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Question 13 of 78 · Union Executive: President, VP & PM
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Who said in the Constituent Assembly that 'collective responsibility can be achieved only through the instrumentality of the Prime Minister'?

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Answer: Option A — Dr. B. R. Ambedkar

Detailed Solution

  • R. Ambedkar. In the Constituent Assembly, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar said that "collective responsibility can be achieved only through the instrumentality of the Prime Minister".

What Ambedkar meant:

  • In a parliamentary system, the Council of Ministers works as a team, and is collectively responsible to the lower house of the legislature (the Lok Sabha).
  • The Prime Minister holds this team together.
  • The Prime Minister chooses the ministers, distributes portfolios among them, and can ask any minister to resign.
  • If the Prime Minister resigns or dies, the whole Council of Ministers is dissolved.
  • So, without the Prime Minister at the centre, collective responsibility would not work.
  • Ambedkar also said that the Prime Minister is the "keystone of the arch of the Cabinet".

Collective responsibility:

  • The Council of Ministers is collectively responsible to the Lok Sabha.
  • This means that all ministers stand or fall together; a decision of the Cabinet binds every minister, even if he or she disagreed in private.
  • If the Lok Sabha passes a vote of no confidence against the Council of Ministers, all the ministers, including those from the Rajya Sabha, must resign.

Individual responsibility:

Ministers also hold office during the pleasure of the President, which means the President can remove a minister on the advice of the Prime Minister.

About Dr. B. R. Ambedkar:

  • He was born on 14 April 1891 at Mhow, in present-day Madhya Pradesh.
  • He was the first Law Minister of independent India.
  • He fought against untouchability and caste discrimination throughout his life.
  • He embraced Buddhism in 1956, along with lakhs of his followers.
  • He was awarded the Bharat Ratna posthumously in 1990.
  • His birthday, 14 April, is celebrated as Ambedkar Jayanti.

Why not the other options?

  • ✗Nehru, Patel and Gopalaswami Ayyangar were members of the Constituent Assembly, but this statement was made by Ambedkar.

Quick tip

Remember: "Collective responsibility can be achieved only through the instrumentality of the Prime Minister" = Dr. B. R. Ambedkar; PM = "keystone of the Cabinet arch".

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Union Executive: President, VP & PM — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Union Executive: President, VP & PM, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers the Union Executive: the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, and the Attorney General. It includes their election or appointment, qualifications, powers, removal, and the relationship between the President and the Council of Ministers. Common questions cover the electoral college that elects the President, impeachment under Article 61, the President's ordinance-making power (Article 123) and pardoning power (Article 72), and the fact that the Vice-President is the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. Lists of past Presidents and Prime Ministers are also tested. Practise the Union Executive questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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