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General Studies – 1
Topic: Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues;
Reference: India’s Struggle for Independence by Bipan Chandra.
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 1.
Key Demand of the question:
To examine the various reasons as to why the Congress accepted partition.
Directive:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must look into the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by mentioning about partition of India and widespread anarchy, communal clashes and mayhem caused by it.
Body:
In the first part, mention how the demand for Pakistan began with Muslim League and the identity politics played by it to achieve that end. `
In the next part, examine the reasons for the acceptance of Partition by Indian national Congress which it had vehemently opposed so far. a. One view is that the Congress leaders succumbed to the temptation of power – this has to be critically examined. Failure over the years to I bring the Muslim masses into the nationalist mainstream, failing to check the advancing tide of Muslim communalism, communal riots, possibility of a civil war and a hope to reverse it later.
Conclusion:
Pass a balanced judgement on the acceptance of partition by the Indian national congress.
Introduction:
The partition of India in 1947 is rightly considered as a blot in Indian history. Two streams of arguments exist- as per one the partition could be avoided and as per another it was unavoidable.
Body:
The Partition could not be avoided:
The seeds of Partition were sown long ago.
- Divide and rule policy of Britishers: As early as 1940s, Winston Churchill hoped that Hindu-Muslim antagonism would remain “a bulwark of British rule in India”.
- Failure of Congress to bring Muslims into mainstream. Participation of the community was quite low in almost all the nationalist movements.
- In the 1946 elections, the Congress Party leaders refused to share power with Jinnah, confident that they did not need Muslim support in order to win a majority vote in elections. These attitudes stoked Muslim fears that the secular nationalism was a cover for Hindu dominance.
- Insecurity in minds of Muslims due to steps taken by congress, formation of communal groups like Hindu Mahasabha.
Immediate instances:
- Huge scale violence, massacre. Had the congress leaders not agreed to Partition, we would have had a civil war (with violence in Punjab and Bengal escalating). We would have had more ethnic strife.
- Hurry to exit- It seems the British saw partition along religious lines as the quickest way to exit. The British were eager to divide and quit and the Indian politicians were too eager to enjoy power.
Starting with Nehru other congress leaders like Patel and Rajaji, slowly accepted the idea of Pakistan. Finally, even Gandhi has to relent despite his resistance to the idea of Pakistan.
Reasons for Congress acceptance of partition:
The Congress was only accepting the inevitable due to its failure over the years to bring the Muslim masses into the nationalist mainstream.
- The Congress had failed over the years to bring the Muslim masses into the nationalist mainstream.
- It had also failed to stem the surging waves of Muslim communalism,especially, since 1937.
- Autonomy of Muslim majority provinces was accepted in 1942 at the time of the Cripps Mission.
- Gandhiji in his talks with Jinnah in 1944 went a step further and accepted the right of self-determination of Muslim majority provinces.
- In June 1946, Congress finally conceded the possibility of a separate constituent assembly formed by the Muslim majority provinces(included under the Group B and C of the Cabinet Mission Plan).
- The Congress and League interpreted the Mission plan in their own way, both seeing it as a confirmation of their own stand.
- The Interim Government was formed on 2nd September 1946 with Congress members alone with Nehru as the de facto head.
- This was against the League’s insistence that all settlements be acceptable to it.
- Muslim communal groups provoked communal frenzy in Calcutta on l6 August 1946.
- Hindu groups retaliated in equal measure and the cost was 5000 lives lost.
- The date for British withdrawal from India was fixed as 30th June 1948 and the appointment of a new Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, was announced.
- Official reference to Partition came in early March 1947 when the Congress Working Committee passed a resolution that Punjab and Bengal must be partitioned if the country was divided.
- By June 1947, the Congress leaders had realized that only an immediate transfer of power could check the menace of the communal violence which was spreading quickly due to the Muslim League’s call for Direct Action.
- Congress accepted the partition formula laid in 3rd June Plan of Lord Mountbatten.
- The acceptance of Partition in 1947 was nothing but culmination of the step by step concession granted to the League in its rhetoric of a sovereign Muslim state.
Conclusion:
However, the point of no return was reached a year later when the battle for Pakistan was no longer confined to the ballot box but came to be fought on the streets. Thus, the acceptance of Partition in 1947 was nothing but culmination of the step by step concession granted to the League in its rhetoric of a sovereign Muslim state.
