UPSC Mains 2020 GS Paper 2 with Solutions - 1 | UPSC Previous Year Question Papers and Video Analysis PDF Download

Q.1. “There is a need for simplification of Procedure for disqualification of persons found guilty of corrupt practices under the Representation of Peoples Act”. Comment (Answer in 150 words)

Free and fair election is basis of any democracy. To ensure this sanctity of election process in India the section 123 of the Representation of People, Act (RPS) 1951 provides for disqualification of persons found guilty of corrupt practices.

Need of simplification of procedure

• Address delay: Corrupt practices have the effect of vitiating the whole election and if not addressed in timely manner will break the trust and fairness of person for electoral.
• Multiple layers in disqualification: After court holds person to be guilty then again to decide on disqualification opinion of ECI is taken by the President.
• Ambiguity: Ex- Ashok Chavan case (Maharashtra) in 2014 was decided by the ECI (almost 6 years after representation was made) in a case of excess expenditure not mentioned in election offences (“A corrupt practices”). It didn’t go through election petition route and Delhi High court dismissed petition challenging ECI jurisdiction which was based on “implied authorization” as the persons sponsoring advertisements are responsible office bearers holding important positions in the party.

What needs to be done

• Addressing ambiguity: The ECI may be made authority to hear “corrupt practices” as almost all instances of corrupt practices also falls under its regulation of Model Code of conduct. Right of appeal to high court/Supreme court against judgement could be made.
• Time-bound hearing: As evident in Ashok Chavan case by the time process completes the disqualification loses relevance with electoral at loss. Thus, this needs to be concluded in maximum one month with daily hearing.
• A clear awareness drive by the ECI to make people aware of the procedure to file complaint under corrupt practices as current position is too legalistic for a common man to understand.

Election is the path to maintain the sanctity of democracy and thus procedure of addressing corrupt practices concern needs to be made simple, unambiguous and time-bound.

Q.2. “Recent amendments to the Right to Information Act will have profound impact on the autonomy and independence of the Information Commission”. Discuss. (Answer in 150 words)

Introduction
Write about RTI as the master key to governance imparting information as right was in controversy for recent amendments seen as interfering in independence of information commissioners.

Body

• First bring out what amendments have been made recently.
• Term of Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) and Information Commissioner (ICs) at Centre and State: Earlier Act provided for 5 years term, which will now be notified by the Central government.
• Salary, allowances and other terms of services will also be set by the Central government
• Section entailing pension amounts for retired government officials being deducted from the Information commissioner’s salary has now been withdrawn.
• Now explain how its impacting independence and what are governments counter argument
  

Conclusion and way ahead
The concerns regarding amendments need to be addressed through assurance by the government. While the amendment does not weaken enforcers as such, but public consultation as well as states must be onboard in such changes. Also focus should be on aspects like filling up offices, strengthening sanctioning mechanism by following stipulated timelines in the RTI act are done it will augur well for transparent government in India.

Q.3. How far do you think cooperation, competition and confrontation have shaped the nature of federation in India? Cite some recent examples to validate your answer. (Answer in 150 words)

Introduction
Explain in a line about federation (i.e., coming together of a national and regional government under a political unit) and then Nature of Indian federation which is “Union of state” as mentioned in Article 1 of the Constitution being “Federation with Centralising tendency”.

Body
Discuss role of each of three C’s in shaping federation

Cooperation, Competition and Confrontation shaping federation:

Conclusion
Conclude by emphasizing these aspects in promoting federalism. i.e. Successful federation is not one which is more stable. Rather it is one with the confrontation and competition as way of engagement and finally engagement leading to cooperation for achieving overall goals.

Q.4. The judicial system in India and UK seem to be converging as well as diverging in recent times. Highlight the key points of convergence and divergence between the two nations in terms of their judicial practices. (Answer in 150 words)

Introduction
Evolution of Indian judiciary with the Government of India, Act 1935 as the source imparts similarity as well as differences in judicial system of India and UK.

Body
Discuss points of convergence and divergence and explain each point with focus on aspects like judicial independence, Parliamentary sovereignty

Area of divergence

• Parliamentary sovereignty in UK vs a mix of judicial supremacy and Parliamentary sovereignty in India
• Single Integrated Judiciary in India vs Different system in UK (One for Britain and Wales, other for Scotland etc.)
• System of appointment of judges (In UK appointment is by a queen on recommendation of PM who gets name from a selection commission vs Collegium system with Judges appointing judges)
• The UK judiciary is a result of evolution over the years and in India it is result of Constitution

Area of Convergence

• Administration of Rule of Law
• Follows Common Law system i.e., law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions and arises as a precedent
• Highest Court of appeal
• judicial independence is the principle (Both ensures it through their own system of appointment)

Conclusion
Conclude on lines that the functioning, composition and legal procedure have close convergence as source is Government of India Act. At the same time divergence is due to India adopting its Constitution in its unique context to ensure an Integrated judiciary.

