This is question set #11 of ‘Clear IAS Mains High Value Answer Writing Test Series’. Mains High Value Answer Writing is a UPSC mains oriented program from ClearIAS.com that consists of 5 questions in each post, published around 8 pm every day. Each of the 5 questions are selected from 5 papers mentioned in UPSC Mains syllabus namely Essay, GS1, GS2, GS3 and GS4 (ethics). Selected questions of high probability to be asked UPSC mains are included in each of these mini tests. Aspirants can choose any question they wish to answer in the comment space provided below, specifying the question number and question topic.
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Questions for Answer Writing – Selections for today:
- Essay Paper: Contemporary India : Judicial Activism, Civil Society Movements and Media Activism. (1500 words)
- GS 1 Paper: [Indian Culture] – What are the differences between Pahari School of Painting and Mughal school of Painting? (200 words)
- GS 2 Paper: [PDS] – Analyze the Public Distribution Systems of India and its deficiencies. (200 words)
- GS 3 Paper: [Money laundering] – What is money laundering? Analyse the steps taken by Government of India to prevent money laundering. T(200 words)
- GS 4 Paper: [Ethics]– What are Nolan’s Seven Principles of Public Life? Analyze the significance of each of them in detail.(200 words)
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GS PAPER1: PAHARI V/S MUGHAL SCHOOL OF PAINTING
– While the mughal paintings developed under akbar’s and jahangir patronage, the pahari paintings developed at the foothills of the punjab himalayas and encompasses various schools such as bahsoli, guler, jammu,kangra.
– Even though both are miniature paintings, the mughal paintings have persian and timurid influence
– realism is the chief feature of mughal paintings as real life scenes such as court of the emperor are vividly depicted. In the pahari painting the theme of love is the most dominant. Schools such as the basholi paintings have intense passion depicted. The love between krishna and radha is depicted. Emphasis is also upon the aspects like jewellry shown with thick raised drops. Bhakti movement has influenced the evolution. Mughal paintings under jahangir have shown the fondness for nature- scenes of nature have found representation. Pheseant, turkey cock have been depicted by fine strokes of painters such as mansur. Under kangra school natural elements such as river streams and dense green foliage have been highlighted.
Analyze the Public Distribution Systems of India and its deficiencies. (200 words)
Public distribution system in india is the crucial component established by the government to ensure food security and support to the large sections of population which is poor and starving.
The objectives are to issue 35 kp of foodgrains per BPL family per month at subsidised rates. The issue prices for APL population is maintained very close to the market prices.
Even as the PDS has made progress in terms of expansion of fair price shops across the country and the population covered, there remain some limitations in it functioning.
– There are heavy post harvest losses due to weather and fluctuation in production levels as also due to lack of proper storage facilities. The FCI provided storage capacity is not capable of meeting the actual foodgrain production in the country. Hence now there is proposal of involving the private sector in providing the warehousing and other facilities to the farmers.
– Even as the identification of beneficiaries is decentralised to the states, the problem of ghost beneficiaries, actual benefits not going to the intended sections remains.Hence reforms in terms of linking the benefits with the aadhaar card is to be introduced to better target the beneficiaries.
– There is a problem of pilferages, wastages of foodgrains. Hence to check diversion of the FPS foodgrains to open market, GPS linkages of trucks as done in chattishgarh needs to be implemented.
Thus even as the government enacts the National Food Security BIll, a more reformed PDS with introduction of end-to end computerisation, door step delivery, greater participation of local bodies in monitoring the movement of foodgrains to their locality amongst other measures is needed to effectively address the challenge of eliminating hunger in the country.
GS 2 Paper: [PDS] – Analyze the Public Distribution Systems of India and its deficiencies. (200 words)
Public distribution system supplies food grains and other commodities to the poor at subsidized prices through fair price shops to attain food security. The procurement,storage,transportation of food grains is undertaken by FCI. Antyodaya Anna Yojana, Annapurna Yojana, NFSA are steps taken in direction of PDS.
The PDS has attracted criticisms many a times. The deficiencies in PDS are:
1. The fair price shops refuse to give food grains to the poor on the false ground that they have not yet received the grains sanctioned.
2. The procurement by FCI does not give much attention to the quality procured
3. FCI procured grains are kept in open space or in a flawed condition in godowns and the poor get the inferior quality produce.
4. Ration cards of the dead persons, multiple ration cards of a person; such cases have been heard many a times.
5. Hoarding of the food grains clearly indicates the prevailing rampant corruption.
6. There have been flaws in identification of right beneficiaries.
7. No system in place for tracking of loaded trucks
8.Poor are unaware regarding quantity and price of food grains they should receive.
