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General Studies – 1
Topic: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Insights on India
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 main style and themes of Rajput (Rajasthani) School and its main centers.
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:
Write in brief about aesthetics of Rajput paintings and their origins.
Body:
In the first part, write about the main style and themes that are depicted in the paintings. Elements depicted, colors used, notable genre and any other important features.
Next, write about the major centers where it flourished – Mewar School, Bundi school and Kishangarh school. Write about their important features.
Conclusion:
Conclude by highlighting their special place in the artistic history of India.
Introduction
The term ‘Rajasthani Schools of Painting’ pertains to the schools of painting that prevailed in the princely kingdoms and thikanas of what roughly constitutes Rajasthan and parts of Madhya Pradesh in the present time, such as Mewar, Bundi, Kota, Jaipur, Bikaner, Kishangarh, Jodhpur (Marwar), Malwa, Sirohi and other such principalities largely between the sixteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Like the Mughal Emperors, the Rajput rulers were also lovers of art and gave their patronage to miniature paintings.
Scholar Annand Coomaraswamy in 1916 coined the term ‘Rajput Paintings’ to refer to these as most rulers and patrons of these kingdoms were Rajputs.
Body
Main features of Rajasthani School of paintings
- Each Rajputana kingdom had its own distinct style with a few common features.
- Unlike Mughal painting which is primarily secular, the art of painting in Central India, Rajasthani and the Pahari region etc. is deeply rooted in the Indian traditions, taking inspiration from Indian epics, religious texts like the Puranas, love poems in Sanskrit and other Indian languages, Indian folk-lore and works on musical themes.
- The cults of Vaishnavism, Saivism and Shakti exercised tremendous influence on the pictorial art of these places.
- Among these the cult of Krishna was the most popular one which inspired the patrons and artists.
- The notion of ‘love’ was cherished as a religious theme, where a delightful synthesis of sensuousness and mysticism was perceived
- The themes from the Ramayana., the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata, the Siva Purana, the Naishadacarita, the Usha Aniruddha, the GitaGovinda of Jayadeva, the Rasamanjari of Bhanudatta, the Amaru Sataka, the Rasikapriya of Kesavadasa, the Bihari Satasayee and the Ragamala etc., provided a very rich field to the painter who with his artistic skill and devotion made a significant contribution to the development of Indian painting.
- Apart from depicting stories from the Ramayana and the royal lifestyle of kings and queens, Rajasthani miniature paintings often portrayed the legacy of present and past rulers.
- They also portrayed social values and the changes introduced by kings for the betterment of society. The background of the paintings formed a special feature of the Rajasthani school.
- Colours used were often bold and contrasting in nature.
- Natural colours, extracted from plants, minerals, shells, gold, silver and precious stones, were used.
- The preparation of colours itself would often take weeks and only fine brushes were used.
- The difficult art of miniature painting still exists in Rajasthan where the painters often use paper, ivory and silk as their canvas.
- However, natural colours are no longer used as they have been replaced by artificial colours.
Various schools
The Malwa School
- It flourished between 1600 and 1700 CE and is most representative of the Hindu Rajput courts.
- Its two-dimensional simplistic language appears as a consummation of stylistic progression from the Jain manuscripts to the Chaurpanchashika manuscript paintings.
- Unlike the specificity of Rajasthani schools that emerged and flourished in precise territorial kingdoms and courts of their respective kings, Malwa School defies a precise centre for its origin and instead suggests a vast territory of Central India, where it got articulated with a sporadic mention of few places, such as Mandu, Nusratgarh and Narsyang Sahar.
- Among the few early dated sets are an illustrated poetic text of Amaru Shatakadated 1652 CE and a Ragamala painting by Madho Das in 1680 CE.
Mewar school of painting
- Mewar is conjectured to be a significant early centre of painting in Rajasthan, from where, hypothetically, one would have been able to formalise a continuous stylistic tradition of painting—from pre-seventeenth century bold, indigenous styles to the subsequent refined and finer style post Karan Singh’s contact with the Mughals.
- However, long wars with the Mughals have wiped out earliest examples.
- Therefore, the emergence of the Mewar School is widely associated with an early dated set of Ragamala paintings painted at Chawed in 1605 by an artist named Narain.
- Sahibdin painted the Ragamala (1628), Rasikapriya, Bhagvata Purana (1648) and the Yuddha Kanda of Ramayana (1652).
Bundi School of Painting
- A prolific and distinct school of painting flourished in Bundi in the seventeenth century, which is remarkable for its unblemished colour sense and excellent formal design.
