UPPSC 2021 Mains Essays

> Specific Instructions:

(i) The question paper is divided into three Section. Write three essays in Hindi or English of Urdu language selecting one topic from each Section.

(ii) Maximum words limit of each essay is 700 words.

(iii) Each essay carries 50 marks.

Ath rt, despite the frame it takes, mirrors life and occasions and is capable of transforming societies. It is a way chosen by people to express themselves and their feelings, or how they see things around them. Writing, music, drawing, painting, dance are few of the art forms that have been used to show what the society is going through at that moment in time.

Stepping into history, it is not easy to figure out exactly when and why people engaged in the arts. It is though known worldwide that the cavemen used it to record and represent objects around them. But, over time the arts came to be appreciated as a reflection of the skills and creative genius of their creators. Even the governments have used it to reflect the views of the state.

The real function of art being expression of feeling and transmission of understanding has made it a useful tool to communicate. Since time immemorial, artists have used painting, sculpture, music, literature and other arts to communicate and bring social change through imparting voices to the politically or socially disenfranchised.

As the repository of a society’s collective memory, art influences society by changing opinions, instilling values and translating experiences across space and time. Thus, we often see a song, film or novel arousing emotions in those who encounter them, further inspiring them to rally for change.

Art forms have been truly started being censored since the First World War, due to the recording of the trench fighting through cameras. Right from Cubism to Piccaso’s paintings and Renaissance era’s representational sculptures and decorative arts; everything speaks about the impressions of the society at that period of time. They let us into the bygone world and share with us the feelings of the artists as a collective feeling of the society they represented.

Egyptian Surrealism created by a group of artists and writers; defended individual freedom and the concept of international citizenship. They warned against fascism- the root of exuberant feelings of patriotism and Arab nationalism.

Behind every freedom struggle, protest, slogan, and non-violent activism round the globe, there are gentler, quieter and more restrained acts of rebellion. The poets, writers, painters, musicians, oral storytellers and other custodians of culture transmute their hearts’ feelings through their art. This way they revitalize the collective soul of the people they look to inspire. From the immortal slogan ‘Vande Matram’ by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay to the beautiful painting of ‘Bharat Mata’ by Abanindranath Tagore; every art form became a rallying cry of our freedom movement.

Having utilitarian influences on society, art demonstrates the reality and helps bring the needful change in the society.

Social liberty as the right of all individuals, speak about giving equal opportunity to everyone, irrespective of race, creed and position of their parents so that they attain a position in society equivalent to their capabilities.

Art benefits the society by fostering the human need for self-expression and fulfillment. Being economically viable, it also employs many. A work of art can stimulate critical thinking, sharpen our perceptions, and foster kindness. By connecting us with what’s inside of ourselves and what’s inside someone else, art helps unite the society in a single thread.

Art makes life more manageable, tolerable and enjoyable. By bringing out the different layers of the society to the forefront, art makes us aware that beneath the surface perhaps we are all the same. It engages the audiences to bring them together for a social cause. It helps us decide and take the lead to act, express or communicate our feelings the way we want. In true sense, art is the way to explore our individual freedom and also inspire others to spread their wings to seek freedom. –

By helping individuals connect together and making them feel alike, art builds that sense of community which is ready to cope with difficult times together. It’s an act of rebellion and the way to live freely. Social liberty, thus, comes from the justice, equality, brotherhood and aspirations which art provides us through its generosity and power of expression.

Late  Prime Minister of India and a great statesman, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee vonce said that “If India is not a secular nation, then India is not India at all.”

The declaration of India as a secular state came with the enactment of the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution (1976) and the Preamble now proclaims India as a secular state.

Secularism is one of the fundamental tenets of the Constitution. The term “Secular” means being separate from religion or having no religious basis. ‘Secularism’ is akin to the Vedic concept of ‘Dharma Nirapekshata’ that is the indifference of the state to religion.

Secularism thereby, emphasizes on a doctrine where all religions enjoy equal status, recognition and support from the state. It stands for no discrimination and partiality on grounds of religion and equal opportunities for all religions to prosper and grow.

