150 Essays for Civil Services Examinations: A Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Essay, Essays (university) of English Literature

Download 150 Essays for Civil Services Examinations: A Comprehensive Guide to Mastering Essay and more Essays (university) English Literature in PDF only on Docsity! Tr rT cs EAOMTION Social, Economic, Political, ers ‘Tech., Health & Medical, Ethics & Moral, Educational, Philosophy & Religious, Cultural, ie . Cert Sa ene cere onthe Monnet tem Cl isc) oa 2 ee ee Drm Re OE Re DIR a,  ESSAYS FOR CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION PREFACE Essay is one of the most important papers in IAS Mains Examination. Nonetheless, essay is the most taken-for-granted paper in civil services preparation. The students spend months preparing for GS I, II, III, IV, but any of us hardly dedicated time for preparation of essays. It is important to understand that one essay paper is equivalent to almost 1.5 G.S. paper in terms of scoring. It comprises of two essays of about 1,000 to 1,200 words and carries a total of 250 marks. Therefore, it is necessary to have a fair selection of the essay and maintain the flow with regard to one’s thoughts. Those who have sociology as optional can make use of various thoughts of various scholars and their theories to enhance their writing. Selection of essay is most important because once one starts with it, one cannot look back or start with a new one. The choice of a topic should be clearly based on one’s holistic understanding of the subject matter. Therefore, one should choose a topic with which one is most comfortable. At times, we think that the topic is so common that most of the people will choose it, so let me choose some unconventional topic. This is a totally wrong approach; many people end up scoring poor marks as a result of this line of thinking. Therefore, select an essay on which you can write thoroughly. Do not be in a hurry to write an essay. Many people see the broader title and start writing the essay without even understanding the theme of the topic. After selection of the topic, we need to brainstorm to get the material that we can write in the essay. First, break the topic and look for keywords to tinker upon. Another way to think upon is to get points related to the topic. After one selects an essay, think it from a wider dimension and don’t confine to a particular sphere. Think from social, political, economic, cultural, legal, international, humanistic perspectives. One can make one’s own acronym and add more dimensions to think from. One can look for quotes, examples, events, illustrations, case studies, government initiatives, and facts and figures, etc. So, anything that can make the essay more informative and interesting should be included. Further, some people will say that they don’t have the know-how about how to write such a long essay. It would be better to write good content, say, around 1500 to 1700 words will fetch one good marks. It is better to write to the point and explain in a manner that is not repetitive. Try to start the essay with a ‘text/quotation’ that sets the precedent for one’s first paragraph. If one is not able to remember any saying of a popular personality, better to avoid and start with something that is not abrupt but sets a platform for one’s topic. The same flow should be maintained in the body of the essay. One should always try to analyse the point one puts forward and never add irrelevant information to the essay. In conclusion, always try to write one’s opinion and what is one’s stand on the topic. The conclusion should not be more than 200 words. Also, writing constantly on any topic that appears in newspapers, even for 200 words, will help a lot in increasing the chances of getting higher marks. A suitable time division for completing this paper successfully should normally consist vi  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination of topic selection in 5 minutes; brainstorming/creating outline/structure of essay in 15 minutes; actual essay writing in about 1 hour; and revision of the essay should last 5 minutes. Remember that possessing the information is one thing but how to put that information in a structured and systematic way is very important. So, we need to focus on few things while structuring an essay. Create an outline of essay, that is, how will one’s essay proceed. Break up the essay properly. Once one has brainstormed the points, created an outline and structured the essay, one is ready to write the content. Write in simple language. No need of flowery expressions. Keep short sentences and small paragraphs. Always use simple English. Explain through the examples or illustrations whatever one is trying to explain. Mention government initiatives, policies and plans wherever possible. Use international examples or case studies wherever possible. Throughout the essay, the theme should be reflected and flow should be maintained from the beginning to the end. Each paragraph should link to the other. So, do not focus only on covering lots of dimensions in the essay. In this attempt, one loses the flow of essay. In addition to knowledge, the essay should reflect one’s visions and ideas. The “Introduction” should clearly lay down what the essay will entail, thus giving a brief idea to the reader. One can always use a story, quote, fact/information or abstract way to create a context and then build your introduction over it. The body part of essay is all about analysis. If the topic is debatable, one needs to discuss both sides. If not, then it will be straightforward presentation. In any case, one should have certain line of arguments to put one’s case forward. Try to explain each of them through some examples. In “Conclusion,” the focus should be on summarizing the topic; put one’s concluding stand; and finally tell about the way forward. One should always try to end one’s essay on some positive/visionary note. One needs to read some good sample essays and learn how beautifully people put up their arguments. These essays don’t have diversity but depth. So reading some good essays can tell you how to begin an essay, write arguments, and conclude. Most important, of course, is how to create a well-structured essay. One should take up some common/general topics like women, education, healthcare, internet, and science and prepare some fodder on it, such as quotes, case studies, examples, factual information, government initiatives etc. One should also have a repository of good opening and closing lines. You may find all these through reading newspapers, editorials, good essays of others, etc. One should write at least five to six essays and get them evaluated by experienced teachers or sincere friends. This will help in making improvements. I hope that this publication proves to be useful enough for all aspiring IAS candidates. CONTENTS Preface v Part I: Understanding Essay Writing at its Best 1. Introduction 1 2. Tools and Techniques 5 3. Types and Formats 8 4. IAS Essays: Approach and Analysis 17 5. Selected Ideal IAS Essay Topics 23 Topic 1: Efficient and Smart City: A New World 23 Topic 2: Globalisation: A Blessing or a Curse for a Developing Country? 27 Topic 3: Make in India: A Giant’s Step to Promote Manufacturing 33 Topic 4: Sustainable Development during Climate Change 40 Topic 5: Judicial Activism: Hope of Justice for the Underprivileged Section 46 Topic 6: Empowerment of Women in India 51 6. KSA and its Importance in the USA 58 7. Essay Writing 60 8. Strategy for Writing Excellent Essays 62 9. Easy Way to Write an Essay 66 10. How to Write an Excellent Introduction and Conclusion 68 11. Guidelines for Writing Appropriate Essays 70 12. Do’s and Don’ts 74 Part II: Sample Essays in all Subject Areas for IAS Examination 13. Essays on Social Issues 81 • Tackling Hunger Globally is Need of the Hour 81 • Closely Knit Families Are Being Replaced by Nuclear Families 82 • Justice Must Reach the Poor 83 • Crime Would Reduce with Harsher Punishments or Moral Teachings: Do You Agree? 85 • Role of NGOs in India’s Development 86 • Secularism Opposes All Forms of Inter-Religious Supremacy 88 • Labour Issues in India 91 x  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination • Formal Examinations versus Regular Assessment with Projects 199 • Credit-Based Higher Education System—Status, Opportunities and Challenges 199 • India Must Delink Classroom Teaching from Student Learning 201 20. Philosophical, Religious and Spiritual Essays 203 • If Youth Knew, if Age Could 203 • True Religion Cannot be Misused 205 • Science and Religion 207 • Eastern Religions and Western Philosophy 210 • History Changes but Not Geography 211 • Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in Harmony 213 • Love in a Glass Jar 215 21. Essays on Cultural Topics 217 • Customs and Traditions of Indian Culture 217 • A Problem of India: Lacking Toilets 220 • India and China: The Management of Cross-culture 221 • Challenging Cultural Values Affecting Food Security in India 225 • Does Indian Cinema Shape our Popular Culture or Merely Reflect it? 225 • Advancement of Civilisation versus Cultural Declination 227 • Mass Media versus Cultural Invasion 229 • Being Proud to be Indians 232 • The Culture of the Younger Generation 234 • The Composite Culture of India is Captivating 237 22. Essays on Environmental, Geographical, and Disaster Management Topics 240 • Animals Deserve the Same Treatments as Human Beings 240 • Rain Forests Have Vital Role in the Ecosystem of the Earth 241 • Nature and Climate Change 242 • Do you agree that ‘To Keep Ganga Clean, Puja should be Performed on the Bank of the River’? 243 • Deforestation: A Road to Self-destruction 245 • Climate Change: A Concern 246 Contents  •  xi • Green Bond: A New Financial Tool 248 • Effects of Uneven Distribution of Monsoon on Indian Economy 250 23. Essays on Administration and Governance Issues 252 • Government should not Invest in Arts and Heritage, this Investment should be Made in Public Services—Do you agree? 252 • Transparency in Public Administration 253 • Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme and Government Subsidies: A Welfare Scheme for Underprivileged 255 • PPP Model of Infrastructure Development and Its Viability 257 • Creation of Smaller States and the Following Administrative, Economic and Developmental Implications 259 • Role of Media in Good Governance 261 24. Essays on Psychological Issues 264 • Religion and its Humanist Face 264 • Religious Neutrality: An Accepted Behavioural Script 266 • India’s Struggle against Leprosy 268 • Complications of Adolescents in Indian Context 270 • State of Mental Illness in India 272 25. Essays on Rural and Agrarian Issues 275 • Rural Uplift Programme in India 275 • Drought Management in India 276 • The Developmental Challenges in Rural India 279 • Agricultural Challenges to Overcome in India 282 • Decentralisation for Rural Development is the Way to Overcome Challenge 285 • Agriculture: Second Green Revolution 287 • The Dynamics of Changing Rural Economy in 21st Century 289 • Arhar: A Solution to Pollution 292 26. Essays on Urbanisation-Related Issues 295 • Urbanisation and its Menaces 295 • Homes and Safety Norms in Indian Context 297 • Better Access is Important to Inclusive Cities 298 • Future of Smart Cities in India 299 • Messy Urbanisation Poses Challenge to India 301 • India’s Problem of Slow, Messy and Hidden Urbanisation 302 • The significance of the ‘New Urban Agenda’ for India 303 xii  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination 27. Essays on Women Empowerment-Related Issues 306 • If Women Governed the World! 306 • Women Need More than Empowerment 308 • Women: Delicate or Strong? 309 • Women’s Depiction in Advertisements: Gender Bias or Mean Attitude of the Society? 310 28. Essays on Children and Vulnerable Sections of Society 312 • Do You Agree That Violence on TV Directly Influences Children’s Behaviour? 312 • Children Should Be Encouraged to Think Individually 313 • HIV and Drug Abuse in India 315 • A New Assertion of Dalit Politics in India 320 • Old Age Problem and Our Responsibility towards Old Age 323 • Human Rights Issues in India 325 • Suicide in Youths and Reason behind it 327 • Disability is Not Divinity 329 29. Essays on Contemporary Issues 331 • Terrorism and World Peace 331 • India: A Land of Young Talents and Few Innovations 333 • Can India Become a Superpower by 2030? 334 • BRICS Summit, Goa (2016): A Time to Recognise India 336 • Commercial Surrogacy: Boon or Bane 339 • Crisis of European Refugee 342 • Net Neutrality 345 • The Masks of new Imperialism 347 • Boom of BPO in India 352 • Significance of NAM in Today’s World 354 • Role of BRICS In Today’s World 362 • Investment in Private Sector in India: Future Road Ahead 365 • ‘For the ills of Democracy, social movements may be the cure, not revolutions’ 367 • Dependence, Not Inequality, Is the Real Misfortune 369 • Need of Referendum and Initiative in Our Democracy 371 • India’s Stand in the Suez Canal Crisis 374 • Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) 377 Part I Understanding Essay Writing at its Best IntroduCtIon An essay is a piece of writing which is commonly written from an author’s frame of reference. Essays consist of a number of sections, which may include literary analysis, political statements, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. Therefore, the essay has a vague definition, which overlaps with the definitions of an article and a short story. Nowadays, almost all modern essays are written in prose, but works in verse have been called essays (e.g., An Essay on Criticism and An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope). While a typical essay should be brief, voluminous works like John Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Thomas Malthus’s An Essay on the Principle of Population are counterexamples. Nowadays, essays are becoming major part of formal education in some countries, including the United States and Canada. Structured essays are taught to secondary students to improve their writing skills, and universities usually use admission essays to select applicants, and during final exams in the humanities and social sciences, as a way to assess performance of students. Today, apart from writing, the idea of ‘essays’ is extended to other media. A film essay is a movie that includes documentary film-making styles, which focuses on the progress of an idea or some theme. A photographic essay that covers topics with a related string of photographs may or may not include leading text or captions etc. DEFinition There are a number of ways to define an essay. Among them one is ‘prose composition with a focused subject of discussion’ or a ‘long, systematic discourse’. The genre into which essays fall is very difficult to define. A leading essayist, Aldous Huxley, gave guidance on the subject. Aldous Huxley noted that, ‘like the novel, the essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything, usually on a certain topic. By tradition, almost by definition, the essay is a short piece, and it is therefore impossible to give all things full play within the limits of a single essay’. He pointed out that, ‘a collection of essays can cover almost as much ground, and cover it almost as thoroughly, as can a long novel’—He gave an example of Montaigne’s Third Book. 1 4  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination discussion papers ‘also include research they tend to be shorter and more selective in their approach and more analytical and critical’. Whereas a research paper would typically quote ‘a wide variety of sources’, a discussion paper focuses to integrate the material in a broader fashion. Students sometimes submit the essays as their own work, which are purchased from paper mill or an essay mill, this is one of the challenges universities are facing the world over. An ‘essay mill’ serves as a ghost-writer who sells pre-written essays to college students and universities. Hence plagiarism is a type of academic dishonesty or academic fraud, universities and colleges can examine papers, which are suspected to be from an essay mill by the use of Internet plagiarism detection software. qqq 2 tools and teChnIques Essays may have many purposes but the basic structure of essays is the same no matter what. An essay can be written to argue for a particular point of view or to explain the necessary steps involved to complete a task. You write it either way, the basic format of the essay will be the same. If a few steps are followed by you, then you will find that the essay almost writes itself. You will only be responsible to supply ideas, which will be the important parts of the essay anyway. Do not let the thought of putting pen to paper daunt you. There are some simple tools and techniques which will guide you through the essay writing process, they are as follows: • Decide the topic on which you want to write • Make some vague idea or diagram • Write a thesis statement • Write the body section • Write the main points • Write the subpoints • Elaborate on the subpoints • Write the introductory part • Write the conclusion • Conclude the essay cHoosE a toPic Topic Has Been