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INSIGHTS MISSION 2018
FULL LENGTH MAINS REVISION TEST 2 SYNOPSIS
1. Right to Privacy is a means to the end of securing individual dignity. Comment with a
special reference to the recent judgment on the Right to Privacy.
Note: The operative words/phrases in the question are -
a. Means to an end
b. Individual Dignity
c. Recent Judgment
Synopsis
In the matter of K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) v. Union of India, the Supreme Court has declared
that the right to Privacy is an inherent fundamental right under Art 21 (Life & Liberty). The
apex court has held established a relationship between privacy and dignity in the aforesaid
judgment. However, it is simply an enabling right and the court has not ruled on any specific
issue concerning privacy.
This opens a grand opportunity for further cases before the SC and prospective laws to be
made in consonance with the judgment pronounced.
Consequently, Privacy would entail the following implications
1. Usage of Aadhar including compulsions of acquiring the same.
2. Issues such as Homosexuality, broader LGBT rights, marital rape, abortion rights etc.
3. Data Protection Concerns pertaining to Collection, Management, and Distribution of
citizen data.
Reference Reading: https://thewire.in/170988/right-to-privacy-supreme-court-2/
2. Without the Right to Constitutional Remedies, there would be severe compromise on

the relevance on Fundamental Rights. Comment.
Synopsis
Right to Constitutional Remedies enshrined under Art. 32 of our Constitution provides an
enforcement mechanism for fundamental rights mentioned in Part III. The said provision
empowers an individual to directly approach the highest court of the land, i.e. the Supreme
Court in case of an alleged violation. It can be aptly said that, the absence of Art 32 would
comprise the effectiveness of our Fundamental Rights.
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Furthermore, the following remedies in the form of Writs that the Supreme Court can issue
exist under Art 32
1. Mandamas
2. Habeas Corpus
3. Prohibition
4. Certiorari
5. Quo Warranto
[Briefly explain each of these writs]
3. Directive Principles of State Policy are argued as being inconsistent with contemporary
times. Do you agree? If so, suggest some changes to the existing provisions under
Directive Principles of State Policy.
a. Inconsistency
b. Contemporary Times
c. Changes
Synopsis
Directive Principles of State Policy, as stated in Part IV of the Constitution, are essentially a
roadmap for prospective governments to formulate policies in national interest in a non-
justiciable manner. The rationale behind such a thought was two- fold
1. To protect democratic will represented in the government of the day
2. Provisioning for lack for resources preventing such an implementation
As formulated in the Original Text of the Constitution, the D.P.S.Ps were meant to be
withstand the perils of time. It can be safely said that most of the principles still hold relevance
today but a few seek intervention as they may not correspond to changing social times which
reflect people will. [give examples such as cow slaughter, cottage industries]. The Constitution
including D.P.S.Ps are meant to evolve with changing times to cater to pressing issues of the
day.
A few additions to D.P.S.Ps may include
a. The need for a comprehensive Public Health Policy
b. Protection of Data and Citizen Privacy
c. Promoting MSME
d. Targeted Skilling
4. Ordinances must be issued sparingly as they bypass democratic process of law making.
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Give the surge in Ordinances in recent times, critically comment on the usage and
rational behind Ordinances.
a. issued sparingly
b. bypass democratic process
c. usage and rational
Synopsis
Ordinances issued in National interest on matters enlisted in the Union List were placed to be
last resort mechanisms to ensure legislative potency. Ordinances on matter such as the Land
Acquisition raise serious concerns on the usage of Ordinances as ordinary practice.
This would lead to understanding the following conflicts
1. Continuity of Legislation v. Abusing a special process
2. Bypassing Democratic Processes v. Urgency of a legislative need
3. Breach of Parliamentary Values v. Inherent inefficiencies in the Parliament
[Explain each conflict in sub points]
Therefore, as mentioned, Ordinances much be used in rare instances to preserve a democracy
we fought so bravely to acquire.
5. Elaborate the main features of the poverty line suggested by the expert group under the
Chairmanship of Late Professor Suresh Tendulkar. Why do you think there is reason to
believe that inequality in India seems to have risen after the 1990s?
Synopsis
There has been a growing concern on the official estimates of poverty released by
the Planning commission. The official poverty estimates have been severely criticized on
various counts. In view of this, Planning Commission set up an expert group under the
chairmanship of Professor Suresh Tendulkar to examine the issue and suggest a new poverty
line and estimates. The expert group has considered this issue in detail and has suggested
new methodology to arrive at state wise and all India rural and urban poverty lines for 2004
05, the latest available major National Sample Survey (NSS) round on household consumer
expenditure which provides the data base for the calculation of poverty estimates by the
Planning Commission.
Following are the salient features of the proposed poverty lines:
