NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra points in the form of background information.
General Studies – 1
Topic: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
Reference: Class 11th History Book – Tamil Nadu
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 1.
Key Demand of the question:
To describe the major components of the flourishing economy of the post-Mauryan period.
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 giving brief overview of the flourishing economy post-Mauryan period.
Body:
In detail address the various sub-parts of the questions.
Agriculuure – advancements, surplus and taxes.
Internal tread – Trade routes, taxes, merchants and items of trade.
External trade – Silk route, Silk trade, inflow of gold and various regions of trade.
Arts and crafts – Development, Types, Taxes on them.
Conclusion:
Mention that Urbanization witnessed was the outcome of the above flourishing trade.
Introduction:
Post the Mauryan empire, Kalinga declared its independence and in the further south the Satavahanas established their independent rule. As a result, the Mauryan rule was confined to the Gangetic valley and it was soon replaced by the Sunga dynasty.
Body:
The most important development of the period was the flourishing trade between India and the Western world. Improved internal communication system under the Mauryas was responsible for the growth of trade and commerce in the post-Mauryan phase.
Post-Mauryan Economy:
- External Trade:
- A landmark in the growth of external trade and commerce was the discovery of the monsoon winds by the Greek sailor Hippolus in around AD 46—47.
- The greatest port of the Satavahanas was Kalyani on the west Deccan.
- The invasions of the Indo-Greeks, Kushans and the Sakas increased and deepened contacts between India and western and central Asia.
- Central Asia acted as a link between China and India as Indian merchants acted as intermediaries in the silk trade of China.
- Internal Trade: Land routes to South India developed during this period along the river valleys and the coasts and routes through mountain passes that helped trade and commerce.
- Agriculture Surplus: Increase in production and the consequent surplus required an efficient way of distribution to obtain sufficient reward for the people’s hard labour.
- Both the artisans and the merchants involved in production and distribution of the goods developed collective bargaining strength by forming guilds and corporations respectively.
- There was a remarkable progress in the fields of trade and industry during the Satavahana rule. Merchants organized guilds to increase their activities. The craft guilds organized by different craftsmen such as potters, weavers and oil pressers also came into existence.
Conclusion:
With rise in trade and merchant guilds, there was proliferation of urban towns, especially near the coasts which acted as ports. India became prosperous with import of gold and other precious metals for export of its rich goods.
Topic: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
Reference: Class 11th History Book – Tamil Nadu
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 various facets of Sangam literature and their relevance as historical texts.
Directive:
Explain – Clarify the topic by giving 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 writing about the three Tamil Sangams and the formation of state in Southern India.
Body:
In detail bring out the various dimensions of the Sangam texts.
Ideals, ritualism, mysticism and tale of valor and love.
As historical texts, they give information about kings, dynasties, administration, taxes, trade and commerce, societal aspects etc.
The classical epics also throw light on contemporary events as well as historical aspects. Show the refined and advanced nature of literature.
Use various Sangam texts as examples to substantiate your points.
Write a few criticism of Sangam literature as historical texts – lack of chronology, discontinuities etc.
Conclusion:
Conclude by summarizing importance of Sangam literature.
Introduction:
The Sangam Age constitutes an important chapter in the history of South India. According to Tamil legends, there existed three Sangams (Academy of Tamil poets) in ancient Tamil Nadu popularly called Muchchangam. These Sangams flourished under the royal patronage of the Pandyas.
Body:
- The first Sangam, held at Then Madurai, was attended by gods and legendary sages but no literary work of this Sangam was available.
- The second Sangam was held at Kapadapuram but the all the literary works had perished except Tolkappiyam.
- The third Sangam at Madurai was founded by Mudathirumaran. It was attended by a large number of poets who produced voluminous literature but only a few had survived.
Sangam Literature: Ideals and Realistic history
- The corpus of Sangam literature includes Tolkappiyam, Ettutogai, Pattuppattu, Pathinenkilkanakku, and the two epics- Silappathigaram and Manimegalai.