Topic: Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant events, personalities, issues;
Reference: India’s Since Independence by Bipan Chandra.
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 1.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the changes brought about by Land reforms in the Indian agricultural scenario.
Directive:
Comment– here we have to express our knowledge and understanding of the issue and form an overall opinion thereupon.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start by writing about the land reforms that were initiated in the post independent India.
Body:
Address the structural and institutional changes with respect to the above mention factors.
Elaborate upon how the above were achieved through abolition of intermediaries, tenancy reforms, ceiling on land holdings for land acquisition, massive investment in improvement of the quality of land, its operational conditions and management of its physical conditions.
Conclusion:
Stress on the overall socio-economic implications of the Land reforms in India.
Introduction:
Nearly two-thirds of all pending cases in Indian courts are related to property disputes. NITI Aayog has said that such property cases take an average of 20 years to settle. The result is that millions of Indians cannot use their principal asset as collateral to borrow from the formal financial system. Hence the need for land reforms in India. The government has now pushed the year of completion to 2021.
Body:
Objectives of land reforms
- To enhance the productivity of land by improving the economic conditions of farmers and tenants so that they may have the interest to invest in and improve agriculture
- To ensure distributive justice and to create an egalitarian society by eliminating all forms of exploitation
- To create a system of peasant proprietorship with the motto of land to the tiller
- To transfer the incomes of the few to many so that the demand for consumer goods would be created.
Land reforms in India
The process of land reform after independence basically occurred in two broad phases.
- The first phase also called the phase of institutional reforms started soon after independence and continued till the early 1960s focussed on the following features:
- Abolition of intermediaries like zamindars, jagirdars, etc.
- Tenancy reforms involving providing security of tenure to the tenants, decrease in rents and conferment of ownership rights to tenants
- Ceilings on size of landholdings
- Cooperativization and community development programmes.
- The second phase beginning around the mid- or late 1960s saw the gradual ushering in of the so-called Green Revolution and has been seen as the phase of technological reforms.
Digitisation of land records
- Making land records available to all, to contain/check property frauds, became one of the objectives of the government of India in the late 1980s.
- To address the same, the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP) was launched by the government of India in August 2008.
- The main aim of the programme, was to computerise all land records, including mutations, improve transparency in the land record maintenance system, digitise maps and surveys, update all settlement records and minimise the scope of land disputes.
- Digitisation would provide clear titles of land ownership that could be monitored easily by government officials, to facilitate quicker transactions. This will also reduce construction timelines and the overall cost for the developer, the benefits of which can be transferred to the consumer, making property prices more attractive.
Failure of land reforms
- Weaknesses with the zamindari abolition:
- The absence of adequate land records made implementation of these acts difficult.
- Personal cultivation: ‘Personal cultivation’ was very loosely defined which led to not only those who tilled the soil, but also those who supervised the land personally or did so through a relative, or provided capital and credit to the land, to call themselves a cultivator.
- Moreover, in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madras there was no limit on the size of the lands that could be declared to be under the ‘personal cultivation’ of the zamindar
- Zamindars resorted to large-scale eviction of tenants, mainly the less secure small tenants.
- Even after the laws were enacted the landlords used the judicial system to defer the implementation of the laws.
- Zamindars refused to hand over the land records in their possession, forcing the government to go through the lengthy procedure of reconstructing the records.
- Implementation of the law was made difficult with the collusion between the landlords and lower-level revenue officials.
- Weaknesses of tenancy reforms:
- The provisions introduced to protect the small landowners were misused by the larger landlords with the active connivance of the revenue officials.
- The inordinate delays in enacting and implementing the legislations
- Voluntary surrenders by tenants also took place as they were ‘persuaded’ under threat to give up their tenancy rights ‘voluntarily’.
- No tenancy rights to sharecroppers.
- Most tenancies were oral and informal and were not recorded.
- Providing security of tenure to all tenants, met with only limited success.
- The Green Revolution which started in some parts of India in the late 1960s aggravated the problems, with land values and rentals rising further.
- The acquisition of ownership rights by tenants was achieved only partially.
- Weaknesses in Land Ceiling Legislation:
- Post-independence India had more than 70 per cent of landholdings in India under 5 acres so the ceiling fixed on existing holdings by the states were very high.
