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Questions for Answer Writing – Selections for today:
- Essay Paper: Is reservation counter-productive? (1500 words)
- GS 1 Paper: [Indian History/Patel] – Without Sardar Patel, there would have been no unified India. Critically analyze. (200 words)
- GS 2 Paper: [International Relations/India-China] – What are the areas of contention between India and China? Assess the progress in India-China relations in the background of recent bilateral talks. (200 words)
- GS 3 Paper: [Indian Economy/Supply Chain Management] – What do you mean by supply chain management? Identify the bottlenecks faced by food processing sector in India.(200 words)
- GS 4 Paper: [Philosophy/Ethics]– Trace the ethical and moral aspects of Indian culture particularly in the background of our ancient texts including Manu Smrithi and Bhagavat Gita. (200 words)
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[Indian History/Patel] – Without Sardar Patel, there would have been no unified India. Critically analyze. (200 words)
Ans
When British left India, it looked far different from what we now perceive it to be.
Punjab and Bengal were muslim majority states and Muslim Leage wanted them to join Pakistan. Sardar Patel was crucial in division of the states and integration of the new states into India.
There were many princely states when British left India, and it was due to Sardar Patel’s acumen that India was able to merge over 565 states into the Union.
He offered the kings privy purses and merged the kingdoms into larger units declaring one of the kings as Rajpramukhs.
Only 3 states had –
– Hyderabad was a comparatively rich state and the Nizam had declared intention to join Pakistan. Sardar Patel merged it into India by police action.
– The Nawab of Junagarh had wished to join Pakistan against the people’s wishes. It was integrated into India after a plebiscite.
– The King of Kashmir had wanted to join neither India nor Pakistan. However after the attack of tribals, he had to sign the document of accession.
However we must not ignore the role played by-
V.P. Menon (a senior civil servant); he was the right hand man of Sardar Patel and key policy maker.
Lord Mountbatten; He persuaded Bikaner, Barmer and Bhopal to join India and gave clear instructions that independence for princely states was not an option. Being connected to British royal family, his advice was heeded better by the royalty of these states.
The people of princely states; the people rose up in rebellion and demanded to join India. Had it not been so, Junagarh would have never joined India.
Avi, Lot of good points. Tip: Analyze what would have been India, if no Sardar Patel. That was the crux of the question here.
Yep! I see I did a big mistake there in understanding the approach to the question.
1. GS 2 Paper: [International Relations/India-China] – What are the areas of contention between India and China? Assess the progress in India-China relations in the background of recent bilateral talks. (200 words)
Ans
Following are the areas of contention between India and China-
1) Border dispute;
– China is in occupation of Aksai chin claimed by India
– China claims the state of Arunachal Pradesh as south Tibet and issues its people stapled visas.
– The Line of Actual Control is not clearly demarcated leading to incursions. Even at McMahon line, India demands borders to follow the watershed while China disagrees.
2) Chinese strategic build up around India;
– India believes China to be following the string of pearls policy through sea ports in nations close to India.
– China has a huge investment in Pakistan, even in the Pakistan occupied Kashmir, and claimed by India.
3) Huge trade deficit between the nations;
– There is a 30 Billion dollar trade deficit and India demands China to open up its markets further to Indian exports.
4) Dalai Lama’s presence in India; China treats with suspicion Indian hosting of Dalai Lama who fled Tibet after Chinese takeover.
5) Indian involvement with Vietnam and Japan;
– Indian oil exploration projects in Vietnam are against Chinese claims of Spartley islands.
– China has suspicion of India forming an alliance with Japan against itself.
During the recent visit by Chinese Premier Xi, the issue of trade deficit was addressed by 20 billion dollars’ worth of potential investments. There is also expected to be more co-operation at international state and technology exchange.
However there were no clear developments on other issues, especially as army incursions by PLA happened in Laddakh overlapping the visit.
@ Avi
Great answer. just one addition – Shared rivers-where India is concerned with the water diversion project of China
GS 1 Paper: [Indian History/Patel] – Without Sardar Patel, there would have been no unified India. Critically analyze. (200 words)
The problem of amalgamating 562 independent states with a democratic self-governing India was difficult and delicate. Sardar Patel handled effectively the integration of states. He took charge of States deptt. in 1947. He appealed to princely states and invited them to join democratic India. He persuaded them to surrender defence, foreign affairs and communication to the government of India.He broke the union of separatist princes by his tactics. By August 15, 1947 all except Hyderabad, Junagarh and Kashmir acceded to India.
-Nawab of Junagarh wanted to accede to Pakistan. When the people revolted, Patel intervened. Indian Government took over the administration. Patel merged it with India by holding a plebiscite.
