Dear Aspirant,
Lately we have received many requests to provide guidance on how to form a good opinion and how to write a good answer.
Opinions are vital for this exam , for the simple reason that , they are not only asked in Mains questions but also in Interview . Thus it is important to develop a good opinion.How to do it is a greater question and the way to do it differs from individual to individual.
However, we are providing a generalist guide in this regard and you may incorporate them and augment them as you see fit.
Opinion are very diverse and principally follows the concept of ” each to their own” . That is to say, every individual has his/her opinion . What is important is that one should back his/her opinion with valid reason and logical thinking.
On a technical stand point opinions can be of two type based on deductions :-
- Deductive Opinion
- Inductive Opinion
Deductive opinions are those where , a certain amount of data can be logically deducted to form the opinion.For example – Lets us say there is a region called “Harappa” that have 1000 population.Now , if one gathers the data on per capita income , once can deduce that the standard of living of Harappan people is good or bad.So the deductive opinion on certain amount of data for a certain region may hold true in this case.
Problem arises when we do inductive reasoning.For example – one collects data only of Harappa and not of nearby regions such as Mahenjodaro or Kalibangan. In this case if an opinion is given on standards of living of Mahenjodaro or Kalibangan based only on the sampling data collected from Harappa, it might hold true or not.
To make it rather simple to understand, lets take the recent example where almost all newspapers across globe termed “Delhi as unsafe for girls” or for that matter “India is a country of rapists”. The opinion is formed on the basis of a single or very few incidents(the implications aside) . In this case , when a certain person reads the news , one gets the perception as such – either of the whole country or of Delhi. (Another good example can be the recent events of “intolerance” )
But we all know that it is not true. However perception is stronger than reality and we are generally guided or misguided by our preconceived perception.Thus inductive reasoning can be dangerous and can distort our opinion.
The art lies in segregating perception from reality and only when we are capable to do that , we will be able to form good opinion without misconceptions and prejudice.
More so, our answer in exam demands such clarity and the very job that we all aspire deems it a necessity.
So in conclusion , here are few tips to form good opinion and incorporate them in your answer :-
- You must question everything in your mind.For example – If you come across any article/editorial don’t only consume what the writer says , try to get a grasp on the writer – Who he/she is, where he/she belongs , why he/she wrote such an article, what is the necessity behind it and what prompted it and why it was written at that given point of time.Once you find certain views , try to find the views that counter it. This way you will have reasons from both sides and then you can form your opinion.
- This might sound a lot to do , but it is rather simple , just inculcate the “Spirit of Inquiry” and you will see the change.
- When you read something , try to think over it for next one or two days and get a grasp of all alternative views on it.
- Try to think on multiple angles . For example – If you are writing an answer on corruption – try to think- whether it is only economic or is there any moral/ethical angle to it.Do we see the corruption in other spheres such as politics or environment etc.Simply put, try to push the boundary of a concept beyond the conventional.
- When you come across a certain concept , try to form a holistic view on it at the first sight and note down the points.There is no point in reading 100 articles on the same issue that have same theme but different words . Thus try to understand a concept at first sight and try to internalize the various points that you can put forth if asked in the exam.
- Most importantly , everything should be related to syllabus. There is no point in discussing unrelated topics that will be of no help.
- Lastly , You should know what to know and what not-to-know. For example – If you are reading an article on Project Loon – try to understand the basics of it however there is no benefit of going beyond the basics and exploring the technicalities of it, simply because this job requires a generalistic understanding of all subjects not to be master of it .Quite akin to Jack of all trades as far as general studies concerned.
- But you have to be master of one. That is your optional paper.Mastery is must for this.
- Don’t compartmentalize the general studies beyond requirement.Each paper can help you with an additional point while writing answer for other paper. For example – while writing an answer on economic question you can put some ethics in to it too . But be careful not to thrust a point in your answer that the question never demanded, thus the answer should follow the question and should flow from it.
With that ,we wish you all the best and hope that this gives you certain perspective and helps in your preparation.
We have received few more questions on time management and we will be answering them shortly.
Feel free to write to us at any time with any query that you may have. We are here to help.
Thank you
UPSCTREE Team
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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.