The competition in the UPSC examination is fierce. One day and even writing one answer a day can make a huge difference. Many of you might want to take a break. And honestly, you deserve it!
But writing just 4 answers a day can be a perfect balance to take a break and not lose momentum.
Answer writing practices through Civilsdaily’s Daily AWE program can reduce test anxiety and help you ace the GS Mains answer writing. And what is a better way to practice for UPSC Mains Examinations than attempting Questions which are the closest to the demands of the UPSC Civil Services Mains Examination? The more you are accustomed to sitting for a period of time, answering questions, and pacing yourself, the more comfortable you will feel when you actually sit down to take the real UPSC Mains examinations yourself.
We are working hard to make the program more featureful, highlight the best answers, show the competency levels of students.
What the Program Includes:
Daily 4 questions from General studies 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be provided to you. A sample 2 week schedule is available below.
A Mentor’s Comment will be available for all answers. This can be used as a guidance tool, but we encourage you to write original answers.
You can write your answer on the same day and attached a scanned copy. Within 4 days, a review of your answer will be provided.
Also, write the Razor payment ID, when you attached your answer.
If you are writing answers late, then please tag the mentor, to let him know about your submission. These answers will be evaluated as per the mentor’s schedule.
Schedule:
Here is the schedule for the first week of FEBRUARY to give you an idea about how we will follow your Syllabus:
GS-1 Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
GS-2 Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
GS-3 Indian Economy
GS-4 Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
HOW TO ATTEMPT ANSWERS IN DAILY ANSWER WRITING ENHANCEMENT(AWE)?
Daily 4 questions from General studies 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be provided to you.
A Mentor’s Comment will be available for all answers. This can be used as a guidance tool but we encourage you to write original answers.
You can write your answer on an A4 sheet and scan/click pictures of the same.
Upload the scanned answer in the comment section of the same question.
Along with the scanned answer, please share your Razor payment ID, so that paid members are given priority.
If you upload the answer on the same day like the answer of 11th February is uploaded on 11th February then your answer will be checked within 72 hours. Also, reviews will be in the order of submission- First come first serve basis
If you are writing answers late, for example, 11th February is uploaded on 13th February , then these answers will be evaluated as per the mentor’s schedule.
We encourage you to write answers on the same day. However, if you are uploading an answer late then tag the mentor like @Staff so that the mentor is notified about your answer.
*In case your answer is not reviewed, reply to your answer saying *NOT CHECKED*.
Unless the Court strives in every possible way to assure that the Constitution, the law, applies fairly to all citizens, the Court cannot be said to have fulfilled its custodial responsibility.
Landmark judgments
In the last few years, the Indian Supreme Court has delivered some judgments of far-reaching consequence.
It declared the right to privacy a fundamental right; decriminalized consensual sexual conduct between adults of the same sex; recognized transgender persons as the third gender; and outlawed triple talaq.
These decisions shore up the belief in republican values like liberty and equality reified in our Constitution.
Important cases pending in the Supreme Court
Constitutionality of CAA: Many petitions were filed before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, that provides non-Muslim communities from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan a fast-track route to Indian citizenship.
More than two years later, the matter continues to languish in the apex court.
Dilution of Article 370: Innumerable petitions have been filed challenging the Presidential Order of August 5, 2019, that effectually diluted Article 370 of the Constitution.
To date, the court has done precious little to decide this vexed question of law.
Constitutionality of 103rd amendment: Petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Constitution(One Hundred and Third Amendment)Act,2019 that provides reservations in public educational institutions and government jobs for economically weaker sections are also languishing in the Supreme Court.
Challenges to the electoral bond scheme: The Supreme Court has failed to accord proper hearing in the last four years to the constitutional challenge to the electoral bonds scheme.
Conclusion
Unless the Court strives in every possible way to assure that the Constitution, the law, applies fairly to all citizens, the Court cannot be said to have fulfilled its custodial responsibility”.