1. While acknowledging the multidimensional nature of poverty, the estimates of poverty
will continue to be based on private household consumer expenditure of Indian households
as collected by the National Sample Survey (NSS) Organization (NSSO).
2. The expert group has also taken a conscious decision to move away from anchoring the
poverty lines to a calorie intake norm in view of the fact that calorie consumption calculated
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by converting the consumed quantities in the last 30 days as collected by NSS has not been
found to be well correlated with the nutritional outcomes observed from other specialized
surveys either over time or across space (i.e. between states or rural and urban areas).
3. The quinquennial National Sample Surveys of household consumer expenditure surveys
carried out by the NSSO provide the basic data set for official poverty calculations. For
canvassing household expenditure on a recall basis, the NSSO has decided to shift to Mixed
Reference Period (MRP) for all its consumption surveys in future, namely, 365days for low
frequency items (clothing, footwear, durables, education and institutional health
expenditure) and 30days for all the remaining items. This change captures the household
consumption expenditure of the poor households on lowfrequency items of purchase more
satisfactorily than the earlier 30day recall period. The Expert Group decided to adopt the
MRPbased estimates of consumption expenditure as the basis for future poverty lines as
against the previous practice of using Uniform reference period estimates of consumption
expenditure.
4. Underlying consumption poverty line is the reference poverty line basket (PLB) of
household goods and services consumed by those households at the borderline separating
the poor from the nonpoor. Given an inescapable element of arbitrariness in specifying the
numerical nominal level of PLB, the Expert Group considered it desirable to situate
recommended reference PLB in some generally acceptable aspect of the present
practice. The estimated urban share of the poor population (described as headcount ratio or
poverty ratio) in 200405, namely, 25.7 per cent at the allIndia level, is generally accepted as
being less controversial than its rural counterpart at 28.3 per cent that has been heavily
criticized as being too low. In the interest of continuity as well as in view of the consistency
with broad external validity checks with respect to nutritional, educational and health
outcomes, 2 it was decided to recommend MRPequivalent of urban PLB corresponding to
25.7 per cent urban headcount ratio as the new reference PLB to be provided to rural as well
as urban population in all the states after adjusting it for withinstate urbanrelativetorural
and rural and urban staterelativetoallIndia price differentials.
5. Even while moving away from the calorie norms, the proposed poverty lines have been
validated by checking the adequacy of actual private expenditure per capita near the poverty
lines on food, education and health by comparing them with normative expenditures
consistent with nutritional, educational and health outcomes. Actual private expenditures
reported by households near the new poverty lines on these items were found to be adequate
at the allIndia level in both the rural and the urban areas and for most of the states. It may
be noted that while the new poverty lines have been arrived at after assessing the adequacy
of private household expenditure on education and health, the earlier calorieanchored
poverty lines did not explicitly account for these. The proposed poverty lines are in that sense
broader in scope.
6. It may be noted that although those near the poverty line in urban areas continue to afford
the original calorie norm of 2100 per capita per day, their actual observed calorie intake from
61st Round of NSS of is 1776 calories per capita. This actual intake is very close to the revised
calorie intake norm of 1770 per capita per day currently recommended for India by the Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Actual observed calorie intake of those near the new
poverty line in rural areas (1999 calories per capita) is higher than the FAO norm.
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7. The proposed reference PLB is situated also in the latest available data on the observed
consumption patterns from the household consumer expenditure survey of NSS for the year
200405 and takes into account all items of consumption (except transport and conveyance)
for construction of price indices. Separate allowance for private expenditure on transport and
conveyance has been made in the recommended poverty lines.
8. The proposed price indices are based on the householdlevel unit values (approximated
price data) obtained from the 61st round (July 2004 to June 2005) of NSS on household
consumer expenditure survey for food, fuel and light, clothing and footwear at the most
detailed level of disaggregation and hence much closer to the actual prices paid by the
consumers in rural and urban areas. Price indices for health and education were also obtained
from unit level data from related National Sample Surveys. The proposed price indices
(Fisher Ideal indices in technical terms) incorporate both the observed allIndia and the state
level consumption patterns in the weighting structure of the price indices. For rent and
conveyance, actual expenditure share for these items were used to adjust the poverty line for
each state. The recommended price indices take care of most of the criticisms of the earlier
