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☑️ Join for mains Previous Year Questions Questions from 1999 - 2023 Questions will be segregated Subject/topic wise ✅Prelims PYQs @UPSC_Prelims_PYQ_MCQ ✅CSAT PYQs @UPSC_CSAT_PYQ
Q. What are the different elements of cyber security? Keeping in view the challenges in cyber security, examine the extent to which India has successfully developed a comprehensive National Cyber
Security Strategy. (Answer in 250 words) 15
✅ Cyber Security is protecting cyber space including critical information infrastructure from attack, damage, misuse and economic espionage.
▪️Elemets of Cyber security Architecture:
✅ Network Elements: Network nodes like computers, NICs, repeaters, hubs, bridges, switches, routers, modems, gateways.
✅ Security Elements: like firewalls, Intrusion Detection/Protection Systems [IDS/IPS], encryption/decryption devices.
✅ Security Frameworks & Standards: Cybersecurity framework architecture standards like NIST Risk Management Framework Vulnerabilities to the
▪️ Architecture:
✅ Data Diddling: Attack floods systems, servers, or networks with traffic to exhaust resources and bandwidth.
✅ Ransom ware: Blocks access to key components of the network and demand money to unlock it.
✅ Phishing: The goal is to steal sensitive data like credit card and login information or to install malware on the victim’s machine
✅ Malware: Covertly obtains information by transmitting data from the hard drive (spyware) National cyber security strategy to ensure a safe, secure, trusted, resilient, and vibrant cyberspace for India.
✅ Security by Design:- To develop institutional capability for assessment, evaluation, certification and rating of core devices.
✅ Monitoring of Supply chain of integrated circuits.
✅ Product testing and certification needs to be enhanced.
✅ The supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) security should be integrated with enterprise security.
✅ A minimum allocation of 0.25% of the annual budget is required for cyber security.
✅ Holding cyber security drills to tackle crisis management.
✅ Create cyber security services under Indian enginerring services.
✅ Cyber insurance to address risk.
✅ Cyber diplomacy.
✅ Setting up exclusive court to deal with cyber investigation
Q. Naxalism is a social, economic and developmental issue manifesting as a violent internal security threat. In this context, discuss the emerging issues gest a multilayered strategy to tackle the menace of Naxalism. (Answer in 250 words) 15
✅ Naxalism is a violent movement that claims to fight for the social and economic rights of Underprivileged groups who want to overthrow the Indian Government and replace it with a different regime.
▪️Social, economic and developmental causes of Naxalism:
✅ Poverty amongst ST and Dalit e.g. The National Family health survey shows 45.9% of ST members are in the lowest wealth.
✅ Lack of access to Basic forest Resources –poor implementation of FRA 2006 and PESA 1996.
✅ Land Alienation and Displacement with little or no rehabilitation e.g. The Sardar Sarovar Project displaced
57% of tribal among total displaced people.
✅ Skewed Mining Policy.
✅ Labor, Unemployment and issue of Minimum Wages
✅ Environmental Degradation.
▪️Above cause leads to Discontent, Distrust and Alienation Emerging issues:
✅ Organized Crime
✅ Illegal opium cultivation
✅ Coming together of different groups together
✅ Foreign contact ex:- Phillipines
▪️Recent initiatives:
✅ SAMADHAN It is a strategy of MHA to frame short term and long-term policies to tackle LWE.
✅ Aspiration district programme with special emphasis on developmental needs to naxal areas.
▪️What are the suggestions to check Naxalism?
✅ New Deal: Coloumbian Peace deal can provide blueprint for tackling Naxal Operation. This deal is based on few underlying provisions such as Comprehensive Rural Reform, Improving Citizen Participation.
✅ Perception Management: The tribal way of life should be celebrated aired on AIR.
✅ UNESCO advises for soft power augmentation with focus on-Education, Youth Empowerment. Gender Equality and Internet and Social Media.
▪️XAXA Committee:-
a. Land Acquisition- G Sabha consent if forged, there should be Penalty.
b. G Sabha:- Empower it to restore alienated land back to original owner ,even while a case is pending in the court.
c. Mining:- It should be done by Tribal Cooperatives only as in Andhra.
Recently, As per MHA the geographical influence of Maoists has contracted to only 41 districts ifrom 96 such districts in 10 States shows govt taking steps in right direction.
Q. To what extent in your opinion has the decentralization of power in India changed the governance landscape at the grassroots? (Answer in 150 words) 10 marks
Democratic decentralization is the process of devolving the functions and resources of the state from the center to the elected representatives at the lower levels so as to facilitate greater direct participation of citizens in governance.