Knowledge alone is not enough to clear UPSC Prelims. Elimination techniques alone are not enough to crack this exam. One needs both to clear UPSC Prelims from 2014 onwards. Since UPSC Prelims is the toughest exam out of Interview and Mains with over 9.5 lakh aspirants getting disqualified, it’s always better to think about increasing 20-30 marks with your existing knowledge using elimination techniques.
Why is that with the same syllabus, the same study materials and similar syllabus and similar study materials, most candidates score differently? For some, just a reading of the Spectrum book is enough to answer all the Modern History questions, but for others despite reading the same book this is what they face in exams —
If it’s about prelims exam performance, then aspirants fall into either of these four categories. Which category are you in currently?
1) Prelims score 0-40: They need to work on improving their knowledge first and then learn answering tricks 2) Prelims score 50-70: They have decent knowledge and decent answering tricks. But this is not enough to clear Prelims, they need to be an above average performer. Hence, they must focus on preparing for the topics they have scored less in their mock tests. 3) Prelims score 80-100: They have good knowledge but they need to develop answering tricks. They can do without learning elimination techniques as well, but if they wish to be on the same time learning elimination techniques will guarantee them success. 4) Prelims score 120+: They have excellent knowledge and know all the answering tricks.
Free Open to All Webinar by Parth Sir on UPSC Prelims Answering Tricks and Elimination Techniques
UPSC 2020 AIR 30 Topper & Civilsdaily Student Divyanshu Chaudhary says how elimination techniques are useful for UPSC Prelims
Knowledge of a topic precedes elimination techniques in Prelims exam. Without knowing much about a topic, if one uses elimination techniques, it will only backfire.
Clearing Prelims is all about Knowledge + Answering Tricks (Tikdams). And while you are studying hard to improve your knowledge, Parth sir will help you improve your answering techniques, for absolutely FREE!
The webinar will have live demonstration of few questions from Smash Prelims 2022 mock tests and how elimination technique can be used when one is not sure between two similar looking options. Let’s look at an example to understand how.
In the context of Colonial India, Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sehgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillion are remembered as
a) Leaders of Swadeshi and Boycott Movement b) Members of the Interim Government in 1946 c) Members of the Drafting Committee in the Constituent Assembly d) Officers of the Indian National Army
If you have come across the names while reading, using elimination techniques will help you recollect exactly what you had read.
Parth sir will explain how you can answer these questions with smart techniques, even if you DON’T know the answer but have read the topic before.
This is your opportunity to learn the tricks that can help you score 120+ in your Prelims. Join Parth sir for a free webinar and this is what you can learn:
1. 10 Different types of elimination/intelligent guess techniques for hard to verify facts through solving previous year UPSC questions.
2. How to master the Elimination techniques, used by toppers.
3. Ideal strategy for the Last 120 days for UPSC prelims 2022.
4. Which are the tricky topics in the syllabus where one can use elimination techniques? Like for example information technology is a perfect topic where tricky questions can come from.
6.Open Q&A session with Parth sir
Webinar Details
We are inviting all serious aspirants to grab this FREE opportunity to learn the tricks that toppers use to score higher than everyone else.
There are limited slots available so we request you to enroll now!
Our Civilsdaily Mentor, Mr Parth has been mentoring students since 2017. He has an admirable experience of attending UPSC-CSE interview two times. Parth sir has always scored 400+ in all the 4 GS Mains Subjects. The secret of success according to him is consistency and time-management.
Knowledge alone is not enough to clear UPSC Prelims. Elimination techniques alone are not enough to crack this exam. One needs both to clear UPSC Prelims from 2014 onwards. Since UPSC Prelims is the toughest exam out of Interview and Mains with over 9.5 lakh aspirants getting disqualified, it’s always better to think about increasing 20-30 marks with your existing knowledge using elimination techniques.
