This is question set #26 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.
Questions for Answer Writing – Selections for today:
- Essay Paper: Are we giving too much importance to cricket and Bollywood? (1500 words)
- GS 1 Paper: [Culture/Paintings] – The most common theme of the Miniature painting of India comprises of the Ragas. Elaborate. (200 words)
- GS 2 Paper: [Extra Constitutional] – The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, is worse than the disease it is trying to cure: Corruption. Critically analyze. (200 words)
- GS 3 Paper: [Indian Economy/Budget] Analyze the budgetary provisions and allocation to Science and Technology in 2014 budget. Are we spending enough to emerge as a Technology nation? (100 words)
- GS 4 Paper: [Dimensions of ethics] Ethics as a field of study is known as moral philosophy. But ethics is beyond morals. Elaborate the dimensions of ethics. (200 words)
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The most common theme of the Miniature painting of India comprises of the Ragas i.e. the musical codes of Indian classical music. This paintings are known as Ragamala Paintings.
Ragamala Paintings stand as a classical example of the amalgamation of art, poetry and classical music in medieval India.
Ragamala paintings were created in most schools of India painting, starting in the 16th and 17th centuries and are today named accordingly, as
Pahari Ragamala, Rajasthan or Rajput Ragamala, Deccan Ragamala, and Mughal Ragamala.
In these painting each raga is personified by a colour, mood, a verse describing a story of a hero and heroine (nayaka and nayika), it also elucidates the season and the time of day and night in which a particular raga is to be sung; and finally most paintings also demarcate the specific Hindu deities attached with the raga, like Bhairava or Bhairavi to
Shiva, Sri to Devi etc. The paintings depict not just the Ragas , but also their wives, (raginis), their numerous sons (ragaputra ) and daughters
(ragaputri ).
The six principal ragas present in the Ragamala are
Bhairava, Dipika, Sri, Malkaunsa, Megha and
Hindola and these are meant to be sung during the
six seasons of the year – summer, monsoon,
autumn, early winter, winter and spring.
GS 2 Paper: [Extra Constitutional] – The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, is worse than the disease it is trying to cure: Corruption. Critically analyze. (200 words)
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 provide for establishment of Lokpal to inquire regarding corruption allegations on public servants. The Act provides for investigation and prosecution under the Lokpal in a time bound manner. The Act is worse than the disease it is trying to cure because:
1. Lokpal is an executive authority and not accountable to anyone which is violation of constitution.
2. Lokpal having investigative power will probe regarding complaints under Criminal code. This is the power of police which in no way should be undertaken by judiciary who are Lokpal members.
3. If Lokpal found a person guilty then the accused will not get justice in the court as a subordinate judiciary member would hear the case.
4. SC and HC judges immunity from any parliamentary scrutiny would remain no longer.
5. If there is any complaint against Lokpal regarding fundamental rights violation and writ is filed in HC then how will HC try SC judges
6. Lokpal may ask to suspend a person under all India services or central services while under investigation which is only the right of President – a clear case of conflict.
7. The human resource in investigating agencies will have to be diverted to investigate cases under Lokpal but there is no guarantee that the person who investigates will not be corrupt.
To sum up, to have an executive unaccountable will in no way promote checks on transparency and accountability.
The most common theme of the Miniature painting of India comprises of the Ragas. Elaborate. (200 words)
Ans
Indian painters in a unique attempt tried to represent music through colours and paintings.
To understand how Ragas can be represented as paintings, we have to understand ragas as they existed in the medieval period-
1) Each raga was associated to an individual period of the day, when it was supposed to be sung.(Raga Bhairava for morning)
2) Each raga was attached to a specific mood and a specific season. (Raga Bhairava in summer)
3) The ragas were associated with individual gods and goddesses. (ex. Bhairava to Shiva and Shri to devi)
4) Each of the 6 ragas had associated 5 raginis and 8 ragaputras, (except raga Shri with 6 raginis and 9 ragaputras) thus creating a family. (Bhairav raga is male, bhairavi his wife is ragini, and madhav his son is ragaputra)
The painters in medieval period saw painters trying to represent ragas with the moods, seasons and deities they were associated with.
The paintings were called as Ragamala paintings due to their depiction of Ragas. With time, the art diversified and developed individual forms within different forms of miniature paintings. So today we have Pahari Ragamala, Mughal ragamala, Rajasthani ragamala and deccan ragamala.
GS 1 Paper: [Culture/Paintings] – The most common theme of the Miniature painting of India comprises of the Ragas. Elaborate. (200 words)
The most common theme of the Miniature painting of India comprises of the Ragas which means the musical codes of Indian classical music.
– Raga represents colour, mood, central characters of a story
– Ragas are personified by Hindu dieties
– Six ragas (Bhairava, Dipika, Sri, Malkaunsa, Megha and Hindola) are sung during six different seasons and at a particular time of the day
– Ahmednagar paintings are based on Hindola Raga
– The Central Indian (Malwa), Rajasthani (Bundi, Kota,Amer, Marwar), Bijapur, Mughal and Pahari (Kangra, Kullu) paintings exhibit this theme
– It seemlessly shows the transformation of expression from music, through poetry to painting
(could not get what more to write )
GS 4 Paper: [Dimensions of ethics] Ethics as a field of study is known as moral philosophy. But ethics is beyond morals. Elaborate the dimensions of ethics. (200 words)
Ethics, though, sometimes is also known as moral philosophy but it is something more than and beyond morals. Ethics involves systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. It indicate what is the best way for humans to live, and what kinds of actions are right or wrong in a particular circumstances.
