Essay Test – E01 – Statistics & Analysis
Top 3 Scores – 105 , 101, 97 out of 250
Top 3 Scorers – Pankaj,Saumya,Shasank
Average Score – 63
Total number of submissions – 302
Most attempted topic- Demography of India – Visible dividend or Invisible disaster.
The 2nd Most attempted topic- Technology makes democracy more democratic
The 3rd Most attempted topic- Embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The least attempted topic- There is no meaning of economic prosperity if it is not accompanied by social justice.
The topic where we noted minimal digression among students- Demography of India – Visible dividend or Invisible disaster.
The topic where we noted maximum digression among students- Technology makes democracy more democratic
The topic where we noted very good writing style and content – Embracing 4th Industrial Revolution
The topic where we noted that everyone had to work on their content (less/more)-There is no meaning of economic prosperity if it is not accompanied by social justice and Technology makes democracy more democratic
Analysis of the TOPICS:-
Demography of India – Visible dividend or Invisible disaster– It is a straight forward essay, attempt only if you have data as the essay is data driven and every argument that you make , it must be substantiated with trends in data. Put as much as example as you can for this essay.This is a social topic.
Embracing the Fourth Industrial Revolution– It is one of the critical essays and the theme was a buzzword in World Economic forum last year, you have to read and quote few reports (Such as World bank report where 60% of Indian and more than 70% of Chinese manufacturing jobs will be lost to Automation). Once you show the problems that arise out of automation and robotics, connect it with how it give rise to multitude of issues. You can connect the demography parameter in this essay. Also link it with Universal Basic Income (as social safety net is must if we embrace 4th IR as people will lose jobs in huge number). You can also connect how automation and robotics will take over slavery and manual scavenging-Machine enabling release of Man from clutches of Man- this is the good part. Complete details will be given in essay topic wise strategy soon.
Technology makes democracy more democratic– This is an interesting essay and requires in-depth understanding of what democracy is – not the letter but the spirit of democracy and then connecting it with how it is enabling citizenry across the world to realize their fundamental rights.Think of the all fundamental right that you have read in your polity papers and then think how technology is helping realize it. For instance- Right to timely service delivery and How tech is enabling it (This is not fundamental right however you can also show how the concept of rights are also evolving and how technology is enabling it- Right to healthy environment etc). You can also show how tech is enabling the democratic leaders to infringe upon the fundamental rights of the people for their undemocratic ends . E.g- NSA snooping , right to privacy etc.
There is no meaning of economic prosperity if it is not accompanied by social justice –This is an interesting essay and one can right multitude of dimensions and diversify this essay. You can start with the preamble of our constitution and what does it mean by social justice and then represent what various social indicators are indicating – Islands of prosperity in sea of poverty. You can take each and every social indicator and see how did we do – did our economic progress post-1991 and the fruits of development reached every nook and corner of society – Obviously not – and then suggest what can be done.This can be written from women’s perspective as well- for example – Women in India and across world have financial autonomy now however does their economic prosperity freed them from the social drudgery – dowry, harassment, commodification of women, social attitude etc – In sum they can earn how much they want but they can not do what they want from social perspective given the patriarchy and prejudice prevailing in society.Many other perspectives can be written for this essay.You can also give examples from across the world.
TOPIC wise strategy will be uploaded in the Student Portal along with reference material and approach.Students will be notified on the same.
Topics of Essay Test – E02
1. Daughters of India –their struggles, their plights and their achievements.
2. Digital Economy and India
3. “Ability can take you to the top, character will keep you there”
4. Will we be leaving the Earth as a better place than we found it?
Total submission till date – 109 (If you have not submitted, please do submit)
Do write on the topic that we provide as that can be more helpful than picking up random topics. Just because one likes a topic that does not mean that UPSC will ask that topic. We manged to predict 6 out 8 essays in Mains 2016. We intend to do the same this year, but writing past UPSC topics or any other topic that you picked from internet is secondary. You efforts should not be fruitless.Our goal is to predict the future with precision not ponder over past and so should you.If you like a particualr topic and want to write, we will certainly review it, but before writing it, send us the topic that you want to write, so that we can guide you accordingly or re-calibrate the topic or theme to suit UPSC needs.
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Petrol in India is cheaper than in countries like Hong Kong, Germany and the UK but costlier than in China, Brazil, Japan, the US, Russia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, a Bank of Baroda Economics Research report showed.
Rising fuel prices in India have led to considerable debate on which government, state or central, should be lowering their taxes to keep prices under control.
The rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the global price of crude oil (raw material for making petrol and diesel) going up. Further, a stronger dollar has added to the cost of crude oil.
Amongst comparable countries (per capita wise), prices in India are higher than those in Vietnam, Kenya, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Venezuela. Countries that are major oil producers have much lower prices.
In the report, the Philippines has a comparable petrol price but has a per capita income higher than India by over 50 per cent.
Countries which have a lower per capita income like Kenya, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and Venezuela have much lower prices of petrol and hence are impacted less than India.
“Therefore there is still a strong case for the government to consider lowering the taxes on fuel to protect the interest of the people,” the report argued.
India is the world’s third-biggest oil consuming and importing nation. It imports 85 per cent of its oil needs and so prices retail fuel at import parity rates.
With the global surge in energy prices, the cost of producing petrol, diesel and other petroleum products also went up for oil companies in India.
They raised petrol and diesel prices by Rs 10 a litre in just over a fortnight beginning March 22 but hit a pause button soon after as the move faced criticism and the opposition parties asked the government to cut taxes instead.
India imports most of its oil from a group of countries called the ‘OPEC +’ (i.e, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Russia, etc), which produces 40% of the world’s crude oil.
As they have the power to dictate fuel supply and prices, their decision of limiting the global supply reduces supply in India, thus raising prices
The government charges about 167% tax (excise) on petrol and 129% on diesel as compared to US (20%), UK (62%), Italy and Germany (65%).
The abominable excise duty is 2/3rd of the cost, and the base price, dealer commission and freight form the rest.
Here is an approximate break-up (in Rs):
a)Base Price | 39 |
b)Freight | 0.34 |
c) Price Charged to Dealers = (a+b) | 39.34 |
d) Excise Duty | 40.17 |
e) Dealer Commission | 4.68 |
f) VAT | 25.35 |
g) Retail Selling Price | 109.54 |
Looked closely, much of the cost of petrol and diesel is due to higher tax rate by govt, specifically excise duty.
So the question is why government is not reducing the prices ?
India, being a developing country, it does require gigantic amount of funding for its infrastructure projects as well as welfare schemes.
However, we as a society is yet to be tax-compliant. Many people evade the direct tax and that’s the reason why govt’s hands are tied. Govt. needs the money to fund various programs and at the same time it is not generating enough revenue from direct taxes.
That’s the reason why, govt is bumping up its revenue through higher indirect taxes such as GST or excise duty as in the case of petrol and diesel.
Direct taxes are progressive as it taxes according to an individuals’ income however indirect tax such as excise duty or GST are regressive in the sense that the poorest of the poor and richest of the rich have to pay the same amount.
Does not matter, if you are an auto-driver or owner of a Mercedes, end of the day both pay the same price for petrol/diesel-that’s why it is regressive in nature.
But unlike direct tax where tax evasion is rampant, indirect tax can not be evaded due to their very nature and as long as huge no of Indians keep evading direct taxes, indirect tax such as excise duty will be difficult for the govt to reduce, because it may reduce the revenue and hamper may programs of the govt.