Assigned You may have no choice as to your topic. If in this case, you still may not be able to jump to the next step. Think about the type of paper you are expected to compose. It can be a general overview or a specific analysis of the topic. If it is an overview, then you are may be ready to move to the next step. If it is a specific analysis, make sure that your topic is fairly specific. If your topic is too general, you must choose a narrower subtopic to discuss. For example, the topic ‘Japan’ is a general topic. If your 6  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination motive is to write an overview, this topic is suitable for that purpose. If your aim is to write a specific analysis, then this topic is too general. You must limit it to something like ‘Politics in Japan’ or ‘Culture of Japan’. Once you have decided that your topic will be suitable, you can go forward to write the essay. Topic Has Not Been Assigned If you are not assigned a topic, then the whole world lies before you. Sometimes, it seems to make the task of starting a topic even more intimidating. Actually, this means that you are free to choose any topic of your interest, which can often make your essay a stronger one. Define Your Purpose First, you must think about the purpose of your essay that you want to write on. Is your purpose to explain, to persuade, to educate people about some person, place, thing or idea, or something else entirely? The topic you choose must fit that purpose. Brainstorm Subjects of Interest Once you have decided the purpose of your essay, write down some subjects of your interest. If you are finding it hard to think of subjects, start it to look around you. Is there anything in your surroundings that interests you to write subjects? Think about your life. What occupies the most time of yours? That might be a good topic. Do not evaluate the subjects yet; just write down the things that spring to your mind. Evaluate Each Potential Topic If you are able to think of at least a few appropriate topics, you must simply consider each one separately. Think about the topic that how you feel about that. If you choose an educative topic, ensure it is a subject about which you are particularly well-informed. If you wish to persuade, ensure are at least moderately passionate about the subject. The most essential element in choosing a topic is the number of ideas to include in the topic. Even you do not find any topic particularly appealing, choosing the one you find best to work with. It could be a better topic than you at first thought. Before you are ready to proceed towards the essay-writing process, look at the selected topic once. organisE your iDEas The purpose of an outline or diagram is to put your ideas about the topic on paper, in a moderately organised format. The structures you have created here can still change before the essay is complete, so do not agonise over this. Decide which structure you want to follow i.e. whether you prefer the cut-and-dried structure of an outline or a more flowing structure. If you start any of the structures and further it is not working for you, you can always switch later. Diagram 1. Start your diagram with a circle or a horizontal line or whatever shape you prefer in the middle of the page. Types and Formats  •  9 Normally, margins of the essay should be 1’ (2.54 cm) at the top, bottom, left and right sides of each and every page. 1’ equals to 14 typed spaces. Exception is made for page numbers which are placed 1/2’ (1.27 cm) from the top upper-right hand corner, flushed to the right margin. titlE PagE Various style guides provide guidelines on a title page. The MLA Handbook provides a general guideline on referencing and documenting sources. In case no style is specified, always follow the guidelines set down by the teacher, for example, numbering of the first or second page, single spacing or double spacing, where to set the title (in the centre or left). numbEring PagEs anD ParagraPHs Keep the pages consecutively numbered, with numbers put in the upper right hand corner, flushed with the right margin and 1/2’ from the top. It is suggested that you type your last name just before each page number so that pages do not get misplaced. On page 4 of your essay, for example, your top right-hand corner should show: Mahesh. Use only Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and not I, II, III, IV, V) for the main body of the paper. Avoid decoration on the pages. Do not use a period after the page number. sPacing bEtWEEn linEs To allow the teacher leave comments, keep the entire paper double spaced; please don’t forget to use 1-inch margins on all sides – this is for your teacher’s comments too. sPacing bEtWEEn WorDs The writer should leave one space between words and one space after every comma, semi-colon or colon. Traditionally, it is required to leave two spaces at the end of every sentence whether the sentence ends with a period, a question mark or an exclamation mark. However, nowadays leaving only one space after each punctuation mark is quite acceptable. But, space is not allowed before a punctuation mark. inDEntation The writers typing on computers should indent their essays with 7 spaces or half-an- inch (1/2’) at the beginning of each paragraph. Set off quotations should be indented 10 spaces or one inch (1’) from the left margin. The exam instructor may give the candidates a choice to indent or not indent their paragraphs. Whichever one is chosen to use, it must be consistently followed throughout the essay. The writers who do not want to indent should start each paragraph flushed to the left margin. It is essential to double-space between lines and quadruple-space between paragraphs. The writers should indent setoff quotations 14 spaces or one inch (1’) from the left margin. 10  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination titlEs oF books, magazinEs, nEWsPaPErs, or Journals The writer should underline the titles of all full-length works such as novels, plays, books, for example, Shakespeare’s Theatre. The writer need to put titles of shorter works in quotation marks—newspaper, journal, magazine articles, chapters of books or essays, for example, ‘Giving Back to the Earth: Western Helps Make a Difference in India’.For title citations in the text, every word other than articles (‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’), prepositions (such as ‘in’, ‘on’, ‘under’, ‘over’) and conjunctions (such as ‘and’, ‘because’, ‘but’, ‘however’), should be capitalised, unless they occur at the beginning of the title or subtitle, for example, ‘And Now for Something Completely Different: A Hedgehog Hospital.’ To understand other complex details on how to cite titles and quotations within titles, sacred texts, shortened titles, exceptions to the rule, etc. the MLA Handbook should be consulted. Writing an Essay in all caPital lEttErs The writers should not write the entire text in capital letters and should capitalise only when necessary. Unnecessary capitalisation will eventually lead to unwanted problems of reduced reader comprehension, slow reading speed and consequently would cause irritation. tablE oF contEnts Table of Contents is not required for a short essay. However, for a long essay, a Table of Contents relating each section to its corresponding page number could be helpful for the reader. A Table of Contents comprises following sections: Introduction, Body— use main section headings—Conclusion—Summary, Works Cited or References and the corresponding page numbers where each section begins. EnD oF Essay An essay does not require any special word, phrase or fancy symbol to mark its end. Rather, a period at the end of the last sentence marks the end of the essay. tHE imPortancE oF binDing tHE Essay Staple the sheets of paper at the upper left hand corner. A paper clip could be used in case of unavailability of stapler. The paper should neither be pinned nor be folded. The candidates taking an important paper might have their paper sheets bound. They should not hand their essay in loose sheets even if these are numbered and neatly placed in an envelope or folder. It is not an easy task to write an essay of an impeccable format and structure. It requires a great deal of practice. It might be very difficult initially for the students to correctly format the essay. However, due diligence and perseverance will help the student master essay formatting. Various authors, ranging from university students to professional essayists, use different forms and styles discussed as follows: Types and Formats  •  11 • Cause and Effect: The distinguishing features of a ‘cause and effect’ essay are causal chains connecting from a cause to an effect, careful use of language and chronological or emphatic order. A writer using this rhetorical method must evaluate the subject, decide the purpose, study the audience, have a critical thinking about different causes or consequences, create a thesis statement, organise the parts, assess the language, and decide on a conclusion. • Classification and Division: Classification is termed as categorising the objects into larger groups whereas the breaking of a larger whole into smaller segment is known as division. • Compare and Contrast: The characteristics of compare and contrast essays are the basis for comparison between two objects, points of comparison and analogies. It is grouped by object (chunking) or by point (sequential). Comparison emphasises upon the similarities between two or more similar objects while contrasting emphasises upon the differences between two or more objects. The writers writing a compare and contrast essay need to determine their purpose, study their audience, analyse the basis and points of comparison, create their thesis statement, organise and develop the comparison, and identify a conclusion. Compare and contrast is organised in an emphatic order. • Descriptive: Descriptive writing is characterised by employing the sensory details that include sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste to capture the attention of the readers. It appeals to the physical senses, and uses details that are appealing to a reader’s physical, emotional or intellectual sensibilities. The rhetorical choices to be considered when using a description are determining the purpose, judging the audience, developing a dominant impression, applying descriptive language and organising the description. Generally, the description is organised in spatial order though it can also be in chronological or emphatic order. Keeping the scene in focus, description uses various language tools such as connotative language, denotative language, figurative language, metaphor and simile to arrive at a dominant impression. One university essay guide provides the definition of descriptive writing as ‘descriptive writing says what happened or what another author has discussed; it provides an account of the topic’. A significant creative form of descriptive essays is lyric essay. • Dialectic: This form of essay is commonly used in Philosophy. In the dialectic form, the writers create a thesis and argument, then create a counterargument against their own argument and then develop a final and novel argument as a counter to the counterargument. The dialectic form provides the benefits of presenting the theme in a broader perspective while countering a possible flaw that may be present. • Exemplification: In an exemplification essay, the writer makes use of a generalisation and examples that are believable, relevant and representative including anecdotes. Writers need to analyse their subject, determine their 14  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination ‘film-essays’. Georges Méliès and Bertolt Brecht are the two film makers whose work was the antecedent to the cinematic essay. Méliès mixed actual footage with shots of a recreation of the event of the 1902 coronation of King Edward VII to make a short film—The Coronation of Edward VII (1902). Brecht, a playwright, experimented with film and included film projections into some of his plays. Another essay film F for Fake released in 1974 was made by Orson Welles in his own pioneering style The film dealt specifically with art forger Elmyr de Hory and generally with the themes of authenticity, deception and ‘fakery’. An article from David Winks Gray ‘The essay film in action’ states that, ‘the essay film became an identifiable form of film making in the 1950s and 1960s’. He states that, since that time, the tendency of essay films is ‘on the margins’ of the film making world. The essay films are of ‘peculiar searching, questioning tone’ which is ‘between documentary and fiction’ but without ‘fitting comfortably’ into either genre. Gray notes that similar to written essays, essay films ‘tend to marry the personal voice of a guiding narrator (often the director) with a wide swath of other voices’. The University of Wisconsin Cinematheque website repeats some of Gray’s comments; it calls a film essay an ‘intimate and allusive’ genre that ‘catches film makers in a pensive mood, ruminating on the margins between fictions and documentary’ in a way that is ‘refreshingly inventive, playful, and idiosyncratic’. • Photography: Photographic essay refers to an attempt which covers a topic with a linked series of photographs. Be it purely photographic works to photographs with captions or small notes to full text essays with a few or many accompanying photographs, both comes under photo essays. These can be in the form of non- ordered photographs to be viewed all at once or in an order chosen by the viewer or sequential in nature, where the intention is to view them in a particular order. Though all photo essays can be considered as collections of photographs, but all collections of photographs are not photo essays. Photo essays generally address a certain issue or attempt to capture the character of places and events. FivE-Part Essays anD tHEir aDvantagE The five-part essay, often called the ‘persuasive’ or ‘argumentative’ essay, is an advanced stage of the five-paragraph essay. The five-part essay is more complex and accomplished having roots in classical rhetoric. Its major differentiating feature is that it is obtained after refinement of the ‘body’ of the simpler five-paragraph essay. In this type of essay, the names of five parts vary from source to source and are typically represented as: 1. Introduction: This segment presents a thematic overview of the topic, and introduction of the thesis; 2. Narration: This segment presents a review of the background literature to familiarise the reader to the topic; also, a structural overview of the essay; Types and Formats  •  15 3. Affirmation: In this segment the evidence and arguments in favour of the thesis are produced; 4. Negation: In this segment the evidence and arguments against the thesis are produced; these also require either ‘refutation’ or ‘concession’; 5. Conclusion: This segment presents the summary of the argument, and association of the thesis and argument with larger, connected issues. The five-part essay is less ‘thesis-driven’ and more balanced and fair as it includes the ‘narration’ and ‘negation’ (and its ‘refutation’ or ‘concession’) in comparison to the five-paragraph essay in which the ‘body’ is all ‘affirmation’. Rhetorically, Contrastive terms such as ‘but’, ‘however’, and ‘on the other hand’ are used to show the transition from affirmation to negation (and refutation or concession). Being purely formal, the five parts can be created and repeated at any length, from a sentence, though it would be a highly complex one; to the standard paragraphs of a regular essay; to the chapters of a book; and even to separate books themselves, though each book, while emphasising a particular part, would, of necessity, include the other parts also. Another form of the five-part essay consists of: 1. Introduction—It is about introducing a topic. An important part of this is the three pronged thesis. 2. Body Paragraph 1—It explains the first part of the three pronged thesis. 3. Body Paragraph 2—It explains the second part of the three pronged thesis. 4. Body Paragraph 3—It explains the third part of the three pronged thesis. 