Every citizen is guaranteed Fundamental rights irrespective of religion, caste, creed, race or sex. The Constitution also guarantees individual and collective freedom of religion, which includes the freedom to practise, profess and propagate religion and grants religious denominations the freedom to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes along with the freedom to manage their own affairs in matters of religion.

Superstition, dogmatism and myths being prevalent in the Indian society, have given the State an opportunity to intervene in religion in order to remove the archaic social practices harmful to democracy and modernization. The Indian philosophy of secularism relates to “Sarva Dharma Sambhava”, which means equal respect to all religions. It doesn’t recognize any religion as official and doesn’t owe allegiance to any particular religion. As a means of addressing religious plurality, Indian secularism isn’t an end in itself and sought to achieve the peaceful coexistence of different religions.

There are multi-faceted and multi-dimensional challenges which confront the ideology of secular politics. An inherent clash between the requirements of a secular way of life on one hand and religious orthodoxy on the other hand has created the conditions for the birth of communalism.

With the secular interest of different religions being dissimilar and divergent from the followers of other religions, there are often the chances of incompatibility, antagonism and hostility.

Caste consciousness as the very core of the Indian politics has become the greatest roadblock to the growth of secularism in our polity.

Some of the political parties are organized on communal lines and represent the interests of a particular region or a particular group.

People give importance to customs and traditions which lead to obscurantism which emerges as a great hurdle in the progress of secularism in the Indian society.

The data of high incidences of communal violence released by the National Crime Records Bureau and Ministry of Home Affairs do not stir up confidence in the working of a secular nation like ours.

Indian Secularism needs to be saved from deterioration. The economics of inequality, uneven development and under-development have been cleverly used by communal politicians to reinforce their grip over the society.

Secularism acts as a check on the tyranny of the majority that is a natural part of any democratic society. It shifts the focus from religion towards temporal and material concerns. It safeguards democracy and ensures harmony in the nation. Its absence may lead to religious persecutions which may further give rise to dissent, conflicts or even a civil war.

It cannot be protected unless there is a strict separation of religion from politics and government. Giving a monolithic religious identity to India goes against the united cultural identity. It’s the duty of the State and law to protect the right of every individual to choose his own faith, which is inviolable.

The real challenge lies in countering the pseudo-nationalism with an antiimperialist, secular and inclusive nationalism. Indian voters need to be on guard and they should not allow themselves to be misled by hypocritical intellectuals and journalists who are in alliance with the “secular” politicians. There is a need of such a government that works for the development and security of all citizens without any regard to religious identity, and articulates laws that are same for all individuals. Such a government would be secular in true form.

Despite several post-independence reforms in education sector, higher largest higher education system with about 1,000 universities and 40,000 colleges in terms of number of educational institutions. Though it ranks third in terms of

size and diversity, but its presence in the international education system has been extremely low below its true potential, yet unexplored.

India’s higher education system has not yet been developed even after more than 70 years of independence. This is seen in its poor performance in institutional rankings in which not a single Indian university has been listed in the top 100 universities of the world. The poor employment status of its students, poor track record in receiving national awards and recognition, and poor share in research funding contribute to the reasons.

The government report states that there is a massive need for expansion in higher education but there is a lack of deserving Ph.D. candidates for faculty positions in the higher education which has created a shortage of almost 54 percent in the faculty talent pool in higher education. This deficiency creates a roadblock that arises mainly due to the bad decisions by policymakers, bureaucrats, and university administrators.

Literacy rate in India: 74%

Literacy rate: male: 82.1%; female: 65.5%

Kerala tops the rankings, followed by Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu Bihar is the lowest among states, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand

Literacy rate of Bihar is 63.8%, and that of women is 53.3%

Literacy rates for both adults as well as youths have increased, yet the absolute number of illiterates in India is as much as India’s population was at the time of independence.

The gender gap in terms of literacy began narrowing first in 1991 which accelerated further. The gap lags far behind the global female literacy rate of 7% (UNESCO 2015).

India still lags behind the world literacy rate of 86.3% (UNESCO 2015). A major group of states lies in the average rank, which is just above the national level of 64.8 percent.