▪️Decentralization and People’s participation through 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Act changed the governance landscape at the grassroots:
✅ Women empowerment by ensuring their political participation – 14.54 lakh women are their in PRIs.
✅ Social justice by reserving seats for SCs & STs
✅ Fixing accountability through Social auditing tool
✅ Resolved issues through community participation like water management and disaster management.
✅ Developing programs for weaker sections and backward areas
✅ Financial management and budget sanctity
✅ Simplification of procedures and processes by the use of technology, Social Auditing, e-governance, M-governance, Twitter governance etc.
✅ Focus on service delivery through Citizen Charter and Sevottam Model It would make growth - sustainable, equitable, and inclusive.
▪️Issues with local govt in India:
✅ Insufficient funding
✅ Inflexibility in spending
✅ Lack of staff
✅ Untimely and delayed action
✅ Corruption
▪️Suggestions given by Sumit Bose committee:
✅ State governments should put a quorum in gram sabha meetings for participation of panchayat representatives
✅ Recruitment and appointment of support and technical staff to ensure the smooth functioning of panchayat.
✅ Devise a comprehensive mechanism for taxation at the local levels.
✅ Capacity building and training enable them to prepare better Gram Panchayat Development Plans
✅ Sumit Bose committee recommended - performance based payments for better outcomes in rural development schemes 6th report of 2nd ARC, says a clear-cut demarcation of functions of each tier of the government & States should adopt the concept of ‘activity mapping’ to achieve the objective of article 40.
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✅SHORT NOTES AND PYQ-ENVIRONMENT AND POLITY
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Q. Discuss the natural resource potentials of Deccan Traps. (10 Marks)
✅The Deccan Trap is a thick series of late cretaceous basaltic lava flows that occupy approximately 500000
square kilometres of peninsular India.
✅ This basaltic lava soil has been eroded step by step as a result of erosion, and it is known as the Deccan trap.
✅ This Deccan trap is common throughout the Deccan plateau, which includes Saurashtra, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and portions of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
▪️Potentials of Deccan Traps:
🔸Bellary-Chitradurga- Chikmaglur-Tumkur belt
✅Karnataka has large reserves of iron ore. The Kudremukh mines situated in the Western Ghats of Karnataka are a 100% export unit.
✅Kudremukh mines are known to be one of the largest iron ore deposits and the ore from this mine is transported as slurry through a pipeline to a port near Mangalore.
🔸 Maharashtra – Goa Belt:
✅This belt comprises the state of Goa and Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.
✅The ores of this belt are not of very high quality, but they are exploited efficiently and it is exported through Marmagao port.
Hence, the older rocks (Deccan Traps) have syncline for potential groundwater resources. It will be done under the Jal Jeevan Mission (Maharashtra will be the first state).
How does Indian society maintain continuity in traditional social values ? Enumerate the changes taking place in it.
The essence of Indian society lies in harbouring diverse and distinct identities, ethnicities, languages, religions, and culinary preferences. History stands witness to the fact that the societies that have struggled to hold differences were shattered in such an attempt.
▪️The supreme social-cultural traditional values of Indian life have been the values of
✅ A Cosmic Vision: The framework of Indian culture places human beings in the centre of the universe, as a divine creation-which celebrates individuality and differences of opinion in society.
✅ Tolerance: In India, tolerance and liberalism are found for all religions, castes, communities, etc. Indian society accepted and respected various religions and ensured that there is a peaceful co-existence of religions.
✅ Sense of Harmony: Indian philosophy and culture try to achieve innate harmony and order in society.
✅ Continuity and Stability: The light of ancient Indian culture life is yet glowing. Many invasions occurred, many rulers changed, many laws were passed but even today, the traditional institutions, religion, epics, literature, philosophy, traditions, etc. are alive.
✅ Adaptability: It is the process of changing according to time, place, and period. Indian society has shown fluidity and has adjusted itself with changing times.
✅ Caste System and Hierarchy: Indian Society has evolved systems of social stratification, which in the past helped in accommodating outsiders, but concomitantly it has also been the reason for discrimination and prejudice.
✅ Unity in Diversity: Despite inherent differences, Indian society celebrates unity in diversity which reflects in
modern India’s founding principles and constitutional ideals.
▪️In recent times, Indian society has seen a surge in multiple divisive issues like:
✅ Casteism: Caste-based discrimination leads society to divide into artificial groups which sometimes even led to violence.
✅ Communalism: The aggressive attitude of one community towards the other creates tension and clashes between the two. It poses a great challenge to democracy and the unity of our country.