5. Conclusion—This part sums up the points and restate the thesis where first part refers to the introduction, the second part refers to the body, and the third part refers to the conclusion. The main emphasis of the five-part essay is in demonstrating the opposition and give-and-take of true argument. Based on the formula of ‘thesis + antithesis = synthesis’, dialectic is the foundation of the five-part essay. A writer could also use: Intro: Hook (3 sentences), Connector (3 sentences), Thesis Body 1: Topic Sentence, Evidence, Analysis (1), Analysis (2), Analysis (3), Transition, Evidence 2, Analysis (1), Analysis (2), Analysis (3), Concluding Sentence 16  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination Body 2: Topic Sentence, Evidence, Analysis (1), Analysis (2), Analysis (3), Transition, Evidence 2, Analysis (1), Analysis (2), Analysis (3), Concluding Sentence Body 3: Topic Sentence, Evidence, Analysis (1), Analysis (2), Analysis (3), Transition, Evidence 2, Analysis (1), Analysis (2), Analysis (3), Concluding Sentence Conclusion: Essayists should sum up all their elements and make their essay sou nd finished. qqq IAS Essays:Approach and Analysis   •  19 shuttle, computers, machines, mobile and internet-based satellite communication, etc. facilitating the humankind nowadays reflects our physical growth in a good light. Nowadays, plenty of Nobel Prizes are won every year. Mentally, the viewpoint of young generation seems far better and coherent than that of older generations. Thus, in terms of mental aspects a significant leap is taken by the human society. The features of a spiritually advanced society are its openness, liberal thinking and universalistic aptitude that reflect highest degree of human rationality and scientific temper instead of superstition, bigotry and old conventions. In such a society, people have feelings of Brahmanhood within themselves, considering themselves part of a united family, and associate themselves with one universal God. The age-old values of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ and ‘sarvam khalvidam brahma’ etc. reflects the prevalence of such spiritual practices in ancient India. A society incorporating all the three dimensions in a balanced state can only claim to be an all-round developed society. As the physical and psychic levels of development, with each and every developmental effort, involve a very critical risk of evolving their negative counterparts also. For example, the development of a fast moving car at physical level also brings with it the simultaneous risk of severe accidents. Similarly at the psychic level, though plenty of Nobel Prizes are won every year, but there has been rise in case of various mental disorders also. In present times, negative tendencies such as frustrations, anxieties and suicide attempts have increased manifolds. Hence, it can be seen that the physical and psychic levels of development carry them their negative counterparts also. Only, the spiritual development does not have any negativity associated with it. Therefore, these three levels are linked together in a complex relationship, which have to be brought to exist in harmony to give the true sense of a developed society. Since the ancient times, Indian society is said to practice spirituality that was followed with a strong foundation even in the medieval time. Refined with higher standards of values, ethics and morality, the social consciousness was characterised with confidence. People believed in themselves and psychically the society was strong. The people were able to meet their needs and requirements and physically too the society had abundant wealth to take care of its people. The living standard of people was remarkably good and they were satisfied with it. The medieval period in Indian society during the period of Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals witnessed a little deterioration in the physical well-being of its people, but overall the society was able to manage the intricate balance amongst the three levels. However, a great deal of harms to the interest of people in India and its societal structure was done in the modern period during the period of European invasion that resulted into British rule and colonisation of India. This was done in two levels— physical level and psychic level. Physically, the Britishers followed the policy of ‘Drain of Wealth’ and put all their efforts to exploit, extract and export Indian wealth to England. To suit their selfish interests, they exploited the very structure of Indian 20  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination economy, trade, commerce and occupation of the people without even caring about the grave consequences that followed in the form of long-term destruction because of their lunatic actions. Psychically too they were able to inflict damage to the attitude of the society to such an extent that Indians lost faith and belief in their ability. This caused a remarkable loss to the Indian society and it needs time to heel and revive the society. Hence, the contemporary Indian society is comprised of people who underwent physical and psychic exploitation for over two and half centuries. However, even the alien intrusions could not destabilise them from spirituality. Hence, during all these periods of crisis the base of Indian society in the form of spirituality remained intact. Post-independence, a strong foundation laid by the visionary leadership of Pandit Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Ballabh Patel, Dr. Ambedkar, etc. led to the present form of governance based on modern principles of democracy, socialism and secularism. Our constitution very well incorporates all these principles and enjoys the privilege of being one of the largest written constitutions in the world. The solid foundations laid by our constitution have resulted in providing a strong base to the Indian society to become self-reliant in food grain production and most of its basic needs. In the present scenario, the country is widely recognised as one of the fastest growing economy in the world and emerging as a leader on many fronts. Even the U. S. President Obama acknowledged that ‘When India speaks, the World listens’. In the 1960s, followed by a series of famines, when our late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi went to USA to seek help for food grains and other economic needs, she was made to wait half an hour in the presidential corridor to meet the U. S. President. In the present scenario, the situation has changed to such a level that the U. S. President Mr. Obama came to India and sought employments for its people. Today, India is playing a leadership role in international organisations including ASEAN, SAARC, G-20, BASIC, IBSA, etc. Moreover, India has been given an observer status in other organisations like G-8, SCO, EU, etc. which portrays the significant role India plays, its participation and the respect gained by it in the International Forums. India adopted the harmonious and peaceful coexistence principles of Non- Aligned Movement (NAM) based on India’s ancient value system of ‘Sarva Jan Hitaya Cha’ and ‘Vashudhaiv Kutumbakam’. It evolved as a result of Indian societal structure and has provided an alternative to the polarised world that followed immature and sentimental principles of polarisation during the second World War. India played a significant role in the formation of the UN even before it achieved independence. Many of the UN institutions are based on Indian’s age-old principles of humanism and universalism of which India is also the founding member. Thus, physically India is able to revive itself within a very short span of time after independence. Presently, India has registered itself as the second fastest growing economy of the world. This has led to a boost in the psychological status of Indian people reflecting growing social awareness and confidence in the society. Nowadays, Indians have regained the sense of belief and pride in being an Indian. This reflects a great sign of improvement the Indian society is going through. IAS Essays:Approach and Analysis   •  21 The economic development, prosperity of the people and international position held by its people show the readiness of Indian society for betterment in all spheres of life. The living standard of Indian society has improved in all these fronts. Few social evils such as poverty, unemployment, mass scale hunger, malnourishment, ignorance, illiteracy, and other forms of iniquities that still exist in the present society can be eliminated in future with good development figures, successful functioning democracy, education and good governance. All these developments indicate that India would be able to regain its status of global leader in the time to come. As it is the only country with a social set-up having a harmonious balance in all the three aforementioned fundamental pillars that forms the basis of an ideal society. A relatively good essay could be turned out by elaborating few of these aspects combined with logical arguments. This essay becomes an obvious choice as a student well versed in these basic aspects of society could get marks in the range of 100 to 145. The third essay topic: ‘From traditional Indian Philanthropy to the Gates-Buffett model—a natural progress or a paradigm shift?’ is more of a philosophical tone. To attempt this essay one should have adequate knowledge of the differences that lie in the Indian practice of ‘paropkara’ and the contemporary western practice of ‘philanthropy’. Thereafter, one is assumed to provide comments on whether philanthropy in practice today is a natural progress or a Paradigm shift? Before taking a position, the essayist should elaborate upon these two practices then should logically conclude the topic. The concept of philanthropy in India was called as ‘Paropkara’, that is, ‘Par’ + ‘Upkara’ which means ‘service to others’. Therefore, the philanthropy was considered as service or duty to perform whether one had enough wealth or little wealth. The people distributing their money or wealth would consider themselves indebted to person receiving their money and never viewed themselves obliging to the needy or the beneficiary. Raja Harishchandra, Bharathari, Raja Bhoja, Ashoka, etc. are some examples of the kings who testify this system of philanthropy that was prevalent in India since the time immemorial. In present times, philanthropy in practice is a western adaptation. Influenced by this system, most of the Indian wealthy people, who have become billionaire very recently, are following the western philanthropists, like Bill, Warren Buffett and Milinda Gates, etc. The widespread fame and recognition that comes with this practice motivates these multi billionaires. Thus, most of the Indian philanthropists in their eagerness to transform themselves as a modern western man get drawn into the gaudy power of westernisation and get distracted between the two. Modernisation does not mean westernisation and is instead a mindset based on the principles of democracy, socialism, equality, secularism and freedom and universalism. Hence, the practice of philanthropy nowadays by Indians who recently turned rich cannot be called as a natural development but a paradigm shift. Now, enough light has been thrown on core of the issues and one can always make use of his/her vision and understanding to further elaborate on the topic. One can put relevant facts and figures in a meaningful way to make it more substantive. Hence, 24  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination everybody, including common people, businessmen, the government and the surroundings as well. The revolutionising idea of ‘Smart City’ came up when the world was facing economic crisis. The year 2008 was the time of creation of this idea when IBM cast its deep sight into developing a smart city by its project ‘Smart Planet’ initiative. Upon seeing, this project, the whole world got captivated with the idea of Smart City. nEcEssity oF smart city Because of the increase in development, India’s urban population might (in probability) increase approximately to 600 million by 2031, which would be almost twice to what it was in 2001. Almost half of this population would be living in cities. Based on a recent report on Indian urban infrastructure and services by a high-powered expert committee set by the Government of India, the share of the GDP of the urban areas will probably rise to 75 per cent by 2030 as compared to 62–63 per cent in 2009–2010. This is the major reason why cities are called ‘Engines of Economic Growth’. It is imperative that they perform as motivational factors to our economic progress. This pattern of urban progress that is now visible in India will keep continuing for nearby future. Urban areas will be crucial to the economic growth of the country and will require a massive overhaul to accommodate the influx in future. To cater to this growing urban population, in the future, cities need to provide a suitable environment for future investments, create new jobs and livelihoods, build reliable public infrastructure, provide social services with sufficient access to affordable housing and most necessarily support efficient utilisation of resources for a standard quality of life. This considerable growth also provides impetus for the creation of smart cities, which utilise information and communication technology (ICT) to improve largely the productivity, lifestyle and the prosperity of the dwellers. Moreover, green growth master plans can build environmentally sustainable cities. The vision for ‘Smart City’ has two major aspects: Technology transportation and energy efficiency. Digital technologies or information and communication technologies (ICT) are used in a smart city to promote quality and performance of urban services, to cut down costs and resource consumption and to remain engaged more effectively and actively with its citizens. ICT discovers the requirements of the area and directs to plan accordingly. The consequences of climate change, such as sea level rises, melting of glaciers and more frequent changes of extreme weather events with heavy rainfalls and drought periods, pose a great danger to business and livelihoods all over the world. In the attempt to reduce the rising global temperature, the Government of India has set a number of emission targets, which have the potential to improve energy security simultaneously. Energy efficiency is seen conspicuously as a predominant aspect for shielding competitiveness of Indian industry in the longer term. Keeping it in mind, India has committed itself to reducing emissions by escalating the share of renewable energy in final energy consumption to rise in energy efficiency. Besides these, India Selected Ideal IAS Essay Topics   •  25 has prepared a blueprint to shape the low-carbon economy essential for these goals, and thus clarifying a pathway for an India-wide transition to a sustainable energy system. This emphasis on sustainability and climate change mitigation can lead to greater emphasis on cheap energy and competitiveness. The Energy Performance mentioned in Buildings Directive concentrates mainly on the energy performance of individual buildings with agreeable reasons to address sets of buildings and to determine a common balance of energy for them. It is necessary to analyse the demand and supply of energy for estimating the opportunity of considering sets of buildings one-by-one. Energy demand can be made up for those that are deprived of getting a low energy demand with an agreeable effort provided the disadvantageous conditions affect one or a number of buildings within the same neighbourhood (e.g., shading); while nearby or on-site systems can work as an advantageous substitute to individual systems per building for energy supply. This type of small central supply can produce benefits regarding capital cost savings, higher efficiency and better seasonal storage. Long-term thinking and decision-making plays predominant role for achieving all these. managEmEnt oF EnErgy in smart city Energy management by the source nation is essential in a smart city. The main and major objective of integrated energy management is to achieve and maintain sustainable energy realised at the ground level; side-by-side, measures to conserve energy must be executed. Excessive utilisation of any energy source such as coal or oil for generation of electricity causes plights of problems like acid rain and increasing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Hydroelectric power stations and atomic energy stations were championed for curtailing dependence on oil and coal for generating electricity. Huge dams can contribute considerably to economic growth in developing countries’ short of electricity like India, but there must be a compromise regarding the case of large-scale electricity generation. Reservoirs deluge wildlife habitats, forests and farmland and even eradicate communities of native people. In order to meet the growing demand, efficient utilisation of energy and its conservation are preponderant factors. Energy is the key resource to industrial development. It is generated both from commercial sources such as petroleum, coal, hydroelectric plants and non-commercial sources like fuel-wood, cow-dung and agricultural wastes. The index of economic advancement attained by a country is the consumption of commercial energy per head. However, India consumes a very low amount of commercial energy per head— one-eighth of the world average. Commercial energy supplies a little over half of the total energy used in the country, and the rest comes from non-commercial sources. Since the last two and half a decade, agriculture has been consuming commercial energy at a greater rate. However, now the twin factors, environmental conservation and energy generation, are emerging from exploitative interaction of man with natural resources. 