- Bundi Ragamala dated 1591, assigned to the earliest and formative phase of Bundi painting, has been painted at Chinar in the reign of Bhai Singh (1585–1607), the Hada Rajput ruler.
- A distinct feature of Bundi and Kota School is a keen interest in the depiction of lush vegetation; picturesque landscape with varied flora, wildlife and birds; hills and thick jungles; and water bodies.
- Bundi artists had their own standards of feminine beauty—women are petite with round faces, receding foreheads, sharp noses, full cheeks, sharply pencilled eyebrows and a ‘pinched’ waist.
Kota School of Painting:
- The accomplished tradition of painting at Bundi gave rise to one of the most outstanding Rajasthani Schools, Kota, which excels in the depiction of hunting scenes and reflects an exceptional excitement and obsession for animal chase.
- Kota paintings are characteristically spontaneous, calligraphic in execution and emphasise on marked shading, especially, the double–lid eye.
- Artists of the Kota School excelled in rendering animals and combat.
Bikaner School of Painting
- Rao Bika Rathore established one of the most prominent kingdoms of Rajasthan, Bikaner, in 1488.
- During his regime, Anup Singh (1669–1698) instituted a library in Bikaner that became a repository of manuscripts and paintings.
- As a result of long association with the Mughals, Bikaner developed a distinctive language of painting that was influenced by the Mughal elegance and subdued colour palette.
- The custom of having portraits of artists is unique to the Bikaner School and most of them are inscribed with information regarding their ancestry. They are referred to as Ustas or Ustad.
- Accounts from the Bahis, royal archival day-to-day diaries, and numerous inscriptions on Bikaner paintings make it one of the best documented schools of painting.
Kishangarh School of Painting
- Widely held among the most stylised of all Rajasthani miniatures, Kishangarh paintings are distinguished by their exquisite sophistication and distinct facial type exemplified by arched eyebrows, lotus petal shaped eyes slightly tinged with pink, having drooping eyelids, a sharp slender nose and thin lips.
- A distinctive style of the state with a general tendency to elongate the human form, making lavish use of green and penchant for depicting panoramic landscapes had evolved by the early eighteenth century
- With the Pushtimargiya cult of Vallabhacharya, Krishna Lila themes became personal favourites for the rulers of Kishangarh and represented a major portion of their court art.
- Savant Singh’s most celebrated and outstanding artist was Nihal Chand.
- Nihal Chand worked for Sawant Singh between 1735 and 1757, and composed paintings on Sawant Singh’s poetry that portrayed the theme of divine lovers—Radha and Krishna, in courtly surroundings, often appearing tiny in the vastness and minutiae of their panoramic landscape settings.
- Kishangarh artists revelled in the depiction of vistas in accentuated colours.
Jodhpur School of Painting
- With the political presence of Mughals since the sixteenth century, influence of their visual aesthetics made its way in the style of portraiture and depiction of court scenes, etc.
- However, the formidable indigenous folkish style was so widespread and deeply embedded in culture that it resisted getting overpowered and prevailed in most illustrated sets of paintings.
- One of the earliest sets painted in Pali is a Ragamala set by artist Virji in 1623.
- The last phase innovative of Jodhpur painting coincided with the reign of Man Singh (1803–1843).
- Significant sets painted during his time are the Ramayana (1804), Dhola-Maru, Panchatantra (1804) and Shiva Purana.
- Ramayana paintings are interesting as the artist has employed his understanding of Jodhpur to depict Rama’s Ayodhya.
- Hence, one gets an inkling into the bazaars, lanes, gateways, etc., of Jodhpur during that period.
- This is true for all schools, wherein, local architecture, costumes and cultural aspects get interwoven with the stories of Krishna, Rama and others, and get depicted in paintings
Jaipur School of Painting
- The Jaipur School of painting originated in its former capital Amer, which was nearest of all large Rajput states to Mughal capitals—Agra and Delhi.
- Jaipur School of paintings thrived under Sawai Jai Singh’s reign and emerged as a well-defined independent school.
- Court records reveal that some Mughal painters were brought from Delhi to become a part of his atelier.
- Artists during his reign painted sets based on Rasikapriya, Gita Govinda, Baramasa and Ragamala, where the hero’s figure is in striking resemblance with the king.
- Portrait painting was also popular during his time.
- During Pratap Singh’s time, apart from royal portraits and representations of courtly pomp and splendour, literary and religious themes, such as Gita Govinda, Ragamala, Bhagvata Purana, etc., got renewed stimulus.
- As elsewhere, many copies were also produced by means of tracing and pouncing.
- By the early nineteenth century, there was a lavish use of gold.