Why is that with the same syllabus, the same study materials and similar syllabus and similar study materials, most candidates score differently? For some, just a reading of the Spectrum book is enough to answer all the Modern History questions, but for others despite reading the same book this is what they face in exams —
If it’s about prelims exam performance, then aspirants fall into either of these four categories. Which category are you in currently?
1) Prelims score 0-40: They need to work on improving their knowledge first and then learn answering tricks 2) Prelims score 50-70: They have decent knowledge and decent answering tricks. But this is not enough to clear Prelims, they need to be an above average performer. Hence, they must focus on preparing for the topics they have scored less in their mock tests. 3) Prelims score 80-100: They have good knowledge but they need to develop answering tricks. They can do without learning elimination techniques as well, but if they wish to be on the same time learning elimination techniques will guarantee them success. 4) Prelims score 120+: They have excellent knowledge and know all the answering tricks.
Free Open to All Webinar by Parth Sir on UPSC Prelims Answering Tricks and Elimination Techniques
UPSC 2020 AIR 30 Topper & Civilsdaily Student Divyanshu Chaudhary says how elimination techniques are useful for UPSC Prelims
Knowledge of a topic precedes elimination techniques in Prelims exam. Without knowing much about a topic, if one uses elimination techniques, it will only backfire.
Clearing Prelims is all about Knowledge + Answering Tricks (Tikdams). And while you are studying hard to improve your knowledge, Parth sir will help you improve your answering techniques, for absolutely FREE!
The webinar will have live demonstration of few questions from Smash Prelims 2022 mock tests and how elimination technique can be used when one is not sure between two similar looking options. Let’s look at an example to understand how.
In the context of Colonial India, Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sehgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillion are remembered as
a) Leaders of Swadeshi and Boycott Movement b) Members of the Interim Government in 1946 c) Members of the Drafting Committee in the Constituent Assembly d) Officers of the Indian National Army
If you have come across the names while reading, using elimination techniques will help you recollect exactly what you had read.
Parth sir will explain how you can answer these questions with smart techniques, even if you DON’T know the answer but have read the topic before.
This is your opportunity to learn the tricks that can help you score 120+ in your Prelims. Join Parth sir for a free webinar and this is what you can learn:
1. 10 Different types of elimination/intelligent guess techniques for hard to verify facts through solving previous year UPSC questions.
2. How to master the Elimination techniques, used by toppers.
3. Ideal strategy for the Last 120 days for UPSC prelims 2022.
4. Which are the tricky topics in the syllabus where one can use elimination techniques? Like for example information technology is a perfect topic where tricky questions can come from.
6.Open Q&A session with Parth sir
Webinar Details
We are inviting all serious aspirants to grab this FREE opportunity to learn the tricks that toppers use to score higher than everyone else.
There are limited slots available so we request you to enroll now!
Our Civilsdaily Mentor, Mr Parth has been mentoring students since 2017. He has an admirable experience of attending UPSC-CSE interview two times. Parth sir has always scored 400+ in all the 4 GS Mains Subjects. The secret of success according to him is consistency and time-management.
Knowledge alone is not enough to clear UPSC Prelims. Elimination techniques alone are not enough to crack this exam. One needs both to clear UPSC Prelims from 2014 onwards. Since UPSC Prelims is the toughest exam out of Interview and Mains with over 9.5 lakh aspirants getting disqualified, it’s always better to think about increasing 20-30 marks with your existing knowledge using elimination techniques.
Why is that with the same syllabus, the same study materials and similar syllabus and similar study materials, most candidates score differently? For some, just a reading of the Spectrum book is enough to answer all the Modern History questions, but for others despite reading the same book this is what they face in exams —
If it’s about prelims exam performance, then aspirants fall into either of these four categories. Which category are you in currently?