- It is a work on Tamil grammar but it provides information on the political and socio- economic conditions of the Sangam period.
- Both Ettutogai and Pattuppattu were divided into two main groups – Aham (love) and Puram (valour).
- Pathinenkilkanakku contains eighteen works mostly dealing with ethics and morals. The most important among them is Tirukkural authored by Thiruvalluvar.
- Silappathigaram written by Elango Adigal and Manimegalai by Sittalai Sattanar also provides valuable information on the Sangam polity and society.
Sangam Literature as sources of history
- Political history: The Tamil country was ruled by three dynasties namely the Chera, Chola and Pandyas during the Sangam Age. The political history of these dynasties can be traced from the literary references.
- Position of women: There is a plenty of information in the Sangam literature to trace the position of women during the Sangam age. Women poets like Avvaiyar, Nachchellaiyar, and Kakkaipadiniyar flourished in this period and contributed to Tamil literature. The courage of women was also appreciated in many poems.
- Sangam Society: Tolkappiyam refers to the five-fold division of lands – Kurinji (hilly tracks), Mullai (pastoral), Marudam (agricultural), Neydal (coastal) and Palai (desert).
- Tolkappiyam also refers to four castes namely arasar, anthanar, vanigar and vellalar.
- The ruling class was called arasar. Anthanars played a significant role in the Sangam polity and religion. Vanigars carried on trade and commerce. The vellalars were agriculturists.
- Sangam Polity: Hereditary monarchy was the form of government during the Sangam period. Land revenue was the chief source of state’s income while custom duty was also imposed on foreign trade.
- Trade: Both internal and foreign trade was well organized and briskly carried on in the Sangam Age. The Sangam literature, Greek and Roman accounts and the archaeological evidences provide detailed information on this subject.
- Spinning and weaving of cotton and silk clothes attained a high quality.
- The poems mention the cotton clothes as thin as a cloud of steam or a slough of a snake.
- There was a great demand in the western world for the cotton clothes woven at Uraiyur.
- Agriculture: Agriculture was the chief occupation. Rice was the common crop. Ragi, sugarcane, cotton, pepper, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and a variety of fruits were the other crops.
However, there are dispute among the exact period of sangam age and its chronology. The most probable date of the Sangam literature has been fixed between the third century B.C. to third century A.D. on the basis of literary, archaeological and numismatic evidences.
Conclusion:
The Sangam age Tamil literary works remain useful sources to reconstruct the history of the period providing major insights into the social and economic life of people, especially in the Southern India.
General Studies – 2
Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
January 30, 2021 marked one year since India detected its first case of COVID-19 — a student in Kerala who had returned from Wuhan, China.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the need to have a robust disease control strategy for the future.
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:
Give context about the beginning of the pandemic and its exponential increase afterwards.
Body:
In brief mention the devastating impacts of Covid-19 pandemic.
Mention about India’s response, it was a mixed bag of successes and failures along with a host of unknowns looming ahead. Draw a comparison with other countries in handling the pandemic. The lockdown and its analysis. Health care burden, the migrant issues, infodemic, role of civil societies and widening inequalities.
Suggest measures to have better preparedness for emergency purposes in the future.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a way forward.
Introduction:
Analysing the country’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic so far reveals a mixed bag of successes and failures along with a host of unknowns looming ahead, that urgently need to be addressed to both limit damage due to the pandemic and get back to the path of economic and social recovery.
Body:
Background
- Official statistics show that India has fared better on rates of infections and deaths than many higher income countries.
- For example, India’s case fatality ratio on February 3 stood at 1.4% compared to 2.8% in the United Kingdom or 3.1% in South Africa.
- India’s deaths per million is 112, compared to 1,362 in the United States, 1,486 in Italy, or 1,831 in Belgium.
