UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Panel seeks enhanced relief, counselling for SC/ST victims
Q1. Consider the following statements comparing the 2026 proposals on atrocity relief with the earlier rounds of revision:
1. The 2026 proposals seek changes in the subordinate legislation framed under the Act, whereas the parent Act itself was last amended in 2018.
2. The relief scale as last revised in 2016 ranged between about ₹85,000 and ₹8.25 lakh, roughly a ten per cent rise over the scale it replaced.
3. The 2026 report was submitted by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, which confined itself to the question of relief amounts.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The 2026 proposals seek changes in the subordinate legislation framed under the Act, whereas the parent Act itself was last amended in 2018.
- The relief scale as last revised in 2016 ranged between about ₹85,000 and ₹8.25 lakh, roughly a ten per cent rise over the scale it replaced.
- The 2026 report was submitted by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, which confined itself to the question of relief amounts.
- A. 1 only
- B. 1 and 2 only
- C. 2 and 3 only
- D. 1, 2 and 3
Q2. For the purpose of speedy trial under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, a State Government notifies a Court of Session for each district as a Special Court only after obtaining the concurrence of which one of the following?
- A. The Chief Justice of India, whose concurrence is mandatory for every State alike
- B. The Governor of the State, acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers
- C. The Chief Justice of the High Court concerned
- D. The Union Ministry of Law and Justice, through the Department of Justice
Q3. Under Rule 12 of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules, 1995, the component of immediate relief that the District Magistrate arranges otherwise than as a money payment consists of which one of the following?
- A. Allotment of agricultural land and a house site to the affected family, in substitution of the scheduled money payment
- B. Food, water, clothing, shelter, medical aid and transport facilities for the affected persons
- C. Compassionate appointment of a dependant to a government post, together with a monthly pension for the family
- D. Free legal aid and travelling and maintenance allowance for attending the proceedings of the trial
Q4. The Centrally Sponsored Scheme that funds SC/ST protection cells, incentives for inter-caste marriage, awareness generation and legal aid under the PCR Act, 1955 and the PoA Act, 1989 is operationalised on the ground principally through which one of the following?
- A. District Legal Services Authorities functioning under the National Legal Services Authority
- B. The National Commissions for Scheduled Castes and for Scheduled Tribes, acting jointly
- C. State Governments and Union Territory Administrations, aided by central assistance
- D. State police units, supervised for this purpose by the Ministry of Home Affairs
Q5. The amending Act that created the offences of garlanding with footwear, forced manual scavenging and dedication of women as devadasi under the atrocities law was brought into force with effect from which one of the following dates?
- A. 31 March 1995
- B. 26 January 2016
- C. 14 April 2016
- D. 20 August 2018
Q6. The Constitution provides that the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, while investigating a matter or inquiring into a complaint, shall have certain powers. These powers are best understood in which one of the following senses?
- A. Those of a civil court trying a suit, extending to summoning persons on oath and requisitioning any public record
- B. Those of a criminal court, enabling it to take cognizance of and try offences committed against Scheduled Tribes
- C. Those of a commission of inquiry, available only when the President specially authorises it for a notified period
- D. Those of an appellate authority, its findings being executable against a State Government as a decree of court