The Indian education system can be broadly considered as a pyramidal structure and the elementary-level education for 6-14 years of age is guaranteed by our Constitution under Article 21 A, for which the government has introduced Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) under the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

For age group 14-18, the SSA has been extended to secondary level education in form of the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan.

The government has introduced Rashtriya Uchhattar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) to cater to the requirements of higher education which is generally of three levels: UG-PG-MPhil/PhD.

According to the All-India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report 2018-19, the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education in India is only 26.3%, which is quite low in comparison to developed as well as other developing countries.

The supply of higher education institutes is insufficient with the increase of enrollments at the school level. Though the government is continuously focusing on quality education, yet a large number of colleges and universities are unable to meet the minimum requirements laid down by the UGC and ensuring quality in higher education is the foremost challenge in India.

The autonomy of Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) is jeopardized due to the increasing interference of politicians.

Poor infrastructure and faculty shortages and their retention are amongst the major challenges. An inadequate focus on research in HEIs and inadequate resources and facilities create hurdles. The research by research scholars get affected directly or indirectly as most of them are without fellowships or do not get their fellowships on time. The HEIs are poorly connected to research centres and to industries.

Over centralization, bureaucratic structures and lack of accountability, transparency, and professionalism are major challenges in management of Indian education.

New vision and programmes addressing the needs of the State, industry, economy and society are needed.

Collaboration between Indian HEIs and top international institutes if promoted by the government would then generate linkages between labs and research centres of top institutions for better quality and collaborative research.

A multidisciplinary approach in higher education and keeping the public and private HEIs separate from the political affiliations will be helpful.

Afr fter 358 days of persistent protests on the borders of Delhi by the farmer groups mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, the Prime

Minister of India scrapped the controversial farm laws. The bills which were passed in September 2020 in Lok Sabha by voice vote were alleged by the farmers to be helpful for big businesses. The government’s 11 rounds of discussion with farmer leaders since then have not yield any meaningful results.

A long-pending demand for reforms in agricultural marketing coming under the purview of state governments, has led to the enactment of these laws. The centre took up the issue in the early 2000s by pushing for reforms in the APMC Acts of the states.

The then Agriculture Ministry designed a model APMC Act in 2003 and circulated it among the states.

These reforms were pushed by the subsequent governments but being a state subject, the centre has had little success in getting the states to adopt the model APMC Act.

By passing these laws, the government went for reforms in this backdrop.

Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020: Its objective is to allow trade in agricultural produce outside the existing APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) mandis.

Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020: It aims to provide a framework for contract farming.

Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020: It is targeted at removing commodities such as cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onion and potato from the list of essential commodities.

The farmers wanted the immediate repeal of the three new agricultural laws as according to them the laws were framed to suit the big corporations who seek to dominate the Indian food and agriculture business and would weaken the negotiating power of farmers. This would also give an edge to big private companies, exporters, wholesalers, and processors.

The guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) as an assurance of procurement of crops at a suitable price was the second demand of farmers. They also demanded to get a written assurance in the form of a bill for the continuation of the MSP and conventional food grain procurement system.

The protection of the APMC or the Mandi system was the main concern of the Farmers’ organizations.

Withdrawal of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill was the third demand of farmers as they felt that they would not be getting free electricity due to this.

The farmers demanded MSP as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission which stated that the government should raise the MSP to at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production, which is also known as C2+ 50% formula.

The repeal of the three laws means that future attempts to reform the rural agricultural economy would need a much wider consultation. There is a dire need of reforms in the sector, both in marketing of outputs as well as inputs, including land lease markets and direct benefit transfer of all input subsidies.

This movement has been successful in terms of restoring the farmers’ self-esteem and giving them a symbolic recognition as annadatas. This recovery needs to be accompanied by re-envisioning of farming and a new vision of making small farms viable, to ensure a just deal for landless and tenant farmers. It would help promote cooperative agriculture and shift to ecologically sustainable practices that save us from water depletion, soil degradation and chemically contaminated food.

A new manifesto is needed to be written by the farmers for the future of Indian agriculture. The movement has also attained an unmatched unity of India’s farmers, which transcended the multiple deep divisions based on climate, crops and class besides the usual divisions based on language, religion and caste.

