This is question set #48 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 (either type the answer or give the link of the scanned answer sheet) at the bottom portion of this page, specifying the question.
Questions for Answer Writing – Selections for today:
- Essay Paper: Education is important for everyone, but it is especially significant for girls and women. (1500 words)
- GS 1 Paper: [World Geography/Ocean acidification ] – What is meant by ocean acidification? What are the reasons and impacts of the same?. (200 words)
- GS 2 Paper: [Polity/ Special Provisions] Brief on the relationship between Center and States as mentioned in Constitution. (200 words)
- GS 3 Paper: [Indian Economy/Inflation] The WPI, which tracks wholesale prices, has been seen as somewhat flawed. What are the reasons? How can PPI fill these short comings? Can(200 words)
- GS 4 Paper: [Tolerance and compassion towards weaker section] Explain a situation where you showed tolerance and compassion towards weaker section . (200 words)
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Note from Clear IAS Team
We have been noticing great improvement in the answer quality and comprehension skills in regular participants in Clear IAS Mains High Value Answer Writing Program. Our vision is to cover most of the important conventional and current topics for mains, so that serious and deserving aspirants who participate in this free program are always one step ahead in the competition. We have already seen many excellent answers from serious participants. Regarding evaluation, in the first 30 days, Clear IAS Team had been giving overall guidelines to write a good, high value answer, but in the coming days, we plan to award marks, so that aspirants will get a realistic idea about the UPSC expectations and quality they need to maintain in the answer.
Please note: Last year the toppers’ marks for General Studies varied from 300-400 out of 1000. (2013 CSE AIR 1, Gaurav Agrawal scored 338/1000 for GS). This means, 4 marks out of 10 for every answer in UPSC exam was excellent performance as far as 2013 mains GS was concerned. So our marking scheme too would be keeping those figures in mind. Please have a look at our marking scheme for coming days:
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- 2.0-2.4/10 – Average.
- 2.5-2.9/10 – Good.
- 3.0-3.9/10 – Excellent.
- 4.0+/10 – Exceptional.
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PS: Aspirants can select any question they wish to answer in the comment space provided below specifying the question. Answering 3-4 questions, does not take much of your time. But for those who engage regularly in answer writing, the resultant score improvement in actual UPSC exam would be exponential.
Ans. Oceans are biggest CO2 sink as more than 20% of carbon comes to ocean as run off from terrestrial bodies. However the CO2 abosorbing power of ocean is not indefinite and areas where excess of CO2 is deposited in Ocean, Carbonic Acid is formed which leads to acidification of oceans. The major reasons for acidification of oceans are
* Indiscriminate use of pesticide,
* untreated disposal of chemical/industrial waste directly in Ocean or in rivers who eventually deposit them in ocean/seas
* Acid Rain
* Deforestation which reduces the carbon sinking capacity of fauna.
* Urbanization and growing population
* Spillage of fuel from ships in seas or by pipelines
* Dumping of wastes by ships into seas
* Undersea trials of weapons/bombs by military
The impacts of OA –
* Increase of sea water temperature
* Loss of present corals
* Slow progress of coral formation and eventually loss of coral completely
* Loss of coral dependent species permanently
* Disturbance in ocean food web and eventually loss of fish species
* Loss of fish catch, loss of cheap protein malnutrition increases
* negative impact on economy (coral tourism affected)
* Evaporation of OA sea water leads to global warming.
Answer 3:
Constitution envisaged India as a “Union of states” and not “federation of states” reflecting the uniqueness of Indian federal system which strikes a delicate balance between autonomy of units and unity and integrity of nation and pan national vision.
Legislative, administrative and financial powers are divided between Union and states (7th schedule) which acknowledges regional diversity by allowing powers (although limited) to federal units without sacrificing national interests as in times of exigency Indian polity adopts a unitary character for upholding unity and integrity of nation.
With respect to legislative powers it allows elbow room to federal government to fulfil its international obligations inter-alia other situations by giving it power to legislate in sate subjects.
In administration it provides adequate opportunity for coordination by providing flexibility of mutual transfer of administrative powers between Union and states. Centre can direct states to provide primary education in mother tongue, safeguarding the interests of SC/STs which have a binding force of Article 365.
In Financial space it allocates some taxes of local nature to federal units at the same time made provision for rule based allocation of funds via Finance Commission constituted under article 280 of constitution.