Q.5. ‘Once a Speaker, Always a speaker’! Do you think this practice should be adopted to impart objectivity to the office of the Speaker of Lok Sabha? What could be it’s implication for the robust functioning of parliamentary business in India? ( (Answer in 150 words)

OR

Recent incidents in Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly has proved that office of speaker remains controversial. Comment

Features of British Speaker
The position of the Speaker is a position of great prestige and dignity. In UK, there is a convention that once a Speaker, always a Speaker. It means that a Speaker’s constituency is unchallenged. Once a person is appointed as a Speaker he gives formal resignation from his political parties. He has a casting vote and ultimate disciplinary powers with respect to the conduct of the House and MPs.

Speaker of Lok Sabha
Though our position is midway between the British and the US model, it is theoretically closer to the British model. But similar conventions do not exist. For instance:

• It is not necessary for the Speaker to resign from his party
• If he decides to resign, he will not be disqualified under the Anti-defection law.
• No convention in India that he will be elected uncontested.

Therefore, if the British convention of ‘Once a Speaker, Always a speaker’ is adopted it will impart neutrality and impartiality to the position of the speaker. Since the seat of the speaker is a safe and secure seat he/ashe can act independently of the party. He will not be seen as a party loyalist by other party members.This will improve the functioning of the Parliament.

Q.6. In order to enhance the prospects of social development, sound and adequate health care policies are needed in the fields of geriatric and maternal health care. Discuss (Answer in 150 words)

Social development is about improving the well-being of every individual in society so they can reach their full potential. The success of society is linked to the well-being of each and every citizen.

Social development means investing in people. It requires the removal of barriers so that all citizens can journey toward their dreams with confidence and dignity. It is about refusing to accept that people who live in poverty will always be poor. It is about helping people so they can move forward on their path to self-sufficiency.

According to a 2017 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),around 12.5% of India’s population will be 60 years and older by 2030.

The United Nations estimates that at current levels of fertility and mortality, one out of every 55 women in India faces the risk of maternal death, compared with one in 80 in Pakistan and one in 610 in Sri Lanka.
Though India performed well in reducing MMR, more challenges are to be addressed to achieve a society which is inclusive.

Challenges associated with maternal health care in India

• Addressing anaemia and Malnourishment in both mother and child:
  According to government figures from the year 2015-2016, 22.9 per cent of women in the 15-29 age group are underweight, as compared to 20.2 per cent of men in the same age group.
• The problem of hidden hunger
  (80% of which 1/3rd being women and girls)
• Gender inequality and poor sanitation
• Anti natal and neo natal healthcare

Availability of doctors
Studies and Survey reveal that in India, there is one government doctor for every 10,189 people (the World Health Organisation recommends a ratio of 1:1,000) implying a deficit of 6,00,000 doctors. The nurse:patient ratio is 1:483, implying a shortage of two million nurses.)

Rural urban divide
National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health (NCMH) report that about 80 per cent of health infrastructure, medical manpower and other health resources are concentrated in urban areas where only 31 per cent of the population live.

Schemes to address maternal healthcare in India:

• LaQshya
  This program focuses on Public Health facilities to help. They will be assisted by helping them improve their maternity operation theatres, and help augment the quality of care in labour rooms.
  This program will be implemented in all Community Health Centres (CHC), First Referral Unit (FRU), District Hospitals, Medical College Hospitals.
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY)
  On fulfilling certain conditions, the beneficiaries would receive Rs 5,000 in 3 instalments.Cash benefits would be directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana – Common Application Software (PMMVY – CAS) is used for monitoring this program.
• Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)
  This scheme is completely sponsored by the Government of India.
  Janani Suraksha Yojana comes under the National Health Mission.
• Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA)
  This program was launched with the objective of detecting and treating cases of anaemia.
• Elderly persons and associated challenges
  India is going through a demographic transition with a fall in fertility rate and increase in life expectancy.
  A positive side of this is rise in working class thereby decrease in dependency ratio. Soon, we will face another challenge with a rapid increase in the number of aged and the associated health and social issues, as large bulk of population will move from working ages to old ages, thereby increasing the old age dependency.
  According to Population Census 2011, there are nearly 104 million elderly persons in India.
  According to a 2017 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),By 2050, the percentage of elderly population in India will increase to one-fifth of the total population.

Challenges faced by elderly persons
A familiarity with the medical profile of the elderly is essential for planning and implementation of policy related to healthy old age. Certain diseases are more common among elderly than among the youth.

