• The 89th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2003 had bifurcated the combined National Commission for SCs and STs into two separate bodies under articles 338 and 338-A respectively.
• The conditions of service and tenure of office of the members of commissions are determined by the President.

Adjournment: It only terminates a sitting and not a session of the House. It is done by presiding officer of the House.

Prorogation: It not only terminates a sitting but also a session of the House. It is done by the president of India.

Adjournment sine die means terminating a sitting of the House for an indefinite period. In other words, when the House is adjourned without naming a day for reassembly, it is called adjournment sine die.

Prorogation means the termination of a session of the House by an order made by the President under article 85(2)(a) of the Constitution. Generally, the President issues a notice for the session's prorogation a few days after the House is adjourned sine die by the presiding officer of the House.

All of the above are competent authorities when it comes to prorogue the house which is in the session. Hence, D is the correct answer.

Non-votable charges are called Charged Expenditures; and no voting takes place for the amount involved in these expenditures for their withdrawal from Consolidated Fund of India. This means that they have to be paid in any case, whether the budget is passed or not passed. Following are the charged expenditures
Salary and Allowances of the President, Speaker / Deputy speaker of Lok Sabha, Chairman/ Deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha, Salaries and Allowances of Supreme Court judges, Pensions of Supreme Court as well as High Court Judges, Salaries and Allowances of CAG, Lok Pal
Only Pensions of the judges of high courts are non- votable. Pension, Salaries and allowances of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India and not the Attorney General of India is non-votable.

The budget consists of two types of Expenditure- the expenditure charged upon the Consolidated Fund of India.

The Charged expenditure is non-votable Parliament that is; the Parliament can discuss it while the other type must be voted by the Parliament.

• The Advocate-General for the State.

• Article 165: Advocate-General for the State

1. The Governor of each State shall appoint a person who is qualified to be appointed a Judge of a High Court to be Advocate-General for the State.

2. It shall be the duty of the Advocate-General to give advice to the Government of the State upon such legal matters, and to perform such other duties of a legal character, as may from time to time be referred or assigned to him by the Governor, and to discharge the functions conferred on him by or under this Constitution or any other law for the time being in force.

3. The Advocate-General shall hold office during the pleasure of the Governor, and shall receive such remuneration as the Governor may determine.

The President summons a joint sitting of both the Houses of Parliament. Further, he also has the power to summon or prorogue the Parliament and dissolve the Lok Sabha, Hence statement 1 is not correct:

He can make regulations for the peace, progress and good government of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu and Puducherry. Hence statement 2 is not correct.

The financial Powers and Functions of the President are:
a) Money bills can be introduced in the Parliament only with his prior recommendation.
b) He causes to be laid before the Parliament the annual financial statement (i.e., the Union Budget).
c) No demand for a grant can be made except on his recommendation.
d) He can make advances out of the contingency fund of India to meet any unforeseen expenditure.
e) He constitutes a finance commission every five years to recommend the distribution of revenues between the Centre and the states.

Removal of Vice President:

* He can also be removed from the office before the completion of his term.

* No ground has been mentioned in the Constitution for his removal.

* A formal impeachment is not required for his removal.

* Resolution for removal can be introduced only in the Rajya Sabha and not in the Lok Sabha, with at least 14 days’ advance notice has been given.

* Resolution for removal should be passed in the Rajya Sabha by an effective majority (the majority of all the then members of the Rajya Sabha) and in the Lok Sabha by a simple majority.

* In such cases, when a temporary vacancy in the office of the Vice President is created, the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha takes over the role of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

* In other words, the role of the Vice President is to assist the President in being the nominal head of the Republic of India. However, one must remember that the office of the President and the Vice President cannot be combined in one person, as per the Constitution of India.

State public service commission (SPSC) is like the Union public service commission (UPSC) it runs parallel to each other, UPSC in Centre and SPSC in all states of India. SPSC consists of the chairman and other members, all are appointed by the governor for a term of 6 years or up to the age of 62, whichever is earlier. The members can resign in between the term by giving his resignation to the governor.

Ashish Kumar Chauhan has been appointed as the next Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Stock Exchange (NSE) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) clearing his appointment. He is currently working as a MD & CEO of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). His second five-year tenure at BSE ends in November. Mr Chauhan will succeed Vikram Limaye whose five-year term will end on 16th July 2022.

Extra Points:

● Ashish Kumar Chauhan is known as the “Father of India’s Financial Derivatives”.