-He requested the Hyderabad Government to sign the instrument of accession which the Nizam refused. Amidst atrocities by the Razakars, the Indian Home Minister Sardar Patel decided to annex it.
-The King of Kashmir decided to accede to India due to invasion of Pathan tribesmen.
He declared that for the loss of income ,the monarchs would be compensated with a privy purse and kings will be the Rajpramukhs.Patel assured the princes that the Congress was not enemy of the princely order but on the other their rule will ascertain prosperity, contentment and happiness.
Alpa, you have covered Patel in detail, good. But you could have analyzed if it was only Patel.
GS 3 Paper: [Indian Economy/Supply Chain Management] – What do you mean by supply chain management? Identify the bottlenecks faced by food processing sector in India.(200 words)
SCM is the flow of movement of goods from point of origin to the point of consumption. It covers production, product development, inventory, distribution. SCM streamline all the activities in a chain.
India is the world’s second largest producer of food.The food processing sector in India offers a huge potential of investment.The bottlenecks faced by food processing sector in India are:
No comprehensive national level policy on food processing sector
Lack of availability of trained manpower
Few processing plants with cost effective technologies
Low usage cost effective food machinery & packaging technologies
Constraints in raw material production
Inadequate infrastructural facilities
Inadequate access to Credit
Unreliable market intelligence
Inconsistency in central and state policies
Lack of Applied research
Lack of packaging and value addition centres
Inefficient supply chain and logistics
Problem of economies of scale for small sized industries
Unacceptable export quality
Lack of food testing labs and conformance to standards
Lack of specific plan to attract private sector investment across the value chain
The diverse agro-climatic condition with vast range of raw material provides ample scope for the sector to emerge. Clear-cut policies,infrastructure development and R&D can go a long way to give impetus to this industry.
Alpa, Excellent!
GS 4 Paper: [Philosophy/Ethics]– Trace the ethical and moral aspects of Indian culture particularly in the background of our ancient texts including Manu Smrithi and Bhagavat Gita. (200 words)
India has a very ancient history of thinking about ethics. In Ṛigveda, we come across the idea of an all-pervading cosmic order (ṛta) which stands for harmony and balance in nature and in human society.
Manu Smriti contains laws, rules, and code of conduct to be followed by individuals, communities and nations.Vedic is the obedience to the divine law- Rita. Theory of Karma focuses on one’s deeds that determine the future state of the person.Media ethics had been defined. Manu has provided the tenfold principles which are Contentment ,Forgiveness,Self- control,Refraining from unrighteous appropriating anything, Cleanliness, Control of immoral desires, Wisdom,Knowledge,Truthfulness,Refraining from anger
In the Bhagavad-Gita, selfless action is advocated. It is an action which is required to be performed without consideration of personal consequences.Krishna tells Arjuna not only how to build character but also the root cause of ethical failure and how to avoid it. Krishna outlines qualities of a gentleman and says that to maintain good character, we must overcome kama, that is, lust or selfish desire.The Gita can help us to learn to regulate our senses, control our minds and gain spiritual strength.
The concept of right and wrong is the core of the Mahabharata.
The life lessons from Ramayan that chasing materialism and pleasures should not be at cosst of righteousness.
In Buddhism, the word dhamma is used.The guidelines and rules regarding what is considered as appropriate behaviour for human beings are prescribed in the Dharma Shastras.
Jain texts places great emphasis on three most important things in life, called three gems (triratna). These are: right vision ,right knowledge and right conduct.
According to Guru Granth Sahib, compassion, charity, contentment,non-enmity and selfless service are the virtues.
Alpa…you have touched many areas;good. Keep it up!
GS 1 Paper: [Indian History/Patel] – Without Sardar Patel, there would have been no unified India. Critically analyze. (200 words)
Ans. PM Nehru entrusted the post-independence unification of India with Sardar Patel, Home MInister and Deputy PM,VP Menon then Home Secretary. It was the free hand rendered by PM Nehru to the team of these two and the constitutional mandate coupled with the team work of these two which enabled the integration of princely states to merge with India however Sardar Patel also agreed to pay huge sum (8% of Revenu of the state) through Privy Purse to these princess. Furthermore there was public demand from these states to merge with India and British no more ruling India the princely states were virtually left with no option as they had no army or foreign functionary set up. There lavish life style, un-cared attitude towards administration of their states, rampant corruption and communal tensions made them irrelevant also. The common sentiment sof the people was with the freedom fighters and the people in their states were restless to join the India than to remain free or to go with Pakistan. These factors forced alongwith persuasive and coercive tactic of both Menon and Sardar Patel forced the Princes to accede to India. However there were resistances from Junagadh, hyderabad and Kashmir Princes. Hyderabad was unified by use of army, in the absence of PM from the country. Junagadh public revolt and referendum went in favor of India,while in case of Kashmir it was unified by treaty signed by Hindu King of Kashmir to protect the state from Tribes from Pakistan. The unification done by Sardar Patel was also not complete as Goa and Pondichery was still not part of India during his tenure. Even complete Kashmir could not be unified because India took the matter to UN and stand still agreement created Line of Control and therefore unification was incomplete. However, the iron will of Sardar Patel and his persuasion by coercion strategy led to unification of India.