To make PDS transparent; e-governance, awareness among beneficiaries, GPS tracking, hassle free delivery,check on quality and efficient grievance redressal mechanism are some of the measures which need to be taken to address the food security challenge.
GS 3 Paper: [Money laundering] – What is money laundering? Analyse the steps taken by Government of India to prevent money laundering. (200 words)
Money laundering is the process in which large amounts of money obtained from serious crimes, such as drug trafficking or terrorist activity, is made to appear to originate from a legitimate source.
Many steps have been taken by India, which directly or indirectly curbs money laundering activities such as:
The Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974
The Income Tax Act, 1961
The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988
The Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985
Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA)
Financial intelligence Unit (FIU)
KYC norms
The above steps have helped to take stringent action against companies, tax evaders and individuals. The banks and financial institutions are required to maintain record of cash transactions above 10 lakhs Also the amendment in PMLA has paved the way to punish those who finance terrorism, those who possess,conceal and acquire property and project it as untainted one.Community future brokers have also been included in its scope.The protection of identity of beneficial owners have been done away with. These acts and policies will definitely help India to come out of high risk zone of money laundering and improve further its Anti Money Laundering Basel Index.
1. GS 1 Paper: [Indian Culture] – What are the differences between Pahari School of Painting and Mughal school of Painting? (200 words)
Ans
Following were the difference between Mughal and Pahari school of painting.
Patrons-
While Mughal style of painting began under Humayun and grew under Akbar, Jahangir and Shahjahan.
Pahari paintings found patrons in the small hill kingdoms in Himachal, Jammu and eastern areas of Punjab.
Geography-
Mughal painting spread to most areas of North Indian plains and even influenced paintings in Rajasthan.
Pahari paintings were popular in the Himalayan kingdoms on eastern edges of Punjab specially Basholi, Guler and Kangra.
Influences-
Mughal paintings synthesised styles from Persian and central Asian paintings.
Pahari painting was the organic development of indigenous painting style.
Themes-
Mughal paintings used mostly secular themes ranging from portraits, nature, hunting scenes etc.
Pahari painting was very influenced by bhakti movement and most of the paintings were about Krishna.
Style-
In Mughal style of miniature painting, there was large usage of gold. There were Persian influences in bright colours and three dimensional effects. However the facial features and hand gestures were from Indian style.
These paintings were influenced from folk painting styles and the brilliant colours were avoided in favour of more subdued colours. Women were beautifully depicted with large eyes and body curves.
1. GS 2 Paper: [PDS] – Analyze the Public Distribution Systems of India and its deficiencies. (200 words)
Ans.
Public Distribution System is a food security system created under Ministry of Consumer affairs, food and public distribution and state governments. It provides rice, wheat, Kerosene and sugar at prices lower than market prices to BPL families. There are 4.99 lakh fair price shops across India that sell things PDA, and the ration is procured and maintained by Food Corporation of India.
It has been great support to the poor in India and has had many benefit and ensured food security to the poor. A BPL card holder family can get 35 kgs of grains while one above poverty line can get 15 kgs of grains per month.
However it is criticized for the following deficiencies-
1) According to planning commission’s report only 42% of grains released actually reaches the poor.
2) Media operations have pointed out that the grains allocated are sold to merchants instead of reaching the beneficiaries.
3) There are a large number of fake rations cards that are used to divert the products to black-market.
4) The supplies released by the government are replaced by poorer quality supplies, while original ones being diverted to markets.
5) The margins are not beneficial for the honest shop operators.
6) Many essential items are not available at the fair price shops.
With the targeted PDS system, the role of PDS system will only increase. There needs to be more steps from central and state governments in association with civil society to keep a vigil and increase transparency and accountability of the system.
1. GS 3 Paper: [Money laundering] – What is money laundering? Analyse the steps taken by Government of India to prevent money laundering. T(200 words)
Ans
Money laundering is the process by which income from illegitimate or criminal acts are converted to legitimate money or other assets. It is an international concern as often proceeds of narcotics trade, human trafficking, arms trade and terrorist organisations are converted to legitimate money/assets.
It usually involves three stages-
1) Introduction of money into the financial system through sources.
2) Carrying out complex transaction with long trails to conceal the original source of the money.
3) Acquiring wealth from the legitimised sources.
Some popular methods include-
1) Smurfing : depositing money in small amounts.
2) Smuggling large amounts to Banks with more secrecy.