India’s response:
- India’s initial response was marked by political commitment at the highest level, with several steps taken early in screening international travellers, restricting inbound traffic from severely affected countries, and preparing quarantine facilities for those testing positive.
- India was also among the few countries to announce a stringent nationwide lockdown much before it had a significant number of cases. This is regarded as major step that helped India reduce the fatalities.
- One nation one ration card was launched to tackle the food insecurity of poor migrants.
- Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan infused an economic package of Rs 20 trillion to tide over the coronavirus crisis. Farmers, MSME’s were the biggest beneficiaries.
- Migrants utilised increased budget under MGNREGA to get employment back in their villages. This alleviated the livelihood issues of the migrants.
- India rapidly increased the manufacture of PPE kits, n95 masks and ventilators. India also became the pharmacy of the world in major drugs to fight against COVID-19 such as HCQ, Remdesivir among others.
- Vaccine diplomacy also increased India’s soft power.
Shortcomings in handling pandemic:
- Migrant exodus: An unintended offshoot of the lockdown was the large-scale exodus of migrants and families forced to walk hundreds of kilometres back to their homes in the countryside.
- Dozens died in the exodus, with many in horrific road accidents.
- Poor social safety net: There were also deaths due to lack of sufficient food, drinking water and the sheer stress of travelling. Their plight highlighted the lack of a social safety-net for poor Indians both from before as well as during the pandemic.
- Fatality ratio vis-a-vis neighbours: India, has not done so well compared to countries of similar income and demography in South Asia. India’s case fatalities ratio was significantly higher than Bhutan (0.1%), Nepal (0.7%), the Maldives (0.3%) and Sri Lanka (0.5%).
- Deaths due to COVID-19 per million population in Bangladesh was 50, Pakistan was 54 and Sri Lanka was just 16, lower than in India.
- New virulent strain: India too like many western nations, has not been able to figure out till now what the best way to open its borders to normal travellers is while keeping out those carrying COVID-19 infection, particularly the new more virulent strains.
- Languishing schemes: The Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), India’s national disease surveillance framework, was not visible throughout the response.
- Widening inequality: The pandemic period has exacerbated existing social inequalities and the poor face a ‘lost decade’ ahead, a challenge which needs to be addressed on priority.
Conclusion:
There is an urgent need to examine all these critical gaps in the response to the pandemic, whether they occurred through acts of omission or commission. Without such an open inquiry and widespread debate, India will miss yet another chance to learn the right lessons and ensure a more robust, well-thought out and humane response to similar crises in future.
General Studies – 3
Topic: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
Reference: Live Mint
Why the question:
estimates suggest that a 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) investment in the infrastructure sector can increase the overall GDP growth rate by 2%.
Key Demand of the question:
To determine how National infrastructure Bank can be a vital cog in boost infrastructure.
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:
Describe the concept of the National infrastructure Bank.
Body:
Mention the steps taken so far to promote infrastructure in India. National Infrastructure pipeline, establishment of the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and several schemes.
Mention how the National infrastructure Bank can further augment the capacity if the above mentioned resources. Nudging all the stakeholders, reviving public-private partnership projects, facilitating funds- banks, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and other institutional investors.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a way forward.
Introduction:
India aspires to be a $5 trillion economy by 2024-2025, however, the covid pandemic was a small speed-break on the way. To achieve the former, there is a need for a robust and resilient infrastructure system, supported by adequate private investments
Body:
Importance of developing Infrastructure in India:
- For a massive country such as India, improvement in infrastructure is a necessity.
- Over the next decade, an estimated $1.5 trillion is needed to create infrastructure, and overhaul and refurbish existing infrastructure.
- Infrastructure development will generate growth, employment and pull people out of poverty.
- Infrastructure development will benefit Government’s Ease of Doing Business.
- Developing Renewable Energy sector will help in mitigating climate change.
- Infrastructure investments can also help improve peace and security by enabling, sustaining and enhancing societal living conditions.