populationsegmentspecific consumer price indices with outdated base used for updating
poverty lines.
An added and a significant advantage is that the recommended procedure permits the
derivation of new poverty lines and the corresponding headcount ratios for all the states
including the northeastern states. In the judgment of the Expert Group, these advantages
outweigh the problem of ignoring the quality differences in consumption of commodities
across households that is involved in equating unit values with approximated prices.
9. The new poverty lines seek to enable rural as well as urban population in all the states to
afford the recommended allIndia urban PLB after taking due account of withinstate rural
urban and interstate differentials (rural and urban) incorporating observed consumer
behaviour both at the allIndia and state levels.
10. The new poverty lines have been generated for all the states including the northeastern
states. However, in the absence of adequate data, the expert group has suggested use of
poverty line of the neighbouring states for union territories.
There can be several solutions, but lets focus here on the two important measures: creating
productive employment and providing quality education for reduction in poverty and
inequality. There is a feeling that we should have some flagship programmes like MGNREGA
to reduce poverty. No doubt these programmes are important for protecting the poor. But
equitable growth is much broader than this and productive inclusion in terms of generating
quality employment should be the focus of any inclusive approach. Employment focus is the
major part of equity approach. Studies have shown that agricultural growth leads to reduction
in poverty twice as that of non-agriculture. We need more diversified agriculture for raising
the income of farmers. However, future employment has to be created in manufacturing and
service. In this context, the Make in India initiative, focus on start-ups, Mudra, financial
inclusion, etc., are steps in the right direction. Equally, service sector employment has to be
promoted. Over time, the share of the organized sector has to be raised while simultaneously
improving productivity in the unorganized sector. Youth unemployment is high. This is one
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reason for unrest and social tensions. The need for skill development and productive jobs to
reap the demographic dividend is obvious.
For reducing inequality, some advocate measures such as redistribution of assets and wealth
in favour of the poor via higher taxes for the rich. However, these may not be pragmatic
solutions. The tax/GDP ratio has to be raised with a wider tax base. Fiscal instruments like
public investment in physical and social infrastructure can be used to reduce inequality. The
new generation wants equality of opportunity rather than redistributive measures. Everyone
irrespective of caste, class and gender should have equal opportunities in education, health,
employment and entrepreneurship. Economic and employment opportunities improve with
education and skills. The new generation wants better quality in schools and higher
education.
Finally, economic reforms should focus more on efficient delivery systems of public services.
Many reckon that poor governance is the biggest constraint in achieving the aspirations of a
new generation and reduction in poverty and inequality. A major institutional challenge is the
accountability of service providers, particularly the public sector. Recent literature also
focused on eradication of corruption for reduction in inequalities. Issues like electoral
reforms, crony capitalism, election funding and corruption should be part of the reform
agenda to reduce inequalities.
6. There is much to learn from the diversity of development experience amongst different
Indian states (Dreze and Sen: 1996). Explain. Can we infer that India and China are cases
of idiosyncratic path to high growth? Discuss.
Synopsis -
The average Bihari is 19 years old, has attended primary school and earns roughly Rs 35,000
per annum. The average Tamilian is 30 years old, has matriculated and earns Rs 136,000 per
annum, nearly four times more. This demographic, literacy and income gap between the
richest and poorest big states of India is the starkest among all large economies in the world.
In China, the average person in the poorer Yunnan province is nearly as educated and old, but
earns one-third the wage of the average person in the richer Jiangsu province, a similar ratio
to other large federal economic zones such as the US, European Union and Japan.
Stark divergence
Levels of income disparity across the big states of India are at an all-time peak. India is
currently experiencing a 3-3-3 paradox the richest three are three times richer than the
poorest three large states. The corresponding ratio is two for China, and 1.5 for the US and
European Union member states.
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Further, our research reveals that there is no visible trend indicating that this inequality gap
across Indias states will narrow any time soon, as in the case of China and the rest of the
world. This means, a child born in Bihar today is still likely to earn only one-fourth the amount
earned by a child born in Tamil Nadu, when they both become adults.
India is today the only large economy in the world that is experiencing an economic
divergence across its large states, and not convergence, as neo-classical economic theory
