Question

‘Privy Purse’ was related to whom in the Post-Independence period ?
1. Landlords
2. Former kings
3. Industrialists
4. Indio planters

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 2 : Former kings

The correct answer is Former kings.

• A privy purse was a payment made to the ruling families of former princely states in India as part of their agreements to first unite with India after India's independence in 1947, and then to merge their states in 1949, thus ending their ruling privileges.
• The royal families continued to receive privy purses until the 26th Amendment, which repealed all their privileges and allowances from the federal government and was enacted after a two-year legal battle.
• In some cases, privy purses were restored after a lengthy legal fight for persons who had exercised ruling powers prior to 1947; HH Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi's allowance was reinstated and lasted until her death in 1985.
• Several factors influenced the size of the privy purses. Minor feudatories of the former princely states were given whatever allowances the princely governments could afford.
• The privy purses for the 565 princely states ranged from $5,000 to millions of dollars a year.
• In 1970, a motion to abolish the privy purses and formalize the titles was introduced in Parliament and passed in the Lok Sabha, but failed by one vote in the Rajya Sabha to achieve the requisite two-thirds majority, with 149 voting in favor and 75 votings against.