1) Prelims score 0-40: They need to work on improving their knowledge first and then learn answering tricks 2) Prelims score 50-70: They have decent knowledge and decent answering tricks. But this is not enough to clear Prelims, they need to be an above average performer. Hence, they must focus on preparing for the topics they have scored less in their mock tests. 3) Prelims score 80-100: They have good knowledge but they need to develop answering tricks. They can do without learning elimination techniques as well, but if they wish to be on the same time learning elimination techniques will guarantee them success. 4) Prelims score 120+: They have excellent knowledge and know all the answering tricks.
Free Open to All Webinar by Parth Sir on UPSC Prelims Answering Tricks and Elimination Techniques
UPSC 2020 AIR 30 Topper & Civilsdaily Student Divyanshu Chaudhary says how elimination techniques are useful for UPSC Prelims
Knowledge of a topic precedes elimination techniques in Prelims exam. Without knowing much about a topic, if one uses elimination techniques, it will only backfire.
Clearing Prelims is all about Knowledge + Answering Tricks (Tikdams). And while you are studying hard to improve your knowledge, Parth sir will help you improve your answering techniques, for absolutely FREE!
The webinar will have live demonstration of few questions from Smash Prelims 2022 mock tests and how elimination technique can be used when one is not sure between two similar looking options. Let’s look at an example to understand how.
In the context of Colonial India, Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sehgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillion are remembered as
a) Leaders of Swadeshi and Boycott Movement b) Members of the Interim Government in 1946 c) Members of the Drafting Committee in the Constituent Assembly d) Officers of the Indian National Army
If you have come across the names while reading, using elimination techniques will help you recollect exactly what you had read.
Parth sir will explain how you can answer these questions with smart techniques, even if you DON’T know the answer but have read the topic before.
This is your opportunity to learn the tricks that can help you score 120+ in your Prelims. Join Parth sir for a free webinar and this is what you can learn:
1. 10 Different types of elimination/intelligent guess techniques for hard to verify facts through solving previous year UPSC questions.
2. How to master the Elimination techniques, used by toppers.
3. Ideal strategy for the Last 120 days for UPSC prelims 2022.
4. Which are the tricky topics in the syllabus where one can use elimination techniques? Like for example information technology is a perfect topic where tricky questions can come from.
6.Open Q&A session with Parth sir
Webinar Details
We are inviting all serious aspirants to grab this FREE opportunity to learn the tricks that toppers use to score higher than everyone else.
There are limited slots available so we request you to enroll now!
Our Civilsdaily Mentor, Mr Parth has been mentoring students since 2017. He has an admirable experience of attending UPSC-CSE interview two times. Parth sir has always scored 400+ in all the 4 GS Mains Subjects. The secret of success according to him is consistency and time-management.
The leaders of five nuclear-weapons States — the US, Russia, China, the UK, and France, also known as the P5 issued a joint statement on preventing nuclear war and avoiding the ongoing global arms race.
Overview of the P5 statement
It is not a binding resolution and reiterates some of the core obligations of the NPT.
The P5 statement reaffirms that a “nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought” because of its “far-reaching consequences”.
The statement also expresses a commitment to the group’s Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) obligations and “to prevent the unauthorized or unintended use of nuclear weapons”.
Declaring that an arms race would benefit none and endanger all, the P5 have undertaken to:
(1) work with all states to create a security environment more conducive to progress on disarmament with the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons.
(2) continue seeking bilateral and multilateral diplomatic approaches to avoid military confrontations, strengthen stability and predictability, increase mutual understanding and confidence”.
(3) pursue “constructive dialogue with mutual respect and acknowledgment of each other’s security interests and concerns”.
Bold action on 6 measures
Bold action on six fronts is necessary.
1) Chart a path for nuclear disarmament: That member states should chart a path forward on nuclear disarmament.
2) Transparency and dialogue: They should agree to new measures of “transparency and dialogue”.
3) Address nuclear crises: They should address the “simmering” nuclear crises in the Middle East and Asia.
