UPSC Prelims 2021— Question 3

On 26 January 1950 the Constitution came into force and India became a sovereign democratic republic. The words 'socialist' and 'secular' were added to the Preamble by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment in 1976. Therefore the later expression 'Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic' cannot describe India's exact constitutional status on the commencement date. The final answer-key position for Set C identifies option B as the correct option. Option A — A Democratic Republic — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. Option B — A Sovereign Democratic Republic — is correct because it is the alternative that matches the constitutional, historical, geographical, scientific or economic principle established above. Option C — A Sovereign Secular Democratic Republic — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. Option D — A Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic — is not correct because it does not satisfy the specific condition tested in the question; it represents an alternative that is contradicted, incomplete, or less precise than the accepted answer. For PYQ interpretation, the distinction between the correct alternative and merely related facts is important. UPSC often places plausible distractors beside the precise statement that matches the underlying rule, chronology, definition or empirical relationship. The answer should therefore be read against the exact wording of the question rather than against a broadly related fact.