- In most states the ceilings were imposed on individual and not family holdings, enabling landowners to divide up their holdings in the names of relatives or make Benami transfers merely to avoid the ceiling.
- Further, in many states the ceiling could be raised if the size of the family of the landholder exceeded five.
- A large number of exemptions to the ceiling limits were permitted by most states following the Second Plan recommendations that certain categories of land could be exempted from ceilings.
- Digitization of land records failed:
- Insufficient data:
- Lack of clear and sufficient data and mismanagement between the various agencies handling land records, the data registered at various government levels is not identical.
- Progress over the past decade has been uneven, with some states, such as Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, doing better than the others. However, there are challenges, even in advanced states such as Maharashtra.
- New digitized land records do a good job in reflecting ownership of land, but less so when it comes to recording encumbrances and area of land parcels.
- Weaknesses of consolidation of land holdings:
- The programme failed to achieve its desired objective because the farmers are reluctant to exchange their lands for the new one. The arguments given by the farmers is that their existing land is much more fertile and productive than the new land provided under land consolidation.
- The farmers also complained about nepotism and corruption in the process of consolidation. The farmers complained that the rich and influential often bribes and manage to get fertile and well-situated land, whereas the poor farmers get unfertile land.
- Failure of cooperative farming:
- Attachment with Land: The farmers are not willing to surrender the rights of land in favour of the society because they have too much attachment with it.
- Lack of Cooperative Spirit: The spirit of cooperation and love is lacking among farmers. They are divided in various sections on caste basis.
- Illiteracy: some of them are using the old methods of cultivation.
- Lack of Capital: The co-operative farming societies are also facing the capital shortage problem and these are unable to meet the growing needs of agriculture. Credit facilities to these societies are also not sufficient.
- Re-Payment of Debt: Sometimes debt is not re-paid in time which creates many problems for the financial institutions. Some members do not realize their responsibility and it becomes the cause of failure.
Conclusion:
The pace of implementation of land reform measures has been slow. The objective of social justice has, however, been achieved to a considerable degree. Land reform has a great role in the rural agrarian economy that is dominated by land and agriculture. New and innovative land reform measures should be adopted with new vigour to eradicate rural poverty. Modern land reforms measures such as land record digitisation must be accomplished at the earliest.
General Studies – 2
Topic: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
Five new countries — India, Mexico, Norway, Ireland and Kenya — formally joined the U.N. Security Council on Monday at a time of growing polarization in the body charged with keeping world peace and security.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the path India has to pursue in order to achieve its goals at the UNSC in the face of emerging new world order.
Directive:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by mentioning the start of India’s tenure as the non-permanent member of UNSC and the opportunity it offers.
Body:
In the first part of the body, address the emergence of the new world order. Systemic uncertainty, little care for global commons, absence of global leadership, the steady division of the world into rival blocs, and an age marked by unabashed pursuit of narrow national interests, putting even the rhetoric about a value-based global order on the backburner. Also, mention the changes witnessed in India.
In the next part, mention how India should purse it long term goals in this short tenure having a clear agenda whilst reflecting its limitations. The China Issue, Cross Border terrorism, build coalitions among like-minded states, address issues like climate change and non-proliferation, the Indo-Pacific and set out its priorities for the next decade etc.
Conclusion:
Stress on the fact that India’s approach should be a practical long term approach.
Introduction
India’s two-year non-permanent stint at the UNSC should be viewed as a once-in-a-decade opportunity to clearly identify and pursue its national interests regionally and globally. Though India is at the fore front in contention of a permanent seat, it has obstacles from veto yielding countries to rival groups of G-4 such as coffee club among others.
Body
New world order on the unveil
- Cold War 2.0: The risk of superpower rivalry between USA and China is looming large, destroying multilateralism and increasing confrontations such as Trade War.
- Systemic uncertainty: American policy vacillation such as withdrawal from JCPOA, stopping funds to WHO, WTO dispute mechanism in disarray are some examples.
- Increasing aggression from China: High handed against Taiwan (island encirclement), Galwan Clash with India and South China sea aggression shows how China is trying to dominate the world order.
- Post-pandemic world: There is a cut throat competition in technology, space and maritime space. Current global governance is in anarchy and cannot handle the emerging challenges posed.
India’s pursuit of goals through UNSC
- New Delhi’s tenure at the UNSC comes in the wake of its growing military rivalry with Beijing, the impact of which has already started to be felt at the UNSC meetings in New York.