Government Initiatives for developing Infrastructure:
- The government has increased the pace of road construction by introducing several policies.
- These include fresh project financing models that involve government and private investment and inter-ministerial coordination.
- National Investment and Infrastructure Fund has been created to provide investment opportunities to commercially viable projects.
- A new credit rating system for infrastructure projects, based on expected loss approach, has also been launched.
- Infrastructure investment trusts and Real Estate Investment Trusts have been formulated to pool investment in infrastructure.
- In the budget speech of 2019-2020, Finance Minister announced an outlay of Rs 100 lakh Crore under the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) for infrastructure projects over the next 5 years.
- NIP is a first-of-its-kind initiative to provide world-class infrastructure across the country and improve the quality of life for all citizens.
However, there is still a need for more financing initiatives for India.
- the central government has been shouldering the maximum burden of financing large infrastructure projects in India.
- Between 2012-13 and 2018-19, the government’s share of infrastructure investment increased from 26% to 41%. In the same period, share of states declined from 45% to 32%.
- In the post pandemic era, inopportunely governments have been forced to shift priorities to other sectors that require critical funding such as health, education and employment.
- Planning large immunization programs and announcing incremental stimulus packages have stressed government budgets extensively.
- Overall, it is estimated that India needs to spend ₹235 trillion on infrastructure development from 2021-30.
- This is more than thrice the sectoral expenditure of the previous decade (nearly ₹77 crore).
- To fulfil this yawning gap, the government has been proactively nudging all the stakeholders such as the private sector, state governments, banks, development finance institutions (DFIs) and foreign institutional investors to fund large-scale Infrastructure projects.
- Except DFIs, the response from various stakeholders has been lukewarm.
- The share of private investment in infrastructure has declined from 34% to 23% between fiscal years 2011-15 and fiscal years 2015-20.
- Overall, the private sector has become cautious on account of delays in project execution, low revenue realization in public-private partnership projects and limited access to debt-financing.
- domestic banks who were actively lending to the sector in the early 2000s have taken a step back on account of rising non-performing assets, delay in statutory clearances and asset-liability mismatches.
National Infrastructure Bank:
A National Infrastructure Bank could be formed with a vision of achieving three key objectives
- Provide long-term and flexible funding for Infrastructure projects that match the project tenure requirements.
- Act as a platform for attracting private excess global debt capital.
- Bring to the market innovative financial solutions that reduce risk and improve return profiles.
Canadian Infrastructure Bank, set up in 2017, plans to invest and raise more than $35 billion to help build new infrastructure that will accelerate Canada’s transition to a low-carbon economy and strengthen economic growth.
Way forward:
- Refreshing institutions and policies for channelling private financing.
- Providing a stable, durable, and empowering ecosystem for private players to partner with government entities in the task of infrastructure-creation.
- Learning from the past mixed experience of PPPs, we need to reimagine and redesign the PPP ecosystem along many fronts.
- Overhauling the PPP ecosystem, including governance reform, institutional redesign, and capacity-building, as put out in Vijay Kelkar committee.
- Risk avoidance by the public entity and rent-seeking by the private partner are the twin challenges that need to be carefully addressed.
- Government partners in PPP arrangements need to ensure that unforeseeable risk is minimised for the private investor, including aspects such as land availability and community acceptance.
- Creating a stable policy environment that provides comfort and incentives to private investors for creating a modern-day, sustainable and resilient infrastructure.
- Along with physical infrastructure, provision of social infrastructure is equally important as these two would determine where India will be placed in the world by 2030.
- Need for institutional mechanisms to resolve pending disputes in a time-bound manner.
- Deepening of the existing corporate bond market through suitable policies and incentives.
- Leveraging institutions like NIIF (National Investment and Infrastructure Fund) to promote sector-specific financing platforms.