This movement also saw for the first time an appearance on national stage by women farmers and origin of a platform-the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM)- the largest united front ever of the Indian farmers. This energy should be harnessed by the farmers for something big- for putting farmers’ agenda on the top of electoral contestation, for converting electoral promises into government policies and for benefitting the farmers through these policies.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAA Bill) was first introduced in 2016 in Lok must have resided in India (or been in the service of the Central Government) for at least 11 years in order to be eligible for citizenship.

Until 1987, birth of a person in India was sufficient criteria for eligibility of the Indian Citizenship. The populist movements later alleging massive illegal migrations from Bangladesh led to the amendment of the Citizenship laws for the first time. This added the criteria of having at least one parent to be Indian.

The law was further amended in 2004 and prescribed that one parent should be Indian but the other parent should not be an illegal immigrant.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) Act 2019 provides India citizenship to the illegal migrants who entered India on or before 31st December 2014. The Act was introduced apparently to aid refugees fleeing religious persecution in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan and grant the right to citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian minorities. If an individual has resided in India during the last 12 months and for 11 of the previous 14 years, then he/she will be eligible for this act. The number of years of residency for the specified class of illegal migrants has been relaxed from 11 years to five years.

The Indian Constitution provides for single citizenship for the whole India.

Parliament under Article 11 of the Constitution has the power to regulate the right of citizenship by law. Thus, the Citizenship Act of 1955 was passed by the Parliament for the acquisition and determination of Indian Citizenship.

Article 14 of the Indian Constitution states: “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India”.

Article 15 (1) states that “The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth”.

Entry 17, List 1 under the Seventh Schedule speaks about Citizenship, naturalization and aliens. Thus, Parliament has exclusive power to legislate with respect to Citizenship.

The CAB shortens the waiting period for naturalization for these chosen communities who would now need a six-year residence while the earlier condition of having been a resident of India was for at least 11 out of the last 14 years. This creation of two kinds of citizens is a serious violation of fundamental rights granted to Indian citizens by the Constitution.

The distinct secularism of India intends towards equality of all religions in front of the law. However, the Act with its careful listing of protected communities, has explicitly and deliberately left out Muslims which is nothing but discriminatory.

It openly excludes Muslims from the list. The reason for excluding Muslims from the ambit of the act is the likelihood of Muslims facing persecution in these Muslim-majority countries is low, as stated by Home Minister Amit Shah.

This exclusion has evoked widespread condemnation and the government has clarified that the exclusion of Muslims isn’t an act of Islambophobia as the listed countries in the Act are Muslim-majority nations, whose minorities are vulnerable.

The CAB’s Statement of Objectives and Reasons is to protect citizens of undivided rather pre-partition India. If the driving motive behind the CAB is

neighbourhood, as cited by the political leaders of India, then a host of countries around India with minorities subjected to terrible violence and discrimination need attention.

The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 aims to introduce changes in the Citizenship Act, the Passport Act, and the Foreigners Act if the illegal migrants belong to religious minority communities from three neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of Bangladeshis legally staying in Assam and North East, would burden the local economic conditions.

An equilibrium needs to be attained by the government and it should carefully attempt to host the migrants and see that it doesn’t cost the goodwill earned over the years nor the basic living conditions of the natives get compromised in the process.

As a land of diverse customs and traditions, the birthplace of religions and acceptor of faiths and protectors of persecuted in the past, India should always uphold the principles of Secularism.

The general weather conditions of a place as measured over many years is like conditions getting warmer, wetter, or drier over several decades or more termed as climate change.

Global warming – the recent rise in the global average temperature near the earth’s surface – is one of the aspects of climate change. Forces contributing to climate change include the sun’s intensity, volcanic eruptions, and changes in naturally occurring greenhouse gas concentrations. The leading cause of the earth’s rapidly changing climate today is the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the human activity.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states that our current concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are unmatched compared with the past 800,000 years. The planet’s chief climate change contributor-carbon dioxide has risen by 46 percent since preindustrial times.

