Unit VIII · Topic 9Group rights – Women, children, persons with disabilities, elderly persons, minorities and weaker sections – Previous Year Questions

Ans. (d) : International Women's Day is celebrated every year on 8th March.

Ans. (b) : Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979. On 18 December 1979, the General Assembly adopted this Convention. This Convention came into force in 1981. It contains 30 articles. This Convention is also called the International Bill of Rights of Women. More than 180 countries are parties to this Convention.

Note - On 7 November 1967, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Ans. (b) : Samatha v. State of Andhra Pradesh A. I. R. 1997 S. C. case relates to the transfer of tribal lands by Government to non-tribal people.

Ans. (a) : In 1951, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established by the General Assembly. World Refugee Day is observed on 20 June.

Ans. (c) : Gurupadaswamy Committee 1979 was constituted to look into the working conditions of children.

Ans. (d) : The right to nationality, the right to marry and the right to start a family are inherent rights (human rights).

Ans. (d) : Refugee law is a part of human rights law, this is clear in Article 14(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. According to this Article, every person of the world has the right to seek and enjoy asylum in other countries to escape persecution.

Refugee means a person who is outside his country due to the strong apprehension of being persecuted on the basis of his caste, religion, citizenship, membership of any specific social class or his political belief and is therefore unable to return to his country or is unwilling to return there due to the fear and apprehension of persecution."

Ans. (b) : World Water Institute had suggested to impose environmental tax.

Ans. (c) : Section (3) of the Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 provides for punishment for promoting religious disability. Under this section, untouchability has been made punishable on religious grounds. By this, a person can be punished with imprisonment from one month to 6 months and a fine from Rs. 100 to Rs. 500 for preventing him from going to ghats, ponds or bathing places on religious grounds.

Ans. (d) : Matched list with regard to Geneva Convention:

Categories of prisoners to be treated as prisoners of war - Article 4

Prisoners of war to be treated humanely - Article 13

No physical or mental torture of any kind - Article 17

Escape of prisoners of war connection of factors - Article 91

Ans. (d) : The case of State of Kerala v. N.M. Thomas relates to backward class. The provision of Article 15 of the Indian Constitution relates to backward class. This is an important decision on the question of reservation, as a result of which the precedent rule of Devdas case and the rule of M.R. Balaji case that the maximum reservation will be 50% on the question was challenged. Later, in the Indra Sawhney case, the decision of Balaji was again applied and the precedent rule of Devdas case was also accepted with certain conditions.

Ans. (c) : According to the Rehabilitation Act, 2013, the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers and their rehabilitation has the following objectives-

(i) Prohibition of employment as manual scavengers

(ii) Rehabilitation of manual scavengers

(iii) Rehabilitation of families of manual scavengers

Ans. (b) : The initial objective of establishing UNICEF was to provide food and health services to the children of the nations destroyed in the Second World War. It was established by the UN General Assembly on 11 December 1946. Headquarters is in New York.

Ans. (c) : The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People was adopted by the General Assembly on 13 September 2007.

Ans. (a) : Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 clarifies that in those countries where there are ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities, the persons belonging to these communities shall not be deprived of the right to enjoy their own culture, profess and practice their own religion, or use their own language with other members of their group. Thus, Article 27 grants recognition to minority rights.

Ans. (c) : The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees was adopted by the United Nations on 28 July 1951 at Geneva and came into force on 22 April 1954.

Ans. (a) : Stockholm Conference adopted the Directive Principles on Environment 1972 in which Principle (4) explained the Polluter Pays Principle, according to which this principle means that the polluter shall bear the costs incurred in adopting measures to ensure that the environment is not in an acceptable condition by the public authorities.

According to this principle-

(1) Preventive measures are preferable to ceremonial measures.

(2) Environmental damage should be proved at the source level

(3) Payment from polluter

Ans. (c) : The correct chronological order of the Acts is as follows-

1. Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956

2. Maternity Benefit Act 1961

3. Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971

4. Equal Remuneration Act 1976.

Answer: (c) C, A, B, D

Answer: (c) (A)-(I), (B)-(III), (C)-(II), (D)-(IV)

Answer: (b) C, E, B, D, A

Explanation: The correct chronological order is:

1. UN Principles for Older Persons (1991)

2. UN Declaration on Minorities (1992)

3. Optional Protocol to CEDAW (1999)

4. UNCRPD (2006)

5. RPwD Act (India, 2016)

Passage for June 2025 Q91–Q95

Read the following passage and answer the questions

Under English Law, 'Transsexual' cannot marry a partner of his or her original sex because sex was declared at birth and could not be changed by artificial intervention. Marriage could be entered into by one man and women only. In 2002, European Court of Human Rights declared that United Kingdom was in breach of Articles 8 and 12 of European Convention for failing to recognize transsexual's new gender. House of Lords declared in case of Bellinger v/s Bellinger that S 11 (c) of Matrimonial Causes Act, 1973 was incompatible with the Convention. The Legislature addressed this situation with Gender Recognition Act, 2004. This provided that transsexual over the age of 18 fulfilling medical criterion, living in other gender, or have changed their gender under law of an approved country can apply for gender recognition certificate. This will provide legal status necessary for acquired gender to marry a partner of transsexual's former sex. However, where the respondent was person of acquired gender prior to marriage, such a marriage is still voidable

Answer: (d) 2004

Explanation: The passage states that the Legislature addressed the situation with the Gender Recognition Act, 2004.

Answer: (a) Article 8 and 12

Explanation: The European Court of Human Rights declared that failing to recognize the new gender violated Articles 8 (Right to Privacy) and 12 (Right to Marry).

Answer: (a) Under traditional notion, transsexuals enjoyed full legal status

Explanation: Traditional English law did not provide full legal status to transsexuals, especially concerning marriage rights.

Answer: (d) Gender Recognition Certificate

Explanation: As per the passage, this certificate granted legal recognition to the acquired gender.

Answer: (a) 11(c)

Explanation: Section 11(c) was found incompatible with the European Convention in the case of Bellinger v. Bellinger.

Answer: (d) General Obligations of the refugees towards the country in which he finds himself

Explanation: Article 2 of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951 specifically deals with "General obligations" owed by the refugee:

"Every refugee has duties to the country in which he finds himself, which require in particular that he conform to its laws and regulations as well as to measures taken for the maintenance of public order." Thus, while the Convention largely mandates the rights and protections that States must extend to refugees, Article 2 outlines the reciprocal obligations of the refugee to obey the national laws and public order of the host country.