Question

Under the scheme of the Constitution of India, once a Proclamation under Article 352 is in operation, Parliament may legislate on matters in the State List by virtue of:

• A. Article 356
• B. Article 250
• C. Article 249
• D. Article 360

Hint:

Remember the distinction:

• Article 249 = Rajya Sabha Resolution.

• Article 250 = National Emergency.

• Article 356 = President's Rule.

• Article 360 = Financial Emergency.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

This question is really about matching a trigger, an Article 352 Proclamation, to the specific constitutional provision that responds to that trigger, rather than to a provision that merely resembles it.

1. Identify the trigger in the question: the question specifies that a Proclamation under Article 352 is already in operation, this is a National Emergency.
2. Find the provision tied to that exact trigger: Article 250 is the provision whose text is expressly conditioned on a Proclamation of Emergency being in operation, it then extends Parliament's legislative power to State List matters for that period.
3. Distinguish the look-alike provision: Article 249 also lets Parliament touch State List matters, but its trigger is completely different, a Rajya Sabha resolution by a two-thirds majority declaring national interest, with no requirement that any Article 352 Emergency be in force at all.
4. Rule out unrelated emergency provisions: Article 356 responds to breakdown of constitutional machinery in a State, and Article 360 responds to a threat to financial stability, neither is triggered by an Article 352 Proclamation.

Since the question's trigger is expressly a Proclamation under Article 352, and only Article 250 is textually keyed to that exact trigger, that is the answer.

The correct answer is Article 250.

Answer 2

The Indian Constitution provides for three distinct kinds of emergencies, and grouping the options by which emergency they belong to quickly narrows down the field before even reaching the legislative-power question.

1. Article 360, Financial Emergency: this belongs to a different category of emergency altogether, triggered by a threat to India's financial stability or credit, and it does not itself hand State List subjects to Parliament.
2. Article 356, State Emergency: this belongs to yet another category, a breakdown of constitutional machinery within a single State, but this is a State-specific emergency, not the National Emergency the question describes under Article 352.
3. Article 249, no emergency at all: this provision does not depend on any emergency being proclaimed, it operates purely through a Rajya Sabha resolution passed in the national interest, so it cannot be by virtue of an Article 352 Proclamation, since it does not need one to begin with.
4. Article 250, the National Emergency provision: once the Financial Emergency Article, the State Emergency Article, and the no-emergency-needed Article are all eliminated as belonging to the wrong category, only the Article specifically activated by a National Emergency under Article 352 remains, and that is Article 250, which extends Parliament's power to State List subjects for the duration of the Proclamation.

Sorting the options by which type of emergency, or none, each one is tied to leaves only Article 250 correctly matched to the National Emergency under Article 352 described in the question.

So the correct answer is Article 250.