would posit. It was not like this in the early days of the republic.
In 1960, the average Tamilian earned roughly Rs 330 per annum while the average Bihari
earned Rs 215, and both were roughly of the same age. Up until 1990, the difference in
average income between the richer and poorer states in India was around 1.5 times. In the
subsequent 25 year period from 1990 to 2015, the difference shot up to four times, implying
that the richer states grew much faster than the poorer states in post-liberalisation India.
Primarily, the southern states, and Maharashtra and Gujarat grew at a scorching pace in the
post-1990 period leading to this great divergence among states.
Decadal analysis from 1960 to 2015 shows that in the decades until 1990, India did not
experience any significant divergence across its big states and may have even experienced
slight income convergence between 1970 and 1980 but has shown puzzling divergence in
every decade since 1990. There have been various scholarly attempts to explain this disparity
and economic outperformance of some states (primarily the southern states) vis--vis others,
but none have done so satisfactorily.
A new reality
It is tempting to credit political leadership and their policies for the outpaced growth of some
states versus others, but there is always a counter narrative. For example, Kerala went from
being the fourth poorest (per capita Net Domestic Product) of the 12 large states in 1960 to
the richest state in India today, governed by Communists and a left-of-centre Congress party
during this entire period. While West Bengal went from being the second-richest to the fifth
poorest, all under the same Communist party rule. Determining exact causes for this large
economic divergence across states can be laborious and even futile. It is perhaps more
pertinent and important that we internalise and acknowledge this economic diversity of India
and re-orient policy making to this new reality.
It is quite evident that the needs and priorities of much poorer Bihar or Madhya Pradesh will
be vastly different from that of, say, Kerala or Tamil Nadu. Bihar may need a more robust
state-run social security mechanism, focus on primary education, flexible labour laws,
inexpensive energy and public health system. Tamil Nadu may well need a focus on higher
education, cleaner energy, privatised health care and perhaps a cash transfer-based social
security net.
True federalism
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It is established wisdom that different sovereign states will have different policy priorities in
their development cycle. In this context, true federalism doesnt merely imply more
devolution of financial resources but also granting true legislative and political autonomy to
the states to enable a horses for courses policy paradigm.
Wouldnt it be better to let Maharashtra and Odisha make their own choices about, say,
adopting a cash-transfer subsidy regime than handing down such a policy from Delhi? While
the passing of the Goods and Services Tax Act is a laudable achievement, it is important to
remember that efficiency gains of a common tax market come at a cost of fiscal autonomy to
states, as the Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa pointed out. As with most other things,
there is a big gap between the co-operative federalism rhetoric and corresponding actions.
Formulating a national education policy, proposing concurrent elections to states and the
Centre which will remove the powers of the states to call for elections are all
fundamentally anti-federal in nature.
There is an inherent tension between efficiency and federalism the former demands
commonness and the latter demands acceptance of differences. Whichever camp one
belongs to, there is no denying the vast cultural, political and now economic diversity of India.
It is then also time to ponder greater legislative autonomy to states, perhaps by transferring
some of the concurrent list subjects such as education, land and labour back to the states.
Both China and India have large populations covering substantial and diverse
geographical areas, large economies with even larger potential size.
Current success stories of globalisation: two economies that have apparently
benefited.
Success defined by the high and sustained rates of growth of aggregate and per capita
national income; the absence of major financial crises; and substantial reduction in
income poverty.
These economies are often treated as broadly similar in terms of growth potential and
other features.
But there are crucial differences between the two economies which render such similarities
very superficialIndia was a mixed economy with large private sector, so essentially capitalist
market economy with the associated tendency to involuntary unemployment.
China was mostly a command economy, which until recently had a very small private
sector; there is still substantial state control over macroeconomic processes in forms
that have differed from more conventional capitalist macroeconomic policy. China:
high export-high accumulation model which requires constantly increasing shares of
world markets and very high investment rates. Already signs of reduced unit values of
exports and stagnation/decline of manufacturing employment.
India: IT-enabled services experiencing current boom, but competitive threat from
other countries, plus question about whether it will be enough to transform Indias
huge labour force into higher productivity activities.
Most important problems in both economies are currently the same:

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Agrarian crisis
Inadequate generation of employment in terms of decent work
Public neglect of social sectors
Growing inequalities.
7. Monetary Policy is neither the only, nor the most effective tool for regulating inflation
in Indian economy. Discuss.
Synopsis -
Right now, the RBI seems to be concentrating only on the Demand end of inflation, as
a result the entire perspective of supply is completely ignored. Inflation may also be
curtailed if the supply is bolstered to meet the demands of the people. With the
increase in supply, prices would inevitably come down and thus inflation may be
controlled. (fig. 1)
Granted, the supply side would not be strengthened so easily, as it would require
infrastructure development, planning, large scale investments etc. However, this is
where the RBI could play an extremely important role.
The RBI already regularly issues master circulars, through which they direct various
aspects of banking and certain corporate matters. The RBI also regulates and governs
matters regarding inflow of foreign funds, foreign institutional investment (FII) into
India, Utilization of External Commercial Borrowings etc. The RBI does so for various
reasons, specially because not all sectors and industries are at the same level. Some
would benefit from external input while some would be best left alone.
For the purpose of bolstering agricultural growth, development of infrastructure and

all other avenues which the RBI may deem fit, it may lay down regulations to direct
money either directly or indirectly with special importance to these sectors. To direct
foreign capital in these fields and thus bolster infrastructure would not be a difficult
task, as the RBI already does this function. Only this time it shall do it with the purpose
of meeting the ever rising demand.
This would serve a twin purpose. With the RBI increasing the CRR and other interest
rates, it becomes difficult for the farmers to get their loans before their projects. It
also becomes difficult for SME to obtain loans to fulfill their targets as well. Through
this carefully routed capital, there may be an access to the required finance for these
groups of people notwithstanding the high interest rate.
Secondly and most importantly this would also enable the government to lay down
measures to utilize this money to develop the infrastructure which would bolster
supply and thus would be a huge boost in the fight against inflation in the long run.
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The government would also have to play an important role in controlling inflation
without harming the economic growth by ensuring greater transparency in the RBI's
sterilisation operations. The Governments at the Centre and the States should take
urgent action to make available adequate credit at competitive interest rates and offer
other incentives. Inflation can be contained only if supply-side and demand issues are
effectively addressed, apart from initiating appropriate fiscal and monetary measures.
The practice adopted by the Central bank right now seems to be an ostrich approach.
It is sufficiently clear that the reason that we have inflation is because the economic
status and mind-sets of the people of India are advancing. The Indian consumer is no
longer afraid to spend tomorrows money today. The average Indian consumer has
reached a comfortable economic position where he now starts to demand products
and services which were earlier not available to him. This is an indicator of an
improved standard of living. Why should this be considered a disadvantage? The
problem here is that the countrys infrastructure is not capable of meeting these
requirements.
But, surprisingly, instead of giving any attention to the supply factors, by simply
lowering money and credit in the market, the RBI is artificially pushing demand down.
It is stifling the needs and requirements of the consumers and is attempting to create
an illusion that there is no demand.
There is a famous dialogue from the movie the usual suspects, which when modified
describes the situation perfectly; the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was
convincing the world that evil didn't exist.
8. NPA ratio of Indian bank industry reached its highest level in March, 2016. And it is
expected that it will continue to rise. Discuss the various internal and external factors
responsible for NPAs along with possible solutions.
Synopsis -
Several big-ticket projects related to various sectors being stalled owing to lack of
environmental clearances, has become a grave area of concern for public sector banks as this
has led to an increase in their non-performing assets (NPAs), even as the Government has
been singularly blaming the corporate sector for the rise in bad loans of the State-owned
financial institutions.
Rupee strength, Inverted duty structure, High interest rates added to woes of the banking
system.
PRAGATI is a unique integrating and interactive platform. The platform is aimed at addressing
common mans grievances, and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important
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programmes and projects of the Government of India as well as projects flagged by State
Governments.
The process of recovery in India is usually extremely long, sometimes taking up to 15 years.
On average, India takes over four years to declare a promoter or a company insolvent, which
is more than twice the time taken in China and in the US, according to the World Bank. So,
Indian banks recover only 25 cents to a dollar in India, compared to 36 cents in China and 80
cents in the US.
While, the new bankruptcy law passed in May 2016 aims to shorten this time period, the
framework to implement it still isnt in place.
To solve these sticky issues, policy makers and experts have been discussing possible
solutions.
One among them is the creation of a government-controlled bad bankan entity that will
hold NPAs and stressed assets of firms suggested by credit ratings firms and even private
equity majors like KKR. A bad bank might provide a way around some of the problems that
have led Indian banks to favour refinancing over resolving stressed loans. For example, large
corporates often have debt spread across a number of banks, making resolution difficult to
coordinate. The process would be simplified if the debt of a single entity were transferred to
one bad bank, credit ratings firm Fitch said in a Feb. 24 note.
This has had its share of critics, though.
Meanwhile, re-capitalisation of state-owned lenders is important, too, considering their
overwhelming domination of the industry. Equity infusion will push up assets, in the process
bringing their bad loans-to-net worth proportion down from 75%. But the capital infusion
requirement of government-owned banks is massive. The top PSBs in the country alone will
need some Rs95,000 crore to maintain healthy financials, credit ratings firm Moodys says.
The governments plans are much smaller, though. In February, it announced Rs10,000 crore
for this purpose under the Indradhanush plan in the next financial year.
Clearly, a way out of the woods is still out of sight.
9. Critically examine the relationship between Religion and Music in India.