- Jaipur preferred large size formats and produced life-size portraits.
Conclusion
The Rajasthani style of painting including that of Malwa, is marked by bold drawing, strong and contrasting colours. The treatment of figures is flat without any attempt to show perspective in a naturalistic manner. Sometimes the surface of the painting is divided into several compartments of different colours in order to separate one scene from another. Mughal influence is seen in the refining of drawing and some element of naturalism introduced in figures and trees. Each school of painting has its distinct facial type, costume, landscape and colour scheme.
Topic: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
Difficulty level: Easy
Reference: Insights on India
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 contributions of Rukmini Devi Arundale toward reviving and achieving global recognition to Bharatanatyam.
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:
Write a brief introduction about Rukmini Devi Arundale – as a person and a performer of Bharatanatyam.
Body:
Mention about the status of Bharatanatyam in its original ‘sadhir’ style prevalent amongst the temple dancers, the Devadasis and was considered a vulgar art.
Write about the role that Rukmini Devi Arundale played in popularizing the movement – Rukmini Devi Arundale was also instrumental in modifying mainly the Pandanallur style of Bharata Natyam and bringing it to the attention of the West. Rukmini Devi raised Bharata Natyam to a puritan art form, by removing certain emotional elements evocative of the erotic, such as hip, neck, lip and chest movements) from the Pandanallur style.
Next, write about the other contributions of Rukmini Devi.
Conclusion:
Write about Bharatanatyam in the present day due to the efforts of Rukmini Devi.
Introduction
Rukmini Devi Arundale, founder of Kalakshetra, is credited with giving Bharatanatyam makeover from sensuous art form to more spiritual & devotional character. Her charismatic personality and contribution to the renaissance of Indian Classical music attained her niche in the arena of Indian culture. Rukmini Devi was also known for her efforts towards the protection of animal rights and their welfare.
Body
Her contribution to the performing arts industry is unmatchable and one cannot ignore the shackles of caste and community she broke with it. The institute she founded, Kalakshetra, has gained international recognition and become synonymous with all things “classical” in India.
Role of Rukmini Devi Arundale in Reviving Bharatanatyam:
- Honoured with the Padma Bhushan in 1956, Rukmini is best known for her visionary work in the fields of dance, culture, and education that catalysed a renaissance in Indian classical dance forms.
- Often Rukmini Devi is described as the one who saved the art of Bharatanatyam dance from extinction. Some scholars also like to think that she appropriated the dance from the hereditary dance community.
- She is the person who is credited for the renaissance of Bharatnatyam dance form and more significantly making the dance which was primarily a forte of Devdasis, main stream and respectable in the society.
- She was the first woman performer other than devadasi to perform bharatanatyam on stage.
- The fact remains that a deep love for dance inspired her to go to its roots and study it with diligence with gurus at a time when crucial changes were taking place in our society with regard to temple dancers.
- Originally the dance form Bharatnatyam was known as Sadhir, practiced only by Devdasis who with the advent of British Raj very widely maligned in the society. Thus, she not only revived and resurrected the ancient dance form but also went on to reverse the negative stereotypes associated with the female practitioners of Sadhir.
- By adopting a puritan approach, she eliminated the dance form of its shringaaror erotic leanings and magnified the bhakti or devotional aspect, thereby making it more acceptable to the mainstream of the society.
- She also introduced modern costumes, temple jewellery, set designs, lighting etc which we know of the trademarks of the modern Bharatnatyam performances.
- Her unique contribution was to destroy what was crude and vulgar in the inherited traditions of dance and to replace them with sophisticated and refined taste. In this, the dance form received a new lease of life, going on to earn international approval.
- Other than conceiving and choreographing numerous bharatanatyam pieces, Rukmini developed a unique curriculum to broaden the dance’s appeal, that included aesthetically designed jewellery, costumes and stage scenarios.
- She indeed succeeded in giving dance and Bharatnatyam a place of pride in India’s national narrative.
- Rukmini Devi “retained the positive aspects of the system and persuaded outstanding musicians and dance gurus to join the faculty and created for them an ambiance devoid of commercial considerations”.
Conclusion
Rukmini played an instrumental role in transforming the dance form, giving it a new name, and popularizing it all over the world as a respectable art form. While Kalakshetra was a major landmark in her career as a dancer, her years as an MP were just as fruitful as she made sure Article 51 (G) of the Constitution of India was included under Part IV, making it the fundamental duty of every citizen to show kindness and compassion to all living beings.