Direct consequences of man-made climate change are:

> Rising minimum temperatures

> Rising maximum temperatures

> Rising sea levels

> Higher ocean temperatures

> Increase in aridity and drought

> Decline in arctic sea ice and snow cover

> An increase in heavy precipitation (heavy rain and hail)

> Decline in Arctic sea ice and snow cover

> Thawing permafrost

> Glacier recession and retreat

> Threat to livelihoods from floods and forest fires

> Economic implications of dealing with secondary damage related to climate change

> Health risks due to increase in frequency and intensity of heat extremes Economic implications of dealing with secondary damage related to climate change

> Ocean acidification due to increased HCO3 concentrations in the water as a consequence of increased CO2 concentrations

> An increase in hunger and water crises, especially in developing countries Loss of biodiversity due to limited adaptability and adaptability speed of flora and fauna

> Dangerous weather events are becoming more frequent with the worsening of climate change. To avoid the worst effects of climate change, there is a dire need to dramatically reduce global carbon emissions.

> Climate change impacts our health, economy and environment. Warmer temperature increases the frequency, intensity and duration of heat waves, which can pose health risks. The worsening air and water quality can lead to increase in the spread of certain diseases, and may alter frequency or intensity of extreme weather events.

> Coastal communities and ecosystems are threatened by the rising sea level.

> Geographic ranges of many plant and animal species and the timing of their lifecycle events, such as migration and reproduction are affected by the changing ecosystems.

Energy should be accessible. As per World Bank data, about 1.2 billion people lack access to electricity and 2.8 billion rely on solid fuels for cooking, such as wood, charcoal, and coal, which lead to harmful indoor air pollution.

Globally, energy use is about one-third lower today than it might have been without the past 20 years of energy efficiency improvements.

Countries can reallocate their spending to where it is most needed and most effective, by phasing out harmful fossil fuel subsidies. However, reforming subsidies is not easy as mostly, the population is unaware of the true costs of energy.

Mitigation and adaptation through climate-smart agriculture techniques help farmers increase their farms’ productivity and resilience to the impacts of climate change, such as droughts. This also helps create carbon sinks which reduce net emissions.

With fast growing cities, particularly in the developing world, more infrastructure build up will be needed. So, careful planning of transportation and land use, and establishment of energy efficiency standards can help build cities in way that avoid unsustainable patterns and reduce damaging air pollution.

Rather than asking the poor countries to stop their carbon footprint, it should be the priority of the developed countries to combat emissions. Incurring costs for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions would be tough for a poor country that has millions of its people worried about one meal of the day.

Although, great steps in reductions of solar costs and batteries for electric vehicles have been seen, yet they remain expensive alternatives. Modern conveniences like electricity, transportation, and air conditioning contribute to climate change. So, finding sustainable alternatives would involve significant sacrifice and lifestyle change.

The COVID-19 pandemic through its alarming spread has infected millions and in the economic activity as strict restrictions on movement to combat the spread of the virus. The economic damage caused by the pandemic has been largely driven by a fall in demand, which means that there have been significant reductions in income, a rise in unemployment, and disruptions in the transportation, service, and manufacturing industries. It’s quite clear that most governments in the world underestimated the risks of rapid COVID-19 spread.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defined COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. It not only became a public health crisis but has also led to

significant economic impact across the globe due to reduced productivity, loss of life, business closures, trade disruption, and decimation of the tourism industry. Infectious disease outbreaks and epidemics have become global threats in the era of globalization, urbanization and environmental change which require collective response. While the developed countries have strong real-time surveillance, there are still requirements of improvements in public health capacity in low-income and high-risk countries. The developing countries require workforce preparedness, human and animal surveillance, and strengthened laboratory resources which further needs to be supported by national resources and additional international donor funding.

With increase of cases across the globe, the world financial and oil markets significantly declined impacting the global financial markets heavily. Many people have lost their jobs or got their incomes cut and unemployment rates have increased across major economies.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the proportion of people out of work hit a yearly total of 8.9% in the U.S., which signaled an end to a decade of jobs expansion. As parts of the economy, such as tourism and hospitality, have come to a near standstill; millions of workers have been put on government-supported job retention schemes. The IMF estimates that the global economy shrank by 4.4% in 2020. The decline has been described the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s by the IMF.

The Fed data showed the worst dip in manufacturing output since the 1940s.