3) Gambling.
4) Real estate.
5) FDA through tax havens.
6) Double invoicing.
7) Large transactions in big corporations.
8) Black salaries.
In 1996 IMF estimated that 2 to 5 % of world’s economy involved laundered money. Financial Action Task Force was setup to check money laundering internationally and its effects were felt after 2001.
In 2002, Government of India passed the Prevention of money laundering act to check and prevent the malpractice. Under this the burden of proof is placed on the accused to prove the legitimacy of the source of income.
Section 12 describes banks to –
1) Monitor large transactions and keep records for these.
2) Share information of these transactions with Tax department.
3) Keep records of transactions for 10 years.
In 2013 SEBI declared the new anti-money laundering guidelines keeping abreast with best practices in the world.
Some other steps taken are Know Your Client rules, necessity of Pan Cards and in-person verification of clients for banks.
Excellent Avi…To the point answer. Keep it up.
Dear TALEB’SECONOMIST,
Good points, but for better readability and wider dimensions, we suggest you to have a look at Avi’s answer for this question.
Good answer. Suggestions : Years of introduction of PDS, T-PDS, aadhar linkage etc.
GS 2 Paper: [PDS] – Analyze the Public Distribution Systems of India and its deficiencies. (200 words)
Ans. Started in early 1960s with shared responsibility of Central and State Government to provide subsidized rice wheat,sugar and Kerosene to the poor of the country. In PDS central govt procures,transports and maintains buffer stock of food grain in FCI warehouses and these are distributed by Fair Price Shops to the beneficiary selected by state government. Some states may also add other items like edible oil,pulses iodized slat etc on their own expenditure. The PDSwas replaced by Revamped PDS in 1992 and Targeted PDS (TPDS) in the year 1997 in order to provide benefit to the targeted group of Below Poverty Line and reduce pilferage. The PDS systems has been immensely useful in eradication from the country and is the backbone of the food economy. The PDS scheme is life line for the poor of the country.Now the Antyodaya Anna Yojana aims to reach the poorest among BPL families by PDS to feed them. The PDS has become pivot of government food fecurity Plan under Food Security Act.
The major deficiencies of the PDS are pilferage to non-beneficiaries, huge wastage due to poor storage capacity of FCI, poor quality of the food grain, rampant corruption at operational level of FPS, poor identification of the beneficiaries. However considering the importance of the the PDS these deficiencies can removed by ICT intervention through Digital India Project, enhancing FCI Storage quality and capacity and better coordination between Centre and State and Districts and Local bodies. Dedicated toll free number for PDS related complaints will be of great help.
Excellent. All key areas touched, except the possibilities of Direct Benefit Transfer (a key word).
A good attempt. On the steps taken by government, you have mentioned Prevention of money laundering act and SEBI guidelines. Try to add more points here.
The deficiencies and solutions are presented well. The analysis part can be improved.
Analysis part can be improved. Rest of the answer really good.
Excellent Alpa. Many high value points. Keep it up.
Really good one. Enforcement Directorate, SFIO,Mandatory quoting of PAN for transaction above Rs. 50000/- and for all mutual fund investments , Hawala kaobar might also be added.
Judicial Activism, Civil Society Movements and Media Activism
Activism is a good idea-Good activism is a boon to the society.It is needed to build pressure for unbiased investigation into crimes,keep political and monetary influence at bay.Now ,Let us look each of these one by one
JUDICIAL ACTIVISM:-
The hallmark of a great nation is its institutions,the stronger the ability of these institutions to uphold ,preserve fundamental values,the greater the nation would be.
Judiciary,executive and legislature are the three very important pillars of democracy.Traditional understanding is that while legislature make laws,executive implements them and judiciary interpret the laws and apply it to the facts of any particular case.
But many a time ,legislature fails to formulate policies or even when the policies are made there is a failure in its implementation by the executive,Even there are instances where the policies framed are against the concept of welfare state or it unjustifiably favors a few elite by exploiting the poor.
It is here that judiciary interferes to uphold the constitutional values and this can be seen as the activism shown by judiciary to interfere into the executive and legislature functioning.
This interference has sometimes led to very positive results eg:According to art 21 of Indian constitution the right to life and personal liberty is mentioned,but here supreme court interpreted it to also include right to pollution free environment which is a basic necessity,which culminated in CNG Autorickshaws in Delhi ,which brought pollution in the city considerably low .But there has also been instances where Court had to later downplay its initial activist observations like in the case of uniform civil code.