Topic: Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Indian Express , Insights on India
Why the question:
The article argues that the increasing use of algorithms in various domains such as hiring, education, and criminal justice has led to the perpetuation of discrimination against marginalized groups, particularly Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in India.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the ill effects of caste discrimination, reasons for its prevalence and ways to overcome it.
Directive:
Elucidate – Give a detailed account as to how and why it occurred, or what is the context. You must be defining key terms wherever appropriate and substantiate with relevant associated facts.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving background about the caste discrimination in modern India.
Body:
First, write about the reasons for the prevalence of caste discrimination in India and factors behind it.
Next, mention the impact of caste discrimination and how it is affecting contemporary society. Substantiate with facts and examples.
Next, write about the steps that are needed to overcome the above issues and empower weaker sections.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
Caste system refers to a broad hierarchical institutional arrangement along which basic social factors like birth, marriage, food-sharing etc are arranged in a hierarchy of rank and status. These sub-divisions are traditionally linked to occupations and decide the social relations with respect to other upper and lower castes.
Off late, the increasing use of algorithms in various domains such as hiring, education, and criminal justice has led to the perpetuation of discrimination against marginalized groups, particularly Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in India..
Body
Caste discrimination is still widely prevalent in the contemporary society because
- Indian society has been bearing the brunt of this social evil since the post-Vedic times and continues to bear despite Constitutional and Legal measures.
- Hereditary: An individual’s caste is determined by the caste of the family he is born in. It is generally hereditary. One’s caste is unalterable no matter what his/her social position is. One inherits the membership of a caste by his/her birth.
- Persistence is that ancient inequities and prejudices are slow to change. The higher castes, which exploited the lower castes for centuries, continue to discriminate against them both socially and economically.
- Sense of caste prestige: Feeling of own caste superiority over other castes Is the main factor. It is people’s strong desire to enhance caste prestige. Members of a particular caste or sub-caste have the tendency of developing loyalty to their own caste.
- Caste endogamy: Caste endogamy refers to marriage within the same caste. Caste endogamy is therefore responsible for the emergence of the feeling of casteism.
- Belief in religious dogmas: Due to illiteracy, people are governed by belief in religious dogmas, blind beliefs and superstitions. Due to the practice of ‘Jati Dharma’ they take interest in their own caste. It leads to caste feeling and casteism.
- Social distance: Especially in rural areas, people belonging to the higher caste maintain social distance from the lower castes.
- Dalits in rural villages are forbidden in Hindu temples and disallowed with their shoes on in higher-caste neighborhoods.
- They maintain it through different restrictions like inter-caste marriages, Inter-dinning etc.
- The ideology of an individual is associated with his caste norms and values. This has given rise to casteism.
- Caste reservation in higher education and the government has served to perpetuate a system that would otherwise have withered away.
How casteism can be removed?
- Emotional and intellectual appeal to economic determinism, as was advocated by Karl Marx
- Awareness about Constitutional values, ethics, ill effects of castiesm etc. by debates, nukkad natak, puppetry,
- Promote and incentivise inter caste marriages as is already done for marrying a SC ST women in some parts of India.
- Evaluate the existing customs, rituals etc. on thetouchstone of Human Rights. Here judiciary can play a positive role but with due respect to religious feelings.
- Implement laws and agreements like ICCPR, Protection of human rights, Prevention of atrocities against SC ST etc. with full letter and spirit.
- Dalit capitalism, check on extra judicial bodies like Khaps etc.
- Economic empowerment of Dalit through education and ownership of land and capital.
Conclusion
Caste system is a terrible anomaly of society which became more prevalent over time. It is the strong enemy of the concept of social justice mentioned in the Indian Constitution and causes economic, social damage to the country from time to time. Undoubtedly, along with the government, it is the responsibility of the common man, religious leaders, politicians, and civil society to resolve this discrepancy as soon as possible.
Value addition
Caste system is the bane for the Indian society:
- Segmental division of society:It means that social stratification is largely based on caste. Membership to a caste group is acquired by birth, on the basis of which people are ranked in relative to other caste groups.
- Hierarchy:It indicates that various castes are categorized according to their purity and impurity of occupations.
- Civil and religious disabilities:Example, lower caste groups had no access to wells, they were restricted from entering temples etc.
- Endogamy: Members of a particular caste have to marry within their caste only. Inter caste marriages are prohibited.
- Untouchability: It is the practice of ostracizing a group by segregating them from the mainstream by social custom.
- Hindered national unity:The caste system and religion developed a parochial feeling and made the people unduly conscious of their own castes/religion.
- Many a time caste/communal interests were given priority over national interest.
- Thus the whole system stood against the very concept of national unity.
