UPSC Mains 2015 - GS 4

Analysis & HITS


Q1a. Environmental Ethics is a new topic UPSC innovated. Relevant, no doubt

We could NOT frame any qs outthinking UPSC in this regard - however, we set a Case Study related to this in the GS Full 6 DEC paper

Q1b Nice set of qs - personal & professional ethics covered in classes and GS IV Full 6 DEC 2015

What, according to you, is Ethics? State instances of ethical conduct in private and personal relationships. 

Q2. Quoatation qs are back in business ! We set a couple of them in GS IV Full 6 DEC 2015

First explain and then contextualise the following quotes in today’s scenario

i.                     “There is no God higher than Truth.” (Gandhi)

ii.                   “Man relates to material things through direct insight rather than reason.” (Immanuel Kant)

Q3a. Expected qs. 

Almost DIRECT HIT: GS IV Full 6 DEC 2015

Do you think that laws, rules, and regulations can serve as guiding factors towards ethical conduct for public servants? Is conscience a better source of ethical guidance?

Q3b. Partial HIT : GS IV Full 6 DEC 2015

What do you understand by the following terms ? Point out their specific relevance in public service; (i) Intellectual integrity (ii) Empathy (iii) Perseverance (iv) Spirit of service (v) Commitment

Q4a. Inclusive Growth is always significant !

Q4b. RTI - policy paralysis : expected topics !

Our Direct HIT : 27 OCT 2013 

Has RTI Act limited the frank opinion of the bureaucrat? How?

Q5 Nice qs - but expected & qs tilted towards Public Administration 

Q6 Corruption again !!! Quite expected

Q7 At last - Ethics in International Relations !!!!!!!!!!

Hurrah - Our DIRECT HIT : GS 15 NOV 2015

What is more important in International Relations – national interest or morality? Discuss

& GS IV FULL 06 DEC

Are there any ethical issues involved in foreign policy decision making? Cite illustrations involving Indian foreign policy.

Q8 Good Qs - conflict of interest !

Case Studies :

Must admit that the case studies demanded analytical reasoning and were lengthy !

Guys would have struggled to finish off the paper !

We could not hit any case study as such but we stressed on detailed cases along similar lines !

UPSC Mains 2015 - GS 3

Analysis & HITS


Pls find the qs of UPSC Mains GS III, followed by our comments, in serial order. 



Q1 The nature of economic growth in India in recent times is often described as a jobless growth. Do you agree with this view? Give arguments in favour of your answer.



Q2. Livestock rearing has a big potential for providing non- farm employment and income in rural areas. Discuss suggesting suitable measures to promote this sector in India


Interesting  !! 


But, our DIRECT HIT : GS III 08 NOV 2015

“From equity and livelihood perspectives, livestock rearing must be at the centre stage of poverty alleviation programmes” Opine. 


Q3 In the view of the declining average size of land holdings in India which has made agriculture non – viable for a majority of farmers should contract farming and land leasing be promoted in agriculture? critically evaluate the pros and cons.



Again, innovative part is land leasing - but contract 

farming is an old topic by now



OBLIQUE HIT: GS III 08 NOV
What are the generic advantages of Consolidation of Land Holdings? 



Q4  How can the Digital India program help farmers to improve farm productivity and income? What step has the government taken in this regard?





PARTIAL HIT: GS III FULL 06 DEC

“Post-WTO, deploying IT as a strategic tool for the benefit of rural India has assumed importance.” Do you agree? 

Q5.  In what way could replacement of price subsidy with direct benefit Transfer (DBT) change the scenario of subsidies in India? Discuss.



Q6. What are the impediments in marketing and supply chain management in developing the food processing industry in India? Can e-commerce help in overcoming this bottleneck?



PARTIAL HIT: GS III 08 NOV

Most of Indian food processing units are small sized, i.e. have poor economies of scale. What are the problems this leads to? 

Q7 Craze for gold in India has led to surge in import of gold in recent years and put pressure on balance of payments and external value of rupee. In view of this, examine the merits of Gold Monetization scheme.

   

   https://mygov.in/sites/default/files/master_image/Draft_Gold_Monetization_Scheme.pdf

OBLIQUE HIT : GS III 01 NOV 

Write briefly on: i) Sovereign Gold Bonds issued by RBI

Q8.  “Success of make in India program depends on the success of Skill India programme and radical labour reforms.” Discuss with logical arguments.


Partial HIT : GS III 01 NOV 2015

“The government has the commendable aim of making more in India. This means improving the efficiency of producing in India, whether of agricultural commodities, mining, manufacturing, or services.” State ways and means of achieving this goal.   

Partial HIT: GS III FULL 30 NOV 2014

Indian Cabinet has approved changes in Labour laws. Discuss the changes mooted in the Factories Act in this regard.


Partial HIT: GS III Full Length 2013
“India's panoply of regulations, including inflexible labour laws, discourages companies from expanding. As they grow, large Indian businesses prefer to substitute machines for unskilled labour.” Comment

Q9.  To what factors can be the recent dramatic fall in equipment cost and tariff of solar energy be attributed? What implications does the trend have for thermal power producers and related industry?



