Answers: GS Mains Test Series – 2016 : GS Paper-1 (Set-2)

1.       “The Indus Civilization arose and flourished by processes of change that were essentially local, yet it participated in a much larger world of trade, commerce and cultural history.” Discuss critically.

The Indus Valley Civilization was one of the world’s first great urban civilizations. Apart from the subsistence of agriculture and hunting which were local in character, the people of Indus Valley civilization made a living for themselves by trading different goods. Trading of different goods helped the Indus Civilization expand its culture, coming into regular contacts with faraway lands.

A complex yet an elaborate system of weights that involved stone cubes of small size was used as the standard norms in weighing system of Harappa Civilization. This makes us conclude that by around 2,500 BC Harappa civilization was a distinctive civilization that was spread over a great piece of land.

Land trade and sea trade was in vogue. A dockyard has been found at Lothal which is the longest building of the Harppan civilization. Most important trading partner was Mesopotamia. It is evident from the inscriptions of Mesopotamia. Two intermediates trading stations called Dilmun and Makran are identified with Bahrain and Makran coast (Pakistan) respectively. The mode of trade was barter system.

2.       What is the utility of Brahmanas and Upanishads in constructing the cultural history of ancient India? Discuss while explaining why it is not possible to obtain a comprehensive picture of Indian Civilization for the pre-Buddha period.

The pre-Buddha period includes the Indus Valley Civilisation and the Vedic period. The Indus valley civilisation consists of an un-deciphered script till today which makes historians clueless to construct a clear picture. Also, it is believed that there is no chronology of events in the pre Buddha period.

However, Brahmanas and Upanishads hold great relevance in constructing the cultural history of ancient India.

The Brahmanas are explanations of the Samhitas and give details of rituals and outcomes. The Upanishads, also called Vedantas, deal mostly with the philosophy of atman (soul) and Brahman (ultimate spiritual reality of the universe).

The Upanishads are philosophical texts considered to be an early source of Hindu religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, is variously referred to as the principal, main (mukhya) or old Upanishads. The oldest of these, the Brihadaranyaka, Jaiminiya Upanisad Brahmana and the Chandogya Upanishads, were composed during the pre-Buddhist era of India.  These both texts to some extent enable historians to get a picture of ancient history of India which lacked clarity of any particular script and chronology.

3.       Make a critical assessment of contribution of Alvar saints to Vaishnavism.

The Alvars were Vaishnava bhakti saints who preached through vernaculars and in the local dialects of the people, which could be easily understood by them. The theme of Bhakti contributed to the growth of the medieval Bhakti literature in different languages.

Alvars composed several Tamil texts to spread their ideas. Their religious works, songs of love and devotion, are compiled as Divya Prabandham.

It is noted that there were 12 Alvars. They came from all walks of life and all strata of society and included in their ranks one woman (Andal). This brings forth the fact that Alvars did not distinguish between men and women.  Traveling from place to place, from temple to temple, from holy site to holy site, they composed exceedingly beautiful poetry to their Divine Beloved, Vishnu, as an expression of their love for Him.

Due to the Alvars, Vaishnavism flourished in predominantly Shaivite South India during the seventh to tenth centuries CE with the 12 Alvars saints who spread the sect to the common people with their devotional hymns. The temples that the Alvars visited or founded are now known as Divya Desams.

4.      Bardoli Satyagraha was an attempt to mobilize the peasants to bring them into the main stream of anti-colonial struggle. Discuss critically.

Bardoli Satyagraha was based on the premise that the main issue was that peasants were to refuse to pay the enhanced rent until the government accepted the earlier amount as full payment and appointed as independent enquiry committee.

Not only the peasants but also the women were mobilized in large numbers and they became the mainstay of the movement.

The Bardoli Satyagraha attracted support from different organizations from all over the country. Gandhi himself camped in August in 1928. Ultimately, the government was forced to reduce the enhanced rent from 30 percent to the tune of a mere 6.03 percent.

It would not be wrong to say that the Bardoli satyagraha of the peasants was the child of the non-coop­eration movement started by Gandhiji. Gandhiji selected Bardoli as a suitable place for launching civil disobedience campaign because in order to uplift the Kali Paraj which included the lower castes, tribals, backward classes and un­touchables from the Ujla Paraj literally meaning upper and well-to-do castes such as Patidar, Vania, and Brahmin and so on. Gandhiji observed that the Kali Paraj was living in dire poverty. Actually, they survived a near-slave life in Bardoli.