Synopsis -
Answer Part I (1 mark)
The relationship between religion and music was not uniform across all religions. At times
music like in Classical music was devised to segregate itself from lower class, at other times
music itself was used by other classes to revolt like in Bhakti and Sufism. The common thing
was that music in religion was used to express devotion to God.
Answer Part II (1 mark)
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The first link between religion and music can be seen in Rigvedic hymns which gets
concretized in Samaveda .
Later, Classical music took root, which with its jargon and Sanskrit language separated
itself from the mass.
Answer Part III (3marks)
A solid linkage between religion and music gets established with Bhakti and Sufism .
Bhakti:
a. Nayanars and Alvars- Thevaram and Divyaprabhandham.
b. Sikhism-Shabd
c. Mirabai-Bhajans
d. Compositions of Surdas, Kabirdas and Tulsidas
Sufism
Sama and Qawwalis(Rumi and Amir khusrau respectively)
Rationale behind using music
a. To establish connection with God.
b. To popularize religion(mass from class)
c. To break social barriers as music is based on instinct.
Answer Part IV (1 mark)
Other religions in India like Christianity also use Choir and tribal religions also impacted Folk
music
Answer Part V (1 mark)
There were certain religions in India which were silent about music (early Buddhism and
Jainism and sometimes against music (Islam)
10. The statement in the context of Sufism in India. Concern for Society was a major feature
of Religions in India. Critically examine the statement in context of Sufism in India
Synopsis -
Answer Part I (1 mark)
Religions in India other than having purely spiritual aims also expressed social concerns most
of the times. Ethics of Upanishads, anti-caste fervor of Buddhism, charity as a desired quality
expressed in Islam, Sikhism etc are all examples of social concerns expressed by religions in
India.
Answer Part II (4 marks)
Sufism was a movement which took roots due to the declining morality in Islam. It brought
mysticism, love and devotion into Islam. It addressed the following social issues of the time.
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a. Declining morality in Islam was given an alternative through the pious lives of Pirs .
b. Opperessive aspects of Sharia were openly flouted by the Be-sharia sect of Sufis.
c. Love and devotion which formed the crux of Sufism opened it to the masses from class
based Clerical Islamic hold.
d. The hospicies were Pir-mureed stayed became places for the poor and the indigent
with their community kitchen and charity based works.
e. Pirs who performed Qaramats provided cures for various ailments of individuals.
Answer Part III (2 marks)
Though Sufism had social impact but it did not sustain due to following reasons
a. It was mostly a spiritual movement.
b. Rootlessness of Be-sharias though initially an asset became a reason for its
impermance
c. Immorality creeped in, in the Ba-sharias
d. Stringent rules for Mureed , became a discouraging factor.
11. The relationship between Women and Religion in India was multi-layered Examine the
statement in the context of Brahmanism, Shaktism and Bhakti movement in India.
Synopsis -
Answer Part I (1 Mark)
The relationship between Women and Religion was complex without a set pattern.
Woman was worshipped as Goddess on the one hand and exploited as a Devadasi on the
other.
Answer Part II (1 marks)
Brahmanism
Vedic Period: Features
a) Goddesses were part of minor group.
b) In the society women enjoyed a bit of freedom like participation in Sabhas and
Samitis .
Later-Vedic period
a) Position of women degraded.
b) Women lost rights of participation in Sabhas and Samitis
These were legitimized through Dharmastras and Dharmasutras which are legal texts based
on Brahmanism.
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Answer Part III (1 marks)
Shaktism which took root in the Gupta period took steps with respect to women in the
following directions.
a) Worship of Shakti( energy) in the form of goddesses like Parvati, Durga etc.
b) Women as worshippers too.
Criticism:
a. Goddesses didnnt have independent identity but were considered as consorts
of Gods(male).
b. It didnt have much impact on the society in general. Deep rooted patriarchy
continued with the rise of sati (5 A.D) as a sign of commodification of women
coming to the fore.
Answer Part IV ( 3 marks)
Bhakti Movement was a great leap in terms of its impact on Women.
a) It broke all distinctions of gender with rise of women saints like Andal, Karaikal
Ammaiyar and Meera Bai.
b) They carved their identities as author of various texts.
c) Their lives were in themselves a question to the orthodox society.
Criticism
a. Though hugely revolutionary, the lives of Bhakti saints were hugely personalized and did
not leave much of a sustaining effect.
b. Women saints though revolutionary but were confined by the borders of patriarchy in
their worship to a male god( Krishna-Meera Bai).
12. Highlight the catholicity of Akbars regime with suitable examples.