Challenging & non-conventional qs


Q10. There is a clear acknowledgement that Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are a tool of industrial development, manufacturing and exports. Recognising this potential, the whole instrumentality of SEZs require augmentation. Discuss the issue plaguing the success of SEZs with respect to taxation, governing laws and administration.

SEZ once again !!! 


Our Partial HIT: GS 26 OCT 2014

Of late, has the drive on Special Economic Zones in India taken a low?



Q11 What do you understand by “Standard Positioning System” and “Precision positioning system” in the GPS era? Discuss the advantage India perceives from its ambitious IRNSS programme employing just seven satellites.

Challenge once more !!





Q12 What are the areas of prohibitive labour that can be 
sustainably managed by robots? Discuss the initiatives that can propel the research in premier research institutes for substantive and gainful innovation.

OUR ALMOST HIT : GS III 08 NOV 2015

“Much of the research in robotics focuses not on specific industrial tasks, but on investigations into new types of robots, alternative ways to think about or design robots, and new ways to manufacture them but other investigations.” Examine  

Q13 Discuss the advantage and security implication of cloud hosting of servers vis-a-vis in house machine based hosting for government business.

Very interesting - somewhat not expected !!





Q14 India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) which has a database containing formatted information on more than 2 million medicinal formulations is proving a powerful weapon in country’s fight against erroneous patents. Discuss the pro and cons of making the database available publicly available under open source licensing.




Very interesting & challenging !!



Q15 Discuss the Namami Gange and National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) programmes and causes of mixed results from the previous schemes. What quantum leaps can help preserve the river Ganga better than incremental inputs?

ALMOST HIT : GS III 02 NOV 2014

What are the various causes for the pollution of the Ganges? What has been the ‘clean-up campaign’ by the government?      

Q16. The frequency of earthquakes appears to have increased in the Indian subcontinent. However, India’s preparedness for mitigating their impact has significant gaps. Discuss various aspects  

Expected topic - that too after a series of earthquakes in India !!

Q17. Human right activists constantly highlight the fact that the Armed forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) is a 

draconian act leading to cases of human right abuses by 

security forces. What sections of AFSPA are opposed by the

activists. Critically evaluate the requirement with 

reference to the view held by Apex Court.

Q18.   Religious indoctrination via social media has 

resulted in Indian youth joining the ISIS. What is ISIS and 

its mission? How can ISIS be dangerous to the internal 

security of our country.

Our Essay topic was : 
"Rise of the Islamic State is a phenomenon"



Q19. The persisting drives of the government for development of large industries in backward areas have resulted in isolating the tribal population and the farmers who face multiple displacements. With Malkangiri and Naxalbari foci, discuss the corrective strategies needed to win the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) doctrine affected citizens back into mainstream of social and economic growth


At last - LWE !!


GS FULL LENGTH - 06 DEC

“A vicious circle starts. The deprived and the marginalised sections of the society, unable to survive in the present system, get alienated. The militant and extremist forces thrive in this environment. The rise of Left extremism is more due to these compulsions than on ideological grounds.” Critically discuss

Q20 Considering the threats cyberspace poses for the country, India needs a “Digital Armed Forces” to prevent crimes. Critically evaluate the National Cyber Security Policy, 2013 outlining the challenges perceived in its effective implementation

Hmm - cyber security policy !!
Our Partial HIT : GS 26 OCT 2014
“Cyber-defence doctrine has to be a collaborative initiative between the state, private sector and individual citizens.” Opine





                  

UPSC Mains 2015 - GS 2

Analysis & HITS

• Supreme Court Case Laws ought to be studied - we have stressed on that aspect in the Polity Classes as well as Test Series
• Only 4 qs = 50 marks on Foreign Policy ! Ought to have been more !!

Q1 - nice qs, though old topic - but seems to have been raked up considering the present political context

Our Partial HIT - 12 OCT 2014 Polity Test

In light of the Shah Bano Case (1985), discuss the uniform civil code and section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code. 

Q2 - Partial HIT - 11 OCT 2015 Polity Test

4.   “Federalism is typically done for a dual purpose – that of limiting the possibility of a tyranny of the majority, and of generating strength through the Union.” Explain. 

Q3 - Panchayat remains an age-old, yet pertinent topic !

Q4 - We opine that this is a very difficult qs. To highlight legislative, executive & judicial actions - would take a lot of doing !

Oblique HIT - 2013 FULL LENGTH GS I

A.  Write on Nyaya Panchayats Vs Khap  Panchayats.        

A.  “To be young and in love has proved fatal for many young girls and boys in parts of north India”. Opine.                             

Q5 - Challenging Qs indeed 

Q6 - Googly ! Not at all expected

Q7 - Interesting qs 

             Our Partial HIT : 11 OCT 2015 Polity Test

"The Supreme Court has passed far-reaching orders in hundreds of environmental cases, through which it is believed to have fostered an extensive and innovative jurisprudence on environmental rights.” Do you agree? 

           & 12 OCT 2014 Polity Test

How has Supreme Court expanded the scope of Right to Life?