- Hinders democracy: Democracy presupposes human equality, but the caste system believed in inequality and there was a hierarchical arrangement.
- Today caste has manifested into a subject to gain political benefits, like reservation in educational colleges, government jobs etc.
- Lowered women’s status: The practice of Sati, child marriage etc were result of caste system. Women were treated as second-class citizens. This patriarchal behaviour is still prevalent today.
- Violence and conflict: Dalit atrocities, sexual assault on lower caste women etc are result of such discrimination and exploitation which are in turn a result of caste and communal identities deeply entrenched in Indian society
The evil face of Caste System:
- Manual scavenging: Manual scavenging eventually became a caste-based occupation, which involves the removal of untreated human excreta from bucket toilets or pit latrines. It has been officially abolished by the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act 2013.
- Caste based violence in India: Increasing trend of caste based violence are related to instances of inter-caste marriage and assertion of basic rights by Dalits including landrights, freedom of expression, access to justice, access to education etc.
- Dalit violence: Increasing trend of caste-based violence are related to instances of inter-caste marriage and assertion of basic rights by Dalits including land rights, freedom of expression, access to justice, access to education etc.
- A group of Dalits were attacked in Una, Gujarat when they had participated in the movement for demand of land ownership for the Dalits.
- Hathras Gang rape of a Dalit womanwas touted as caste based violence.
- Jati Panchayat: The status of each caste is carefully protected, not only by caste laws but also by the conventions. These areopenly enforced by the community through a governing body or board called Jati Panchayat.
- The Concept of Purity and Pollution: The higher castes claimed to have ritual, spiritual and racial purity which they maintained by keeping the lower castes away through the notion of pollution. The idea of pollution means a touch of lower caste man would pollute or defile a man of higher caste.
- Restriction on Food and Drink: Usually a caste would not accept cooked food from any other caste that stands lower than itself in the social scale, due to the notion of getting polluted.
- The caste system is a check on economic and intellectual advancement and a great stumbling block in the way of social reforms
- It undermines the efficiency of labour and prevents perfect mobility of labour, capital and productive effort
- It perpetuates the exploitation of the economically weaker and socially inferior castes, especially the untouchables.
- Inflicted untold hardships on women through its insistence on practices like child-marriage, prohibition of widow-remarriage, seclusion of women
- Caste conflicts are widely prevalent in politics, reservation in jobs and education, inter-caste marriages etc.
General Studies – 2
Topic: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The U.S.-driven Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity would result in a complete stranglehold over the economic systems of the participating countries
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the potential of IPEF and pitfalls it can pose in the future for India.
Directive word:
Critically analyze – When asked to analyse, you must examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a balanced judgment on the topic.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving background regarding the formation of IPEF.
Body:
First, write about advantages IPEF can offer for India – cooperation on infrastructure and clean energy, apart from coordination over taxation, rule enforcement and its trade prospects etc.
Next, write about various potential pitfalls for India that could arise on the account of it joining IPEF.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a way forward to address those pitfalls.
Introduction
The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) was launched by US President Joe Biden in Oct 2022 and joined by 12 other countries including India. The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) is the collaboration of participating countries to strengthen economic partnerships amongst themselves with the objective of enhancing resilience, economic growth, fairness, sustainability, inclusiveness, and competitiveness in the Indo-Pacific region. The IPEF is a significant step toward establishing free and fair trade with nations that share the same values of a rule-based international order and a transparent economic system.
Body
Value addition
The IPEF:
- It is an economic initiative launched by the US President Joe Biden on May 23, 2022.
- The framework launched with a total of 14 participating founding member nations in the Indo-Pacific region with an open invitation for other countries to join.
- The IPEF members represent 40% of the global GDP and 28% of the world’s trade.
- Analysts have compared it to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which the US withdrew from in 2017.
The IPEF has four pillars:
- Trade, supply chains, clean economy, and fair economy.
- India has yet to take a call on whether to join the trade pillar, though it has joined the other three.
Potential benefits of IPEF for India:
- India’s economic engagement with the Indo-Pacific countries has been through bilateral trade agreements, rather than joining a trade block because of the concerns about tariffs and cheap imports that would threaten the competitiveness of local producers.
- However, the IPEF offers India a large opportunity to become a technology leaderin the region, especially in two areas- semiconductor supply chains, and clean energy.
- India can be the destination for new investmentsuch as in the semiconductor sector.
- The Quad framework can be applied in the supply chain network that US technology, Japanese capital, Australia’s logistics, and Indian productioncould fill the vacuum created by the countering domination of China.