• Studies have identified hypertension, cataract, osteoarthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), ischemic heart disease, diabetes mellitus, benign prostatic hypertrophy, upper and lower gastrointestinal dysmotility (dyspepsia and constipation), and depression as the common diseases among older patients that account for nearly 85% of all the diagnosis among elderly.
• Due to age-related physiological changes and alterations in host defenses, they are more prone to infectious diseases, though the clinical manifestations are subtle and nonspecific.
• Tuberculosis is emerging as an important disease among elderly, and more than 90% of them are endogenous in origin.
• Tuberculosis-related mortality was 20% among elderly as compared to 3% in younger age group.
• Diabetes is becoming an emerging epidemic among the elderly age group. The prevalence of diabetes increases as the age advances.
• The prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in the geriatric population is between 13% and 22%.
• As the age advances, the cognitive functions of the elderly also get affected. Depression is quite common among geriatric population.
• Disorders such as dementia usually caused by underlying nonreversible conditions such as Alzheimer’s and vascular trauma have a huge impact on ADL of the elderly and will increase the burden on caregiver.

Efforts from Government

The National Programme for the Health Care for the Elderly (NPHCE) is an articulation of the International and national commitments of the Government as envisaged under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), National Policy on Older Persons (NPOP) adopted by the Government of India in 1999 & Section 20 of “The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007” dealing with provisions for medical care of Senior Citizen.

Vision

• To provide accessible, affordable, and high-quality long-term, comprehensive and dedicated care services to an Ageing population,
• Creating a new “architecture” for Ageing,
• To build a framework to create an enabling environment for “a Society for all Ages”,
• To promote the concept of Active and Healthy Ageing.

Way forward

• India is a developing nation and it still has a long way to go in maternal, child and geriatric care.
• Our country is yet to be sensitized toward the need for comprehensive geriatric care and maternal health care which otherwise will get absorbed in the myriads of problems our country is facing.
• Active campaigning and advocacy will be required to promote legislation, influence public policy, conduct research, and provide public education on a wide range of issues of concern to elders and maternal health.

Conclusion
India being a signatory of SDG’s, should work on the Goal 16 (Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels) to realise the positive impacts of social development in all spheres.

Q.7. “Institutional quality is a crucial driver of economic performance”. In this context, suggest reforms in Civil Service for Strengthening Democracy. (Answer in 150 words)

There is a growing realization that many agencies of government are functioning sub optimally, and government programmes have not always yielded the desired results. While the achievements of the public services are praiseworthy in dealing with the vast expanded responsibilities since Independence and especially during difficult periods of crisis, they are often deficient in crucial areas such as productivity, responsiveness, accountability and integrity. Authority frequently appears to be divorced from accountability, leading to a system of realistic and plausible alibis for non-performance. Inefficiency, corruption and delays have become, in public perception, the hallmarks of public administration in India.

Administration should be reformed to bring about improved transparency, greater accountability and streamlining of the structure of government, based on decentralization, civil services reform, an open and responsive government, rule of law, fiscal and environmental sustainability and elimination of all forms of corruption. Th ere is need to restructure our governance institutions and rejuvenate our administrative system so that it can respond to the growing challenges of governance. Th e State needs to reorient its focus on the core functions of government such as maintaining peace and stability in the country and the task of social investment and provision of public goods through investment in the social sectors like health and education, as these are critical to lifting people out of abject need, preventing inter-generational transmission of poverty, long term development of human capital, achievement of full human potential and promotion of rapid, sustainable and equitable economic growth.

Administration must become far more accountable and effective in delivering results with the same expenditure. In order to accomplish these goals, there should be conscious eff orts to establish the links and fuse authority with accountability. While compliance with processes is important to ensure objectivity and fairness, the processes themselves need to be simplified and changed from time to time. Priority needs to be given to ensuring that the intended outcomes benefit society. Th ere is need to redesign our delivery mechanisms in an innovative manner based on past experience and best practices and deploy the nation’s fi nest talent for this purpose.

Capacity of Civil Services plays a vital role in rendering a wide variety of services, implementing welfare programs and performing core governance functions. A transformational change in Civil Service Capacity is proposed to be affected by organically linking the transformation of work culture, strengthening public institutions and adopting modern technology to build civil service capacity with the overall aim of ensuring efficient delivery of services to citizens.

Q.8. “The emergence of Fourth Industrial Revolution (Digital Revolution) has initiated e-Governance as an integral part of the government”. Discuss (Answer in 150 words)

Introduction
E-Governance initiatives have played an important role in shaping the progressive e-Governance strategy of the country. e-Governance in India has steadily evolved from computerization of Government Departments to initiatives that encapsulate the finer points of Governance, such as citizen centricity, service orientation and transparency.