Ethics can be broadly classified in 3 dimensions, namely – Meta- ethics, Normative Ethics and Applied or descriptive Ethics.
Meta Ethics – is about theoretical meaning and reference of moral propositions and how their truth values,if any, may be determined.
Normative Ethics – is about the practical means of determining a moral course of action. It examines standards for the rightness and wrongness of actions.
Applied/ Descriptive Ethics- draws upon the ethical theory in order to ask what a person is obliged to do in a specific situation or with some particular domain of actions , such as politics or business.
@Alpha content matters more not the word limit. Upsc had clearly indicated this in last year mains.so focus more on content part of the answer.
Sirs/madams, sorry for the odd question, but when are you expecting the pre results and what range would the cutoffs be?
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, is worse than the disease it is trying to cure: Corruption. Critically analyze. (200 words)
Ans
The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013, has the following short comings with regards to its aim of handing corruption-
1) Lack of check and balance-
– Members to have powers both of investigation and judiciary.
– With Supreme court being under its ambit, it disturbs the blance of power between three sections of government.
– Cases againt Lokpal of violation of fundamental rights will create clash of interests.
2) Creation of parallel system-
– It can dismiss serving all India civil servants, a power only president has.
– It has authority over CBI officers on deputation.
– With no additional resources, the power to dismiss a case as frivolous or false and fine the complainant.
3) No electoral basis for power-
– Giving power to jail citizens, blacklist organisations and dismiss civil servants for an organisation without electoral mandate is undemocratic.
– With no accountability towards elected members.
A comparison with the Ombudsman system in HongKong shows that the body only has powers to suggest action through report to authority and not those of prosecution.
The lokpal bill attempts to alter the balance between three branches of government attained through years. Any alteration of it could lead to accumulation of power either with one of these or with lokpal itself. The threat is further increased by the lack of accountability in presence of sweeping powers.
It must also be noted that systems like CVC and CAG are already in place and need is to strengthen them and not to create further bureaucracy.
GS 3 Paper: [Indian Economy/Budget] Analyze the budgetary provisions and allocation to Science and Technology in 2014 budget. Are we spending enough to emerge as a Technology nation? (100 words)
Budgetary provisions
1.The Deptt. of Science & Technology in 2014 budget allocation of Rs. 35.44 bn – 11% more than last year.
2.The research received only 4% more than last year though the inflation rate has been 8%. The allocation for biotechnology has risen by just 0.9% .
3.Space and atomic energy each saw roughly a 6% rise in this year’s budget.
4.Funding for solar plants and research hubs
5.No new exiciting policies for education and universities. New IITs to be set up
We are not spending enough to dream of becoming global scientific power because :
– Lack of higher education research funding
– No inclusive energy-water policy
– India Inclusive Innovation Fund not yet taking off from ground
– No scheme to reach to bottom of pyramid
– Less allocation for innovation schemes
Hi Alpa, I couldnt get clear material on this one. Could you please also share the sources you used for this answer. It would be really helpful.
@ Avi
http://www.nature.com/news/first-modi-budget-spells-austerity-for-indian-science-1.15542
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/paralysis-in-science-policies/article5661263.ece
Thanks!!
Friends & Clearias,
Pl tell what do you mean by dimension of ethics? Should we write abt the meta ethics, normative ethics etc. or it means the branches of ethics like organizational ethics, business ethics, pub ad ethics etc.
GS 1 Paper: [Culture/Paintings] – The most common theme of the Miniature painting of India comprises of the Ragas. Elaborate. (200 words)
Ans : ragas are the musical codes of indian music which since ages has been the instrument of emotional integration of people of different faiths , traditions and customs . ragas are the musical modes having specific intonations , time and situation when they are sung , they arouse specific emotions known as rasas .
indian painters have personified the spirit of ragas turning them into visual forms .
ragamala paintings are unique to indian art . they communicate through lines and colours which has been tradtionally conveyed through sound .
they are invariably based on literary renderings of ragas . ragas form the most important theme of miniature painting .
the painters have created a new mythology of music . ragamal paintings personify ragas either as divine form or as figures from mythology and court , both universal and secular .
GS 4 Paper: [Dimensions of ethics] Ethics as a field of study is known as moral philosophy. But ethics is beyond morals. Elaborate the dimensions of ethics. (200 words)
Ethics is sometimes called as moral philosophy as it defines what is right and what is wrong. But, in fact moral philosophy is just a part of ethics. Ethics define the best way a human can live. Moral philosophy emphasise on set of universal value to judge between right and wrong but ethics no just relies on universal values but also use logic and reason to differentiate between right conduct and wrong conduct. It is so because the same conduct might be wrong in a situation but could be right or acceptable in another circumstance.
The various dimensions of ethics are:
1. Meta-ethics: Meta-ethics asks how we understand, know about, and what we mean when we talk about what is right and what is wrong.
2. Normative ethics: Normative ethics is the study of ethical action. It is the branch of ethics that investigates the set of questions that arise when considering how one ought to act, morally speaking
3. Applied ethics: Applied ethics draws upon ethical theory in order to ask what a person is obligated to do in some very specific situation, or within some particular domain of action (such as business).