to proclaim a Financial Emergency?
Correct answer: (D) Article 360.
Article 360 of the Constitution empowers the President to proclaim a Financial Emergency when the financial stability or credit of India, or any part of its territory, is threatened.
Explanation
Article 360 is the specific Financial Emergency provision in Part XVIII of the Constitution. The official text says that if the President is satisfied that a situation has arisen in which the financial stability or credit of India, or of any part of its territory, is threatened, the President may make a proclamation declaring that position. This is why Article 360, not the other emergency-related options listed, is the answer. The key phrase for RAS is not merely "Emergency" but "financial stability or credit"; it points directly to Article 360. An important exam fact is that a Financial Emergency has never been proclaimed so far.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Article 356 is not the provision identified for a threat to India's financial stability or credit; the official Financial Emergency text is under Article 360.
- (B) Article 365 does not match the constitutional wording for proclaiming a Financial Emergency, which is expressly placed in Article 360.
- (C) Article 352 is a different emergency article, while the Financial Emergency trigger based on financial stability or credit is stated in Article 360.
Concept
This tests Part XVIII, Emergency Provisions, with focus on matching each type of emergency to its constitutional article. It recurs in RAS because Article 352, Article 356 and Article 360 are easy to confuse in one-line polity questions.