Challenges posed:
- The IPEF can already be seen to have deep implications in agriculture, in terms of genetically modified seeds and food, surrendering policy space for regulating Big Tech, and compromising a comparative advantage in manufacturing because of unfair labour and environment standards.
- It will also seriously affect India’s ability to create a vibrant domestic ecosystem in emerging areas such as a digital economy and green products.
- India fears that a proposal by the US under the “supply chains” pillar of the IPEF could violate WTO rules and reduce policy space.
- US proposal states that All IPEF partner nations would be required to give advance notification of any changes to export regulations and tariffs.
- India’s concern:Notifications are usually done only after measures are taken and not before. India has therefore sought industry inputs to protect its interests
- the IPEF talks about digital governance but the IPEF formulation contains issues that directly conflict with India’s stated position.
- Data localization is another key issue that worries India. A bill that the government submitted in Lok Sabha in 2019 calls for the creation of a data protection authority as well as a framework for localising Indian data.
- In its National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers published just last month, the US stated that India’s proposed data localisation requirements, which would require enterprises to store data within India, “will serve as significant barriers to digital trade” between the two countries and act as “market access barriers, especially for smaller firms.”
- Given the fact that the U.S.’s previous initiatives like the Blue Dot Network and the Build Back Better Initiative have made little headway in changing the region’s infrastructural needs, the IPEF faces a credibility challenge.
- S. officials have made it clear that it is neither a free trade agreement nor will it discuss tariff reductions or increasing market access, raising questions about its utility.
- Much will depend on how inclusive the process is and there must be more clarity on its framework.
- The four pillars also raise question on whether there is enough common ground among the countries to set standards together, or be open to issues that vary for each country.
Way forward & conclusion
- For IPEF to succeed, there is a need for the unilateral character of the arrangement to be tweaked to give way to more plural and multilateral arrangement.
- There is a need for an organisation or secretariat to drive and oversee the arrangement which houses representatives from all the member states, in the absence of which, the arrangement would lose its relevance.
- India should carefully calibrate its position in the IPEF negotiations
General Studies – 3
Topic: Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: The Hindu , Insights on India
Why the question:
The reading for retail inflation braked sharply last month to an 18-month low of 4.7%, aided in no small measure by the fact that price gains had hit an eight-year high of 7.8% in April 2022.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the differences between WPI and CPI and measures that are needed to contain core inflation.
Directive word:
Explain – Clarify the topic by giving a detailed account as to how and why it occurred, or what is the context. You must be defining key terms wherever appropriate and substantiate with relevant associated facts.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by defining inflation.
Body:
First, write about WPI and CPI are two commonly used terms to determine inflation in the country and in detailed write how they are different from each other.
Next, write about the core inflation and how it is impacting the economy. Suggest measure that are required to contain core inflation in the economy.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
The wholesale price inflation (WPI) and consumer price inflation (CPI) are two commonly used terms to determine inflation in the country.
WPI is an indicator that determines the average changes in the price of goods that are sold in bulk in a wholesale market. This index is useful in calculating the change in commodity prices at different stages before it reaches the retailer.
CPI is a measure of change in the price of goods and services, which are sold in retail directly to the consumer. It can also be defined as the price that a consumer needs to shell out to purchase goods or services over a given period.
Body
Differences between WPI and CPI
- CPI captures price change at the consumer level, WPI captures the production side.
- WPI does not capture changes in the prices of services, CPI does.
- WPI gives more weight to manufactured goods, CPI gives more weight to food items.
- WPI uses Financial Year as a reference, CPI uses the calendar year.
- WPI measures the initial or first stage of a transaction, CPI is the final or last stage of a transaction
Similarities between CPI and WPI
- Both WPI and CPI are used to calculate the inflation rate.
- Monetary policy primarily focuses on price stability, which can be achieved by controlling inflation which can be tracked and measured by WPI and CPI.
Measures to tackle inflation
- Monitory Policy : Monetary policy is one of the most commonly used measures taken by the government to control inflation. It uses tools like – Bank rate, Repo Rate, Open market operations, etc.
- Fiscal Policy : The two main components of fiscal policy are government revenue and government expenditure. In fiscal policy, the government controls inflation either by reducing private spending or by decreasing government expenditure, or by using both. It reduces private spending by increasing taxes on private businesses. When private spending is more, the government reduces its expenditure to control inflation. However, in present scenario, reducing government expenditure is not possible because there may be certain on-going projects for social welfare that cannot be postponed.
- Price Control : In this method, inflation is suppressed by price control, but cannot be controlled for the long term. The historical evidences have shown that price control alone cannot control inflation, but only reduces the extent of inflation.