26  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination Methodical management of energy is critical to a smart city because it largely depends on power. It is maintained by technologies like smart metering, cloud computing and wireless connected sensors. Smart meters allow two-way monitoring from both the utility providers and the end-user to monitor consumption, loads of peak hours etc. These systems provide information essential to the citizens in order to help better manage their plan tariffs. Furthermore, smart cities also use ‘smart grids’, i.e. power grids integrated with controls, automation and latest technologies to boost efficient transmission and quicker restoration of power on outages or other incidences, cut down overall operation and management costs and combine renewable energy systems. Besides these, they offer financial incentives to the consumers for shifting the electrical demand during off-peak hours. Above all, smart grids give opportunities to save energy and at the same time reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Smart city provides seamless and integrated public transport and communication networks in multiple modes—rail, metro, bus and non-motorised transportation (walking and cycling). Preferably, ICT is integrated with the transport networks with a view to allowing real-time tracking and increasing citizen access to information on transportation. Directed parking and volume-based traffic control systems are the measures that help handling traffic challenges and improve flexibility. Energy policy now has two ways. One leads to the fossil fuels or the hard way, which means to go on as we have been for many years i.e. giving importance to energy quantity by discovering more amounts of fossil fuels and building larger power plants. The second way is the soft one which leads to the energy substitutes that lay importance on energy quality and are also renewable, flexible and more eco-friendly. The soft way depends mainly on renewable energy that includes sunlight, wind, biomass, tidal energy etc. and waste management to create energy. This initiative will certainly help cities and regions to undertake ambitious and spearheading measures in order to reduce the emission of greenhouse gas through sustainable utilisation and production of energy. This will need methodical approaches and organisational innovation, incorporating energy efficiency, low carbon technologies and the efficient management of supply and demand. The principal constituents of this initiative would comprise especially steps on buildings, local energy networks and transport. The final goal of the ‘Smart Cities’ is the design of energy neutral cities with the least carbon dioxide emissions. In smart cities, people are creators in an urban context where sustainable environment plays a crucial role. Best utilisation of waste to energy helps maintaining a high quality of the use of technology through ICT and many other endeavours. The pinpointed cities would be designed in partnership with Centre, State and urban local bodies in a public-private partnership (PPP) model. The Centre will pay the viability gap funding (VGF) for undertaking the initiative. The Government of Selected Ideal IAS Essay Topics   •  29 Open skies policies and low-cost carriers have brought competition in the international aviation market. As a result, aviation has now become very affordable to middle classes in developed countries since the 1970s. By the 1990s, the development of low-cost transport and communication networks reduced the cost of communication between countries. Nowadays, manpower is easy to cut down as works like accounting, engineering design and machine development can be done by using a computer from anywhere in the world. The interrelatedness of the world’s economies and cultures which developed rapidly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century declined from the 1910s owing to the consecutive World Wars and Cold War; but once again it grew quickly in the 1980s and 1990s. A considerable evolution of global interconnection came off across the world following the revolutions of 1989 and the succeeding liberalisation in different parts of the world. Migration and flux of people can also be considered as the predominant characteristic of the process of globalisation. In comparison with the past decades, almost double labour force migrated from 1965 to 1990, and this movement of people happened between the developing and the underdeveloped countries. The inclusion of market-oriented economic policies that stimulate private property rights, free enterprise and competition has helped the economy of Asia to grow rapidly. According to Human Development Report of UNDP 2003, especially in the East Asian developing countries, the rate of GDP grew to 5.9 per cent per capita from 1975 to 2001. In relation to this, Martin Wolf, the British economic journalist said that the earnings of the poor developing countries, which have more than half of the world’s population, grew considerably faster than the richest countries remaining comparatively steady in their growth, leading to the minimised international inequality and the prevalence of poverty. Growth of globalisation too has never been easy and smooth. One of the stiff barriers that came in course of the growth of globalisation was the recession of the late 2000s which was related to lower growth like cross-boundary phone calls and the use of Skype, or short-term negative growth (like trade) of global interconnectedness. The four major cross-boundary flows—trade of goods and services, information, nationals (migrants, tourists and students) and capitals—have been in the study of the DHL Global Connectedness Index which declares that after 2008, the depth of global integration decreased by nearly one-tenth, but it surpassed the pre-fall peak by 2013. EFFEct oF globalisation Societies which are globalised provide a complex series of forces and factors that draw nationals, cultures, markets, faiths and practices into progressively vaster propinquity to one another, and growing international trade and commerce with stiff hurdles to enter corporate consortium. Active economic liberalisation and international integration brought about certain demographic changes in the developing world that has resulted in increasing social security and, in contrary, decreasing inequality. Martin Wolf asserted that in the 30  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination developing world, in general, life expectancy increased by four months every year after 1970 and infant mortality rate decreased to 58 per thousand in 2000 from 107 in 1970 because of the developments in the standard of living and healthcare conditions; adult literacy too in developing countries increased to 74 per cent in 1998 from 53 per cent in 1970 and with the passage of time, the illiteracy rate among the young assures to decrease to the lowest rate. Moreover, in the developing world, in general, the fertility rates decreased to 2.8 per woman in 2000 from 4.1 in 1980, which points out the growth of education standard of women on fertility, and control of minimum number of children with more parental care, attention and investment. As a result, a large number of rich and educated parents have come up with fewer children with a view to giving their children opportunities of education by taking them away from labour force—improving the issue of child labour. Consequentially, in spite of the apparent unequal distribution of income within these developing countries, their economic growth and prosperity have largely resulted in the progressive standards of living and welfare for the population. The ASEAN Free Trade Area is a trade union agreement by the Association of South-east Asian Nations that supports local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries. Only the six countries of South Asian Nations—Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand signed the AFTA agreement on 28 January 1992 in Singapore, then Vietnam (in 1995), Laos and Myanmar (in 1997) and Cambodia (in 1999) signed it, respectively. An international foundation of legal agreements, institutions, and both formal and informal economic players get together, within the early twenty-first century, with the objective of promoting international fluxes of financial capital for the causes of investment and trade financing. This global financial system appeared during the first modern movement of economic globalisation, marked by the foundation of central banks, multilateral treaties and intergovernmental organisations in order to develop the clarity, regulation and efficacy of international markets. The world economy became progressively integrated financially throughout the twentieth century when nations liberalised capital accounts and deregulated financial zones. A number of financial demands in Europe, Asia and Latin America left infectious effects on other countries, when globalisation was exposed to fraught capital flows. Financial organisations had grown larger with a more advanced and interconnected range of investment proceedings and by the early twenty-first century quickly spread among other nations during the financial crisis suffered by the USA known as the worldwide financial crisis and is considered as the creator of the Great Recession across the world. commEnts on globalisation Regarding such activities in the world and the human costs as well, critiques of globalisation were naturally led to discussion and indicate a ‘multitude of interconnected vital consequences—social disintegration, a decline of democracy, more quick and extensive degradation of the environment, the outbreak of new diseases, Selected Ideal IAS Essay Topics   •  31 increasing poverty and separation’ which they asserted to be the unexpected outcome of globalisation. Others asserted that, as the forces of globalisation have resulted in the spread of western-style democracy, this has been accompanied by a rise in inter- ethnic tension and violence as free market economic policies amalgamate democratic methods of universal franchise as well as an increase in militarisation to necessitate democratic doctrines as a measure to disagreement resolution. It is known that with globalisation we have come close to ‘the end of geography’, but it may not have brought us to ‘the end of history’. Since about 1980, the Third Industrial Revolution charged the stiff pressure of time and space which has transformed the mode of our interactions with the international environment. Globalisation, for many, has escalated cross-boundary exchange of capital, goods, services, ideas, information, technology, legal systems and nationals desirably and irrevocably, having guaranteed a rising standard of living throughout the world. Others retreat from globalisation because they find it to be the soft underbelly of corporate colonialism that despoils and benefits behind unrestrained consumerism. Overseas development assistance from the rich to poor countries has amounted to $50–80 billion per year in the last two decades, and simultaneously about $500–800 billion funds have been brought illegally from the poor to rich countries i.e. for every one dollar of legal fund, the West get in return $10 illegal funds and, for welfare steps, lectures the rest on corruption. The benefits and costs of linking and delinking have an unequal distribution. Industrially developed countries have mutual interdependence; developing countries, on the whole, have independence in economic relations with one another; and developing countries, to a great extent, have dependence on industrially developed countries. But Brazil, China and India have started to change this equation. The income levels between countries and peoples have increasingly diverged with expanding inequality among and within nations. Assets and incomes are more focused. Wage shares have declined. Profit shares have swelled. Capital flexibility side-by-side labour rigidity has cut down the bargaining power of labour organisation. The growing poverty and inequality has left great effect on social and political stability among and within the states—growth for a few countries and people while marginalisation and elision for the bulk. The global markets are growing faster while social and economic organisations are failing to ensure a parallel, balanced, comprehensive and sustainable development. Labour rights have been nonchalantly protected whereas capital and property rights sedulously, and trade and finance rules of the world are discriminatory. This has lopsided effects on rich and poor countries. The concern of many developing countries, even before the global financial crisis (GFC), was the adverse infringement of globalisation in their economic dominance, cultural integrity and social stability. ‘Interdependence’ among unequals changed into the dependence of some in international markets functioning under the supremacy of others. The GFC confirmed that the unrestrained transnational forces can inundate absent effective regulatory organisations, markets, states and civil society. 34  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination ‘Heavy Industries’. However, the initiative failed owing to the want of latest technology and investment. When the ‘New Economic Policy’––liberal economy came into effect, the current Indian economy was restructured and our required markets were created. With refreshed initiative, India is now endeavouring to improvise and boom its industries relying on the insufficient investment resources and technology. Although Indian economy lags behind other economies in the world for these insufficiencies, yet India is a vast source of skilled human resource largely in service sector, and by its contribution this sector grows rapidly and supports our economy supplying a surplus in the form of ‘Balance of Payment’. But the comparative immaturity and deficiency of industries cannot elevate us from the ground, and because of the narrow outlook of intrinsic entrepreneurship our limited exports also suffer recurrent trade shortfall which gives more adverse ‘Balance of Payment’ and shows current account shortage. So, revenue generation greatly depends on the service sector, the tertiary one, while our primary sector has been overburdened persistently as consequences of marginalised land area, out-of-date agricultural practices, want of irrigation, and unforeseen climate––which, in general, greatly affect our social, economic and political structure. On the other hand, the problems of growing unemployment rate, hike of market price, poverty, health and hygiene, confusion in between the continuity and restructuring education system, access to natural resources like clear water, energy etc. have postulated a risk in Indian economy. At this crucial juncture, the Modi Government has emerged with a clear vision of broad outlook and great expectation with the objective of combating all these serious challenges and bringing a radical change in India. With the firm conviction of building India for its re-emergence as the manufacturing leader, this government has given emphasis on the pro-industry motive, and is striving to enhance growth by learning lessons from the past. This optimistic vision and confidence has created Prime Minister, Mr. Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign and it has waved a hope of growth and development across the country. Undoubtedly, it will revive our industries and increase the rate of manufacturing power though it has to go a long way to reach this great goal. ‘makE in inDia’ vErsus ‘maDE in inDia’ In the connotation, ‘Make in India’ ignited by Prime Minister, Mr. Modi, ‘Make’ means that the process of making or developing something should be executed in India in which foreigners can take part, while ‘Made’ in ‘Made in India’ implies that only the production is carried out in India and by India. The present government has tendency on the motto, ‘Make in India’ as to support its manufacturing units, India is greatly in need of infrastructure––the backbone of economy, the key to growth of industrial and manufacturing sector. Including new major initiatives which are designed with a view to facilitating investment, fostering innovation, protecting intellectual property and building highest quality manufacturing infrastructure, the initiative, ‘Make in India’, has been started with the long-term objective of shaping India as a Selected Ideal IAS Essay Topics   •  35 manufacturing hub and bringing overall change in the economy of India. Now success mainly depends on leveraging human faculty because of faster changes in business dynamics, globalisation, stiff market competitiveness and global involvement boosting the growth of domestic manufacturing by international companies. Furthermore, increasing inflow of investments and technology transfer is expected to make the campaign, ‘Make in India’ a great success. constituEnts anD DimEnsions oF ‘makE in inDia’ ‘Make in India’––a well-devised strategy of administrative reforms and economic prudence––is the national manoeuvre and spearhead of the Government, which concentrates on turning 1.25 billion populous India into a ‘global manufacturing hub’ with sufficient job opportunities primarily providing a favourable environment to investors––domestic as well as overseas. The aspiration statement of the official website, www.makeinindia.gov.in, promises to accomplish the determined goal giving background to India’s manufacturing sector––in January 2010 accounted for fourth-fifth of the total production and grew just 3.3 per cent–– by increasing the growth rate of manufacturing sector from 12–14 per cent annually over the medium term, the share of manufacturing in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from 16 per cent to 25 per cent and emphasising in creating 100 million extra jobs by 2022 only in the manufacturing sector. Targets to Achieve: i. Target of an increase in manufacturing sector growth to 12–14% per annum over the medium term. ii. An increase in the share of manufacturing in the country’s Gross Domestic Product from 16 to 25% by 2022. iii. To create 100 million additional jobs by 2022 in manufacturing sector. iv. Creation of appropriate skill sets among rural migrants and the urban poor for inclusive growth. v. An increase in domestic value addition and technological depth in manufacturing. vi. Enhancing the global competitiveness of the Indian manufacturing sector. vii. Ensuring sustainability of growth, particularly with regard to environment. ‘makE in inDia’: FounDation Aiming at boosting entrepreneurship in manufacturing as well as other sources in India, the ‘Make in India’ campaign is based on four columns: 1. New Methods: The campaign identifies ‘ease of doing business’ as the principal determinant to encourage entrepreneurship and has already undertaken some stratagems in order to ease business environment. 