New variants of the virus discovered in recent months have forced many countries to introduce tighter travel restrictions. With airlines cutting flights and customers cancelling business trips and holidays, the travel industry has been badly damaged.

An industry-leading intelligence company, named ‘Data from Transparent’ that covers over 35 million hotel and rental listings worldwide- has registered a fall in reservations in all the top travel destinations.

The year 2020 has faced a loss of billions of dollars and many analysts believe that international travel and tourism won’t be returning to the normal pre-pandemic levels until around 2025.

There has been unprecedented falls in retail footfalls. On the other hand, shares in some pharmaceutical companies involved in vaccine development have shot up.

In India, post-pandemic projections state that the number of poor has more than doubled and the number of people in the middle class has fallen by a third, as per Oxfam report.

Individual income dropped by approximately 40% during India’s first stringent national lockdown between April and May 2020, while the bottom decile of households has lost three months’ worth of income.

An estimated 230 million people in India have fallen into poverty as a result of the first wave of the pandemic. India with large share of young people in its workforce has been put at heightened risk of long-term unemployment due to the pandemic.

The financial markets will continue to be volatile with the spread of virus likely to disrupt the economic activity and negatively impact manufacturing and service industries. It has been extremely costly and difficult to contain the virus and mitigate the importation risks once the disease started to spread in multiple locations. This requires international collective action and global investment in vaccine development and distribution. It would require preventive measures in terms of capacity building in real-time surveillance and development of contact tracing capabilities at the national and international levels.

The outbreaks of novel infections are likely to stay in the near future, so it would be wise to stay prepared and take proactive international actions and protect lives and economic prosperity.

Caste plays a prominent role in terms of hierarchical standing in society; opportunities available for advancement and progression towards better life. The caste dynamics hang around aspirations to attain attributes of higher caste which is presented by six of these factors:

1. Ownership of land

2. Access to western education

3. Place in local caste hierarchy

4. Sizeable numerical presence

5. Political power

6. Jobs in administration

Elections are one of the most important features of our democratic structure. Free and fair elections become a necessity for healthy democracy. The government draws its authority from the “will of the people” in an indirect form of democracy

like India. The sovereign power of the citizens helps them elect the government who is responsible to the people who have elected them. But this form of democracy has some shortcomings which have been prevailing since long. The citizens who elect the representatives have no right to “recall or reject the representative” if they are unsatisfactory for their post.

With the announcement of the scheduling of the assembly elections, a flurry of activity around building caste coalitions begins. The most populous state witnesses more intense electoral politics, where the study of voting behaviour is focused on changing equations and shift in dynamics among various caste and community combinations.

People get hooked on to TV channels watching and evaluating caste-wise voted polled, without realizing that the Election Commission doesn’t record castes of voters and there’s no way caste wise voting can be empirically established.

India opted for a Parliamentary democracy at the time of Independence and the term “Parliamentary democracy” implies that the sovereign power to elect the representatives vests with the citizens. The Article 15 of the Indian Constitution introduced the caste based reservations, which prohibits the discrimination of Indians on basis of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Article 15(4) modified through its assertion that nothing in this article shall prevent the state from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward citizens or for the SC’s and ST’s.

The Mandal Commission, or the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (SEBC), established in 1979 by the Janata Party government under PM Morarji Desai mandated to “identify the socially or educationally backward classes of India and defined backward classes in terms of caste. Rather than the individual class characteristics, the caste membership became the matter of significance and the social ranking in the class became the criterion for inclusion in the OBC list. Caste membership thus became responsible for identifying class benefits and this way social ranking became a matter of perception rather than an average per capita income. This made class and caste as cross cutting identities, which started transforming caste relations in India and paved way for coexistence of both caste and class in the Indian society. Caste slowly got converted into class plus status (social stigma of being pure and impure) and reservation helped certain castes within dalits to catch up with OBC’s and other dominant castes in terms of acquiring revenues.

Besides being a social reality, caste has become an instrument of social change which has led to the rise of ‘casteism’ and co-optation of earlier excluded groups. This political mobilization has given rise to “messy identity politics”. Along with the scheme of reservations as a safe formula, the sharpening of group identities became frequent and got momentum through the rising to political power by the lower caste groups.

