UPSC Mains 2014 GS2 Paper: 150/250 marks from ClearIAS.com

Considering the unpredictable nature of UPSC question paper, it’s a tough job to select questions. But selections by www.clearias.com turned right for most papers in UPSC Mains 2014. Our strategy was simple – right focus.

The strategy was different too – everything Clear IAS provided was FREE. Clear IAS provided free online study materials, guidance and mock tests to equip candidates to clear IAS. ClearIAS.com and Clear IAS mobile app was conceptualized to help and guide students who do not have access to expensive classroom coaching.

Don’t give fish; teach how to fish!

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

We stood with our readers/students within the limitations of time, and tried to guide and correct them as per the latest requirements of UPSC Civil Services Prelims and Mains exam. In-spite of the huge size of 2.3 Lakh Clear IAS Facebook followers, Clear IAS Team ensured personal communications as far as possible with all those aspirants who had written to us. We just didn’t always stick to our own convictions but also came up with detailed toppers interviews. The experience and strategies of many toppers including All India Rank 1, Gaurav Agrawal became strategies of thousands in the country.

Questions from ClearIAS.com which appeared in UPSC Mains 2014 GS2 Paper

In UPSC Civil Services Exam, because of the tight competition, even 1 mark counts. Clear IAS Team is happy that our convictions turned right on many occasions and there were lot many direct and indirect questions in actual UPSC exam from Clear IAS Mains High Value Answer Writing Program, Clear IAS Mains Full Length Free Mock Tests and Clear IAS free online study materials. Here is the comparison of clearias.com questions with official UPSC Mains 2014 GS2 Paper.

WTO and TFA

• [Clear IAS Qn] – What is significance of Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA)? Why did India withdrew from signing TFA? (Mock Test Qn)
• [Clear IAS Free Study Material]  WTO and TFA.
• [Clear IAS Qn] Discuss briefly the recent issues or confrontations of India on Trade Facilitation Agreement, Food Security and Intellectual property rights with WTO. (Answer Writing, GS3, Day 34)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – WTO is an important international institution where decisions taken affect countries in aprofound manner. What is the mandate of WTO and how binding are their decisions? Critically analyse India’s stand on the latest round of talks on Food security

BRICS Bank and AIIB

• [Clear IAS Qn] –  Comment on the need for reforms in IMF. As an emerging super power, what is the significance of BRICS Bank and AIIB Bank to India?. (Mock Test Qn)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – India has recently signed to become founding member of New Development Bank (NDB) and also the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). How will the role of the two Banks be different? Discuss the strategic significance of these two Banks for India.

India-China

• [Clear IAS Qn] –  What is project Mausam? Analyze the possible effect of project Mausam to counter China’s influence. (Mock Test Qn)
• [Clear IAS Qn] What are the areas of contention between India and China? Assess the progress in India-China relations in the background of recent bilateral talks. (Answer Writing -18th Day)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – With respect to the South China sea, maritime territorial disputes and rising tension affaire the need for safeguarding maritime security to ensure freedom of navigation and ever flight throughout the region. In this context, discuss the bilateral issues between India and China.

National Human Rights Commission

• [Clear IAS Qn] –  “The National Human Rights Commission does not have any teeth at all”. Critically analyze. (Answer Writing -27th Day)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in India can be most effective when its tasks are adequately supported by other mechanisms that ensure the accountability of a government. In light of above observation assess the role of NHRC as an effective complement to the judiciary and other institutions in promoting and protecting human rights standards.

Self Help Groups

• [Clear IAS Qn] – Analyze the success and failure of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Indian perspective. (Answer Writing – 4th Day)
• [Clear IAS Qn] Compare the success of Self Help Groups (SHGs) of India with that of Bangladesh. Analyse the scope of SHGs in India without financial intermediaries. (Answer Writing – 40th Day)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – The penetration of Self Help Groups (SHGs) in rural areas in promoting participation in development programmes is facing socio-cultural hurdles. Examine.

Federalism

• [Clear IAS Qn] – Indian federalism is Federation Sui generis. Comment. (Answer Writing – 15th Day)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – Though the federal principle is dominant in our Constitution and that priniciple is one of its basic features, but it is equally true that federalism under the Indian Constitution leans in favour of a strong Centre, a feature that militates against the concept of strong federalism.

Civil Services

• [Clear IAS Qn] – Is All India Service an aberration of Indian federalism? Analyse the role of Indian civil servants post-liberalization. (Answer Writing – 2nd Day)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – Has the Cadre based Civil Services Organization been the cause of slow in India? Critically examine.

Privileges of MPs

• [Clear IAS Free Study Material] – Privileges of MPs
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – The ‘Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and its Members’ as envisaged in Article 105 of the Constitution leave room for a large number of un-codified and un-enumerated privileges to continue. Assess the reasons for the absence of legal codification of the ‘parliamentary privileges’. How can this problem be addressed?

Basic Structure and Judicial Activism

• [Clear IAS Qn] – Contemporary India : Judicial Activism, Civil Society Movements and Media Activism (Answer Writing – Essay – 11th Day)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – Starting from inventing the ‘basic structure’ doctrine, the judiciary has played a highly proactive role in ensuring that India develops into a thriving democracy. In light of the statement, evaluate the role played by judicial activism in achieving the ideals of democracy.

Freedom of Speech and Expression

• [Clear IAS Free Study Material] – Freedom of speech and expression.
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – What do understand by the concept “freedom of speech and expression”? Does it cover hate speech also? Why do the films in India stand on a slightly different plane from other forms of expression? Discuss.

IITs and IIMs

• [Clear IAS Qn] – Quality of higher education in India (Answer Writing – Essay – 34th Day)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – Should the premier institutes like IITs/IIMs be allowed to retain premier status, allowed more academic independence in designing courses and also decide mode/criteria of selection of students. Discuss in light of the growing challenges

Death Sentences – President’s delay

• [Clear IAS Free Study Material] – Death Sentences.
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – Instances of President’s delay in commuting death sentences has come under public debate as denial of justice. Should there be a time specified for the President to accept/rejectsuch petitions? Analyse

Right Guidance! Right Selections!

One can give some 2000 questions and 10,000+ page study material and claim that many questions in actual UPSC exam came from them. But Clear IAS took a focused and simple path. Our materials were small in size. We provided only around 75 questions each for GS1, GS2, and GS3. There were 54 essay topic selections and 64 questions for GS4 (Ethics) paper. Our online study materials, provided a guidance for note preparation on the important topics, but these too were never long or heavy.

Our aim was to help our readers to catch fish and not give fish directly. But still, because of our focused approach, our mock tests and study-materials provided many direct questions to our readers. In-spite of the new trend of analytical questions by UPSC, many of our convictions turned right. On a quick look, we find that 12 questions out of 20 (for 12*12.5 = 150 marks out of 250) which were asked in UPSC exam 2014 were very close to the topics asked by ClearIAS.com. For those who participated in Clear IAS Mains High Value Answer Writing Test Series under our Prelims cum Mains Integrated approach, the rest of the questions should also have turned manageable. Clear IAS Team feel proud and satisfied, and now it’s over to our readers and students! 🙂