Therefore, it would not be wrong to say that through symbolic participation of the Kali Paraj peasant, the Bardoli Satyagraha was an upliftment strategy of the leaders to bring the poor peasants into the mainstay and fight for their rights.

5.       Analyze the various strategies adopted by Mahatma Gandhi at different stages of India’s Freedom Struggle.

Gandhian strategy mainly comprises of:

• Satyagraha
• Truth and honesty
• Non-violence
• Co-operation
• Peace and love

Satyagraha -A holistic approach towards life, based on the ideals of truth and moral courage.“Satyagraha’s goal is winning over people’s hearts, and this can be achieved only with tremendous patience,” Satyagraha is more than a political tool of resistance.

Truth – It is the foundation of Gandhi’s teachings, and the spirit of his whole life to examine and understand for oneself, and not take anybody or any ideology for granted. Gandhi said: “The Truth is far more powerful than any weapon of mass destruction.” Truth or ‘Satya’ was the sovereign principle of Mahatma Gandhi’s life.

Non-violence or Ahimsa– Gandhian strategy is the collection of inspirations, principles, beliefs and philosophy. The fundamentals of Gandhi’s non violence theory, Jainism and Buddhism were the most important influence. Both Jainism and Buddhism preached non-violence as the basic principal of existence. Gandhi was also influenced By Bhagvad Gita with its stress on non attachment and selfless action, Christianity, along with its massage of love and compassion, extended even to one’s enemies, was another important influence on Gandhi’s life.

6.      While keeping in focus few Southeast Asian countries, critically examine the impact of Japanese occupation on nationalist movements in the region.

The period of Japanese Occupation brought a lot of suffering to the ordinary people. However, in the long term, the short period of Japanese rule brought about changes to the colonial situation. This was certainly the case for the various nationalist movements.

One way in which the Japanese helped the nationalist movements was breaking the myth about the superiority of the European powers. By defeating the Europeans and subjecting them to humiliation, it brought home the message that Europeans were no different from the locals.
The psychological shift had taken place.

The Japanese also provided official support to the nationalist movements. In Indonesia, the support given by the Japanese was very impactful. Firstly, they released the Indonesian nationalist leaders like Soekarno, Hatta and Sjahrir. Next, they allowed the local leaders to hold mass rallies, which provided a great opportunity to promote nationalism. Local Indonesians were also involved in the government processes, which would provide valuable experiences in running the country.

For Malaya, the Japanese provided assistance to the Indian nationalist movement by setting up the Indian National Army. This raised consciousness of the Indians regarding their future.

However, the Japanese did provide some obstacles for certain nationalist movements to achieve their aims.

One of these obstacles was the divide-and-rule policy. The practise of this policy was most evident in Malaya.

The Japanese would deliberately ill-treat the Chinese population while the Malay and Indian population would receive better treatment. This would strain relations among the three ethnic groups and thus, depriving the Malayan nationalist movement the unity needed to make progress.

7.       “The Cuban missile crisis was a diplomatic triumph for the Kennedy administration and an embarrassment for the Soviet leadership.” Do you agree? Justify.

Yes I agree that Cuban Missile Crisis was a diplomatic triumph and backdoor diplomacy. However, saying that it was a victory of Kennedy administration does not sound correct to me.  While Kennedy was advised to cede nothing to Moscow; and also to consider pre-emptive strikes against Russia, Kennedy engaged in intense behind-the-scenes diplomacy with the Soviets, UN and other countries. The final deal was a win-win situation for both Washington and Moscow.

8.      It is always alleged that despite its policy of Non-alignment, India could not keep herself non-aligned practically as it moved closer to USSR and became its ally. Why did this happen? Was it a failure of Nehru’s dogma?

In the initial years, the main planks of NAM included nationalism and opposition to military alliances such as NATO, CENTO, SEATO, Warsaw Pact etc. It opposed cold war, called for disarmament, and called for settlements of disputes through negotiations.