2. New Infrastructure: The government’s objective is to build industrial corridors and smart cities, create highest standard infrastructure with ultra-modern technology and uninterrupted communication. Creative, Innovative and research works are supported through a quick registration system and upgraded infrastructure for 36  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination IPR registration. The requirement of industry-oriented skills will be marked and initiatives to develop human faculty will be taken up accordingly. 3. New Zones: India is open to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) largely in defence production, insurance, medical apparatus, construction and railway infrastructure. 4. New Attitude: The government will work as a facilitator instead of a regulator in co-operation with industry for sake of economic development of the developing country. obJEctivEs i. The dogma of ‘Make in India’ lies on the backdrop of achieving an iconic identity and global leadership for India by revitalising its manufacturing sector and giving it a first track in global competitiveness. ii. It aims at identifying substandard infrastructure and traditional labour, improving them in parlance of ultra-modern pattern and training labour as per the industrial job-oriented human faculty in the latest trend in order to foster ‘micro, small and medium size enterprises’ and ‘self-help groups’ that can earn name and fame in the world of manufacturing by proving entrepreneurship and producing cost-effective and highest quality products. iii. The initiative looks for extensive growth seeking everyone’s active participation, for instance, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). iv. It determines on developing next generation infrastructure to prove food security, healthy, clean, peaceful as well as sustainable environment to live in. stratEgiEs in a nutsHEll 1. Invest India body: The investor assistance body founded by the government will play role of the first reference point in order to guide foreign investors on all cases regarding regulatory and policy issues and to facilitate them to gain regulatory clearances. The body will also assist foreign investors from the very beginning to the end of their stay India in the purpose of investing and executing of their project. The information and facts necessary for the potential investors for each sector have been provided in brochures. 2. Consolidated services and faster security clearances: The central government is consolidating all central government services in an e-Biz single window online portal and advising the states to introduce self-certification. It has also directed the ministries of home affairs to provide all security clearances for investment proposals within three months. 3. Committed portal for business queries: A committed body has been organised to meet the queries from business organisations through a newly developed web portal [http://www.makeinindia.com]. The final support team of the body would meet important queries within 72 hours. The portal also boasts of a comprehensive list of FAQs and answers. Selected Ideal IAS Essay Topics   •  39 and campaigns of ‘Make in India’ mission executed by Public Private Partnership (PPP) and also has provided a platform of responsibility, transparency and honest and easy access to all its activities. In the true sense, the government assures its efficacy by Digital India, and in near future, it will empower e-corporate governance accountability and responsibility. Some Slogans of ‘Make in India’ • From agriculture to automobiles • From hardware to software • From televisions to movies • From satellites to submarine • From friendship to partnership • From paper clips to power plants • From Bridges to biotechnology • From roads to cities • From profit to progress • Whatever you want to make: Make in India Major Sectors 1. Auto Components 2. Biotechnology 3. Automobiles 4. Aviation 5. Chemicals 6. Construction 7. Defence Manufacturing 8. IT and BPM 9. Electrical Machinery 10. Electronic System Design and Manufacturing 11. Food Processing 12. Leather 13. Pharmaceuticals 14. Media & Entertainment 15. Mining 16. Oil & Gas 17. Renewable Energy 18. Ports 19. Railways 20. Roads and Highways 21. Space 22. Textiles 23. Thermal Power 24. Tourism & Hospitality 25. Wellness conclusion The success of ‘Make in India’ largely depends on the equal and direct participation of states through the federal structure of the nation, as the states have three-tier government with decentralised units like Panchayati Raj. So, ‘Make in India’ mission invites and encourages all its states to work hand in hand and cooperate actively in the hub-and-spoke schemes with a view to further this to the larger audience through the respective industries. 40  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination Topic 4: Sustainable Development during Climate Change introDuction Sustainable development, in recent times, is the global issue on which there is a wide agreement. The Brundtland’s Report defines sustainable development as: “To meet the needs of present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. This definition is mostly accepted as it recommends the concept of ‘sustainable development’. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCNNR) declares and confirms through the World Conservation Strategy report (1980) that the social, economic and ecological factors must be considered in order to carry out sustainable development. Some of the definitions by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) explain the relationship between climate change and sustainable development. climatE cHangE: sEnsitivity, aDaPtability anD vulnErability • Sensitivity is the degree to which a system is affected, either adversely or beneficially, by climate-related stimuli. Climate-related stimuli encompass all the elements of climate change, including mean climate characteristics, climate variability and the frequency and magnitude of extremes. The effect may be direct (e.g., a change in crop yield in response to a change in the mean, range or variability of temperature) or indirect (e.g., damages caused by an increase in the frequency of coastal flooding due to sea-level rise). • Adaptive capacity is the ability of a system to adjust to climate change, including climate variability and extremes, to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities or to cope with the consequences. • Vulnerability is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. Vulnerability is a function of the character, magnitude and rate of climate change and variation to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity and its adaptive capacity. climatE cHangE: a maJor concErn Regarding freshwater supply, food processing, health and hygiene, natural ecosystems, etc. humankind is facing many major environmental challenges––one of which is climate change. The latest scientific evaluation confirms that since the pre-industrial age, the earth’s climate order has had a verifiable change on regional as well as global levels. The other proofs declare that human activities are responsible for the rise of temperature (at the rate of 0.1°C per decade) observed over the last 50 years. The IPCC predicts that the mean temperature of the world may rise between 1.4 and 5.8°C by 2100 probably affecting the ecosystems, sea level rise, global hydrological system, Selected Ideal IAS Essay Topics   •  41 crop production and other related processes mainly of the developing countries in the subtropical regions including India. As the climate change is the greatest challenge of sustainable development, effectual climate strategies must be considered in order to make regional and national development processes more sustainable. Otherwise, the different consequences of climate change, the responses of climate strategy, and related socio-economic development will, in turn, affect adversely the ability and opportunities of the countries to accomplish their targets of sustainable development. Especially, the technological and socio-economic features of different ways will adversely affect emissions, the rate, impacts and vastness of climate change, the ability to adjust and the capacity to alleviate. In the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held at Rio de Janeiro in 1992 guided to Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC), which founded the framework in order to stabilise the greenhouse gases eventually in the atmosphere, by identifying the common but individualised accountabilities and respective abilities, and social and economic conditions. The Convention was enforced in 1994. Later on, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol came into effect in 2005, and reaffirmed the importance of stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere in respect to the sustainable development principles. The protocol formulated guidelines and rules concerning the extent to which an industrialised country involved should cut down the rate of its emissions of six greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFC). The industrialised countries required cutting down the emissions of greenhouse gases by a weighted average of 5.2 per cent adhering to the 1990 greenhouse gas emissions, and to be achieved the target by the end of the scheduled five-year period, from 2008 to 2012. The Kyoto Protocol does not direct mandatorily the developing countries to cut down the emissions of their greenhouse gases. concErns oF inDia on climatE cHangE India––the emerging economic superpower in the world in recent time––has about 17 per cent of the total world population, which includes around 35 per cent poor and 40 per cent illiterate people in the world. The economic reform of India has brought about the economic growth, the rate of rise in foreign exchange, IT revolution, export growth and so on, in parallel to the growth of inequality in income distribution. The continuous rejection from the benefits of economic revolution with regard to low agricultural growth––without the reduction of dependent population in the agricultural sector, its share in GDP has been cut down to half, lower employment growth, focuses only on poverty the said certain groups: Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribe (ST); occupation––agricultural and casual labour; low development rate of women and children and sex ratio favourable to men. The sex ratio at birth is 500 females per 1000 males on the basis of the study report of the hospital statistics in South Delhi. The above reasons altogether have caused the growing social and economic discrepancy 44  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination which is only ̀ 12 per litre excluding the cost of raw materials. Aiming at reducing the emission of carbon, India is also attempting to substitute ecofriendly biofuels by mixing ethanol, doping, and nonedible oil for 10 per cent of its transport fuels by the next 10 years. iii. India has now 2 billion square feet (sq. ft.) area of green building projects and is targeting 10 billion sq. ft. by 2022 to be the owner of the highest area of green building expanse. ITC Green Centre in Gurgaon (now Gurugram) was rewarded with the highest level––Platinum rating on November 11, 2004 for the world’s largest green building with an area of 170,000 sq. ft.––and the first non-commercial complex in India––by the Green Building Council-Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design of the United States (USGBC-LEED), a non- profit organisation founded in 1993 that has undertaken an initiative to reward certificates at the platinum, gold and other levels by using the 69-point criteria with a view to encouraging green buildings through sustainable development. ITC now reports its performance in financial, environmental as well as social capital. iv. India invites people to take part in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) so as to decreasing the social and economic discrepancy, and promoting ecological conditions through diverse activities with the inclusion of the corporate sectors: education, health, natural resource management, community support, infrastructure development, non-farm and farm-based subsistence development. currEnt DEvEloPmEnt agEnDa The optimism which is based on the proper and practical imperatives of developing an equitable world and a sustainable planet has growingly appeared inevitable is emphasised in an outline prepared by the United Nations Open Working Group on Sustainable development Goals. Because of the moderate but optimistic progress which reduced the extreme poverty to its half five years before the given deadline–– achieved on the 2015 Millennium Development Goals––the hope of attaining these ideals has become positive. In 2010, the world clinched success targeted by Millennium Development Goals (MDG) on drinkable water on the basis of access to improved sources of drinking water, but failed to realise on sanitation. Under the MDGs, the new development criteria set up eight anti-poverty targets the world pledged itself to attain by 2015. Considerable progress has been brought out on the MDGs, showing the value of an integrated agenda supported by goals and targets. In spite of this success, the indignity of poverty cannot be eradicated. The members of the United Nations are now on their way to defining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) considering as part of a new agenda to execute the job of the MDGs, and leaving no job behind. The Member States at the Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015 adopted an agenda. Selected Ideal IAS Essay Topics   •  45 The proposed 17 goals of Sustainable Development 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere. 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages. 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation. 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries. 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (taking note of agreements made by the UNFCCC forum). 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development. 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss. 