Although many provisions in constitution are bone contention yet Sarkaria Commission on Centre-state relations has lauded the constitutional framework and suggested to iron out differences if at all at operational level. Thus it can be concluded that constitution provides a fertile ground for a cooperative federalism to blossom.
(243 words) find it difficult to reduce into 200 words.
Answer 4:
Inflation indexes world over are used for bringing financial and monetary interventions for ensuring a comforting level of inflation which has a direct impact on investment decisions and business activity (Employment generation). For long time WPI was considered as nominal anchor guiding policy decisions by RBI but in recent times there is demand to replace it with producer price index (although RBI has adopted CPI as nominal anchor).
Problems with WPI:
• Collection of data is tedious and costly process.
• Due to infrastructural bottlenecks price of a commodity in WPI seems increased although at producer level there is no increase. This lead to erroneous conclusion that inflation is demand driven and monetary tightening by RBI whereas government should be addressing infrastructural bottlenecks. This lead to situational of stagflation where inflation and slow economic growth coexists.
• Another problem is different rates of VAT and other intervention at state level obfuscates the actual inflation.
PPI index can solve these problems as data collection through factories via G2B IT-enabled platform can be made lot more easier which will capture actual inflation trend and dictate rational fiscal and monetary stance by government/RBI.
[World Geography/Ocean acidification ] – What is meant by ocean acidification? What are the reasons and impacts of the same?. (200 words)
Answer- Ocean Acidification is an ongoing process of decrease in the pH of waters of the oceans of the world caused by absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Since industrial revolution, two trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide has been released into the atmosphere out of which one-third has been absorbed the oceans and other water bodies of the world. Carbon dioxide gets dissolved in water to form carbonic acid, which further reacts with water molecules to form hydrogen bicarbonate and hydronium ion. Increase in the concentration of hydronium ions makes ocean waters acidic.
Ocean acidification has dire consequences on the marine ecosystem. The most immediate impact is on ‘calcifiers’, animals which depend on taking up calcium carbonate from ocean waters to build their shells or ‘exoskeletons’. Their ability of shell formation is adversely affected, when hydrogen bicarbonate is formed instead. Coral polyps and mollusks are the worst impacted. Thus, ocean acidification also causes ‘coral bleaching’. The small fishes which feed on microscopic phytoplanktonic calcifiers also die and the food webs of marine ecosystem gets disrupted, in turn affecting fish stocks in the oceans worldwide. As the stocks of salmon, tuna, mackerel, shrimps, lobsters, scallops and oysters get depleted, commercial fishing and livelihood and lifestyles of coastal fishing communities would be adversely affected.
Arctic Ocean is particularly more vulnerable to ocean acidification because its cold waters absorb more carbon dioxide. Global warming has led to melting of glaciers and sea ice, thus exposing greater expanses of water for carbon dioxide uptake. Thereby endangering the region’s fragile ecosystem. The only way to curb the menace is to reduce green house gases emissions by reducing dependence on fossil fuels and switching over to sustainable and clean technologies.
[Indian Economy/Inflation] The WPI, which tracks wholesale prices, has been seen as somewhat flawed. What are the reasons? How can PPI fill these short comings? Can(200 words)
Answer- WPI, which uses wholesale prices of 676 commodities collected from the major wholesale markets in India, was being used as the primary index to measure inflation because wholesale data is easier to collect and retail sector in India is largely unorganised. But it has been seen as somewhat flawed because firstly, WPI is a pure commodity-based index and it does not include services. Though the services sector is the fastest expanding sector of our economy,the rise in prices has not been factored in WPI.
Secondly, in WPI overwhelming weight of 65% has been assigned to manufactured goods whereas nearly 15% to fuel,light and electricity and 20% to food and primary articles. This does not adequately reflect the rise in prices of food articles which is the main driver of inflation in India.
Thirdly,the base year used to construct WPI is 2004-05. Therefore, need has been felt for a comprehensive and representative index which can overcome the shortcomings of WPI. Most developed nations have switched over to PPI, which is constructed at the producers level so that price rise can be curbed at that stage itself and its impact on consumers may be minimised. This index does not take into account indirect taxes, traders’ margin and transportation costs.