Also in many situations policy formulation and implementation would require fine-tuning of administrative details is beyond the capacity of the courts,,this can also lead to diversion of judicial resources like time of judges,talent and energy into areas where it does not have the necessary competence or expertise ,this can in the long run affect the credibility of the judiciary.
considering the different perspective of the problem it can be concluded that judicial activism is good if does not become judicial over-reach
,if it leads to making positive laws ,within the sphere of judiciary ,without violating the principle of ‘separation of powers’.
CIVIL SOCIETY:-
They are the instruments of social change.civil society includes NGO’s and institutions that manifest the interest of citizens.It is an essential part of democratic society.It is corrective force in the society.It keeps a check on the government by speaking out against the regime or demanding a government response to social needs.It helps in developing social conscience in the society,which help in formulating mass opinion against injustice.
Good civil society movements have touched many spheres of our society like women’s rights,human rights,accountable governance,In India we can take the example of many acts which have been formed as result of active civil society movements like the right to information act , for an accountable governance,Domestic violence act which helps protect women’s rights.Many progressive schemes in our society like right to education act,NREGA schemes can attributed to civil society movements .
Though civil society movements have developed and progressed much in the recent decade,we can understand that such movements are ingrained in a society ,a very notable movement in the 1970’s that of chipko movement ,which was a phenomenal success.It later on led a revolution in the field of environmental protection in the developing world.Such civil society activities and campaigns are very much needed to shape up strong progressive society.
Civil society can and should agitate on issues but resolution should happen within democratic setup.
it should not undermine or endanger democracy.Also there are reports about fraudulent activities in the name of civil society movements ,where foreign funds received by certain NGO’s are misused and diverted for other purpose.sometimes the intentions of these societies are opaque and doubtful example deliberate disturbances are created to hinder developmental activities,which usually has political and other malafide agenda behind it.This usually works in a society where majority are poor and uneducated.These should be effectively checked and activities of these societies should be made more transparent,civil society groups’ funding and activities should be opened up to external scrutiny.
Thus,It could be concluded that civil society and its functioning is essential for the society,but it becomes good when the base of the society is strong with proper education and awareness else it can altogether go in the wrong direction.
MEDIA ACTIVISM:-
It is a broad category of activism that utilizes media and communication technologies for social and political movements,It also includes now a days popular social media like twitter ,face-book etc.
Essentially the role of the media is good reporting ,which also includes questioning and inquiry to verify the truthfulness of the matter .It acts as a medium in communicating the policies and activities of government and other parties which are of interest to the society.
But when does this active media become media activism?It is when media enters into the grass-root arena of the society to spread information not available via mainstream media or to share censored news stories.It implies a deviation from the tradition role of media ,where it begins it own trials and investigation into matters which are traditional known to be out of it’s bounds.example is the media trial on criminal cases.
It has a positive aspect too especially when there is deliberate lethargic pace of the prosecution, frequent adjournments , delaying tactics resorted to by the accused or frequent transfer of the presiding judicial officer in the midst of the trial and so on. The media, by publicising these facts, acts as a catalyst which is conducive to the speedy progress of the trial,but once the trial has commenced, the media has no right to pronounce upon the innocence or guilt of the persons involved ,it is a legal matter.
A restrained media activism is a good thing for society ,In India we can cite many examples of positive media activism where due to activism of media alone that common people could fight against the mighty.Even in the recent example of Delhi rape case,it was due to effective social media that such huge support was build up for the poor victim and due to constant scrutiny of the media pressure was build up to catch the accuse very soon.media activism helped in building a powerful response to this national shame .Media activism is needed when the system does not deliver justice , when people have to come to the streets for justice.
Though these are the positive effects there is a tendency to sensationalize issues and sometimes it moves about with per-conceived agenda.In a fragile society when media can easily influence the mood of the public,Media activism is a path to be tread carefully else it would itself be a part of the problem.
please review my essay clear ias,this is my first essay for upsc.I was not very confident about it,
Dear Minnl, appreciate the effort. Essay writing demands much more time than other questions in this test series, but the effort spend will fetch you bigger results. And about your essay : we rate it as an average essay and there are many areas to improve. But being your first one, there is nothing to worry. A few tips:
1. Give a better introduction and conclusion.
2. You should not write essays like a normal GS answer. Take the essay to higher standards.
3. You could have connected the three key terms.
4. You need to have an opinion, and try to explain/prove that opinion with examples.
5. Keep writing. Read good essays. That’s the best way to improve essay writing.
I am a beginner how can I improve my answer writing skills