Way forward to tackle core inflation
- Monetary policy Measures: Maintaining price stabilityis the foremost objective of the monetary policy committee of RBI. However, during the pandemic, growth has taken centre stage and RBI has rightly cut interest rates.
- Commodity prices: GoI needs to remove supply side bottlenecks. For example, GoI can immediately offload 10-20% of its pulses stock with NAFED in the open market.
- Policy measures:Navigating out of this will need a fiscal stimulus to shore up consumer spending, an investment revival to increase the productive capacity of the economy, and a careful management of inflationary expectations.
- Concomitantly, the government will also need to pursue redistribution of incometo reduce the widening disparity.
- This also calls for fiscal prudence to cut wasteful spending, find new revenuethrough asset sales, mining and spectrum auctions, and build investor confidence.
Conclusion
With the rise in inflation amidst a second wave, the balancing acumen of the MPC will now be sorely tested. Factors like rising commodity prices, supply chain disruptions are expected to raise overall domestic inflation. Government and RBI need to chalk out a fiscal plan to ensure that the inflation doesn’t burden the common man in the country.
General Studies – 4
Topic: strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance
Difficulty level: Easy
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 4 and part of ‘Philosophical Mondays’.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the factors that influence the moral decision-making process.
Directive word:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must investigate 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 giving context.
Body:
Write about the various determinants that are involved in deciding whether an action is moral right or wrong. Write about the variation or relativity of moral actions across time and space. Substantiate wit examples.
Conclusion:
Conclude by summarising.
Introduction
Morality concerns the fundamental reason why some actions are good and others are evil. It is a test to find out what acts are good and what acts are evil. It is a search for criteria to assess the goodness or badness of human action. There are several schools of thought on this issue.
The factors that define morality of human actions are diverse, but all factors unite when a person makes a final decision on how to act. While the reasons are diverse, they are not difficult to understand.
Body
Factors affecting morality of human action:
- Actors and Situation involved: A course of action can range from best to worst depending on the actors and situations involved
- Example:Giving Shelter to a person running to save his life is considered right but the same goes wrong when applied to help a criminal/ terrorist
- Individual personality traits:An individual’s values and morals will also influence his or her ethical standards.
- Example:King Ashoka was a compassionate ruler after the Kalinga war and this was evident in his treatment of his subjects.
- Family influences:Individuals start to form ethical standards as children in response to their perception of their parent’s behaviour and are likely to adopt high ethical standards if they see that their family members adhere to high ethical standard.
- Example:The respect given to female members of family will be imbibed in the minds of the children. They treat other women in the same way.
- Peer influences: Peers are colleagues who are always around us in conducting our daily work. The behaviours and attitudes of peers influence an individual’s decisions in their life.
- Example: A person learns to be industrious when he sees his colleague being felicitated for the good work.
- Life experiences: Individual’s life experiences analyse key ethical concepts such as “right”, “wrong,” and “permissible.” It lets us explores possible sources of moral obligation such as God, human reason, or the desire to be happy. It seeks to establish principles of right behaviour that may serve as action guides for individuals and groups.
- Example: Dr. Ambedkar’s school experiences made him strong enough to fight against the heinous treatment meted out to untouchables and lower caste people.
- Social Norms or Culture:The culture or social norms, in which an individual is based, influence one’s ethical decisions or behaviour. All cultures differ in values and morals. What may be ethical in one culture may not be ethical in other countries.
- Example: In western culture, one may walk into place of worship with their footwear, but the same is offensive in temples in India.
- Legal Interpretations or Laws:The need to control, legislate and regulate, the ethical conduct at the government, individual, and corporate levels have its roots back to the ancient world.
- Example:one of the earliest law codes developed, the Code of Hammurabi, made Bribery a crime in Babylon during the eighteenth century B.C.; Sharia law is the code which guides many Islamic nations.
Impediments to moral actions:
- Ignorance: Not knowing what is right or wrong in a particular situation
- Example:Angulimala’s ignorance led him to pursue inhuman activities until enlightened by Gautam Buddha
- Habits: continuous practice of any virtue/ vice would have an impact in our day to day activities
- Example: A person who is habituated to lie would resort to lie in any given difficult situation whether small or huge.
- Greed: Selfish needs and self-centred behaviour satisfying one’s own requirements regardless of the needs of others
- Example:Corruption
- Cultural Prejudices
- Stereotypes
- Fear
Conclusion
Ethics, whether in an entire society, or in a social sub-system, evolves over a long period of time. Different institutions impact the ethical behaviour of individuals in different manner. Thus, value based education, good governance, self-realization, just laws, code of ethics and code of conducts are essential to build an ethically just society and state.
