UPSC Mains 2014 GS3 Paper: 125/250 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 GS3 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 GS3 Paper.

Demographic Dividend

• [Clear IAS Qn] – Challenges in reaping India’s demographic dividend and solutions. (Answer Writing : Essay Qn, Day 1)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – “While we flaunt India’s demographic dividend, we ignore the dropping rates of employability.” What are we missing while doing so? Where will the jobs that India desperately needs come from? Explain.

APMC

• [Clear IAS Qn] –  Agricultural markets in most parts of the country are regulated under the state APMC Acts. Write a short note on APMCs and list out the reform measures. (Answer writing, Day 20)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – There is also a point of view that Agricultural Produce Market Committees [APMCs) set up under the State Acts have not only impeded the development of agriculture but also have been the cause of food inflation in India. Critically examine.

Defence

• [Clear IAS Qn] –  Self-reliance in defense is of vital importance for both strategic and economic reasons. Critically analyse developments related to indigenisation of defense technology in India. (GS3 Mock Test)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the defence sector is now set to be liberalized: What influence this is expected to have on Indian defence and economy in the short and long run?

Cooperative Societies – Agricultural Finance

• [Clear IAS Qn] –  What are co-operative societies? Brief on the significance of 97th constitutional amendment with respect to the functioning of co-operative societies. (Answer Writing – GS2 – 49th th Day)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] –  “In the villages itself no form of credit organization will be suitable except the cooperative society.” – All India Rural Credit Survey.
  Discuss this statement in the background of agricultural finance in India. What constraints and challenges do financial institutions supplying agricultural finance face? How can technology be used to better reach and serve rural clients?

Capitalism/Socialism

• [Clear IAS Qn] – Socialism and contemporary India. (Answer writing, essay, Day 16)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – Capitalism has guided the world economy to unprecedented prosperity. However, it often encourages short-sightedness and contributes to wide disparities between the rich and the poor. In this light, would it be correct to believe and adopt capitalism for bringing inclusive growth in India? Discuss.

Patents

• [Clear IAS Qn] – Elaborate the current Patenting regime in India. What are the reforms that can be brought in related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)? Analyze. (Answer Writing, day 15)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – In a globalized world, Intellectual Property Rights assume significance and are a source of litigation. Broadly distinguish between the terms—Copyrights, Patents and Trade Secrets.

Public Private Partnerships

• [Clear IAS Free Study Material] – PPP as a part of investment models. (Just an overview
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – Explain how Private Public Partnership arrangements, in long gestation infrastructure projects, can transfer unsustainable liabilities to the future. What arrangements need to be put in place to ensure that successive generations’ capacities are not compromised?

Disaster Management

• [Clear IAS Qn] – Explain the different stages in a Disaster Management Cycle. What are the major areas vulnerable to disasters in India? Analyse Disaster Management capabilities of India. (Answer writing, Day 2)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – Drought has been recognized as a disaster in view of its spatial expanse, temporal duration, slow onset and lasting effects on vulnerable sections. With a focus on the September 2010 guidelines from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), discuss the mechanisms for preparedness to deal with likely El Nino and La Nina fallouts in India.

External Security Threats – Transborder Migration

• [Clear IAS Qn] – Comment on the external security threats to India. What are the external state as well as non state actors creating challenges to India’s internal security? (Answer writing, Day 9)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – How does illegal transborder migration pose a threat to India’s security? Discuss the strategies to curb this, bringing out the factors which give impetus to such migration

Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act

• [Clear IAS Qn] – What are the major provisions of Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act? Critically evaluate if this bill serves the dual purpose of development and land-reforms. (Mock Test)
• [UPSC 2014 Qn] – The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 has come into effect from Ist January, 2014. What are the key issues which would get addressed with the Act in place? What implications would it have on industrialization and agriculture in India?

Right Guidance! Right Selections!

One can give some 5000+ questions and 10,000+ page study material and claim that many questions in actual UPSC exam came from their database. 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 10 questions out of 20 (for 10*12.5 = 125 marks out of 250) which were asked in UPSC exam 2014 were close to the topics asked by ClearIAS.com. Though we picked right topics, the direction of UPSC question was not always as we expected in GS3, unlike GS1 and GS2. Hence we don’t have moral right to claim for full marks to all these questions. But still, for those who participated in Clear IAS Mains High Value Answer Writing Test Series under our Prelims cum Mains Integrated approach, the questions should have turned manageable. Clear IAS Team feel proud and satisfied, and now it’s over to our readers and students! 🙂