GS 2 Paper: [International Relations/India-China] – What are the areas of contention between India and China? Assess the progress in India-China relations in the background of recent bilateral talks. (200 words)
Ans. The contentious issue between India and China are following-
1. Border areas dispute which includes Aksai China are, Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and areas of PoK acceded to china by Pakistan, which India claims as own territory.
2. String of Pearls
3. Mining exploration by Indian companies in South China Sea
4. Military Exercise between India and other countries including Japan in Sea of japan, Indian Ocean,North China Sea and South China Sea
5. Huge Trade Deficit in favor of China
6. Monetary,Tactical and Strategic support to Pakistan and use of sae resources by Pakistan in sponsoring anti India activities.
7. The Arunachal Pradesh Stapled Visa Issue from
8. Frequent incursion by Chinese forces in the disputed border region.
9. Creation of large dams on Tsang Po river overlooking India’s concerns.
The recent bilateral talks have been partly successful however much more could have been achieved. On the positive side, China has agreed to invest in building capacity and infrastructure in India, civil nuclear deal with China is also in the pipeline and China may support India’s entry to the Nuclear Supplier’s Group. Technology transfer for High Speed Trains, smart cities, Industrial developments. Positive talks have happened on the creation of Bangladesh, Mayanmar, India and China-Industrial Corridor. China has also agreed to set up and invest in manufacturing units in India. Both nations have also agreed to resolve border dispute through talks and have stressed the need to improve bilateral trade volume and China has assured that Chinese presence in Indian Ocean is not aimed at “containing India”. Positive talks have also happened on reviving Maritime Silk Route. However, nothing substantial and immediate has come out about checking frequent incursion by Chinese Forces in Ladakh region. The China card played often played by Sri Lanka and tactical support to Maoists in Nepal is also not addressed. trafficking of fake currency in India through China is also un-addressed.
Amrit, well read! Excellent! Keep it up!
GS 3 Paper: [Indian Economy/Supply Chain Management] – What do you mean by supply chain management? Identify the bottlenecks faced by food processing sector in India.(200 words).
Ans. Supply Chain Management is a cyclic process encompassing raw material,manufacturing, transportation to consumption. Delay at one stage has a cascading effect on all other stages. Good supply chain links helps farmers, manufactures, wholesalers, retailers and consumers.
The bottlenecks faced by food processing sector in India are following-
1. Inadequate Research and Development
2. Small sizes of companies involved.
3. Supply chain management inadequate
4. Inadequate Infrastructure like road, transport
5. Lack of skilled manpower
6. Lack of aggressive ICT intervention
7. Lack of storage facility
8. Lack of marketing facilities.
9. Lack Public awareness about use of processed food.
{GS PAPER 1}:Without Sardar Patel,there would have been no unified India.Critically Analyze
Ans.Sardar Patel was the main personality behind the integration of princely states into India.All the princely states except kashmir,Manipur,Junagarh,Hyderabad have merged into india peacefully by 15 August,1947 due to the flexible and diplomatic methods of Patel.
kashmir signed the instrument of accession after invasion by tribes from pakistan.The rular of junagarh was invested to join pakistan but the protested against it and by plebisite,junagarh was merged into india.The nizam of hyderabad was adamant to maintain independent status but the people revolted against it due to opperessive policies of nizam.The voilence unleashed by the razalzars provided the opportunity to the government of india to intervene militarily on the pretext of controlling the situation thus accomodating hyderabad inyo india.Patel persauded the maharaja of manipur to accede to india provided that the internal autonomy will be given to the princely stste.
Even though goa was under the control of portuguese and the issue of kashmir was pending with the united nations patel played a vital role in creating a unified india by taking advantage of the emotions of the people and lack of military required by princely states to counter india and by compensating the loss of income of rulers through privy purses.
Ramandeep, You can improve your answer by taking inputs from the feedback given to other answers.