- India must seek cooperation from Biden administration to push back China at UNSC, as it did during designation of Mazhood Azhar as global terrorist.
- India’s seat at the UNSC is also significant vis-à-vis China to ensure checking further Chinese incursions along the Line of Actual Control and building up enough infrastructure and mobilising sufficient forces in the forward areas.
- At the 20th UNSC ministerial committee, there was establishment of the Counter Terrorism Committee. It has set the stage for New Delhi’s approach on the issue.
- New Delhi recently assumed the chair of the Taliban sanctions committee which assumes significance given the fast-moving developments in Afghanistan and India’s new-found desire to engage with the Taliban.
- Protecting India’s regional security, while a legitimate government is installed in Kabul is of utmost importance for India.
- New Delhi must use the forum and its engagement there to build coalitions among like-minded states and set out its priorities for the next decade — from climate change to non-proliferation.
- Given India’s centrality in the Indo-Pacific region and the growing global interest in the concept, New Delhi would do well to take it upon itself to shape the narrative around it.
- In doing so, it should, through the UNSC and other means, court Moscow once again and assuage its concerns about the Indo-Pacific.
Conclusion
New Delhi’s pursuit of its national interest at and through the UNSC must also be tempered by the sobering fact that the UNSC is unlikely to admit new members any time soon, if ever at all. So New Delhi must focus its energies on what it can achieve during the short period that it would be in the UNSC rather than what it wishes happened.
Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The third phase of the government’s flagship skilling scheme Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY 3.0) was be launched in 600 districts across all states of the country.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the shortcomings of PMKVY 1.0 and 2.0 and suggest measures to make PMKYV 3.0 achieve the vision of a skilled India.
Directive:
Analyze – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by writing the aims and objectives PMKVY 3.0.
Body:
In the first part of the body, mention the shortfalls of PMKVY 1.0 and 2.0. Lack of capacity, poor implementation of those policies, Issue of funding, dearth of scholars and practitioners, jobless growth and unmet targets.
Next, write about the major features of PMKVY 3.0 and how it seeks to achieve those. Elaborate up on the features especially in the light of the pandemic.
Suggest further measures to ensure that PMKVY 3.0 is successful in meeting its state objectives.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a way forward to unlock the vision of making India the ‘Skill Capital’ of the world.
Introduction
On January 15, 2021, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) launched the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 3.0. This is the third phase of the scheme which was launched in 2015 to give a boost to skilling in the country. In this third version, the government wants to focus on matching local skilling requirements with local job opportunities.
Body
Issues with PMKVY 1.0/2.0
- The number of those who have benefited from the Skill India scheme has increased, from 3,50,000 in 2016-17 to 1.6 million in 2017-18, but the percentage of those who could find a job upon completion of their training has dropped from more than 50% to 30%.
- Under PMKVY, only 15% of those trained got a job.
- The target of Skill India was to reach out to 300 million young people by 2022, but only 25 million had been trained under this scheme by the end of 2018.
- Funds management: This is partly due to mismanagement and partly due to not spending available funds because of lack of candidates.
- Low industry interface: Most of the training institutes have low industry interface as a result of which the performance of the skill development sector is poor in terms of placement records and salaries offered.
PMKVY 3.0: Features
- It envisages training of eight lakh candidates over a scheme period of 2020-2021 with an outlay of Rs. 948.90 crore.
- The 729 Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendras (PMKKs), empanelled non-PMKK training centres and more than 200 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) under Skill India will be rolling out PMKVY 3.0 training to build a robust pool of skilled professionals.
- It will empower India’s youth with employable skills by making over 300 skill courses available to them.
Improvement over earlier schemes
- Caters to Industry 4.0: It will be more trainee- and learner-centric. The focus is on bridging the demand-supply gap by promoting skill development in areas of new-age and Industry 4.0 job roles.
- Aligned with NEP 2020: It will be a propagator of vocational education at an early level for youth to capitalize on industry-linked opportunities.
- The National Educational Policy 2020 also puts focus on vocational training for a holistic growth and increased employability.
- Based on Market study: By taking the bottom-up approach to training, it will identify job roles that have demand at the local level and skill the youth, linking them to these opportunities (Vocal for Local).
- Competitive federalism: It will encourage healthy competition between states by making available increased allocation to those states that perform better.