Nehru had made it clear that India would act in her interests first rather than the interests of Washington, Moscow, or Beijing. But at that time India needed crucial foreign aid, particularly in terms of food grains. This critical aid actually forced India to approach United States. India was viewed by United States as a weak and backward country which was in dire need of Financial Resources. USA also over expected from India that she would accept the American Line of policy, but Nehru’s policy of Nonalignment and strategic-independence was a different approach. India perhaps over expected from US taking it as a champion of democracy that would support the largest democracy. Thus, Nehru had first approached the West and it was only after the West refused that, India asked the USSR for its projects such as Steel Units. On the Defense front also, US and UK were often reluctant to sell or extend lines of credit to India. Nonetheless, the United States remained India’s largest provider of aid throughout the Cold War. In the decade of fifties, India initiated its friendly relationships with USSR. Indian Prime minister’s visit to Russia and return visit of Soviet leaders irked USA. In Late 50s USA came in open support to Pakistan on Kashmir Issue. The chances of bright India-US relations were almost lost and the chances of bright India USSR relations appeared. By the end of 50’s decade, US had started regarding India as a Pro-soviet country. To sum up, India was fairly successful in receiving aid from both the blocks; and neither took India as a threat.  However, India found herself moving closer and closer to the Soviet Union.

Therefore, the idea of non-alignment of Nehru merely remained symbolic as India had allied USSR.

9.      At present, whether a person is below the poverty line or not is measured on the basis of daily expenditure. What are flaws in this model? Do we have any other models to handle our flawed understanding of poverty? Discuss.

Tendulkar adopted the cost of living as the basis for identifying poverty. The Tendulkar panel stipulated a benchmark daily per capita expenditure of Rs. 27 and Rs. 33 in rural and urban areas, respectively, and arrived at a cut-off of about 22% of the population below poverty line. However, this amount was such low that it immediately faced a backlash from all section of media and society. Since the numbers were unrealistic and too low, the government appointed another committee under Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman C. Rangarajan to review the poverty estimation methodology. Rangarajan committee raised these limits to Rs. 32 and Rs. 47, respectively, and worked out poverty line at close to 30%.

I think that calculating poverty line on the basis of calories intake or consumption expenditure is flawed. Instead Health indicators should be the most important criteria as Health of an individual is the most direct manifestation of his/her economic situation.

10.   Discuss various causes of socio-economic regional disparity in India.

The most important reason for regional disparity is that India’s different regions are endowed with different natural and human-based resources. Some states such as West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh etc. are endowed with better mineral resources while others such as Punjab and Haryana have better irrigation facilities.

Besides that, manmade reasons for regional disparity lie in the neglect of some regions and preference of other regions in terms of investments and infrastructure facilities. Apart from uneven distribution of geographical advantages, historical factors that go back to mughal era and became prominent in British Era, have also contributed to regional inequities. Government Polices / Planning/ Economic Liberalization etc. To a great extent, the faulty planning process has been responsible for that.

However, the government’s developmental policies adopted during successive plan periods have stressed the need to develop backward regions of the country. In promoting regional balanced development, public sector enterprises were located in backward areas of the country during the early phase of economic planning. Despite of the pro-backward areas policies and programmes, considerable economic and social inequalities exist among different States of India, as reflected in differences in per capita State Domestic Product.

11.    “Though the Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2016 has been drafted with the intention of preventing exploitation, some of the provisions have both the medical community and the general public outraged.” Explain.

The Surrogacy Regulation Bill 2016 is a welcome step in order to prevent exploitation. However, it has been criticised largely due to some loopholes.

Some of the criticisms are:

• On the one hand, we speak about Article 14 and on the other hand a bill is passed which curtails the same. The bill states that surrogacy will not be allowed for Homosexual couples, Single parents, Couples in live-in relationships, Foreigners and Couples with children.
• With respect to commercial surrogacy, the bill makes a provision to ban it. It would be better if the bill had made a provision to regulate commercial surrogacy.
• Due to its ban of commercial surrogacy, many women who willingly undergo surrogacy would be hurt with the income loss.
• An alarming clause of a close relative to be a surrogate mother is also a question mark.
• The idea of “altruistic surrogacy” expressed in the Bill, greatly limits both potential surrogate mothers as well as couples wanting children: since women can become surrogates only once, and since couples who cannot find willing relatives have only one way out – adoption.
• Additionally, limiting a woman’s surrogacy choice to only one time is in a large way limiting the income of those who survive on this business.
• Egg donations are also banned, perhaps in order to curb child trafficking and illegal surrogacy racket.
• One of the most contentious points of the bill is its blatant ban on surrogacy rights of homosexual couples.