GS 4 Paper: [Tolerance and compassion towards weaker section] Explain a situation where you showed tolerance and compassion towards weaker section . (200 words)
Ans. It was my first day in Mumbai. After finishing off hectic day at office, I alongwith my friend boarded the Mumbai Local Train from the originating station. We got seats to sit and the first journey by Mumbai local began. As trains were passing stations after station, it got observing things minutely. Then I saw one couple in their late seventies were also standing before me and they appeared locals only. I asked my friend slowly that let us stand up and give the couple the seat. He said no body cares in Local Train and no body does so also. But I stood up and offered the lady the seat, watching this my friend also stood up and offered the seat to the other old man. They thanked us and said ” Nobody does so in Mumbai”. The I said uncle- It was nothing big deal to leave the younger ones to leave seat for old people. The co-passenger were looking at me. In next in hour of my travel I could see one more person offered his seat to a lady.
My Loss-
* I lost my comfort as I was tired and could have easily relaxed by sitting one hour journey
* My friend might have been angry and faced discomfort due to me.
* Co-passenger might have sarcastically smiled at us.
My Gains-
* I stuck to my values, even if people usually don’t do that there
* I encouraged my friend to do so, which he also praised later
* Old couple could travel relaxed
* One more young passenger did so, after watching us.
* My idea was strengthened and later also both followed the same on all such situation.
My observations-
* Unlike Delhi Metro, Mumbai local train is not having prominently displayed preference to old/Child/Ladies.
* Normally trains are overcrowded and difficult for weaker people to travel during peak time.
* Our strange but good behavior motivates others to do so.
Essay : Education is important for everyone, but it is especially significant for girls and women. (1500 words)
It is truly said if you educate a woman you educate the whole family. The role of education is quintessential and indispensable in today’s world. Education is not about to learn how to read and write but more of a use of cognitive abilities in the right direction. Moreover the Right to Education is now a fundamental right which should not be breached upon. The social factors like family, caste, peer group and environmental factors have a huge influence on an individual to gain education.
It is of no doubt that female today have proved their caliber in each and every field and are no longer lagging behind to cope with pace of ever-changing world. Even in Vedic period there were many female scholars who were well versed with Vedas and Upanishads and were respected in the society. Though condition of women deteriorated in later era where women were not allowed to take part in any rituals, political processes and had to live their lives being shackled in their homes. The time changed when great persons like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule worked relentlessly for women education to get them status at par of man in the society. But again there was a fillip being felt in era after independence.
Approximately 49% of Indian population comprises of females with a dismal literacy rate of only 65%; the figure is even lower for women in rural areas. The global population of women is making the strongest gains in literacy in recent years but they still lag behind the male population. India has one of its Millennium development goals to reduce gender disparity in all levels of education by 2015. The question arises that to what extent are we successful. The constitution envisages Right to Equality as its fundamental right but had a serious note been taken about it. The Directive Principles of State Policy and fundamental duties lay emphasis on promoting education for welfare; has a serious effort been taken. The progress of the world or a nation lies in its quality of human race. Unless a due consideration and incessant effort is provided to the field of education; the future of the world looks gloomy.
The importance of education is to be realized as sooner as possible. It is the education which infuses self esteem and self confidence in an individual to excel in the work it undertakes. The education provides employment and takes an individual out from the vicious circle of poverty which depicts a nation’s subjective well being. It helps in improvement of psychosocial status of a person and relieves him/her from the anxiety he/she faces due to social stigma. India has a huge demographic dividend to reap its benefits. Girls may work wonders in any field. Why not take an example of Malala Yousafzai; a merely 17 years old girl becoming youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner and working relentlessly for girls education. A numerous examples such as Kiran Mazumdar, Kiran Bedi, Pratibha Patil, Shika Verrma, Sania Mirza, Mary Kom throw light on the significant achievements of women. A sustained effort in educating females alongside males is the only way to make India grow and prosper.
Being a literate for females today is a big deal in some rural areas of India. Have we ever thought of the hurdles the females face. What are the societal, cultural, economic, psychological factors that resist them to enroll to get education. Most of us are aware of many but the point lies have we ever taken a single step as an individual for this great cause. We need to take a deep look inside our conscience as merely reiterating the importance of female education will serve no purpose.