✅ Nuclear Families: The new trend of nuclear families with one or a maximum of two children has emerged in India. Due to this children are not able to get the presence of the elderly who plays a major role in instilling values among the younger ones.
✅ Gender Discrimination: There is a need for India to closely examine the norms that allow violence and a broader pattern of gender discrimination to continue. A society that does not value women as much as men fail to reach its full potential.
Despite all these reasons, India remains a diverse country, a bewildering mosaic of communities of all kinds. Our peculiar societal genius is to fashion a form of coexistence where diversity can flourish and find its place. The principle of “Sarva Dharma Sambhava” (equal respect for all religions) is rooted in India’s tradition and culture.
Q. Reforming the government delivery system through the Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme is a progressive step, but it has limitations too. Comment. (Answer in 150 words) 10 marks
✅ Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) was started on 1st January, 2013, With the aim of reforming Government delivery system by re-engineering the existing process in welfare schemes for simpler and faster flow of information/funds and to ensure accurate targeting of the beneficiaries, de-duplication and reduction of fraud.
▪️Progressive step:
✅ Eliminate Leakages – e.g. MGNREGS saw 10 per cent savings on wages on account of deletion of duplicate, fake/non-existent, ineligible beneficiaries.
✅ It reduces corruption and abuse of power
✅ It ensures faster delivery of services
▪️Limitation:
✅ Aadhar registrations presently covered around 91% of population. Since DBT is linked with Aadhar for schemes, there is need to improve Aadhar linkage to 100% so that not a single person can be left out.
✅ Low level of digital literacy in the rural areas.
✅ India has reached 81% financial inclusion and this will potentially exclude people from the rural background.
✅ Banking correspondents also struggle with connectivity and technical problems.
✅ Banking services at rural level needs to be improved to reach benefits to all.
▪️Way forward:
✅ Focus should be on Identification of beneficiaries
✅ Digitisation of beneficiary database.
✅ Creating digital infrastructure at remote and far flung areas
✅ Digital and financial literacy
✅ Financial inclusion using Neo Bank and Payment Bank
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Q. Discuss the essential conditions for exercise of the legislative powers by the Governor. Discuss the legality
of re- promulgation of ordinances by the Governor without placing them before the Legislature.
✅ The ordinance was originally conceived as an emergency provision. However, in recent times the frequent use of ordinance route has led to the undermining the role of the legislature and the doctrine of Separation of powers.
✅ Governor under Article 213 can promulgate an ordinance only when the legislative assembly is not in session.
✅ He can promulgate an ordinance only when he is satisfied that circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate action.
✅ He can issue ordinances only on those subjects on which the state legislature can make laws.
✅ An ordinance issued by him has the same force and effect as an act of the state legislature can make laws.Legality of re-promulgation of ordinances
✅ Against the very idea of separation of power
✅ In conflict with parliamentary supremacy
✅ Abuse of the exceptional power
✅ The question of judicial review Judicial safeguard
✅ DC Wadhwa vs. the State of Bihar (1987) that the legislative power of the executive to promulgate ordinances is to be used in exceptional circumstances and not as a substitute for the law-making power of the legislature.
✅ Supreme Court in Krishna Kumar Singh v. the State of Bihar held that the authority to issue ordinances is not an absolute entrustment, but is “conditional upon satisfaction that circumstances exist rendering it necessary to take immediate action”.
The executive must show self-restraint and should use ordinance making power only in unforeseen or urgent matters
and not to evade legislative scrutiny and debates.
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Q. Discuss the role of the Vice President of India as the chairman of Rajya Sabha.(Answer in 150 words) 10 marks
✅ Vice President of India acts as the ex-officio Chairman of Rajya Sabha under article 64 of the constitution. In this capacity, his powers and functions are similar to those of the Speaker of Lok Sabha. He also resembles the American vice-president, who also acts as the Chairman of the Senate the Upper House of the American legislature.
▪️As a chairman of Rajya Sabha:
✅ Guardian of the prestige and dignity of the House. His impartial and fair judgment enhances the reputation and prestige of his office.
✅ Principal spokesman of the House and represents its collective voice to the outside world.
▪️ Exercises only a casting vote in the case of equality of votes
Case study on role of Active VP:
✅ He can avoid the delay in the matter of disqualification under 10th schedule and disqualification. i.e. - Mr Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar Ansari.
✅ He can ask for Periodic report on duration of meetings held, attendance of members
✅ He can order a comprehensive study of the secretariat in order to make it more transparent and accountable.
✅ He can advance the timing for zero hour and retain question hour at 12 noon so that time can be utilized wisely.
✅ He can release guidelines on social media and suggest reliance on digital tools.