12.    “While cultural nationalism helped in the freedom struggle, it has no place in free India.” Critically discuss while taking in view both cultural nationalism and territorial nationalism in context.

During the freedom struggle, there was a sort of conservative mentality in vogue. The nationalists of freedom struggle saw India as something to be conserved and preserved from outside influences and British exploitation. Today’s nationalist seeks amalgamation of India with the greater currents flowing across the globalised world.

Whereas the nationalist sentiment during national struggle had a puritanical identity, today, nationalism derives its identity from the forces of fusion and intermixing.

Also during the freedom struggle, when India was not yet a nation, it was important to create an aura around the idea of India as a nation. Propaganda, moving speeches of leaders and the mood on the street all revealed a sense of pride when discussing nationalism, whereas today, when India is a secure nation- nationalist sentiment cannot afford to indulge in senseless pride. Especially since after nearly 70 years of Independence, India is still one of the poorest nations, nationalism seeks to remain self-critical, promotes dissent as the essence of democracy and moves forward by finding holes in the narrative and ideology of the country as a whole.

The idea of nationalism during freedom struggle arose from the need to drive out the colonial yoke. Today, it is all about growth and prosperity while ensuring nobody gets left behind. Therefore, it is more about inclusivity.

Cultural nationalism holds no weight in the India today and we are moving into progressive nationalism wherein we are trying to integrate with the whole world and become truly globalised in order to not be left behind.

13.    How far the Mental Healthcare Bill, 2013 addresses the stigma and discrimination endured by a person labelled as mentally ill? Do you think that it has provisions that can shape the nation into adopting a healthier attitude towards the issue of mental health? Discuss critically.

Mental illness was earlier defined as any mental disorder other than mental retardation. The Bill passed by Rajya Sabha defines mental illness to mean a disorder of thinking, mood, perception, orientation or memory. Such a disorder impairs a person’s behaviour, judgement, capacity to recognise reality or ability to meet ordinary demands of life. This definition also includes mental conditions associated with substance abuse, and does not include mental retardation.

The Bill states that every person would have the right to specify how he would like to be treated for mental illness in the event of a mental health situation. An individual will also specify who will be the person responsible for taking decisions with regard to the treatment, his admission into a hospital, etc.

The Bill also guarantees every person the right to access mental health care and treatment from the government. This right includes affordable, good quality, easy access to services such as minimum mental health services in every district. Persons with mental illness also have the right to equality of treatment and protection from inhuman and degrading treatment.

The Bill requires that every insurance company shall provide medical insurance for mentally ill persons on the same basis as is available for physical illnesses.

In this way, the bill has a holistic approach towards the mentally ill patients and treat them at par with normal people.

14.   Discuss the serious challenges and crisis faced by higher education system in India today. Point out the reforms suggested to improve the access and quality of higher education.

The goals of the higher education should be expansion with inclusion,ensuring quality and relevant education. The Major challenges faced by the higher education in India are:

• Low rates of enrolments. It is only about 20%.
• Inequality in the access of qualitative education.
• Infrastructure bottlenecks.
• Less importance given to education in the society especially for the girls.

Some of the feasible solutions that can be worked out are:

• Establish adequate number of educational institutions in order to increase the enrolment per cent.
• Ensuring good amount of student to teacher ratios.
• Financial models like various types of scholarships, education loans, industry sponsored education, etc. can be worked out.
• A national quality assessment framework in order to assess the quality of teachers must be adopted.
• New methods such as MOOC, integrated courses, etc. should be adopted.

15.    Critically discuss the role of multiplicity of religions and languages in creating social tensions in India.

India is a multi-linguistic society andLinguistic identity has been a strong force. The language issue in India manifested itself in two forms:

Dispute over Official Language

Upon independence, it was decided that Hindi be adopted as the Central Government’s official language (OL). This move was opposed by speakers of other languages, who feared that adoption of Hindi as the OL would place them at a disadvantage in the educational and economic spheres besides being a threat to their culture.