Synopsis -
PART I (1 marks)
Catholicity in Akbar refers to his liberal spirit with respect to his policies of
economy, social, polity and cultural sectors
PART II (6 marks)
1. The composition of nobles was plural consisting of Afghans, Persians, Hindus,
and Indian Muslims etc.
2. Mansabdari system introduced in the army was based on merit open to people
irrespective of their origin
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3. His social decrees like raising the marriage age for boys and girls, allowing
widow remarriage etc show his progressive nature
4. Land grants were now not based on religion, and were also given to Hindus.
5. Akbars marriage alliances with Rajputs reflect his accommodative nature.
6. Liberalism and toleration as a trait was hugely expressive in his religious
policies, his religion (Din-i-illahi) and the idea of governance (sul-i-kul) built
around it.
7. His catholicity can also be seen in his architectural features he adopted in his
constructions from various sources and the construction of temples ( Fatehpur
Sikri)
8. His nature of forgiving a defeated ruler was a rare trait.
13. Ongoing persecution of Rohingyas is a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. Critically

analyze.
Synopsis -
The statement by Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the United Nations high commissioner for human
rights.
The official United Nations definition of ethnic cleansing is "rendering an area ethnically
homogeneous by using force or intimidation to remove from a given area persons of another
ethnic or religious group. Initially used by the perpetrators during the Yugoslav Wars.
Zeid said the militarys brutal security campaign was in clear violation of international law,
and cited what he called refugees consistent accounts of widespread extrajudicial killings,
rape and other atrocities.
It resembles a cynical ploy to forcibly transfer large numbers of people without possibility of
return. Rohingyas told the reporters that soldiers, along with some local residents, had set
fire to numerous villages and had butchered Rohingya men, women and children.
But, Some officials in Myanmar have said that Rohingya had set fire to their own homes and
villages. And also, armed Rohingya militants attacked police posts and a military base in the
western state of Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh. The Myanmar authorities said 15
members of the security forces and 370 militants had been killed in the fighting.
14. With the very frequent train derailment and accidents, will Bullet Train and Hyperloop
be a reality in India? Comment.
Synopsis -
15
While India is preparing for bullet train, the largest passenger system in the world with 23
million passengers every day, the Indian Railways was hit by 78 derailments in 2016-17 with
193 people dead, the most in 10 years.
The first six months of 2017 reported 29 train accidents, of which 20 were due to derailments,
killing 39 people and injuring 54.
Over the last decade to 2016-17, 1,394 train accidents were reported in India; 51% or 708
were due to derailments in which 458 people were killed.
Bullet train and hyperloop are like leapfrogging Without addressing the issues at hand like
-congestion on present rail tracks
-rolling stock
-little time to inspect and maintain the present rail tracks
-many halted track doubling projects
-cross-subsidization
Impediments in realization of Bullet train and Hyperloop,
- Land acquisition
- Cost Benefit analysis
- Repayment of loan options
- Unaffordable by a common man and hence serving only affluent classes.
- Skill needed by operators and the workers involved.
Despite these impediments, now MRTS (Metros) are positively contributing to the economic
development of the countries. If the Govt. gives importance to make Indian Railways a safe
and profitable organization then the thrust given to Bullet Trains and Hyperloop would be
justified.
15. Can Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act along with PCPNDT Act deter the female
feticide?
Synopsis -
Context: Recent Supreme Court judgments related to MTP Act and Sec 22 of PCPNDT Act.
The dwindling of CSR numbers (940 in 2001: 914 in 2011) are mainly due to:
- Not adhering to PCPNDT act; Finding loopholes in the Act; No stricter
implementation;
- Taking route of MTP act; misusing the good faith of doctors in the act; rampant
malpractice;
Alongwith this the affluent classes are taking foreign route to detect the sex of fetus and for
subsequent abortion.
16
Recent SC judgments on MTP act i.e, to constitute Permanent Medical Board by states may
ease the burden of doctors in deciding for abortion but it may increase the cases of feticides.
Meanwhile, the Central Govt. has formed nodal agency to have control on online
advertisements. The internet search engines like yahoo, Google and Microsoft have
constituted in house mechanisms in this regard.
Overall, the effect of these moves and stricter implementations may result in lesses feticides.
Note: Students may argue otherwise but with proper arguments.
16. How to make market-based health care more affordable? Give suggestions.
Synopsis -
Context: NITI Aayogs recent proposal for the partial privatization of district-level government
hospitals has been criticized for commercializing health care. Under the proposal, private
hospitals will be allowed to bid for 30-year leases that give them control over portions of
government hospitals dedicated to treating non-communicable diseases. Critics argue that
private hospitals focused on profits will do no good to the poor who cant pay for their
services, so the government must step in to provide free health care.
Affordability is indeed the major issue preventing poor Indians from getting proper health
care. Free health care provided by the government, however, is not the real solution to the
problem. Governments often have very little incentive to provide quality health care to many
citizens.
In a market-based healthcare, prices for healthcare goods and services are set freely by
agreement between patients and health care providers, and the laws and forces of supply
and demand are free from any intervention by a government, price-setting monopoly, or
other authority. A free market contrasts with a controlled market, in which government
intervenes in supply and demand through non-market methods such as laws creating barriers
to market entry or directly setting prices. Eg: Singapore and Switzerland Healthcare systems.
This is contrary to Obama healthcare in US.
The focus then should be on how to make market-based health care more affordable. The
standard assumption in this regard is that for-profit health care works against the interests of
the poor by making health care more expensive. So various regulations aimed mostly at
reducing the profits of health-care investors and lowering the costs to consumers are imposed
on investors. Unfortunately, these regulations, by denying investors the opportunity to make
profits by providing health care, actually end up making health care more unaffordable. An
investor facing a swathe of regulations capping his returns, for instance, has very little
incentive to set up hospitals, produce life-saving drugs, or invest in medical education. This,
in fact, works against the interests of the poor by reducing the supply of health care and
increasing its price. The only real way to make health care affordable then is to increase its
supply sufficiently, which in turn will lead to lower prices. This can only be achieved when
health care is deregulated and investors are allowed to seek profits in an honest manner.
In fact, this is how any good or service gets cheaper over time. As more investments are made
17
into a sector in search of profits, the increased supply leads to lower prices for consumers and
lower returns for investors.
Sadly, the thinking that health care is too essential to be left to the market has prevented
the health-care market from working like any other. It is no wonder then that goods such as
cell phones and cars, which are considered luxuries and thus left to the market, have become
affordable to a larger population over time. At the same time, health care has largely
remained unaffordable to the vast majority of people.
17. Analyse the influence of hot desert and cold desert on the social and economic activities
of the people inhabiting the region.
Synopsis
Desert is a landscape or region that receives very little precipitation.