Q8 - foreign funding of NGOs was a topical issue - expected - but probably not in this manner ! Quite technical qs

Q9 - SHG is a standard topic - but again not at this angle

Q10 - Again an NGO qs !! 

Our Partial HIT: GS 25 OCT 2015 Test

Evaluate the role of Non-Governmental Organisations [NGOs] in ameliorating poverty and hunger in India.                         

Q11. Old topic again !

Our semi-direct HIT : GS 21 SEP 2014

“There are no Indian Universities in Top 200 in the world”. Comment                  

Q12 Our DIRECT HIT : GS FULL 6 DEC 2015

What is Public Health? How has it evolved in independent India? 

Q13 Nice qs, but not so easy to answer in totality !

Q14 Corporate Governance !!! Companies Act 2013

Our Partial HIT : GS FULL 29 NOV 2015

How has the Indian government taken pro-active stance in prodding the corporate sector in contributing towards the weaker sections of the society? 

Q15. Whistleblowers !!

We too blowed the Whistle - did you listen ?

12 OCT 2014 GS Test

“The Whistleblower’s Protection Act (2011) has certain gaps.” Do you agree?

Q16. Hmm -interesting indeed !

Q17. India_Africa - Well, we got it ~!!!

 GS FP Test 25 OCT 2015

To what extent has India forayed into Africa? “In its overseas ventures, India has to face maximum competition from China” – do you agree?                

Q18. Very Standard Qs - Classroom discussion

Q19. Well, fooled us !! But we asked China's Maritime Silk Route in our Test Series - Project Mausam has a strategic dimension which makes it the counterpart of the Chinese venture !

Q20. Standard again ,,,well, we asked a similar qs : 

GS FULL 2013

“CBMs between India and Pakistan are simply 

wastage of time. Peace won’t come so easily. In fact,

almost impossible….” Comment.  

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UPSC Mains 2015 - GS II

Each Question is worth 12.5 marks and maximum word limit is 200. But content of the answer is more important than its length.

1. Discuss the possible factors that inhibit India from enacting for its citizens a uniform civil code as provided for in the Directive Principles of State Policy.
2. The concept of cooperative federalism has been increasingly emphasized in recent years. Highlight the drawbacks in the existing structure and the extent to which cooperative federalism would answer the shortcomings.
3. In absence of a well-educated and organized local level government system, `Panchayats’ and ‘Samitis’ have remained mainly political institutions and not effective instruments of governance. Critically discuss.
4. Khap Panchayats have been in the news for functioning as extra-constitutional authorities, often delivering pronouncements amounting to human rights violations. Discuss critically the actions taken by the legislative, executive and the judiciary to set the things right in this regard.
5. Resorting to ordinances has always raised concern on violation of the spirit of separation of powers doctrine. While noting the rationales justifying the power to promulgate ordinances, analyze whether the decisions of the Supreme Court on the issue have further facilitated resorting to this power. Should the power to promulgate ordinances be repealed?
6. What are the major changes brought in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 through the recent Ordinance promulgated by the President? How far will it improve India’s dispute resolution mechanism? Discuss.
7. Does the right to clean environment entail legal regulations on burning crackers during Diwali? Discuss in the light of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and Judgement(s) of the Apex Court in this regard.
8. Examine critically the recent changes in the rules governing foreign funding of NGOs under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA), 1976.
9. The Self-Help Group (SHG) Bank Linkage Programme (SBLP), which is India’s own innovation, has proved to be one of the most effective poverty alleviation and women empowerment programmes. Elucidate.
10. How can the role of NGOs be strengthened in India for development works relating to protection of the environment? Discuss throwing light on the major constraints.
11. The quality of higher education in India requires major improvements to make it internationally competitive. Do you think that the entry of foreign educational institutions would help improve the quality of higher and technical education in the country? Discuss.
12. Public health system has limitations in providing universal health coverage. Do you think that the private sector could help in bridging the gap? What other viable alternatives would you suggest?
13. Though there have been several different estimates of poverty in India, all indicate reduction in poverty levels over time. Do you agree? Critically examine with reference to urban and rural poverty indicators.
14. In the light of the Satyam Scandal (2009), discuss the changes brought in corporate governance to ensure transparency, accountability.
15. “If amendment bill to the Whistleblowers Act, 2011 tabled in the Parliament is passed, there may be no one left to protect.” Critically evaluate.
16. “For achieving the desired objectives, it is necessary to ensure that the regulatory institutions remain independent and autonomous.” Discuss in the light of the experiences in recent past.
17. Increasing interest of India in Africa has its pros and cons. Critically examine.
18. Discuss the impediments India is facing in its pursuit of a permanent seat in UN Security Council.
19. Project `Mausam’ is considered a unique foreign policy initiative of the Indian Government to improve relationship with its neighbors. Does the project have a strategic dimension? Discuss.
20. Terrorist activities and mutual distrust have clouded India-Pakistan relations. To what extent the use of soft power like sports and cultural exchanges could help generate goodwill between the two countries? Discuss with suitable examples