Conclusion:
Infrastructure is a key driver of the overall development of Indian economy. We can import capital, technology but infrastructure needs to be there with proper skilled people. It is seen that investments in infrastructure equal to 1% of GDP will result in GDP growth of at least 2% as infrastructure has a “multiplier effect” on economic growth across sectors. The recent headway made in developing transport infrastructure will prove to be the biggest enabler for growth. An efficient infrastructure can provide avenues for employment through trickle-down effect. India’s growth story should no longer be impeded by a lack of infrastructure, and the fruits of this growth should reach everyone in the remotest part of the country.
General Studies – 4
Topic: Probity in Governance: Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity;
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 about how corruption in the time of the pandemic is more sinister and morally damaging.
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 the giving context as the world grapples with the pandemic corruption is continues unabated.
Body:
Mention the moral as well as the economic costs of corruption and elaborate with examples as how the continued corruption which shows apathy towards probity erodes the public trust in the government.
Mention innovative steps to check corruption especially with limited working of enforcement agencies during the pandemic.
Conclusion:
Stress upon the need to have effective as well as corruption free governance especially during the time of a global pandemic.
Introduction:
Corruption is “giving or obtaining advantage through means which are illegitimate, immoral, and/or inconsistent with one’s duty or the rights of others.”
Corruption is an important manifestation of the failure of ethics. It is unfortunate that corruption has, for many, become a matter of habit, ranging from grand corruption involving persons in high places to retail corruption touching the everyday life of common people.
Body:
Corruption: Sign of moral decline in society
- A disturbing aspect is that the society’s attitude to corruption too was changing. A few decades ago, a corrupt and unethical person was shunned. But now their presence was not just tolerated, but was regarded as normal.
- Eg: When corrupt persons to go to jail now, their followers make a display of immense sadness and when they come out of jail, it is celebrated and sweets are distributed
- The citizens are electing corrupt political leaders because money power is seen as a heft that can make the work done.
- Eg: The coal allocation scam, also referred to as ‘Coalgate’ is a political scandal that swamped the UPA government in 2012.
- It is now so pervasive at all levels of authority, that, empathy a foundational value of public service is non-existent. Even the poorest and vulnerable are becoming prey to petty corruption.
- Eg Paying bribes is relatively common in many countries, and bribes often take the form of grease payments, which are small inducements intended to expedite decisions and transactions.
- Even in context where India’s image is at stake, there is no keeping corruption at bay. At the cost of nation’s persona and perception to outside world, there exists rampant corruption at highest levels.
- Eg: The Commonwealth Games scam and the 2G spectrum scam showed the exponential increase in corruption.
Measures to prevent corruption:
The solution to the problem of corruption has to be more systemic than any other issue of governance. Merely shrinking the economic role of the state by resorting to deregulation, liberalization and privatization is not necessarily the solution to addressing the problem.
- Adopting effective and coordinated policies against corruption
- Developing a coherent anti-corruption policy which identifies the causes of corruption and commits to practical, coordinated and effective measures to address these causes is a prerequisite for success.
- Fair and transparent system of public procurement
- Establishing a procurement system, built on the principles of objectivity, transparency and competition, is important to both saving public money and to ensuring that the policy and developmental objectives of the government are met.
- Eg: GeM Government E-market Place is a step in the right directions. With this, Public Finance Management System also helps in tracking the real-time usage of funds.
- Strengthened transparency and public reporting
- An informed society with free access to information is a strong deterrent to corruption.
- This underlines the importance of transparency, public reporting and access to information in preventing corruption.
- Right to Information needs to be strengthened to make the public officials and governments more accountable to the citizens.
- Citizens must be Vigilant: Otherwise, like Plato said “The punishment suffered by the wise who refuse to take part in government, is to suffer under the government of bad men”
- Institutional monitoring and legislative reforms
- Prevalent institutional arrangements have to be reviewed and changes made where those vested with power are made accountable, their functioning made more transparent and subjected to social audit with a view to minimize discretionary decisions.