Hot deserts
Latitudes
Climatic description Sub tropical high pressure belts , off-shore trade
winds , impact of cold currents , western margins of the continents
Examples- Sahara, Atacama,Kalahari etc .
Cold Currents-
Temperate regions
Continentality , dry winds and low precipitation
Example Gobi , Taklamakan
Rainshadow effect Patagonia desert
Known for extremes of climate
Climatic conditions and its impact on vegetation and agriculture. Not suitable for agriculture.
Hot deserts Social and economic activities
Primitive hunters and collectors Bushmen and Bindibu
Nomadic herdsmen - Bedouin
18
Settled cultivators- oases and irrigated areas ( date palm )
West Asian desert nomadic wanderers and islamic faith
Cold deserts Social and economic activities
Nomadic herdsmen Gobi mongals
Buddhist faith
Patagonia livestock, tourism
Both hot and cold deserts are known for mineral resources. West asia- oil and NG,Western
Australia gold,uranium etc
18. For better economic development of the country, human resources (skilled manpower)
is important for agriculture as much as it is for industries. Discuss and illustrate.
Synopsis -
Importance of human resources in economic development
Manpower and its utility in industries productivity , efficiency , better utilization
of resources etc.
Agriculture and economic contribution across world and India
Agriculture scenario in India traditional , subsistence , lack of modernization and
scientific cultivation, lack of skilled manpower in agri etc
Comparsion between developing and developed countries subsistence farming
of developing VS farming of temperate grasslands and mediterrnean areas.
Utility of better manpower in agriculture
Mechanization
Improved productivity
Efficient utilization of soil, water resources
Timely intervention and solution(fertilizers,pesticides etc) at
various stages of agriculture cultivation
Marketing
Manpower and agricultural scientist contribution
Contribution by agricultural institutions for agri development
Manpower and other sectors of agriculture Livestock rearing (
dairying ), sericulture , fisheries etc.
19. Water a finite and key resource is often a source of tension and conflict among states
and countries. Discuss the need and significance of water conservation in the context of
India.
Synopsis
Water is an important natural resource and is the very basis of our life.
19
Very low percentage of fresh water available for human utility-oceans -97.20, Ice
caps/glaciers- 2.15%,Lakes, rivers etc- 0.65%
Water resources in
1. Surface water rivers ,lakes ,ponds, canals etc.
2. Ground water
Surface water availability Perennial rivers in northern plains and seasonal rivers
in southern part.
Ground water Due to hard surface in peninsular india , ground water potential
lower in south compared to north
India has monsoon type of climate where rainfall is distributed only for 4-5 months in
year. Rest of the year is a dry season. Failure of rainfall, extension of irrigation ,
cultivation of water intensive crops etc, leads to conflict among the states.
Need and significance
Limited availability of water resources
Monsoonal climate
Lower ground water potential in many areas( peninsular India )
Agriculture is backbone of economy dependent on water
resource
Issues of over exploitation of ground water ( Punjab Haryana ETC
)
Issues of Industrial discharge, pollution etc
Issues of sewage discharge , encroachment of water bodies like
lakes due to urbanization
Need of the hour is efficient and judicious use of water resources

Issues of conservation and efficient use in agriculture ( drip and
sprinkler etc ).Discouraging water intensive crops in drought
prone areas
Industrial use , recycling , sewerage treatment etc
Rain water harvesting etc
20. What do you understand by Tropical cyclone? Differentiate between temperate and
tropical cyclones.
Synopsis
Define Tropical cyclone

Characteristics
Developed in oceans
During summers
Wind speed may vary from 40 kmph to more than 200 kmph
20

Size variable

Highly destructive

Higher pressure gradient, higher the speed
Conditions required for formation of tropical cyclone
Sea surface temp >26
Minimum value of corriolis force
Development and maintenance of low pressure
Process of tropical cyclone

Diagram
Comparsion between Temperate and tropical

Latitudes
Temperate cyclone are frontal whereas tropical cyclone non-
frontal
Wind speed temperate 40 to 50 kmph, tropical upto 200 kmph
Temperate cyclone area of diameter upto 1500 km whereas
tropical cyclone are smaller in areal extent ,upto 200 -500 km
Temperate cyclone formed throughout the year whereas tropical
usually during summers
Temperate cyclone over land and ocean whereas tropical
cyclone only over seas
Tropical cyclones more destructive
21

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INSIGHTS MISSION 2018

FULL LENGTH MAINS REVISION TEST 2 SYNOPSIS

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Need of the hour is efficient and judicious use of water resources

Define Tropical cyclone

Process of tropical cyclone

Comparsion between Temperate and tropical

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