Question

Which article gave power to the central government?
A. 256
B. 289
C. 356
D. 315

Answer 1

Hint: The article that gave power to the central government, also provided the Indian constitution with some amount of unitary character.

Complete Step by Step answer:
The provisions of the state emergency are contained in Article 368 of the constitution and gave power to the central government. It empowers the President to take over the administration of any state in the event of a breakdown of ‘constitutional machinery’ in the state. The satisfaction of the President is actually the satisfaction of the Union Cabinet. State emergency under article 368 remains in force for a period of six months unless its extension is approved by the Parliament.A recent case of state emergency is in the state of Uttarakhand on 27th March 2016 the President of India proclaimed state emergency on reports of Uttarakhand assembly Speaker Govind Kunjwal disqualifying nine rebels Congress MLAs on grounds of proven misbehaviour and the then President Pranab Mukherjee dismissed the Congress government head by Harish Rawat.
Now let us examine the options -
Option A - Article 256 of the Indian Constitution deals with the obligation of both the states and the Union. Every state shall exercise its executive powers in conformity with the laws established by the Parliament.
Option B - Article 289 of the Indian Constitution deals with the exemption of property and income of a particular state from Union taxation.
Option C - Article 356 of the Constitution gave power to the central government to take over a state’s constitutional machinery in case of a failure. The President can declare a constitutional emergency in the event of a breakdown of ‘constitutional machinery’ in the state.
Option D - Article 315 of the Indian Constitution deals with the Public Service Commission for the States and also for the Union.

Thus, the correct answer is option (C).

Note: The other two types of emergencies exercised by the President are the National Emergency and the Financial Emergency. The provisions of these two emergencies are contained in Article 352 and Article 360 of the Indian Constitution.