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development. conclusion The most effectual means to discourse climate change is the adaptation of a measure for sustainable development by transferring it to technologies environmentally sustainable and the improvement of energy efficiency, reforestation, forest conservation, renewable energy, water conservation, etc. The most important factor to developing countries is controlling assailability of their natural and socio-economic systems to the assumed climate change. Other developing countries including India will combat the challenge of boosting alleviation and adaptation tactics, bearing the result of such an effort and its significance for economic development. India is a vast developing country which has about two-third of the population depending only on the climate-sensitive sectors: agriculture, fisheries and forests. The 46  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination assumed climate change under different situations will probably leave effects on water supply, food production, livelihoods and biodiversity. We have, therefore, a consequential scope in scientific advancement and international understanding to foster alleviation and adaptation which needs advanced scientific understanding, networking, capacity building, and widely acknowledged consultation processes. We can carry out sustainable development successfully by strategically directing all our initiatives to our targeted goal. Topic 5: Judicial Activism: Hope of Justice for the Underprivileged Section introDuction Securing justice is the fundamental duty of our polity. The founders of the constitution have accorded justice, the highest position. The ideology behind drafting the constitution is to give justice, social, economical and political security. People look forward to the Judiciary as the stronghold of protection and justice in times of any injustice. The Political system of India has introduced Parliamentary form of government that consists of three administrative bodies: The Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary. These three bodies are independent and have equal significance according to the constitution. India is, therefore, a federal or representative democracy where administration of justice has special importance regarding protection of the rights of the individuals against the Executive and the Legislative. Judiciary has been kept independent and supreme—with a view to executing this responsibility—from the rest two administrative bodies and which is a must because there is a constitutional division of powers between Centre and States, a functional division of power between the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary. Only an independent and impartial judiciary can handle the charge of ensuring rights of the individuals and protecting democracy, and also effectively protect and interpret the meaning of the constitution. Provisions oF tHE constitution According to the direction of Article 50, the Constitution makes Judiciary independent from the Executive and the Legislative, and also directs the Executive and the Legislative not to interfere in the proceedings of the Judiciary. According to Article 13 of the Constitution of India, the inconsistent laws relating to the derogation of any of the fundamental rights shall be invalid. It means that regarding such cases only the Supreme Court and the High Courts have the power and right to execute a judicial review and also to issue writs. Selected Ideal IAS Essay Topics   •  49 of Justice Krishna Iyer of the Supreme Court by a letter to the accounts of torture by prison authorities and the miserable conditions of prisoners in jails. This was considered as a petition. Then the Court put orders into effect for humane conditions in jails. In 1980, two professors of law wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper by giving an account of the inhuman conditions of detention in the Agra Protective House for Women. The Supreme Court made the instance the basis of a writ petition. By a letter, the Supreme Court’s attention was drawn to the exploitation of workmen at construction sites in contravention of labour laws. A social activist organisation took the servile condition of bonded labourers in quarries to the attention of the Court. An active journalist moved to the court against the evictions of pavement dwellers of Bombay. Several cases of this type followed subsequently and was taken preventive measures by the courts in different times. While dealing with such unthinkable cases, the Court gradually developed a new procedure of rights of citizens and responsibilities of the State and devised new mechanism for its accountability. In 1982, Justice P.N. Bhagwati, definitely affirmed the purpose of PIL based on its origin: ‘a strategic arm of the legal aid movement which is intended to bring justice within the reach of the poor masses, who constitute the low visibility area of humanity, is a totally different kind of litigation from the ordinary traditional litigation’. However, ‘public cause litigation’, a different litigation, has weakened and outshined the social action sphere of PIL in courts over the years. This type of litigation includes the court’s protection for enforcing the rights of the underprivileged or poor sections of the society and simply for correcting the actions or omissions carried out by the executive or public officials or departments of government or public bodies. The court has intervened in many such cases. As a measure for preventing pollution, the Supreme Court ordered to bring automobile emissions, air, noise and traffic pollution under control, control of traffic in New Delhi, made wearing of helmets while driving a bike in cities and wearing of seat belts while in a car mandatory, cleanliness in housing colonies, disposal of garbage, gave orders for parking charges, ordered to carry out action plans to control and prevent the monkey menace in cities and towns, ordered measures to prevent accidents at unmanned railway level crossings, collection and storage in blood banks, stop ragging of college freshes, and for control of loudspeakers and banning of firecrackers. The Supreme Court’s recent direction is to interlink the rivers—the most complex engineering—in India. The Court has also by its order banned pasting of black film on automobile windows. The Court itself has taken notice with reference to the case of the forceful eviction of Baba Ramdev from the Ramlila Ground by the Delhi Administration and the Court’s condemnation to it. The court has passed an order to exclude the visit of the tourists to the core areas of the tiger reserves. Orders on such managerial activities passed by the court are dubious jurisdictional step of enforcing fundamental rights under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. Actually, these cases are not at all related to the legal issues of fundamental rights. The court is rather moved for better 50  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination administration and governance, irrespective of any proper judicial function. By interpreting most actively and contentiously the Constitution, the Supreme Court withdrew the power of the President conferred on by the Constitution of India to appoint judges with the consultation of the Chief Justice, and appropriated it in the Chief Justice of India. No Constitution in the world confers the power of selecting and appointing judges on the judges themselves. The Court by the conferred power monitors the conduct of investigation and prosecution agencies whether they are failure or negligent to investigate and prosecute ministers and officials of governments. Some of the cases which are monitored by the Supreme Court are the investigation and prosecution on the involvement of the suspected ministers and officials in the Jain Hawala case; the fodder scam in which Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Chief Minister of Bihar, was involved; the Taj Corridor case in which Mayawati, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, was involved; and the recent 2G Spectrum Telecom scam in which the telecom ministers and officials are prosecuted. court’s ExistEncE on military anD otHEr activitiEs There are also instances of the Supreme Court’s order even in a military operation. In 1993, the Court passed orders on the conduct of military operations in Hazratbal, Kashmir against the restriction of food supplies to the hostages by the military force. The Court ordered the military authority to supply to the hostages provision of food of 1,200 calorific value on which an Army General wrote: ‘For the first time in history, a Court of Law was asked to pronounce judgment on the conduct of an ongoing military operation. Its verdict materially affected the course of operation’. The Court even controls the proceedings of Legislatures. The Supreme Court, in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly case, ordered the Assembly to conduct a Motion of Confidence and ordered the Speaker to conduct proceedings according to the prescribed agenda and forbade entertaining any other business, and also ordered to record the proceedings for reporting to the Court. These orders were carried out against Article 212 of the Constitution, which provides that Courts need inquire into any proceedings of the legislature. The government’s policies are also the subject to the scrutiny of the Court. The Prime Minister was compelled to remind the Court that it interfered in the complex food distribution policies of the government, when the Court monitored the distribution of food-grains to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. Regarding the 2G Licenses case, the Court declared that all public resources and assets are the matter of public trust therefore; they should only be disposed of transparently to the highest bidder by a public auction. Regarding this the President made a Reference to the Court for the Court’s legal advice under Article 143 of the Constitution. In the same case, the Court remained silent to the expert opinion of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to sell 2G spectrum without auction in order to create greater tele-density in India. Disregarding the separation of powers under the Constitution for all practical Selected Ideal IAS Essay Topics   •  51 bases, the Court undertook a general supervisory function over other sections of governments. The tendency to rush to the Supreme Court and 21 High Courts for any injustice against a public authority has also diverted the primary responsibility of citizens themselves in a representative self-government of making legislators and the executive responsible for their actions. In this regard, the Court answered that the other sections of the government proved their failure, so the judiciary was bound to undertake this type of task. Based on this dubious justification, the political sections of the government may overact the functions of the judiciary on its failure, and undoubtedly there are many areas where the judiciary has proved failure to meet the expectations of the public by its inefficiency and areas of cases. Justice Jackson of the USA is apt in his comment: “The doctrine of judicial activism which justifies easy and constant readiness to set aside decisions of other branches of Government is wholly incompatible with a faith in democracy and in so far it encourages a belief that judges should be left to correct the result of public indifference it is a vicious teaching”. If the Supreme Court does not firmly formulate and strictly observe the parameters of PIL, PIL—the significant litigation in current India will be at risk in becoming verbose, unethical, intruding into the functions of other divisions of government and unsuccessful by its random use. conclusion Hence, to ensure the fundamental characteristic of the Constitution of India is preserved. The Judiciary has to act within the limits of its jurisdiction and within its domain ordained by the Constitution, and abide by the rule of the land. The independence of the judiciary underlies—on the basis of facts and in accordance with the law—the fair conduct of judicial proceedings and the protection of rights without any partiality, inducements, improper influences, and pressures, threats or interference, direct or indirect. The independent and integrated Judiciary system of India has to abide by the constitutional guidance in every aspect for checks and balances. Topic 6: Empowerment of Women in India introDuction India is one of the oldest and most enriched civilisations, and the largest democracies in the modern world. From the age of cave-dwelling to the modern age of science and technology, and digitisation, Indian women have played crucial roles and have left the proofs of their excellence. Man and woman are the complementary creation of God. In contemporary society, a woman generally plays roles of a mother, daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, wife, friend, etc. Women are, in India, respected and honoured greatly and treated as mother-goddess, and they have immense social significance in Indian society. According 54  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination has been analysed thoroughly in the Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India, titled, ‘Towards Equality’, 1974 and also brought into light in the National Perspective Plan for Women, 1988–2000; the Shrama Shakti Report, 1988; and the Platform for Action, Five Years After—An assessment. The continuous trend of reducing female ratio in the population, social stereotyping and violence at the domestic and societal levels are the demonstrations that manifests the growing gender inequality in India. Girl children, adolescent girls and women still suffer deprivation, ruthless torture and discrimination in many parts of India. The reasons behind gender inequality lie on social and economic structure on the basis of formal and informal norms, and practices. As a consequence, the access of women—especially belonging to the backward and underprivileged sections: ST, SC, OBC and minorities, majority of whom live in the rural areas detached from modern progress and prosperity—to education, health and hygiene, and productive resources, among others, is inadequate and thus women are largely marginalised, poor and deprived. moDErn initiativEs For appropriate check-out, India has openly endorsed many of the national and international schemes aiming at the upliftment of women and helping them attain a true sense of empowerment. Some of such schemes are: the Mexico Plan of Action (1975); the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies (1985); the Beijing Declaration as well as the Platform for Action (1995); and the ‘Outcome Document’ adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Session on Gender Equality and Development and Peace for the twenty-first Century with the title, ‘Further Actions and Initiatives to Implement the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action’. The initiatives undertaken by India also take note of the commitments of the Ninth Five Year Plan (1997–2002) and the other sectorial policies regarding the empowerment of women. The women movement and a network of Non-Government Organisations spread widely strongly rooted to pay deep insight into women’s concerns have contributed in inspiring the initiatives for the empowerment of women. The initiatives undertaken by Government of India for the empowerment of women also include the efforts made to achieve the ‘Millennium Development Goals’ of UN. cHallEngE oF gEnDEr inEquality in DEvEloPmEnt In India, gender inequality creates development challenge significantly. According to the 2016 annual Global Gender Gap Index compiled by Geneva-based World Economic Forum, India ranked 108. The ranking is based on a country’s ability to reduce gender discrepancies in areas of education, economic participation and opportunity, health and survival, and political empowerment. Violence against women and girls is common phenomenon in private as well as public places. India introduced ‘gender-responsive budgeting’ (GRB) in 2005 in order to react to such challenges. GRB is a system of planning, programming and budgeting to help advancing gender equality and women’s rights as well as to serve as an indicator of governments’ commitment to responding Selected Ideal IAS Essay Topics   •  55 those objectives. In India, till now 57 Government Ministries or Departments have established Gender Budgeting Cells which is certainly a bold step to improve the lives of millions of Indian women in near future. An analysis of GRB in India shows that it will be an important indicator of the growth and development of women. The sum of allocations for schemes relating to women can be by the Gender Budget Statement (GBS) introduced in the 2005–2006 budget. The analysis shows that over the last eight years the allocations for women as a proportion of the total budget have remained constant at approximately 5.5 per cent. Further, only about 30 per cent of the demands for grants, or estimates of expenditure, presented by Ministries/departments to the Union government are reported in the GBS. Further, allocations to the nodal agency, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), for women in the country, show a marginal increase over the last three years—from ̀ 18,584 crore in 2012–2013 to ̀ 21,193 crore in 2014–2015. With respect to ‘Women Welfare’, the allocations actually show a downward trend—from approximately ̀ 930 crore in 2011–2012 to around ̀ 920 crore in 2014–2015. And almost 87 per cent of the 2014–2015 budget of the MWCD was allocated for the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme, leaving only five per cent for schemes exclusively meant for women. The UN Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women has emphasised the need for increased investments for the MWCD and for gender budgets across Ministries. Following its review of the fourth and fifth periodic reports submitted by the Government of India (in 2014), the Committee—which monitors States’ implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)—also reiterated the need to strengthen institutions such as the National Commission for Women and the State Commissions. Schemes focussed exclusively on women either received reduced allocations or were not implemented, as seen from the revised estimates for 2013–2014 vis-à-vis the budget estimates of the same year. Revised estimate figures are presented for the ongoing fiscal year based on the performance in