A coalition of specific caste groups supports specific political party and it usually sticks with its preferred party for a few years. Messages in the election speeches are tailored to suit the dominant caste, and all parties draw up poll strategy based on the constituency’s caste profile. Even the newspapers give the caste-wise break-up of the candidates fielded and the candidates who win the elections. There is a need to demolish the structural rigidities of caste by growth and development and not by reinforcing it with more consolidation around caste. Caste will continue to play a major role in elections until an egalitarian society emerges and equilibrium is established. That will be achieved when the common issues across all castes and religions, like education and employment are equated and people realiz that eir vote should be given to a party which creates better opportunities in terms of education, health and employment.

India’s foreign policy initiatives over the last decade have undergone a in is an amalgamation of purposeful pursuit of national interests, big and small, and proactive diplomatic outreach and pragmatic issue-based alignments with countries.

India plays a decisive or shaper’s role and not that of an abstainer. India has made a difference on issues like climate change or connectivity in the last few years. India doesn’t intend to be a disruptionist power internationally, but a stabilizing power instead.

India doesn’t follow a self-centered or mercantilist approach but it believes in bringing its capacities to bear on the international system for global good. Portraying its belief on mutual empowerment; India has shared funds, technology and expertise with countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

Neighbourhood First Policy of India is a core component of India’s foreign policy that focuses on peaceful relations and collaborative synergetic co-development with its South Asian neighbours of the Indian subcontinent.

By taking a series of initiatives for promoting a low-carbon economy and fulfilling its commitments under the Paris Accord, India has stepped ahead of all in combating climate change. India’s leadership role in this area has pursued many countries to join the International Solar Alliance which seeks to initiate a white revolution for a clean and green world.

India’s recent launch called the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, which is a new international initiative, is finding greater global support.

As emphasized by our External Affairs Minister, India way to foreign policy would be really Brand India where the efforts will be ours, but their fruits are for all, for the entire world. Cultural diplomacy and civilizational values will receive a greater recognition in India’s foreign policy. The idea of India as a vibrant pluralistic society has resonated with the world making it more positive to India’s aspirations. The worldwide celebrations of the International Day of Yoga and recognition of Kumbh Mela as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, reflects this cultural connect.

India hasn’t criticized Moscow’s invasion on Ukraine which narrates that memories of the historic Indo-Soviet partnership still counts and so India abstained from voting at the UNSC on the Russian invasion issue.

On the other hand, the U.S. President Biden has made his frustrations with India known and waits to resolve alignment on Russia. Where three out of four QUAD members, excluding India have voted against the invasion; India faces itself backed into a corner, trying to balance its U.S. relationship while managing its Russian interests.

The Indo-Pacific island nations being the most aid-dependent economies seek continued dependence on two Asian economic giants, with Beijing and Taiwan. China’s Chequebook Diplomacy led to Sri Lanka finally ending up surrendering the Hambantota Port to Chinese supremacy for 99 years lease in exchange of economic aid. Its continued financial investments bring a serious concern to India.

The National Register of Citizens (NRC-CAA) has raised concerns in Bangladesh, who is in no position to accommodate more refugees.

The two existing territorial disputes between India and Nepal, over the Kalapani and Lipulekh territories have strained the bilateral ties.

The rising discontent with China has led the US release its Indo-Pacific Strategy, which aims for broader mandate for the QUAD-align allies and partners outside the Indo-pacific-namely the EU and NATO- with the countries within the region.

India’s gesture of sharing its vaccine supplies with other countries during the pandemic stands in sharp contrast to several countries that cornered, and even hoarded vaccine supplies.

India in 2021 faced challenges from an ag essive China, the threat of terrorism in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region and loss of soft power, but it has come out successful.

Indian diplomacy will need to be consistent for promoting a multilateral world order, a non-hegemonic Indo-Pacific order and engage in economic diplomacy to achieve the goal of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Making India an economic powerhouse to facilitate global economic recovery and equitable globalization, would serve the purpose better.

To make India count on the global stage and create a New India, the focus on robust and sustainable partnerships in technology, innovation and start-ups will

be essential.

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