✅ He can dedicate One hour to discuss the selects committee reports.
Recently, Rajya Sabha Productivity increased by 70% and house held 261 sittings in 13 sessions and passed 177 bills and credit goes to the role of VP.
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Q. The Gati-Shakti Yojana needs meticulous coordination between the government and the private sector to achieve the goal of connectivity. Discuss. (Answer in 150 words) 10 marks
✅ PM Gati shakti will incorporate the infrastructure schemes of various Ministries and State Governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, Inland waterways, dry/land ports, UDAN etc.
✅ Multi-modal connectivity plan: The aim is to bring down logistics costs from 13-14% of GDP as against about 7- 8% in developed economies.
✅ Generation of investor interest: The scheme is in synergy with the National Monetization Pipeline (NMP) which give potential investors a ready list of assets to generate investor interest.
✅ Creation of quality infrastructure: The plan includes 11 industrial corridors, National Highways of 2 lakh km; Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs)
▪️Role played by government:
✅ Provide prior land and environmental clearance
✅ Ensure inter-ministerial and interstate coordination for smooth implementation
✅ Provide viability gap funding to address any financial hurdle
▪️Role played by private player:
✅ It will bring much needed finance
✅ Private Player also brings technologies, expertise and international best practices.
✅ Private Player brings an element of economy, efficiency and effectives.
✅ Private Player will ensure timely completion of project.
✅ PPP would be the key driver in achieving the goal of connectivity, it is possible only enabling environment of government.
Need of an independent body for faster resolution of grievance, use of technology for effective implementation and monitoring.
Q. The rights of persons with disabilities Act, 2016 remains only a legal document without intense sensitization of Government functionaries and citizens regarding disability. Comment. (Answer in 150 words) 10 marks
As per Census 2011, disabled persons constitute 2.21% of the total population. India signed the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability.
▪️Right of Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Act 2016
✅ The types of disabilities have been increased from 7 to 21.
✅ The act added mental illness, autism, speech and language disability, sickle cell disease, acid attack victims, etc which were largely ignored in earlier act.
✅ It increases reservation from 3% to 4% in government jobs and higher education institutes.
✅ Every child with benchmark disability between 6 and 18 years shall have the right to free education.
▪️Societal apathy towards Persons with Disability (PwD) in India:
✅ Discrimination and stigmatization attached to PwD by the society
✅ Consider PwD as burden or liability by family
✅ Negligence towards their issues like accessibility to Transport, IT etc.
✅ Considered as a sin committed in last birth.
▪️Lax implementation by Government functioning:
✅ Lack of medical facilities.
✅ Lack of availability of special schools, trained teachers for the disabled.
✅ Most government buildings in India are not disability-friendly
✅ Administrative apathy towards implementation of plans and policies for disabled.
▪️Way Forward:
✅ Increasing Public Awareness and Understanding of Disability
✅ Social campaigns that change attitudes on stigmatized issues related to PwD.
✅ Showing positive representations of people with disabilities e.g. Paralympian Anali Lakhera
✅ Special schools with the label special needs can have a stigma or negative connotation. Students may only learn and interact with peers with special needs.
Govt’s Sugmaya Bharat Abhiyaan is in right direction to sensitize people to bring behavioural towards Divyangjan and timely govt intervention in the spirit of Article 41 of the constitution.
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Q. Discuss the procedures to decide the disputes arising out of the election of a Member of the Parliament or a State Legislature under the Representation of People Act 1951. What are the grounds on which the election of any returned candidate may be declared void? What remedy is available to the aggrieved party against the decision? Refer to the case laws (Answer in 250 words) 15 marks
✅ An Act to provide for the conduct of elections of the Houses of Parliament and to the House or Houses of the Legislature of each State, the qualifications and disqualifications for membership of those Houses, the corrupt practises and other offences at or in connection with such elections and the decision of doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with such elections.
▪️Procedure to decide the dispute:
✅ Section 100 of the RPA, 1951 deals with the grounds on which an election may be challenged by means of election petition.
✅ By any non-compliance with provisions of the Constitution or of this Act or of any rules or orders made under this Act, the High Court shall declare the election of the returned candidate to be void.
✅ After the election petition on the matter of corrupt practices in High court. Order of the High court is sent to the president through the secretary general and then ECI looks into the issue where judicial hearing is given to the affected party.
▪️A person can be disqualified on below grounds:
✅ Disqualification on conviction for certain election offences and corrupt practises in the election. (Sec 8)
✅ Disqualification on conviction for certain offences.
✅ Disqualification on ground of corrupt practices. (Section 8A).