Linguistic Organisation of States

The demand for reorganisation of States on linguistic lines arose immediately after independence. The national leadership was opposed to such reorganisation as it was thought that the same would undermine national unity and integrity. As a consequence, the Dhar Commission and the JVP committee, both rejected language as the basis for reorganisation. The demand only intensified especially in the Telugu speaking regions of Madras State, where agitation was led by one Potti Sriramulu. His death after a 56 day hunger strike forced the government to create the first linguistic state – Andhra. This was followed by the appointment of the State Reorganisation Commission to examine the question holistically. The commission broadly accepted language as the basis of reorganisation and this was followed by a massive reorganisation exercise.

When we think of religion creating social tension, Hindutva is a nationalist ideology which promotes the idea of a Hindu state. Proponents of Hindutva believe that the dominant Hindu culture should be adopted as the Indian national identity and that other groups should adjust their practices accordingly.

It is due to multi-faceted character of India religiously and linguist, India has seen violent activities such as destruction of the Babri Masjid Mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh in 1992, and the 2002 massacres in Gujarat.

16.   Why tropical monsoon region is densely populated in comparison to the equatorial region, which is sparsely populated? Explain while throwing light upon the concept of “Population-Resource Regions”.

The equatorial, hot, wet climate is found between 5to 10 degree north and south of the equator. The equatorial regions are generally sparsely populated. The reason is mainly due to heavy downpour, gloomy wet forests, humid conditions and dangerous wildlife.

The tropical monsoon region is found in the zones between 5° and 30° latitudes on either side of the equator. These areas are the tropical monsoon lands with on-shore wet monsoons in the summer and off-shore dry monsoons in the winter. The characteristic features of this region are that the temperature is comparatively high throughout the year, and there are two clearly marked wet and dry seasons. The maincause for seasonal Climate is the differential rate of heating of land and sea.

Due to the favourable conditions offered by tropical monsoon climate, there is dense population in these regions.

Population-Resource regions indicate the concentration of population in a region due to availability of resources for survival in that region. The tropical monsoon climate is blessed with higher population due to the positive population resource factor available in this region.

17.    Discuss the origin and distribution of mid-latitude cyclones.

Temperate cyclones or mid-latitude cyclones are active over mid-latitudinal region between 35° latitude and 65° latitude in both hemispheres. These cyclones are also called extra-tropical or wave cyclones.

There are two theories with respect to the origin of temperate cyclones:

Polar Front Theory

According to this theory, the warm-humid air masses from the tropics meet the dry-cold air masses from the poles and thus a polar front is formed as a surface of discontinuity. The cold air pushes the warm air upwards from underneath. Thus a void is created because of lessening of pressure. The surrounding air rushed in to occupy this void and coupled with the earth’s rotation, a cyclone is formed which advances with the westerlies.

Thermodynamic Theory

According to this theory, in sub-tropical areas, an overcrowding of vertical currents releases the surplus energy upwards which, after meeting the upper cool air, converts into an eddy. This eddy tends to settle down as an inverted ‘V’ shaped cyclone.

Distribution

The favourite breeding grounds of temperate cyclones are:

• Over USA and Canada, extending over Sierra Nevada, Colorado, Eastern Canadian Rockies and the Great Lakes region.
• Mexican Gulf
• The belt extending from Iceland to Barents Sea and continuing over Russia and Siberia.
• Winter storms over Baltic Sea.
• Mediterranean basin extending up to Russia and even up to India in winters (called western disturbances).
• The Antarctic frontal zone.

18.   Do you agree with the view that contemporary metropolitan growth in India is facilitating spatial segregation and social exclusion? Give arguments.

It is believed that Indian cities are on slow but sure paths towards religious- and caste-based crises. To ensure just and harmonious social growth, it is vital to reverse the current trends.

The socially oppressed and spatially disadvantaged from villages continue to flock to cities and towns in order to escape degrading social practices of segregation and discrimination, and also, importantly, to move up social mobility ladders.

