Q. The Ninth Schedule was introduced in the Constitution of India during the prime ministership of (UPSC Prelims 2019)
Answer: Jawaharlal Nehru
Notes: The correct answer is [A] Jawaharlal Nehru. The Ninth Schedule was added to the Constitution of India to protect land reform and other laws from being challenged in the courts on the grounds of violating Fundamental Rights.

• Origin (First Amendment): The Ninth Schedule was introduced by the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, during the tenure of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
• Purpose: It was created to circumvent judicial hurdles faced by land reform legislation, specifically the abolition of the Zamindari system. Article 31B was inserted along with the schedule to provide a "protective umbrella" to laws included within it.
• Article 31B: This article specifies that none of the acts or regulations mentioned in the Ninth Schedule shall be deemed void on the ground that they are inconsistent with any Fundamental Rights.
• Evolution of the Schedule: While it initially contained only 13 acts related to land reforms, it has grown over the decades to include more than 280 laws covering various subjects like reservation and trade.
• Judicial Review (I.R. Coelho Case): In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in the I.R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu case that laws placed in the Ninth Schedule after April 24, 1973 (the date of the Kesavananda Bharati judgment), are open to judicial review if they violate the "Basic Structure" of the Constitution.

Historically, the creation of this schedule marked the first major confrontation between the Executive/Legislature and the Judiciary regarding the scope of the power to amend the Constitution.