- Napoleon who said, ‘Law should be so succinct that it can be carried in the pocket of the coat and it should be so simple that it can be understood by a peasant’.
- The 2nd ARC recommended that The Prevention of Corruption Act should be amended to ensure that sanctioning authorities are not summoned and instead the documents can be obtained and produced before the courts by the appropriate authority.
- E-governance
- The focus should be on e-governance and systemic change. An honest system of governance will displace dishonest persons.
- Other Reforms
- All procedures, laws and regulations that breed corruption and come in the way of efficient delivery system will have to be eliminated.
- The perverse system of incentives in public life, which makes corruption a high return low risk activity, need to be addressed.
- In this context, public example has to be made out of people convicted on corruption charge
- Establishing a procurement system, built on the principles of objectivity, transparency and competition, is important to both saving public money and to ensuring that the policy and developmental objectives of the government are met.
Conclusion
Corruption has a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable, increasing costs and reducing access to services, including health, education and justice. Corruption erodes trust in government and undermines the social contract. This is cause for concern across the globe, but particularly in contexts of fragility and violence, as corruption fuels and perpetuates the inequalities and discontent that lead to fragility, violent extremism, and conflict. Hence it is imperative that all forms of corruption are rooted out for a “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”.
Topic: Status and problems;
Key Demand of the question:
To explain how disparities play in part in the grievances and it is often the have nots that take to streets.
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 giving the context of protests across the world – Black lives matter, Global Climate Strike and Hong Kong’s ongoing mass protests, Protests in Russia and Farm protests in India.
Body:
Bring about how most of masses belong to under privileged sections of the society. They lack proper grievance redressal whereas the privileged sections have very speedy resolution of their grievances either by the virtue of being in power or being in close proximity to it. Cite examples from across the globe.
Bring out the impact of the above and suggest measures.
Conclusion:
Conclude by stressing that injustice anywhere is threat justice everywhere.
Introduction:
The year 2020 can be called as the year of social movements. Starting from BlackLivesMatter movement in USA to Hong Kong protests and now farm protests in India, a lot of oppressed voices who faced racism, totalitarian government as in case of China came out in huge numbers against the injustice.
Body:
Privilege can be in terms of economic status, gender privilege in a patriarchal setup or majoritarian privilege in a theocratic society among others. For instance, take the example of a young 14-year-old boy in USA who built a clock, for his school ‘show and tell’ event. His English teacher thought the device resembled a bomb, confiscated it, and reported him to the school’s principal. The local police were called, and they questioned him for an hour and a half. He was handcuffed, taken into custody and manhandled.
This shows Islamophobic attitude deeply entrenched in the Western American society. Post this, there started “#iStandWithAhmed” movement. Similarly, there was the #MeToo movements which took the world by storm, when women who faced sexual harassment came out with their stories.
The key takeaway here is that, women who have to brave obstacles of patriarchy, toxic masculinity had to undertake this movement to report the oppression they faced, and demand equality and justice when it should have been the naturally given and not an exception. Same is the case in George Floyd case, where racism is eradicated root and branch in law, but still people have biased attitudes.
During the pandemic, it was the migrants who had to recklessly salvage the last of their resources to reach their hometowns while the privileged few posted statuses of home workouts and cooking videos. This shows, how the under privileged and the oppressed are forced to go out and protest against the injustice meted out to them. Even in the latest farm protests in India that has spanned more than 2 months, the demography consists of farmers braving the cold in Delhi borders. It is easy to post on social media, standing in solidarity, but the real pain and gravity of the matter is not understood unless we experience it ourselves.
Conclusion:
We all need to be empathetic. We need to raise our voices in matters that affect the country and our people as a whole, and not just the ones that affect us. Because one day, one of these issues may affect us directly or indirectly. It is a long process, but we should fight against the injustice against the vulnerable and the weak, and for the country and not against the underprivileged.