The girls today are looked as burden on the family in many societies. The parents are more worried about the girl’s marriage and the dowry rather than imparting education to girls. It just seems a waste of money for the parents which if saved could be used in marriage rituals. The stereotype type is formed in the minds of the people that if it is a girl she needs to take care of home and be efficient in household work and nothing else. All the more the caste system and many social taboos hinder the female education. In many cultures prevalent, the girls are not allowed to express their concern regarding their interest in education. The cultural and environmental factors are so deeply embedded in the minds of people that they think education instead of shaping will ruin their future.
Even if the girls get enrolled we have seen a large number of dropouts from schools. Some of the reasons ascertained to this are no facility of toilets in schools, marriage of the girl has been fixed, no teachers available in the school and if they are there no quality education is granted. The sexual abuse, eve teasing which now a days have become a common phenomenon instills fear in the mind of family in areas where there is not sufficient protection envisaged in this regard. Though many efforts have been made by government to enroll females in education but monitoring reasons of dropouts remains a lacunae. The education is multidimensional and merely is not about primary and secondary education. What about the tertiary education and steps taken to promote it. A serious thought needs to be given that why the girls or woman opt out of employment or do not get chance to get employed. Is it sexual harassment at the workplace/schools or lack of vocational training or lack of skills which results in such a condition.
It is the mother who takes care of the children who are the future building blocks of nation. If this mother is not educated the expectation of India as a global power seems ironic. The livelihood of a family depend today mainly on male who is the bread earner. What if the bread earner remains no more due to any unseen circumstances. It is the female who could now take into her hands the sustainability of livelihood of her family only if she is educated. The calculative and correct decisions a woman take contributes a lot in the well being of a family. The educated woman do not own the onus of the tag of the girl who is a liability for the family. The educated woman takes sound decisions in family planning thereby in a way reducing maternal and infant mortality rate. Also the knowledge regarding health problems, HIV/AIDS infection goes on benefitting generations.
The government has rolled out many schemes like Mid Day Meal, Balika Samruddhi Yojana, National Policy on Education, SABLA to impart education to girls and women in order to empower them. The schemes are more target focused then giving a thought regarding predisposition factors which have schematically entangled the society. These schemes just serve short term gains with a broad and vague outlook and less utilitarian value. The compulsory enrollment, monetary benefits, awareness programmes, scheme monitoring, basic infrastructure in schools, quality teaching, restructuring of society stereotypes, grievance redressal mechanism, accountability and feedback are some of the areas which should be focused upon.
Men are important part of society but women are no less than half of it. Are not the families happy who only have girl child. One need to remember the truth that Education transforms lives.We can count many women who have shown conspicuous ability in literature, art, science and other eminent fields. It is said that the hand that rock the cradle rules the world. Education with significant emphasis on that of girls and women can help eradicate many social evils. There is no doubt that women education had been a point of focus in planning since independence. It would be no long when the sincere efforts directing towards women education would make India boost of its Gender Equality Index and Gender Development Index.
Sir, I wrote two answers-one on ocean acidification and the other on WPI/PPI. But my answers have not yet been published and are awaiting moderation from your side. Kindly review and publish my answers. Many thanks for this useful initiative.
Regards,
Garima
good attempt
But you only dealt with Achievements, challenges for women in education but to some extent given very little space for “Education is important for everyone”. I think you should have covered why educating women is more important then educating. Although you mentioned them but they are all over the place and does not lead a logical conclusion that women education is a must.
One more thing try to write in as simple language as possible.
All the best 🙂
@Amrit Very well done. A small discomfort is nothing in front of the immense satisfaction and inner peace with which an ethical action rewards us with. The sarcastic onlookers also know what is right and what is wrong. It’s just that they have not imbibed the right values. May be your compassionate gesture would strike a chord in their hearts and goad them into practising moral behavior.
@Clearias Sir, why my comments are not getting published! 🙁
Very good answer but I left your first and second point because no one proposed to include/amend to the basket. It purely depend on political will and capability of NSO/Economic adviser to capture this data Which will be tedious job because at farm level one would have different rates of prices of same commodity in different regions.
Had it been asked that what are the problems with WPI then perhaps we could have included these point.Please evaluate my answers.