4) Strengthen global bodies: They should strengthen the existing global bodies that support non-proliferation, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
5) Peaceful use of nuclear technology: They should promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology.
6) Elimination of nuclear weapons: they should remind “the world’s people that eliminating nuclear weapons is the only way to guarantee that they will never be used.
Peace education and the right to peace
Peace is necessary for rights, freedom, equality, and justice, and for that reason, we need what Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. called “education in the obvious”— namely, peace education.
This is required at multiple levels, ranging across the planetary, global, supranational, regional, national, and local levels of social cognition and action.
UN Resolution 39/11 (November 12, 1984) proclaims that the peoples of our planet have a sacred right to peace and equally solemnly declares that the “preservation of the right of peoples to peace and the promotion of its implementation constitute a fundamental obligation of each State”.
The subsequent UN Resolution 53/243 B, declaring a program of action for a culture of peace (1999) also owes a great deal to Gandhi’s legacy and mission.
Conclusion
The statement is politically significant given the unimaginable danger posed by the 13,000 nuclear weapons currently believed to be held by a handful of countries, and the growing specter of loose nukes, which may be deployed by armed terrorist groups for nefarious purposes.
As India returns to a high growth path after a slowdown in the last decade, its geopolitical salience in the world will continue to rise.
India’s growth story
Today, India’s GDP is $3.1 trillion and could cross, according to some estimates, $8 trillion by the end of this decade.
India’s total trade, which was about $38 billion in 1991-92, is expected to touch $1.3 trillion this year.
This is about 40 percent of India’s GDP and underlines the fact that India is more deeply tied to the world than ever before.
The world itself is in a geo-economic churn making the transition to $8 trillion a challenging one.
Geo-economic and geopolitical changes in the global order
Geo-economic changes
It was Edward Luttwak, the well-known American strategist, who triggered a global discourse on the idea of geoeconomics in a seminal article in 1990 amidst the end of the Cold War.
Using economic dominance for political gain: The rapid economic rise of China in the last three decades and Beijing’s success in leveraging its growing economic clout for political gain is widely seen as a classic example of geoeconomics.
Economic interdependence: Luttwak’s warning against illusions of economic interdependence and globalization have been borne out by major changes in US-China relations in recent years.
The dramatic expansion of economic interdependence between China and America over the last four decades — what some called “Chimerica” — was the principal evidence for the thesis that geopolitics and ideology no longer mattered.
Chimerica was held up as an efficient economic fusion that underscored the virtues of economic globalization.
However, economic nationalism has re-emerged in both countries today.
The US is also strengthening domestic research and industrial capabilities to compete more effectively with China.
China too has adopted the economic strategy of “dual circulation” that focuses on strengthening domestic capabilities and reducing exposure to external factors.
How geopolitical and geoeconomic changes are influencing India’s free trade policies
At the end of 2019, India has walked out from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) suggesting that the costs of joining a China-centered regional economic order are unacceptable.
Deepening engagement with complementary economies: India’s move towards free trade agreements with countries like Australia, Britain, UAE, and Israel.
Domestic orientation: Much like the US and China, India is now taking a number of initiatives to promote domestic manufacturing in a range of sectors under the banner of “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
Way forward for India
Until now, India had the luxury of treating its foreign, economic, and strategic policies as separate domains.
An integrated approach to policies: Adapting to the current global geo-economic churn demands that Delhi finds better ways to integrate its financial, trade, technological, security, and foreign policies.
Above all India needs a strategy that can respond to the imperatives of building domestic capabilities, developing geo-economic partnerships, and constructing geopolitical coalitions with like-minded countries.
Consider the question “How the current geo-political and geo-economic policies are shaping India’s trade policies? Suggest the approach India need to adapt to the structural changes taking place in the global order?”
Conclusion
India’s selective trade arrangements and the policies to promote domestic manufacturing have drawn much criticism. While those arguments must continue, they must be related more closely to the structural changes in the international economic order.