Topic: Human Values – lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 4 and part of ‘Philosophical Mondays’.
Key Demand of the question:
To explain about the trusteeship of Mahatma Gandhi and its aim of protecting dignity of beings over materialism.
Directive:
Elaborate – Give a detailed account as to how and why it occurred, or what is the context. You must be defining key terms wherever appropriate and substantiate with relevant associated facts.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start by defining the core idea of trusteeship philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi.
Body:
Further elaborate the concept of trusteeship with examples from Gandhian times to contemporary times. Gandhi’s economic ideas were part of his general crusade against poverty, exploitation against socio-economic injustice, and deteriorating moral standards.
He wanted to liberate the modern economic philosophy from the quagmire of materialism and bring it to a higher spiritual plane. Human actions were motivated by social objectives of the protection of human rights.
Conclusion:
End the answer by stressing the need and importance of trusteeship in present times.
Introduction
Trusteeship is a socio-economic philosophy that was propounded by Mahatma Gandhi. It provides a means by which the wealthy people would be the trustees of trusts that looked after the welfare of the people in general. Gandhi believed that the wealthy people could be persuaded to part with their wealth to help the poor. Trusteeship is not merely a principle not even a philosophy. His idea of trusteeship needs to be revisited in today’s times of growing inequality.
Body
Gandhiji’s doctrine of Trusteeship was an instrument of human dignity:
- Gandhi’s economic ideas were part of his general crusade against poverty, exploitation against socio-economic injustice, and deteriorating moral standards.
- Gandhi was an economist of the masses and his approach was rooted in human dignity.
- His pragmatic approach gave a new direction to the existing socio-economic problems in the process of protecting human dignity.
- Gandhism as a socio-economic philosophy suits not only to accomplish the higher ideals of democratic freedom and socialism but it was also thoroughly developed to meet the challenge of national and international forces of communism and capitalism.
- The core of Gandhian economic thought is the protection of the dignity of human person and not mere material prosperity.
- He aimed at the development, upliftment, and enrichment of human liferather than a higher standard of living with scant respect for human and social values.
- Fundamental ethical valuesdominated his economic ideas. He wanted to liberate the modern economic philosophy from the quagmire of materialism and bring it to a higher spiritual plane.
- Human actionswere motivated by social objectives of the protection of human rights.
- He based his doctrine of trusteeship on the first sloka of Isopanisad, according to which one is asked to dedicate everything to God and then use it only to the required extent.
- The principal condition laid down in it is that one must not covet what belongs to others.
- In other words, in the first instance, everything must be surrendered to Godand then out of it one may use only that which is necessary for the service of God’s creation, according to one’s strict needs.
- This makes it clear beyond doubt that it is not in industrial and business sectors only that the doctrine of trusteeship is to be made applicable.
- The spirit of this doctrine is detachment and service. Unless these two virtues are inculcated, it is impossible to obey the command “covet not anybody’s riches.”
- Therefore, Gandhi’s idea of trusteeship arose from his faith in the law of non-possession.
- Man’s dignity,and not his material prosperity, is the centre of Gandhian economics. Gandhian economics aims at a distribution of material prosperity keeping only human dignity in view.
- Thus, it is dominated more by moral values than by economic ideas.
- According to Gandhi, trusteeship is the only ground on which he can work out an ideal combination of economics and morals.
Conclusion
The philosophy of Trusteeship believes in inherent goodness of human beings. The Gandhian perspective is more relevant today than it was ever before. Gandhi wanted to ensure distributive justice by ensuring that business acts as a trustee to its many stakeholders, and specified that economic activities cannot be separated from humanitarian activities. Economics is part of the way of life which is related to collective values.
Value addition:
Relevance of trusteeship in contemporary world:
- The revolutions that are raised from time to time in different countries are motivated by the same objectives of human dignity, justice, and equity.
- It is very clear that the idea is relevant today as it aims at the social, economic, and political changes in the world.
- One of the first steps to achieve this human dignity, justice, and equity is to eliminate the ever-present troublesome element of class struggle in the society.
- Though the Gandhian concept of trusteeship does not seek to destroy any particular class, it provides us with an idea of how to narrow the class gap.
- The practice of all the democratic nations has been to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor to a minimum.
- In India we find this motive behind our cooperative policies, the community development projects, and the taxation policy that heavily taxes the upper class and gives some relief to the lower strata of society.
- We find the manifestations of the Gandhian concept of trusteeship in these policies.
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