CIVIL SERVICE MAINS – 2016 – GENERAL STUDIES Question Paper -II
1)Discuss the essentials of the 69th constitutional amendment act and anomalies, if any, that have led to recent reported conflicts between the elected representatives and the institution of the Lieutenant Governor in the administration of Delhi.Do you think this will give rise to a new trend in the functioning of the Indian federal politics ?
2) To what extent article – 370 of the Indian Constitution ,bearing marginal note “Temporary provision with respect to the state of Jammu and Kashmir” , temporary ?Discuss the future prospect of this with regards to Indian polity.
3)”The Indian party system is passing through a phase of transition which looks to be full of contradictions and paradoxes.” Discuss.
4)Exercise of CAG’s power in relation to the accounts of the Union and the States is derived from article – 149 of Indian Constitution.Discuss whether audit of government’s policy implementation could amount to overstepping its own (CAG) jurisdiction.
5)Discuss each adjective attached to the word “Republic” and “Preamble” .Are they defendable in present circumstances ?
6)What was held in Coehho case ? In this context , can you say that judicial review is of key importance amongst the basic feature of constitution ?
7)Did the Government of India Act , 1935 lay down a federal constitution ?Discuss.
8)What is quasi-judicial body ?Explain with the help of concrete example.
9)Professor Amratya Sen has advocated important reforms in the realm of primary education and primary healthcare. What are your suggestion to improve their status and performance ?
10)”In the Indian governance system the role of non-state actors are has only been marginal” .Critically examine this statement.
11)”Effectiveness of the government system at various levels and people’s participation in the governance system are inter-dependent.”Discuss their relationship in the context of India.
12)In the Integrity Index of Transparency international , India stands very low.Discuss briefly the legal , political, economic, social and cultural factors that have caused the decline of public morality in India.
13)Has the Indian government system responded adequately to the demands of Liberalizations , Privatization and Globalization started in 1991 ? What can the government do to be more responsive to this change ?
14)”Traditional bureaucratic structure and culture have hampered the process of socio-economic development in India” .Comment.
15)Examine the main provisions of National Child Policy and throw light on its provisions.
16)”Demographic dividend in India will only remain theoretical unless our manpower becomes more educated , aware, skilled and creative.”What measures taken by the government to enhance the capacity of our population to be more productive and employable ?
17)The broader aims and objectives of WTO are to manage and promote international trade in the era of globalization .But the Doha round of negotiations seems doomed due to differences between the developed and the developing countries “.Discuss in the Indian perspective.
18)Evaluate the economic and strategic dimensions of India’s Look East Policy in the context of Post Cold-war international scenario.
19)Increasing cross-border terrorist attacks in India and growing interference in the internal affairs of several member-state by Pakistan are not conducive for SAARC “Explain with example.
20)What are the aims and objectives of McBride’s Commission of the UNESCO ? What is India’s position on this ?
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Steve Ovett, the famous British middle-distance athlete, won the 800-metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Just a few days later, he was about to win a 5,000-metres race at London’s Crystal Palace. Known for his burst of acceleration on the home stretch, he had supreme confidence in his ability to out-sprint rivals. With the final 100 metres remaining,
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Ovett waved to the crowd and raised a hand in triumph. But he had celebrated a bit too early. At the finishing line, Ireland’s John Treacy edged past Ovett. For those few moments, Ovett had lost his sense of reality and ignored the possibility of a negative event.
This analogy works well for the India story and our policy failures , including during the ongoing covid pandemic. While we have never been as well prepared or had significant successes in terms of growth stability as Ovett did in his illustrious running career, we tend to celebrate too early. Indeed, we have done so many times before.
It is as if we’re convinced that India is destined for greater heights, come what may, and so we never run through the finish line. Do we and our policymakers suffer from a collective optimism bias, which, as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once wrote, “may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases”? The optimism bias arises from mistaken beliefs which form expectations that are better than the reality. It makes us underestimate chances of a negative outcome and ignore warnings repeatedly.
The Indian economy had a dream run for five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. Many believed that India was on its way to clocking consistent double-digit growth and comparisons with China were rife. It was conveniently overlooked that this output expansion had come mainly came from a few sectors: automobiles, telecom and business services.
Indians were made to believe that we could sprint without high-quality education, healthcare, infrastructure or banking sectors, which form the backbone of any stable economy. The plan was to build them as we went along, but then in the euphoria of short-term success, it got lost.
India’s exports of goods grew from $20 billion in 1990-91 to over $310 billion in 2019-20. Looking at these absolute figures it would seem as if India has arrived on the world stage. However, India’s share of global trade has moved up only marginally. Even now, the country accounts for less than 2% of the world’s goods exports.
More importantly, hidden behind this performance was the role played by one sector that should have never made it to India’s list of exports—refined petroleum. The share of refined petroleum exports in India’s goods exports increased from 1.4% in 1996-97 to over 18% in 2011-12.
An import-intensive sector with low labour intensity, exports of refined petroleum zoomed because of the then policy regime of a retail price ceiling on petroleum products in the domestic market. While we have done well in the export of services, our share is still less than 4% of world exports.
India seemed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. But, a temporary demand push had played a role in the revival—the incomes of many households, both rural and urban, had shot up. Fiscal stimulus to the rural economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales had led to the salaries of around 20% of organized-sector employees jumping up. We celebrated, but once again, neither did we resolve the crisis brewing elsewhere in India’s banking sector, nor did we improve our capacity for healthcare or quality education.
Employment saw little economy-wide growth in our boom years. Manufacturing jobs, if anything, shrank. But we continued to celebrate. Youth flocked to low-productivity service-sector jobs, such as those in hotels and restaurants, security and other services. The dependence on such jobs on one hand and high-skilled services on the other was bound to make Indian society more unequal.
And then, there is agriculture, an elephant in the room. If and when farm-sector reforms get implemented, celebrations would once again be premature. The vast majority of India’s farmers have small plots of land, and though these farms are at least as productive as larger ones, net absolute incomes from small plots can only be meagre.
A further rise in farm productivity and consequent increase in supply, if not matched by a demand rise, especially with access to export markets, would result in downward pressure on market prices for farm produce and a further decline in the net incomes of small farmers.
We should learn from what John Treacy did right. He didn’t give up, and pushed for the finish line like it was his only chance at winning. Treacy had years of long-distance practice. The same goes for our economy. A long grind is required to build up its base before we can win and celebrate. And Ovett did not blame anyone for his loss. We play the blame game. Everyone else, right from China and the US to ‘greedy corporates’, seems to be responsible for our failures.
We have lowered absolute poverty levels and had technology-based successes like Aadhaar and digital access to public services. But there are no short cuts to good quality and adequate healthcare and education services. We must remain optimistic but stay firmly away from the optimism bias.
In the end, it is not about how we start, but how we finish. The disastrous second wave of covid and our inability to manage it is a ghastly reminder of this fact.