Conclusion
The thrust of PMKVY 3.0 is on empowering States and districts to implement skilling schemes by making regional-level plans. As the focus of the new skill development program includes Atmanirbharta and making India self-reliant, it is important to give thrust to entrepreneurship and its multiplicative effect on Indian economy and society.
General Studies – 3
Topic: Inclusive growth and issues arising from it; Government Budgeting.
Reference: Indian Express
Why the question:
The annual Oxfam Report claims that India’s 100 top billionaires increased their wealth by nearly Rs 13 lakh crore during the pandemic showing the ever increasing inequalities.
Key Demand of the question:
Directive:
Elaborate – Give a detailed account as to how and why it occurred, or what is the particular context. You must be defining key terms where ever appropriate, and substantiate with relevant associated facts.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving context regarding the ever growing inequalities in India which are further widened by the Pandemic.
Body:
Give relevant stats from the Oxfam report which captures the above.
Analyze the reasons for the growing inequality. Factors, such as the role of technology in the globalising economy; rising incomes of top earners; Wages have become more unequal. More intense competition from foreign firms and a decline in higher-paying manufacturing jobs etc.
Write about how the Union budget presents an opportunity to make things better. Cost of healthcare, vaccine distribution, Education, fiscal measures, social safety for the poor, consider imposing a temporary covid-19 tax on the rich etc.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a way forward.
Introduction
The annual Oxfam Report claims that India’s 100 top billionaires increased their wealth by nearly Rs 13 lakh crore during the pandemic enough to give each of the 138 million poorest Indians a cheque for Rs 94,045. At the other end of the spectrum, of the 122 million who lost their jobs, 75 per cent or 92 million jobs were lost in the informal sector.
Body
Inequality in India and its repercussions
- Education: The most vulnerable suffered the most on every front. For instance, in education, there was increased the drop-out rate among the children of the poor.
- Digital Divide was high as they had the least access to digital networks – only 4 per cent of rural households had a computer, and only 15 per cent had access to an internet connection.
- Gender inequality: While gender gaps in education and nutrition have been closing over time the disadvantaged position of women is very visible in the labour market. Labour force participation of women is staggering around 3%.
- Rich vs Poor: The 40-50 million seasonal migrant workers, typically engaged working in construction sites, factories etc. were particularly distressed.
- Health: India has the world’s second-largest cumulative number of Covid-19 positive cases and globally, the poor, marginalised and vulnerable communities have higher rates of Covid-19 prevalence.
- The spread of disease was swift among poor communities.
- Only 6% of the poorest 20% households had access to non-shared sources of improved sanitation, compared to 93% of the top 20% households in India.
Budget and reducing inequality
- There is an urgent need for policymakers to tax the ultra-rich, wealthy individuals and big corporates and use that money to invest in free quality public services and social protection to support everyone, from cradle to grave.
- India needs to grow first before it can distribute. Otherwise, it can get stuck in a low-income equilibrium.
- Removing Gender inequality: Strict implementation of The Equal Remuneration act,1976 to remove wage gap, making education curriculum gender sensitive, raising awareness about women right, changing social norms through schemes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao etc.
- Previous budget focussed on Dhanya Laxmi scheme for women SHG’s, similar measures are needed to improve gender justice.
- Increase the effective taxation on corporations, more importantly broadening the tax base through better monitoring of financial transactions.
- Eg: Taxpayer charter, faceless assessment and Honouring the honest can aid in this regard.
- Impetus to MSME’s and labour-intensive sector: The Labor-intensive manufacturing has the potential to absorb millions of people who are leaving farming while service sector tends to benefit majorly urban middle class.
- Eg: Extension of a Collateral free automatic loan for MSMEs will give facility upto Rs 3 lakh crore which will have 100% credit guarantee and no fresh collateral required which will benefit 45 lakh units (under Atmanirbhar Bharat)
- Minimum Basic Income: A trial of this concept was successful in Madhya Pradesh by SEWA which improved nutrition indicators. It can be a novel method to ensure socio-economic equality.
Conclusion
Reducing inequalities is very important but it should be a medium-term target. Between growth and distribution, India must get the sequencing right. According to Oxfam if India stops inequality from rising further, it could end extreme poverty for 90 million people by 2019. If it goes further and reduces inequality by 36%, it could virtually eliminate extreme poverty.
General Studies – 4
Topic: Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world.