✅ Disqualification for dismissal for corruption or disloyalty. (Section 9).
✅ Disqualification for Government contracts, etc. (Section 9A)
✅ Disqualification for office under Government company (Section 10)
▪️Remedies available against such Disqualification:
✅ On the question of whether a legislator is subject to any of the disqualifications, the final authority to decide rests with the President (in case of members of Parliament) and the Governor (in case of members of State legislature).
✅ In case of any enquiry, the Election Commission is conferred the powers of a civil court for summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person or any evidence.
✅ Besides, after a legislator is disqualified, the Election Commission may, on certain grounds, remove any
disqualification or reduce the period of any disqualification.
✅ The Election Commission said that in exercise of its powers under Section 11 of the Representation of People Act, Tamang’s period of electoral disqualification was being reduced from the statutory six years to one year and one month.
Elections are the lifeblood of any democracy. The robustness of electoral processes determines the fate of the nation. The timely reforms to the electoral process by ECI, according to the changing needs of the society and the strong review of the judiciary have helped in conduction of free and fair elections till date.
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Q. Critically examine the procedures through which the presidents of India and France are elected. (Answer in 250 words) 15 marks
✅ India has a parliamentary system of government and France have Semi Presidential system.
✅ The French republic is governed by the president, prime minister, and cabinet.
✅ The prime minister of the country leads the policies related to the republic, while, the president leads the foreign-related policies.
▪️Procedure for election of French President:
✅ The President is elected to 5-year term in a two-round election.
✅ If no candidate secures an absolute majority of votes in
the first round, a second round is held two weeks later between the two candidates who received the most votes.
✅ It is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate.
✅ Under the two-round system, usually only the two candidates who received the most votes in the first round, or only those candidates who received above a prescribed proportion of the votes, are candidates in the second round.
✅ Other candidate are excluded from the second round.
▪️Critical examination:
✅ It is often said that in the first-round you vote with your heart, and in the second you vote with your head.
✅ Hence there is less need to vote tactically in the first-round.
✅ If more than two candidates go to the second round, they can agree amongst themselves that one of their number should stand down to exclude a third.
✅ Research has shown that in France it produces the most disproportional results of any Western democracy, and that it tends to fragment party systems in new democracies.
✅ One of the most serious problems with TRS is its implications for deeply divided societies.
▪️Procedure for election of Indian President:
✅ He is elected by the system of Proportional representation by means of single transferable vote system.
▪️Critical examination:
✅ The Single Transferable Vote (STV) is often criticized on the grounds that preference voting is unfamiliar in many societies, and demands, at the very least, a degree of literacy and numeracy.
✅ The intricacies of an STV count are themselves quite complex, which is also seen as being a drawback.
However, both the democracies have adopted the system of election for President as per the historical understanding and concerning the status in the terms of Power and Position.
Q. Discuss the role of the Election Commission of India in the light of the evolution of the Model Code of Conduct.(Answer in 250 words) 15 marks
✅ Election commission of India is considered as a watchdog of Indian democracy as it ensures “Free and Fair election” as per the provision of Article 324-329 of Indian constitution.
✅ To ensure Free and Fair election, ECI has drafted Model code of Conduct in 1960’s which talks about:
🔸General conduct Like:
🔸No appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes
🔸 No political party or candidate shall permit its or his followers to make use of any individual’s land, building,
compound wall Evolution of role of ECI:-
✅ The Election Commission is appointing Observers. If the candidates or their agents have any specific complaint or problem regarding the conduct of elections they may bring the same to the notice of the Observer.
✅ Issued Guidelines that The election manifesto shall not contain anything repugnant to the ideals and principles enshrined in the Constitution.
✅ In case of single phase election, manifesto shall not be released during the prohibitory period, as prescribed under Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
✅ ECI also takes measures like issuing advisory cautioning the candidates from campaigning for a specified period of time or even initiation of a criminal complaint.
✅ ECI powers extend to postponing elections to any constituency, cancelling an election already notified, and even to abrogate or annul an election already held.
✅ Supreme court remarked MCC an equalizer lost in implementation.
▪️What amendments are required in RPA:
✅ Section 29(b): To deregister Political parties.
✅ Section 126 A: Amend Section 126(1) of R P Act to impose the “campaign silence period” on print, electronic media and intermediaries.
✅ Sec 76 – 78: Electoral bond, state funding, ceiling on expenditure by parties.
▪️Way Forward:
✅ MCC must backed by statutory power.
✅ MCC must specify type of punishment that may arise from violation of its provisions.
In a constitutional democracy, elections provide an opportunity to ascertain the popular will hence ensuring they are free and fair is prerequisite.