RAS question
Which of the following is a Concurrent List subject?
Correct answer: (B) Criminal law, education, forests, marriage and divorce, trade unions.
Criminal law, criminal procedure, education, forests, marriage and divorce, and trade unions are Concurrent List subjects in India's constitutional distribution of legislative powers.
Explanation
The Concurrent List covers subjects on which both the Union Government and State Governments can make laws. NCERT's federalism chapter lists education, forest, trade unions and marriage among Concurrent List subjects, and explains that if Union and State laws conflict on such subjects, the Union law prevails. Criminal law and procedure, bankruptcy and population control are also Concurrent List subjects, and education and forests were moved from the State List by the 42nd Amendment. Option B is therefore the only option that gives a cluster of Concurrent List subjects rather than mixing in Union List or State List fields.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) It is too narrow: criminal law and procedure are Concurrent List subjects, but the Concurrent List also includes education, forests, marriage and divorce, and trade unions.
- (C) Police and agriculture are State List subjects in NCERT's classification, so this group cannot be treated as the Concurrent List.
- (D) Defence and foreign affairs are Union List subjects in NCERT's classification, so this group belongs outside the Concurrent List.
Concept
This tests the federal division of legislative powers through the Union, State and Concurrent Lists. RAS repeats this area because many governance questions turn on which level of government can legislate on a subject.