the first six months of that year. The Domestic Violence Act is a case in point. The legislation, enacted a decade ago, received an allocation of `20 crore in 2012–2013. Revised estimate figures for 2013– 2014 show zero allocation, which indicates that the scheme launched to operationalise the Act did not take off that year. Renamed SAAHAS, the scheme was allocated `50 crore last year. The coming budget will reveal how much of this was actually spent. Some other schemes like restorative justice for rape victims have also proved a failure to gain its objective. The scheme ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is commendable, but will end in smoke if equal attention is not paid to implement the laws and specific steps for the most marginalised women are not taken, as spotlighted in the election manifesto of the BJP. By giving their emphasis on women, the increased expense must be ensured in social sections: Education, health, and sanitation. Mostly women handle the heavy burden of unpaid works such as child-care; invalid-care; cooking, washing and cleaning 56  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination works, etc. The demand for recognising, redistributing and cutting down the number of women’s unpaid work has already earned a global impetus. So, it is high time that the sum of allotments to the social sector should be increased. a ProgrEssivE trEnD Over the last few years, the Finance Ministry has been organising pre-budgeting consultations with the intention of ensuring women’s opinions in the budget-making process. Besides, meeting women’s rights organisations, this year the Ministry also arranged a dialogue with UN Women as well as the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) to discuss key issues relating to Gender Responsive Budget (GRB). At last, the final budget can have an on-time correction emphasising on the empowering the key institutions, adequate investments for schemes addressing gender concerns and the successful execution of those schemes. By adopting the post-2015 global development agenda and reviews of countries’ performance with regard to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (Beijing+20), in the oncoming months the government will concentrate predominantly on development as well as gender issues. The inclusion of the independent target on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Sustainable Development is undoubtedly a greater achievement for women’s rights that advocates across the world. But it will be hard to achieve the target provided not supported by sufficient investments. The first full year budget of the government has a tremendous opportunity for taking restorative measures by recognising the mistakes. conclusion Almost everywhere in the world, women have been getting treatment as subordinate citizens since ancient times. The patriarchal society has been relegating women to secondary roles despite their competency in successfully executing the leading roles, in most cases discriminated. This social negligence is the vital reason behind their loss of self-esteem and dignity, though they constitute almost half of the present world’s population. In Indian society, however, women had honourable position in parallel to men and actively took part in social as well as religious affairs. In recent time, Indian women have a considerable growth in diverse walks of life and are successfully handling their responsibilities. But still there are a large number of women prone to superstition and are deprived of modern education. The few must be highlighted with a view to improving the many in our society with appropriate measures and their exact execution on time. Under such situations, we need to think and devise new plans and scheme in order to increase the growth opportunities of women by awaking them from the grassroots of our society where the considerable number of deprived and neglected women live. Men and women together should decisively develop in the fields of health, education, infrastructure, industry and financial services. In India for about two centuries, social KSA and its Importance in the USA  •  59 On the basis of the score-scale ranges from 1–100, job applicants essays must score above 70 which determines the qualification for the position applied for. The means of gaining high score is to answer the KSA questions with reference to the previous employment or training that demonstrates your experience and knowledge of handling the responsibilities you undertook. Moreover, a Federal Resume along with KSA statements is a must to apply for the positions in the federal government. qqq essay WrItIng Essay writing is an art as well as a science, as it satisfies the urge of creativity of a good writer and requires a discipline of mind, and indeed is a unique blend of intellect and creativity. Essay writing requires skill for a methodical arrangement of the matter. The following are the fundamental characteristics of an excellent essay; hence, they should be kept in mind while writing an essay. Introduction: Opening paragraph introduces the topic, so it must arrest the attention of the reader with the essential points of the topic. Body of the Essay: It contains the subject matter in detail. So, the thoughts and ideas must be presented coherently to develop them into a well-arranged excellent paragraph. If arguments arise, they must be presented in separate paragraphs. Conclusion: In this paragraph, the arguments must be highlighted and drawn to a logical end with clinching effect that can create a lasting impression on the reader’s mind. It should support the data provided in the whole essay. Lucidity of the Language: Simple and lucid language with the exact use of words and phrases is the logo of an excellent essay. Short and to-the-point sentences make reading interesting as well as maximise the grammatical accuracy, which is the most important factor for any piece of writing. Facts and Figures: Based on the topic, facts and figures out of an extra-edge to the arguments and ensure the weightage of the essay. Not a single irrelevant point or view should be added. The topic must be carefully presented to the point. Uniformity and Clarity: Above all, the essay should be a logical presentation based on the flow of thoughts and views and related arguments. Continuity is the soul of the essay, and all types of disorderly approaches must be avoided. Always make a proper plan, arrange your thoughts, views and ideas, and write down important points, facts and figures before you start writing an essay, as these are the essential steps for presenting an excellent essay. kinDs oF Essays Essays can be broadly classified into five kinds: descriptive, narrative, reflective, biographical and idiomatic essays. 7 Essay Writing  •  61 (a) Descriptive Essays: These types of essays are generally factual ones, and include the topics based on science, education, politics, economics and current events. These topics need precise knowledge with relevant facts. For instance, describing the climate of a country we need precise knowledge on the weather of the country for more than 20–30 years, for this we need know neither the trees and plants and types of buildings nor details on the design and points of architectural records of the country. (b) Narrative Essays: This essay is presented in the form of a story. The essay should have a chronological flow and be narrated in an interesting way with episodes suitable for the context of the essay. For instance, the narration of your visit to a hill station should contain the detail on the landscape, flora and fauna, natural scenario and people in around the hill station areas can be presented in the form of a story. Chronological arrangement of events is needed to write such essays. Also the narration should be made as interesting as possible by making use of episodes which fit in the context. For example, the narration of the first day at college should mention some funny incidents. A journey by train or plane should include some exciting experiences. (c) Reflective Essays: It is such a type of essay that requires the writer to be highly imaginative and creative as abstract nature is the essential characteristic of it. The ideas must be expressed in concrete terms. (d) Biographical Essays: This type of essay involves knowledge of the major events in the life of the person whose biography is being described. In addition to that, the essay should mention the qualities or character of the ‘hero’, his achievements, his struggles and his principles. (e) Idiomatic Essays: Its type says that it needs to expand an idiom or any idiomatic expression with relevance to our everyday life, and even the importance in human civilisation. But before writing this type of essay the writer must comprehend the inner meaning of the idiom or idiomatic expression, otherwise it will prove a wild goose chase. For instance, if you are asked to expand the popular quotation, ‘If winter comes, can spring be far behind?’ You need not only tell about these two seasons, rather you have to represent the sides contradictory just like these two seasons. In this regard, you have to represent sorrow, adversity or hard time for winter, whereas happiness, prosperity or fortune for spring in relation to the impact of these seasons in nature and the stated conditions in human life. qqq 64  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination So, we have assigned you with an essay to write, as our intention is to challenge you in diverse ways which will assure us that you can face challenges in course of your UPSC preparation process and beyond it. But the fact is that where do you begin? How do you know that you’re done? Let’s try to resolve all these queries. rEviEW tHE toPic again anD again You yourself will develop some questions sometimes on issues of national and international importance. But most of the time you will be provided with topics designed by experienced professors/professionals who are appointed by UPSC, and you will need to respond them. Scan the topic and think out the issue. Rack your brain for feasible responses or get into that ignites some creative insights. Ask yourself the following questions on reviewing the topic: i. Do you understand the topic? ii. Do you know the issues to be addressed? iii. Do you feel that you can make a blueprint of the topic? iv. Can you give it a comprehensive outlook? v. Can you recognise and distinguish, based on the outline, your ideas from the authors’? If yes, try to create a balancing base with a little of critical approach complementing each other. vi. Do you feel comfortable enough with the language competency necessary for carrying out the planned outlook? DraFt tHE toPic First Based on the level of flexibility with your writing speed and accuracy, you may choose to invest 10 minutes to 1 hour in order to frame the introduction, successive paragraphs and conclusion. Just go on writing down your ideas that come out of your brain in flow, and avoid controlling your first responses. i. What questions do you have for the writers of the various articles assigned to you? ii. Do you find any inconsistencies in their views/articles? iii. What problems do you find in the articles? iv. What mistakes do you identify in them? v. What is your message on the topic? vi. Can you present any claims or assertions in support of your message? If you don’t have any, you need to check if your message is robust enough. vii. Do you find any evidence or instances that support your claims? If you don’t have any, you should better move to other available essay topic. Strategy for Writing Excellent Essays  •  65 concEntratE on tHE introDuction After you finish your draft, you should check out your important points. Now think and answer the following: i. Does your introduction present the context or background for the issue and relate your message? If not, why not? ii. Is your objective clear and correct? iii. Do you think it requires explaining your objective? iv. Can your last sentence give the reader a clear understanding to the rest paragraphs of your essay? v. Is your introduction relevant to the essay question? If you have any specific essay question, your introduction must be directly relevant to the question. If you have a long essay question, your answer must touch on the issues presented in the question, but generally it does not attend to all the details of the question. concEntratE on otHEr ParagraPHs in tHE boDy Once you finish your queries and doubts relating the introduction part, you should motivate on the additional paragraphs of the body by solving the following queries: i. Do you develop your main theme in the successive paragraphs by asserting and supporting with evidence to make your point stand for the hallmark? If not, you should better start discovering the evidence and examples in support of your points. ii. Have you included lots of ‘shoulds’ in your writing? If so, this type of writing can point to assertions without evidence and examples to back up claims. Try to rewrite most of the ‘shoulds’ out of the response. Try replacing ‘shoulds’ with ‘coulds’ to see what happens. Usually you have to offer more evidence and examples to shore up your ideas. concEntratE on tHE conclusion Finally, you should motivate on the conclusion that decides the competency of your skills in drawing out considerable and significant resolution. Now try to solve these queries. i. Have you given a conclusion to your topic essay? ii. Does your conclusion restate your introduction? If so, rewrite your conclusion, because it is substandard, not at all can hold water. iii. Have you incorporated the major ideas treated in the essay in your conclusion for offering your reader more insight on the topic? If not, why not? iv. If not, what do you think your conclusion should contain with a view to further the major theme you have discussed? No doubt it is hard to do, but you should try to master providing such points because they will help rank your essay. v. Have you drawn all the points of the analysis together in order to provide the reader? vi. Could you present how the points of analysis work together? qqq easy Way to WrIte an essay It may seem that learning how to write an essay is a confusing or infuriating process, but it is not at all so. It is rather interesting to master it, and once you have learnt the pattern and manner of presentation, it will certainly ignite your interest in essay, it will be funny too. Just go through the following simple and orderly steps, and try them in your topic of interest. Research: Your first and foremost duty is to decide a topic, then gather knowledge on the topic from the internet, academic databases and books from the library. Take notes on the things you appear important to you, and think yourself an expert. Analysis: Now based on your knowledge start analysing the arguments of the topics from different sources. Logically and clearly judge the claims; write down the reasons and evidence. Mark the strong as well as weak logics, and from them you will gather an idea of developing a topic into an essay. Brainstorming: Now cast your insight on the topic. Ask yourself many probable questions and try to answer them logically. In your study, sit to write down something on the topic, if you fail, walk or be in your own flexible poses and positions; continue thinking until you discover something that you feel to be original insights to write about. Thesis: Another important step is to record your discoveries. Pick your ideas and put them down in your copy. Those ideas will be the foundation of your essay. In course of all these processes, you will have many ideas––logical and illogical; attractive and less-attractive; interesting and uninteresting. Now it is time to judge them by your own logic. Outline: Be patient to sketch your essay before attempting to write it down straightway. Write heading sentences and highlight the subject matter that will contain each paragraph. Before you start writing, be sure that from introduction to the conclusion, you have made a draft based on your own logical ideas, and each paragraph is unified. Motivate on the title and introduction again, and ensure that 9 How to Write an Excellent Introduction and Conclusion  •  69 conclusion This paragraph ensures the acceptability of your essay, as it leads your reader to the end which will sum up his/her expectation from your topic. The conclusion does not need any specific rule to make it interesting. Just sum up all the ideas treated in the essay with logical resolution only four to five sentences. Take care that the last sentence clearly expresses your clinching voice. But you can add a quotation, or a relevant statement for emphasising your insight. Finishing Touch After you have completed your essay, check the paragraphs whether they are okay; if not, format them. Review the Sequence of your Paragraphs Now identify the weak and strong paragraphs according to construction. Then try to improve the weak ones into strong ones. If the order too appears asymmetrical and lacking complete sense throughout the essay, format it and bring the symmetry you think is appropriate. Review