Reference: Ethics by Lexicon publications.
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 4.
Key Demand of the question:
To write upon the philosophy of Swami Vivekananda and Sir Aurobindo and their contribution to the message of unity in diversity.
Directive:
Elaborate – Give a detailed account as to how and why it occurred, or what is the particular context. You must be defining key terms where ever appropriate, and substantiate with relevant associated facts.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Giver a brief introduction of Swami Vivekananda and Sir Aurobindo as the great Indian philosophers.
Body:
In the first part, write about Swami Vivekananda’s Practical Vedanta. He believed in the basic oneness of existence seen through different constitutions such as earth, heavens, gods, hell, ghosts, men, etc. and advocated strongly the eternal sameness or homogeneity beyond all differentiation, the unity of all personalities.
In the next part, write about the essential teaching of Sri Aurobindo is that humans are in a transition toward the final evolution. They would surpass their present conditions and rise to a newer life with abundant knowledge and consciousness. It would transform not only the personal self but also this cosmos.
Conclusion:
Mention how their message is universal and eternal very much relevant to the present times.
Introduction:
New interpretations of Vedanta philosophy by Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo Ghosh came to be known as Neo-Vedanta philosophy. They were of the opinion that Neo- Vedanta philosophy would increase cultural strength of Hinduism and pave the way for the growth of nationalism in modern India. They interpreted Indian nationalism in the context of reformation and rejuvenation of Hinduism.
Body:
Role of Swami Vivekananda:
Swami Vivekananda is considered as one of the prophets of the Indian nationalism because he tried to awaken Indian people who were lying in deep slumber. He wanted to see the emergence of a strong and self-confident India which would give the message of the Vedanta to the world. He maintained that the Indians should be proud of the history, culture and religion and should try their level best to reform them – in the light of the demands of time.
The awakening of the spirit of India was the goal for young people. Hence, he asked them to “arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.”
Swami Vivekananda was highly critical of the British rule in India because he held that due to their rule, Indians lost confidence, famines engulfed the land, farmers and artisans were reduced to poverty and penury. They had let loose the reign of terror and struck fear in the minds of the people.
Due to exploitative economic policies of the British government, Indians could not develop their natural resources and her productive potential was sapped. It was imperative that Indians should know the evil effects of the British rule in India.
Swami Vivekananda was of the opinion that the national regeneration of India would begin when people became fearless and started demanding their rights. Also, he asked the Indians to develop solidarity and oneness of the spirit by the eradication of social evils, superstitions and caste-arrogance. He was of the opinion that caste system divided the Indian society into classes and created the feeling of inferiority, and superiority among them.
He held that though there was a variety of races, languages, religions and cultures in India, there existed a common ground between Indian people. There was a common religious tradition which could be depended upon to build national spirit. It was not necessarily a particular religion as such, but all religions would help us develop the national integration. For the Indians, religion was a unifying force as the spirituality was blood in the life of India. All differences melted in it. Indians preserved their faith in the most difficult conditions.
According to him, it was the duty of the educated Indians to make its knowledge available to the people in their oneness and solidarity. He said that Hindus should not blame Muslims and vice versa. India should be of one mind and of one resolve. Hence, we must revive the whole of India. India must conquer the world not with the help of gun, but with the help of spirituality. For the growth of national spirit in India, independence of mind was necessary. India should expose herself to the outside world but she should not get scared of any one because her freedom would come through heroism and bravery. Indians should be proud of their country and declare that all Indians, despite their different castes and religions, are brothers.
Role of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh:
Sri Aurobindo Ghosh was considered as a prophet of the Indian nationalism. Along with Bankimchandra, Tilak and Dayanand, he developed the theory of nationalism in India. Through their self-less work, the forces of nationalism were released.
Sri Aurobindo’s theory of nationalism was based on Vedanta philosophy which saw unity and oneness in man and God. There was an essential unity in India despite the existence of the outward differences because the spirit of unity and oneness pervaded it.
He declared that India was in fact Mother India which represented united power and Shakti of millions of her children. Mother India represented infinite energy of her people: He identified Mother India with God and maintained that it was God’s divine mission to set India free. Also, it was divine work to serve 300 million Indian people. There was a deep divine purpose in India’s freedom because India’s freedom movement represented time spirit that would liberate resurgent Asia and all the subject people in the world. He held that without political freedom, true advancement of the country was not possible. He was of the opinion that education played a key role in the development of national consciousness in the country.