Body

• Rising inequality and falling levels of trust, political leaders and their citizens are becoming increasingly sceptical about the potential of further global integration to contribute to national interests.
• public and private sector organisations and individuals are embracing a range of emerging technologies which know no geographic or political boundaries
• Traditional models of governance are being disrupted by technologies.
  • challenge of adopting digital means of managing and securing information within and across large bureaucracies,
  • Private sector players, particularly those deeply involved in the production or deployment of new technologies, often consider governments to be short-sighted, ill-prepared and, more often than not, acting in ways that stifle innovation, which result in a further erosion of trust between these different actors, and a corresponding shortage of cooperation and collaboration 
  • new governance models must highlight and integrate the fact that the responsibility for governance does not lie purely with the public sector. Instead, it must harness the insight and influence of the private sector while ensuring that citizens are protected from the negative and disruptive elements of emerging technologies.
• The Fourth Industrial Revolution is revealing a number of gaps and opportunities in how leaders govern in both the public and private sectors. These range from increasing the capacity of existing governance structures to assess and absorb new technologies, to the creation of entirely new roles for policymakers so as to better balance the need.
• Accelerating the societal benefits of artificial intelligence and machine learning while ensuring equity, privacy, transparency, accountability and social impact.

Conclusion
New technologies intervene and enable large-scale transformation and help in the implementation of ambitious government plans. Governance is a challenge in a country as vast, diverse and rapidly developing as India. E-governance thus is important to make governance effective and easy catering to the needs of people.

Q.9. critically examine the role of WHO in providing global health security during the COVID-19 Pandemic (Answer in 150 words)

Start with WHO and its role in global health security (global institution to expand international health cooperation due to increased mobility, globalisation etc.). Also discuss how WHO became most important agency to deal with the pandemic in coordinated manner.

Body

1. First discuss the pro-activeness shown by WHO in fighting pandemic within its capacity which is limited. For ex-

• Issuing guidelines once Pandemic was declared in March
• Acted as one source for scientific approach to handle, prevention, track and test
• Along with Un it formed Solidary Response Fund to address challenges frontline workers have been facing and Global Humanitarian Response Plan was launched.
• Tracked and supported vaccine development
• Regular health bulletin to keep everyone informed and counter misinformation’s

Limitations within which it functioned

• Poor capacity of WHO: Recommendary role, low funding (only about 2 billion dollar), lacks authority for directing an international response for pandemic of such scale.
• Geopolitics over issue

2. Discuss in detail criticism over its role

• Delayed declaration of public health concern of international independence
• Lack of independence and complicity with some nations
• Poor preparedness as it already had sound data about SARS virus
• Delayed declaration of human-to-human transmission even after Taiwan reported case
• It did not endorse travel and tourism restriction and cited it as stigmatising countries
• Stakeholder accountability missing as many countries criticised it for its overall response

Conclude
Conclusion should focus on need of reform in WHO.
Pandemic overwhelmed all aspects of life and so was the case with the WHO’s role. This is the time to acknowledge issues in the body and launch a reform process to address its funding concern, granting autonomy as well as creating an accountability mechanism.

Q.10. “Indian diaspora has a decisive role to play in the politics and economy of America and European Countries”. Comment with examples. (Answer in 150 words)

Introduction
Discuss about diaspora and India as the largest country of origin for international migrants.
Ex- Diaspora refers to person/s belonging to a particular country with a common origin or culture, but residing outside their homeland for various reasons. America and Europe has emerged as major destination particularly for skilled workers from India and has been instrumental in developing relations between two.

Body

Separate discussion in two parts i.e., impact on politics and secondly on economy
A) Impact on politics:

• Deepening political relationship: Ex- Indian diaspora in USA as an important political lobby has influence on USA’s policy making.
• Shaping policy: Ex- In USA, UK, Canada and even in other countries many persons of Indian origin rose to the rank of ministers.
• CARICOM countries have presence of more than a million-strong Indian diaspora which act as a vibrant and enduring link of friendship with the Caribbean (Ex- Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago) as well as have been even at top of political leadership.
• Domestic politics: UK as well as Canada sees politics over Sikhs or issues in Punjab as they form a major part of diaspora. This at times act as negative factor in relations as well.
• Diaspora event: Ex- Howdy Modi and similar events elsewhere shows important role diaspora has today on domestic as well as foreign relationship.
• Increasing role of soft power

B) Economy

• Remittances contribution
• Source of investment
• Contributor to GDP. Ex- In UK Indian diaspora contribute to 6% of GDP.
• Strategic relations: Civil Nuclear deal with the USA saw very important role of diaspora
• Developing knowledge economy of America and Europe. Ex- STEM immigration as major share in these countries

Conclusion
Conclude on the lines that diaspora has emerged as the major strength of India with a major determinant of foreign relations.