the Instructions for the Assignment Make sure whether the following points are rightly mentioned before you prepare your final draft. i. Are the margins correct? ii. Is your title correct as per the direction? iii. What extra information you have provided? iv. Have you double spaced your lines? Review writing There is no alternative to revision of your work. Check what you have improved by reviewing the essay. Improve the weak points, take care least you missed anyone, because these will be vital for your essay. i. Do you think your essay has a logical sense? If you are not sure, leave it for a few hours, and then read it again to be sure. ii. Do your sentences have an orderly flow? If not, check them and try to improve up to your expectation. In this respect, the linking words like, ‘however’, ‘moreover’, ‘therefore’ sometimes make sentences well knitted. Be sure that these words are not missing in your paragraphs that help you making your construction compact. iii. How do you check your spelling and grammar––by spelling checker or grammar checker? Don’t depend on these; these very often fail to check mistakes throughout a piece of writing. So, meticulous and patient editing will help you confident of your work that the work is correct. qqq guIdelInes For WrItIng approprIate essays Essay is an art of composing one’s thought in a very coherent, logical and lucid form of writing that create an impact in the mind of the reader or make an individual opinion worthy of due consideration in the ongoing debate. It is the medium to express a point through democratic means. Therefore, it is one of the most popular forms of literature to put one’s opinion in the public domain. It is not possible to define an essay due to its varying nature that is based on the subject matter and the writing style of an individual attempting it. Literally, the word ‘essay’ means an ‘attempt’. It is an attempt to present one’s thoughts by writing in a logically coherent structure and sequence. A form of literary composition generally in prose, it deals with a particular subject and brings out its various aspects one by one in a very well-knit composition, with a view to portray a graphic picture of the whole subject-matter. Thus, an essay becomes a test of an individual’s knowledge, information, maturity of thoughts and rationality of imagination with the ability to present in writing. To score high in the essay paper of the UPSC, one needs to understand the requirement and purposes of conducting this exam. UPSC looks out for candidates having mature decision-making ability, good administrative skills and an overall leadership quality. So aspiring candidates need to demonstrate all these attributes in not only the essay writing but in all of their write ups including their optional subjects and the G.S. Whatever field the candidate has come from like science commerce, art, or humanities, he needs to keep in mind that there is always a scope of showing the above-mentioned attributes. He just has to learn to produce them as and when needed. Further, a comprehensive understanding of the nature of the current essay paper and to equip oneself with the changing trends is the necessary requirement. The ongoing trend in essay is opinion based in nature. Thus, the foremost ability one must have is to differentiate between knowledge and opinion. Knowledge is considered basically a very wide and absolute term that shows things to be in true 11 Guidelines for Writing Appropriate Essays   •  71 perspective, objectively and eternally—true forever for all human beings. It cannot be falsified by anyone at any point in time. However, most of our knowledge claims would in fact not fit into these criteria of knowledge, as nothing can be so authoritatively true forever. Therefore, we should not be authoritative in our judgments regarding a particular viewpoint. As such, claims at best can only be considered as one of the sound opinions, not an absolute knowledge. Hence, one must accept this fact and keep oneself at a balanced mindset avoiding the extremes. Moreover, knowledge could also refer to the scientific knowledge that supports the claims with logic and verifiable evidences. Such knowledge that supports your claims with proper evidence and adequate logic is acceptable. Further, most of the time we possess opinions which we often get confused with knowledge. A person makes opinions based on his/ her belief system and understandings of the world. Hence, one must show maturity and objectivity considering a democratic outlook of things while expressing his/her opinions. Simultaneously, one must display scientific attitude by providing a logical justification at the time of making one’s opinion. This is the domain where students generally lack or fail to follow and, thus, commit mistakes on a given topic by not justifying their opinions. The first thing to take note of is that the audience (the experienced diplomats checking the essay scripts) is not at all interested in one’s ‘opinion’ for that matter. This surprises the students who believe that they are just trading opinions on various topics. The confusion is created because some students attempt only the first part of a two- part process—they forget or consider the second-part of the process less significant. The experienced readers are interested in a student’s argument in explaining his/ her opinion instead of his/her opinion. The second-part of the two-part process that students encounter in their writings and discussions is giving an argument that supports and defends their opinion. In general, all opinion-statements should be treated as logical conclusions, and the deep comprehension of the premises, the assumptions and the evidence that led a person to draw that conclusion is the art of good reading and writing. Similar to that in math classes, wherein it is unacceptable to provide only the conclusion, in essay-writing also a student must ‘show his/her work’ to support conclusion. So, an argument comprises, three statements, also called as premises—major premises, minor premises and the conclusion. The examples are as follows: 1. There is smoke on the hill : Major premises 2. Where there is smoke there is fire : Minor premises 3. Therefore, there is fire on the hill. : The Conclusion The above examples show a logical connectivity between these premises and the conclusion, where the premises logically converse into the conclusion. It is coherent to conclude that when smoke is evident on the hill then there would be fire on the hill, thus establishing the logical relation between the fire and the smoke. This is called the method of drawing logical inferences. In the same way, ideas should be written do’s and don’ts One must consider the title carefully—its meaning and its scope. Whether it asks one to generalise, establish a particular view, or take one’s own stand? One should not attempt the essay unless one agrees with what the title states categorically, as generally one is not expected to argue against the title. (It requires flair and self- confidence for a writer to do it.) In this context, one may compare these two titles— ‘India is not fit to be a democracy’ and ‘Is India fit to be a democracy?’ One need to support the statement in the first title, while in the second title choice of one’s own view is provided. • One must select a perspective and a pattern for developing one’s thesis. One should jot down one’s points and arrange them in the pattern with focus on one’s perspective. • One should use words effectively. However, difficult words or ‘flowery’ language should not be used. Each word should contribute to the development or explanation of the idea. Archaic and obsolete usage must be avoided, for examples, albeit, ere, methink and trow. It is better to leave out the foreign words, unless they have achieved currency in English. Usage of slang should also be avoided, oven what is known as journalese, i.e. words coined by journalists and newspapers for effect. One must keep a recent edition of a standard dictionary which will help one identify such slang expressions. Effective usage of words also requires one to know which word to use and where. Though, there are numerous synonymous words, but they are not always interchangeable. • The usages of clichés or time-worn idioms should be avoided, for example, ‘keeping the wolf from the door’, ‘from the frying spice of life’, ‘there is no time to stand and stare’ have been over used and are thus hackneyed. • One should firmly resist the temptation to strew one’s essay with quotations to emphasise one’s point of view even if one has a good memory. Quotations act as dangerous props the presence of which indicates the writer’s lack of ideas or inability to express what he or she feels. Quotations should be used rarely and only in context where they give depth to an idea. 12 Do’s and Don’ts  •  75 • Unnecessary repetition in writing should be avoided. Few examples of avoidable repetitions are Ramesh is never late for work; he is always either early or on time. Mrs. Sharma kept her house spotless, and it was perfectly clean. The butcher was very thin. This thinness was commented on by many of his customers. His customers commented on it because it seemed so inappropriate in a butcher. What would be more appropriate in a butcher, they felt, was a sort of jovial chubbiness. In all these cases, the effectiveness of statements can be improved by writing it only once. The following passage exemplifies the kind of mindless word usage one should avoid. Mistaken for argumentation, it merely epitomises the art of saying nothing in so many words. This paper will attempt to document the way in which the Industrial Revolution changed the lives of so many people. The great technological upheaval known to us as the Industrial Revolution altered the way in which almost all levels of the society of the time functioned. Without this extraordinary Revolution, none of the changes that have made our lives what they are today would have occurred. Probably this period left untouched the life of no one who lived through it. What we are confronted with here is a staggering volcanic eruption in technology, science and manufacturing techniques of every kind that caused the most far-reaching reversals in the life, the existence, the day-to-day habits and the most profound beliefs of almost every soul on this planet. Yes, our society in all its ramifications was destined never to be the same again. No life, however high or however humble, passed through the Industrial Revolution unscathed. In the whole previous history of the world, nothing had wrought such an unforeseen, such a revolutionary effect. Let’s take some examples. How many cities and villages, how many families large and small saw the familiar old way of life that they loved and knew so well slipping away from them as the new ways took over? No subject has attracted more research or more detailed scholarly comment than this: we know more about this period than perhaps about any period before or since. In conclusion, what this mass of evidence points to is the extent to which the Industrial Revolution did indeed inexpressibly affect the hard but rewarding lives of so many of our American forebears. • One should check one’s writing for correctness. Ungrammatical sentences have no place in an essay. The words, phrases, expressions about whose meaning or correctness one is not sure should not be used. Long and rambling sentences which are difficult to comprehend should not be used. • An essay reflects the views and personality of the writer. Thus, from the point of view of an examination, keeping extreme opinions to oneself and not express idiosyncrasies would be considered pragmatic to. • One should be clear, lucid and simple so that one cannot go far wrong. • Starting essay with brief introduction preferably with a small relevant anecdote/ 76  •  Essays for Civil Services Examination story/incident is a better way to create some genuine interest in the examiner’s mind. • It is not very pragmatic to start an essay with definitions of the terms in the essay topic, because most of the times it is difficult for us to define the terms precisely. Moreover, the essay topics in recent times are highly subjective in nature that requires our personal opinions and views. Therefore, it will put constraint on our creative ability of writing to start the essay with objective definitions of terms and problem may arise in flow of essay and lucidity of expression from one idea to other etc. • It is a nice option to start with a popular quotation. However, it is very important to write quotation relevant to the topic and thus one should know numerous quotations. A quotation however good it is if not 100 per cent relevant to the topic, it becomes a liability rather than asset, because it needs to be substantiated in line with given topic in our essay. Quotes of various scholars should be added wherever required and should be linked with recent happenings, events, etc. Enriching the essay with several quotes and examples has a lot of potential to fetch good marks. • In an essay, the best option to start with is writing about the most relevant recent news item or a small anecdote with 100 per cent relevance to the given topic. We need not prepare specially for this. • Do not provide lengthy introduction prior to actual topic to test the patience of the examiner who have little patience to go through supposedly irrelevant matter. • Indicate the salient points of the essay in bulleted form to give the examiner an idea of what has been written in the entire essay without going through it. • It will also help in ensuring that any major topic covered by the writer is not missed by the examiner due to a casual glance at the papers. But, make certain to introduce it in second or third page of the essay. Moreover, incorporate it in the regular flow of the essay rather than making it appearing like an index. • The writer should write as many examples and case studies as possible to logically substantiate his/her arguments. • The grammatical errors and interpretation problems in an essay could be reduced by writing simple sentences. • Conclusion is another important part of an essay. One should has a fair idea about how to conclude the essay during the brainstorming session itself. For the writers having clear introduction and conclusion in their minds, streamlining the thought between these two objectives becomes easier. • It is better to write about introduction and conclusion in their full length while forming the essay structure itself. The writers will have enough time to refine PArT II Sample Essays in all Subject Areas for IAS Examination 13 essays on soCIal Issues 1. Tackling Hunger Globally is Need of the Hour Hunger is an indicator of the enormity of social injustices prevailing globally. The existence of hunger can be traced back to many years back. It has been one of the driving factors behind the French Revolution in the eighteenth Century where the lack of bread in Paris was also the reason other than demands for political freedom. It has been the cause and effect of many riots occurring due to unjustified government policies causing severe economic hardship and clashing with the basic human right to food. Tea, a non-edible food item, was used as a protest tool to protest the British tax on tea imported to the colonies by a group of Boston citizens. The food crises around the world led to the immediate establishment of the World Food Programme. Moreover, many other United Nations agencies have incorporated hunger or food security in their work programmes, which include the United Nations Children Education Fund, the World Health Organisation, the United Nations Development Programme and the different United Nations missions to war-torn countries. The loose definition of term ‘hunger’ has led to adaptation in its meaning often to serve the purposes of those experiencing it. In affluent countries, especially, hunger is the gnawing pain in the stomach for many on missing a meal. On the contrary, another form of hunger is the physical debilitation of those affected from chronic undernutrition. However, hunger that encloses the emotional and political aspects of the society is multidimensional. It involves the anguish of a farmer who in a dilemma to pay the rent for the land or feeding his family has the only option left to sell the produce from his farm. It includes the pain of suffering one goes through to see in helplessness ones loved ones die for violating the practices and policies set by the few dominant elites. Imposition of laws and regulations is just to ensure that the poor and hungry are compelled to provide their labour in lieu of low wages or small quantity of food. Regulations are imposed to reduce the chances of self-sustenance in poor so that their existing condition remains unaltered. The schemes run by the Indian government on providing rice and wheat at extremely subsidised rates are also of little help to the poor as either the grain is black marketed or its quality is too poor for consumption by any human being. The main cause of hunger in some parts of the world is considered to be the population