According to Sri Aurobindo, a common enthusiasm coalescing with a common interest was the most powerful promoter of nationality. He pointed out that there existed the necessary conditions for the growth of nationalism in India because Indians had been slowly realising the importance of national unity and offering united resistance to foreign rule. Indian villages were democratic, autonomous and self- governing. Therefore, regeneration of the village was important for the regeneration of India.
He said that village should retain its autonomy and self-government but at the same time, ‘should seek to promote national cohesion. The ideal of national Swaraj must be modelled on the old village community which was self-sufficient, autonomous and self-governing.
Aurobindo’s concept of nationalism was based on the philosophy of Vedanta which stood for unity between God and man. He used Hindu religious ideas and symbols. He realised that the ideal of Indian nationalism was largely Hindu in character but he pointed out that this nationalism was wide enough to include the Muslim, his culture and traditions. He said that the Hindu should win Swaraj for himself as well as for the Muslim. A large part of his theory of nationalism was based on awakening the dormant spirit of nationalism that was latent in the soul of India. The struggle against the foreign rule would enable it to achieve self- realisation.
Conclusion:
Both the thinkers identified renaissance of Hinduism with the emergence of nationalism in India and held that rejuvenation of Hinduism in the spirit of Vedanta philosophy was a precondition for it. Hence, they gave new interpretation of the Vedanta which declared that the service of man was service of God. Vivekananda’s concern for the plight of the downtrodden sections was complimentary to it. Both Aurobindo and Vivekananda were of the opinion that religion and culture played a key role in the making of nationalism as they added rare fervour and passion to it
Topic: Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration.
7. There can be no good government without moral leadership. Comment. (150 words)
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 4.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the relationship between moral leadership and good governance.
Directive:
Comment– here we have to express our knowledge and understanding of the issue and form an overall opinion thereupon.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by describing moral leadership.
Body:
Bring out the relationship between moral leadership and good governance. In governance, a leader grapples with not only the legal aspects of the matter, but also with ensuring that moral interpretations yield equitable results. Substantiate with recent examples form the happenings as well as historical examples.
Suggest ways how leadership can align itself to moral values.
Conclusion:
Conclude by stressing on need for moral leadership in the present times.
Introduction:
Ethical Leadership is about Moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity. Ethical leadership means acting according to your moral principles in your day-to-day business life and decision-making. To put it simply, it means doing the right thing. Ethical Leadership is very important for supporting good governance in today’s global economy and is one of the central constructs to protect business and organizational ethics.
Body:
Leaders with good moral sense provide attention to the development of ethical perspectives within organizational components. Leaders need to make ethically accountable decisions in rapidly changing government environments and within these spheres, they face decisions and implement actions to create an ethical environment and promote a community’s interests.
Moral Leadership has the potential to sustain ethical and personal development along with social development. When morality buds in leaders, they become aware of the accountability condition, the specific coping strategy relevant to the condition is embraced.
The leaders who are held accountable for their moral actions are more likely to be aware of the accountability requirements in order to promote good governance. When individuals were notified that they would be held accountable for their decisions regarding stereotype change and generalizations, both information processing and judgment vigilance increased.
Effects of Moral competence on ethical leadership:
- Moral competence is critical for supporting ethical leadership in today’s global economy. A leader’s character should be based on a strong foundation of high ethical standards.
- This is vital in today’s global economy where leaders must embrace ethics, as well as leadership effectiveness (e.g., expertise, techniques, knowledge), to be successful.
- Moral competence is a cornerstone of the moral developmental cognitive family. Moral cognition of a leader is depicted as an antecedent of effective leadership.
- When leaders are able to demonstrate a high moral judgment in their decisions, they will have greater opportunities to exhibit ethical leadership behaviours to their employees.
- Leaders are responsible for identifying the levels of organizations’ moral environment where these levels are reflected by the moral development of the leader.
- Therefore, leaders’ moral development has an important impression on an organization’s ethical climate.
- Enhancing the ethical climate within organizations would be effective with leaders who fully utilize their moral development through translating their capability for moral competence into moral actions.
Conclusion:
In today’s rapidly changing business environment, leaders must make ethical decisions on a regular basis. The increase in the importance of ethics in business and management has led many scholars to focus on ethical leadership behaviour.