While cities still remain the best hope for social mobilityfor millions of oppressed and marginalised communities, they increasingly mirror India’s rural social and cultural realities, its entrenched caste system and social customs. Residential segregation and identity-based discrimination are on a steady rise in urban spaces.

A recent study by experts had stated that rapid growth in cities has not reduced spatial segregation by caste or religion. Dalits and Adivasi are still heavily concentrated within certain geographical areas of cities, mostly in unauthorised settlements and poor neighbourhoods.

Metropolitans like Bombay and Delhi in India, experience excess migration and supply of labor leading to unemployment of immigrants. Illiteracy and lack of skills causes incompatibility between the migrants and the recipient city. This incompatibility perpetuates a vicious circle leading not only to unemployment, but ghetto type, socially polarized, spatially segregated neighborhoods. Incompatibility between demand and supply of labor is responsible for the creation of an ‘urban underclass’ with totally different standards and values. This phenomenon is followed by degradation of such settlements and an increase in crime. Such is the way that social polarization acts as a major cause of spatial segregation.

This can be attributed to the “Black holes” of urban planning.This current form of urbanisation that is producing “urban winners” and “urban losers” sends an alert to urban planners and key policy makers to make necessary reforms.

19.   Give a brief account of the area distribution of mangroves in India. Discuss the Importance of mangrove conservation and its benefits.

In world’s total mangrove vegetation, India’s share stands at 3%. Currently Mangrove cover in India is 4740 km² which is 0.14 % of the country’s geographical area. Sundarbans in West Bengal accounts for almost half of the total area. As compared to 2013 there is a net increase of 112 sq km in the mangrove cover. Top five states with maximum Mangrove cover are as follows: West Bengal, Gujarat, Andaman & Nicobar Island, Andhra Pradesh andOdisha. Mangroves are also found in Tamil Nadu, Goa, Kerala, Daman & Diu, Karnataka and Puducherry.

The most important role of mangroves is that they protect vulnerable coastlines from wave action because they hold the soil together and prevent coastal erosion. Mangroves also shield inland areas during storms and minimize damage. For example, the 2005 tsunami in Asia, there were no deaths in the areas which had mangrove forests, compared to those areas without, which suffered massive causalities.

Mangrove forests provide homes for several species of plants and animals. Migratory shorebirds and waders forage the mudflats for food.

The beaches along more mature undisturbed mangroves also serve as nesting sites for endangered sea turtles.

20.                Explain the mechanism of three cell model of meridional circulation of the atmosphere.

Three cell model of meridional circulation of the atmosphere, impliesthat that there is cellular circulation of the air at each meridian (latitude). The three cells include- Hadley Cell, Ferrel Cell and Polar Cell.

Under this model, the equator remains the warmest location on the Earth. This area of greater heat is known as ITCZ. The ITCZ draws in surface air from the subtropics. When this subtropical air reaches the equator, it rises into the upper atmosphere because of convergence and convection. It attains a maximum vertical altitude of about 14 kms. and then begins flowing horizontally to the North and South Poles. Coriolis force causes the deflection of this moving air in the upper atmosphere, and by about 30° of latitude the air begins to flow zonally from west to east. This zonal flow is known as the subtropical jet stream. The zonal flow also causes the accumulation of air in the upper atmosphere as it is no longer flowing meridionally. To compensate for this accumulation, some of the air in the upper atmosphere sinks back to the surface creating the subtropical high pressure zone. From this zone, the surface air travels in two directions. A portion of the air moves back toward the equator completing the circulation system known as the Hadley cell. This moving air is also deflected by the Coriolis effect to create the Northeast Trades  and Southeast Trades. The surface air moving towards the poles from the subtropical high zone is also deflected by Coriolis acceleration producing the Westerlies. Between the latitudes of 30 to 60° North and South, upper air winds blow generally towards the poles. Once again, Coriolis force deflects this wind to cause it to flow west to east forming the polar jet stream at roughly 60° North and South. On the Earth’s surface at 60° North and South latitude, the subtropical Westerlies collide with cold air traveling from the poles. This collision results in frontal uplift and the creation of the sub-polar lows or mid-latitude cyclones. A small portion of this lifted air is sent back into the Ferrel cell after it reaches the top of the troposphere. Most of this lifted air is directed to the polar vortex where it moves downward to create the polar high.