@Vinay Yes you are right. I realized this later after submitting my answer. Your answer is more approriate w.r.t to the context of the question asked. I have taken note of your second point of infrastructural bottlenecks whereby inflation due to supply side constraints is misconstrued as demand driven inflation and also the last paragraph as a very apt concluding point.
GS paper 1(World Geography/Ocean acidification)
What is meant by Ocean Acidification? What are the reasons and impacts of the same?
The concentration of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere is increasing day by day mainly due to activities like burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and production of cement. The carbon dioxide thus released in the atmosphere is absorbed by the oceans which play a very significant role in moderating climate change. When atmospheric carbon dioxide dissolves into the ocean it reacts with water through various steps which ultimately leads to the formation of bicarbonate ions. This causes an increase in the acidity of sea water( lowering pH)
Ocean acidification would lead to a reduction in the availability of carbon ions which are essential for carbonate mineral formation(shells, coral reefs). It will also make marine species to experience harmful effects on their health , growth and reproduction processes and to have substantial changes in the habitats and food webs. Reduction in the metabolic rates of jumbo squid, depressed immune response of blue mussels and problems in locating sounds for communication are some of the examples for biological impacts of ocean acidification.
Ocean acidification acts as a platform for the destruction of marine food chain, ecosystem and eventually it will accelerate the process of the loss of biodiversity and climatic change. All these negative factors may inturn affect the global economy to a great extent.
Recent studies show that the current rate of change of ocean acidification is very fast. The steps taken by NOAA(National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)show the graveness of the problem and plead for global attention to mitigate the same. Serious and conscious attempts to prevent further ocean acidification is the proper and prompt measure to reduce carbon dioxide emission and to rescue the globe.
[Tolerance and compassion towards weaker section] Explain a situation where you showed tolerance and compassion towards weaker section . (200 words)
I was living as a tenant on the first floor of a double-storeyed house in Delhi. One day my landlady decided to let out the two-room set on the terrace for rent. But those rooms needed renovation and repair. In a day or two, few masons, construction labourers and carpenters started working upstairs on daily wages.
As my exams were approaching and the jarring noise of drilling, beating and hammering, was a constant irritant to me. I wanted their work to be completed as soon as possible and resented their presence upstairs.
Everyday before leaving for my classes, I used to see a little girl of 7-8 years sitting on the stairs, with a drawing book and a crayon box. She used to accompany her mother, who was one of those construction labourers.
When I returned, while climbing up the stairs, I used to see her drawings. She was really good at sketching flowers, trees, birds, animals and human figures. Since I was good at fine arts in school days but taken up science later, her drawings fascinated me and I became friendly with the little girl.
Few weeks passed like this, one day I noticed that some of her crayons were almost finished and she was mixing 2-3 colors, trying to create a similar shade. Obviously she had no money to buy new ones. So I went to the nearby stationery shop and bought for her stationery, art supply and drawing sheets which would last for at least six months. Her happiness knew no bounds on seeing all the stuff. Her mother also expressed gratitude.
Coincidently, it was the last day of construction work. After that we were not going to meet again. Though the little girl had not asked me to buy anything and I could have spent that amount on something else, I was happy that I could be of some help in nurturing the talent of a little child who was underprivileged and belonged to the weaker section of the society.
GS 2 Paper: [Polity/ Special Provisions] Brief on the relationship between Center and States as mentioned in Constitution. (200 words)
Ans.Centre-State relationship as defined in constitution is based on cooperative federalism I.e centre and states must cooperate with each other for the development of country.The power of centre and states are distinctly defined in constitution in legislative,financial and administrative spheres.
The union and states are empowered to legislate on union and state list subjects respectively while both possessing the power to formulate laws on concurrent list subjects with centre holding the upper hand.e.g.Centre can also formulate laws on state list subjects for the implementation of international treaties.
The union and states exercise their executive powers on union and states list subjects respectively but the states have to comply with the directions of union as per the provisions of constitution so as not to be violative of article 256 & 257.The federal relationship between centre and states turns into unitary in case of imposition of emergency.
Union enjoys wider financial powers for revenue collection in comparison two states.States also receive funds from centre on the basis of recommendations of Finance Commission.Although the powers are distinctly defined in constitution but still conflict emerges between them on issues like role of governon,devolution of funds etc but as per the recommendations of Sarkaria commission,constitution possesses enough flexibility to deal with them.
~280 Words.point wise answer would have been better.