Mains Practice Questions

Q. Identify ten essential values that are needed to be an effective public servant. Describe the ways and means to prevent non-ethical behaviour in the public servants. (150 Words)

Q. Explain the difference between computing methodology of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) before the year 2015 and after the year 2015. (150 Words)

Q. Distinguish between Capital Budget and Revenue Budget. Explain the components of both these Budgets. (150 Words)

Q. Explain the evolution of the Collegium system for the appointment and transfer of judges in India. (250 Words)

Q. “Public places ought to be free of any public displays of religion.” Discuss the statement in reference to recent orders by Karnataka government regarding school uniforms. (250 Words)

Q. “Gender inequality in STEM can only become a thing of the past if collective efforts, from the society, families, educational institutions and government, are given to fight against it”. Comment.

Q. Discuss the significance of natural farming and suggest measures that can be taken for smooth transition from conventional to chemical-free farming.

Essay Topic

1. The wise man does at once what the fool does finally.

2. Where the willingness is great, the difficulties cannot be great.

Q. India’s two-year tenure at the UNSC starting in 2021 offers huge possibilities for enhancing India’s multilateral standing and reshaping its traditional approach.” Comment. (250 Words)

Q. Discuss the opportunities offered by the establishment of a digital university, especially when the covid-19 pandemic has disturbed the functioning of the whole education system. (250 Words)

Q. Emotions give meaning to situations. Without emotions, one would react spontaneously and robotically to events, with no control over the response. In light of this statement, discuss the various aspects of Emotional Intelligence and highlight its importance for civil servants. (150 Words)

Q. Discuss the unemployment scenario of India and what measures can be taken to tackle this unemployment wave. (250 Words)

Q. The citizens’ right to protest is a pillar of Indian democracy. However, protests and demonstrations often become a law and order problem and a challenge to internal security. Why is it so? Discuss (250 Words)

Q. “Conventional energy sources are more reliable and should not be abandoned until the alternatives like clean energy have been stringently stress tested.’’ Discuss. (250 Words)

Q. The Indian Constitution is, in a significant sense, a cosmopolitan constitution. Elucidate. (150 Words)

Q. Discuss the key challenges that hinder the efficient functioning of the Urban Local Governments and the corresponding measures that can be taken. (250 Words)

Q. Briefly mention the alignment of major mountain ranges of the world and explain their impact on local weather conditions, with examples. (250 words)

Essay Topics

1. There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.

2. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.

Case Study

A woman was in a live-in relationship with her male partner. She complained to the police of sexual harassment and rape continously for the last five years on the pretext of marriage by her partner. The police on prima facie investigation found out that the allegation is false and the couple was living happily until some internal feud developed that led to these baseless allegations. The woman complained to the State Commission for Women and alleged that she did not get justice from the police and they were biased against her due to a patriarchal mindset. She demands justice from the Women Commission. You are the chairperson of the State Commission for Women.

(a) What steps will you take in such a situation?

(b) Do you think that live-in relationships are against Indian culture and traditional values?

Q. Mahatma Gandhi and Subhash Chandra Bose differed widely in their ways and methods and in their political and economic ideologies. Discuss. (250 words)

Q. Explain the term moral intuition and differentiate between intuition and reasoning with suitable examples. (150 Words)

Q. “India’s cities are the drivers of economic growth with significant production and consumption, however, this sunrise story is threatened by unsustainable urban development in the era of climate change”. Comment. (250 Words)

Q. How do you analyse the perceived trade-off between poverty reduction and environmental sustainability? (150 words)

Q. “Deficiencies in the present system of appointment of Election Commissioners needs to be removed and adequate safeguards must be put into place to ensure that ethical and capable people head the concerned positions”. Comment. (250 Words)

Q. The Indian constitution creates a ‘Functional overlap’ between the legislature, executive and judiciary. Explain. (250 Words)

Q. Discuss the need for a comprehensive space strategy that India shall adopt to become one of the major space powers. (250 Words)

Q. Despite India being one of the countries of Gondwanaland, its mining industry contributes much less to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in percentage. Discuss. (150 words)

Q. Examine the uniqueness of tribal knowledge systems when compared with mainstream knowledge and cultural systems. (150 words)

Essay Topic

1. A man is great by deeds, not by birth.

2. Life loses half its interest if there is no struggle- if there are no risks to be taken.

Q. Enumerate the major threats to wetlands in India? How can “wise use approach” help in mitigating these threats? (150 words)