GS - 1 | UPSC Mains Answer Writing: Practice PDF Download

• GS-1 is a colossus. The syllabus is huge with a lot of factual content and requires memorisation to master the subject. Among the general studies papers, this is the first you will be writing. If it goes wrong, it can badly affect your confidence and negatively impact the rest of the Mains papers. So, not just for this specific test but for the overall exam, it’s really important that you get this spot on.
• GS-1 can be categorised into four broad sections:
  • Geography
  • Art and Culture
  • History (World history, Modern and Post Independent Indian history)
  •  Indian Society

In this chapter, let’s look how you can answer questions in each of these segments:

GEOGRAPHY

• This is a scoring portion of GS-1 as its questions tend to be objective and give you immense scope for maps and diagrams. If you write these questions well and max out your scores per question, you’ll see an overall jump in the final score as well. In geography, questions are pretty straightforward and most aspirants can easily grasp the demand of the question. However, I would like suggest the following points, which if incorporated will give you a slight edge over others

ILLUSTRATE USING MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

• For every question in geography, make it a point to illustrate your answer. It can be a map that depicts a location or a pattern, or a diagram that conveys additional information in less time and space. Every geographical phenomenon lends itself for pictorial representation. But, to draw it under the time constraints of the actual examination is difficult, which is why you must practise and prepare them as much as you can during your preparation itself. This will help you draw effortlessly within the time limit. Do not worry if your drawing skills not good. Just get the basics right. Marks will be awarded for accuracy of information not the beauty of the diagram itself.
• Also, aspirants often shy away from drawing maps thinking that one needs specific data such as population density, quantity of rainfall, or oceanic salinity to label them. That’s not the case. Even if you don’t remember the numbers precisely, you can draw a map and categorise the space into different areas such as High, Medium, Low or Below National Average, Average and Above National Average. Whether the question is on monsoons, earth quake zones, or agriculture productivity, use this idea to represent those areas on the map.
• To illustrate, consider the following question: Critically examine the challenges faced by India in upscaling Solar power as part of its energy basket.
• To answer it, one may not know the locations of major solar power plants or the amount of annual solar power being generated. Yet you can represent the potential solar power locations as follows:

SUBSTANTIATE WITH NAMES OF LOCATIONS

• This is well known fact, but needs to be emphasised. Geography answers stand out when you can support your points with examples from the country and around the world. For example, if the question pertains to Mediterranean climate, mention at least 3 places that fall under this category. If they ask about coal industrial location, give examples of 4-5 major coal bearing areas and locate them on the map.
•  Even in human geography questions such as urbanisation, migration and such, give several examples to emphasise your point. For instance, any answer on watershed management would read much better if you quote examples like Ralegaon Siddhi and Hiware Bazar of Maharashtra. More the examples, better the answer.

ENRICH YOUR ANSWERS BY ADDING THE HUMAN ELEMENT

• Even if the question strictly pertains to physical geography, you can make it holistic by adding the human dimension— by explaining how that physical phenomenon affects the people located there. For instance, if the question pertains to rivers, add a point or two about how it results in cropping pattern, industrial location etc. Besides, practice diagrams for concepts in human geography too such as urban sprawl, heat island, flood plain encroachment, watershed management etc.

WHEREVER APT, LINK YOUR GEOGRAPHY ANSWERS TO CURRENT AFFAIRS.

• Questions are routinely asked on latest happenings. In recent years, UPSC asked many questions on topics such as the smart city project, urban floods, and environment conservation. 
• For such questions, mention the recent incidents to argue your point. For example, if there is a question on balancing forest conservation via-a-vis tribal rights, think of FRA legislation and live examples where it has been implemented successfully.

ART AND CULTURE

• To write good answers in Art and Culture, one needs good memory and constant revision. Apart from memorisation of facts, the following three components— Analysis, Examples, and Diagrams make for a good answer in Art and Culture section.
• Analysis: Art and Culture is a factual topic, but in recent years, the UPSC questions are leaning towards the analytical side. This analytical aspect of any art related topic can be understood by asking the question, what does this art signify? In any historical period, art emerges under a particular context that reflects the social, economical, and political systems of those times. For instance, when you read about Sangam  literature, ask yourself, What does this tell about various facets of people living in those times? Similarly, Buddhist art should be co-related to Buddha’s life and how it intertwined with larger societal upheavals during those times. Same goes for murals, rock-cut architecture and puppetry. Once you prepare this way, you can handle analytical questions of art and culture easily. Apart from examples, always understand the larger perspective. This will help you write better answers.
• Examples: Your analysis carries weight if you can substantiate it with relevant examples from that period relating to that particular kind of art. A rough rule of thumb is under every subheading there should be at least one example. Similarly, if you write about how Buddhist art reflects the life and teachings of the Buddha, make your answer diverse by first dividing your answer into various types of Buddhist art such as stupas, sculptures, rock cut architecture, wall paintings etc. Under each head, give an example of where such art is found.
• Diagrams: Some concepts in Art and Culture can be illustrated through diagrams. For instance, questions on temple architecture can be depicted through a simple diagram of Dravida and Nagara styles, showing the basic differences. This way, you present more information in less time. Below are a couple of rough diagrams to give you an idea about how to practice and incorporate them in your answers.

HISTORY

• History is relatively easy and straightforward. It is nothing but an analytical account of past events to help us understand and predict the future. 
• Hence, when you are studying history topics, don't fret over years and dates, put more focus on analysis, which usually consists of the underlying causes and consequences of a particular event. 
• When you are writing your answers, do incorporate many examples to strengthen your points. 
• For instance, a question asking about global spread of Cold War should inevitably have examples of Vietnam war, Afghan conflict, Korean War. Analysis coupled with examples is what makes a solid answer in History.
• Just as with other GS subjects, one can draw relevant maps in History to illustrate information simply and methodically. Here’s an sample diagram that you can draw for anything related to decolonisation process post World War II.

INDIAN SOCIETY

• Most questions from this section are based on current affairs. But, the challenge we face in this portion is that, unlike geography or history, questions that are asked are often generic, making it difficult to write a coherent answer. Therefore, it helps to have a broad framework in order to churn out clear and objective answers. This can be achieved if we incorporate the following elements in the answer.
• Crisp definitions: Many of the topics listed under sociology portion of the paper have conceptual nouns such as globalisation, communalism, regionalism etc. When a question is asked on such topics, simply start your answer with a brief definition of the term. To avoid scampering for definitions in the exam hall, prepare a clear, concise definition of all sociology related terms beforehand, so that you have a ready introduction to your answer.
• Below is a list of some frequently used terms in this section and their definitions. There can be many definitions, these are merely indicative to help you understand how to break a concept down to its constituent parts.
• Globalisation means the process by which different cultures, ideas, societies and nations integrate through a network of trade, communication and information technology.

  
  

• Secularism means separation of religion from the state and its politics. It treats religion as a private and a personal affair.

• Communalism is an ideology based on the belief that society is divided into religious communities whose politics, economic, social interest diverge and are even hostile to each other because of their religious differences.

• Regionalism is an ideology under which the interests of a region or a state are asserted in hostile opposition to the interests of other region, state or the country as a whole.

• Social Empowerment is the process through which we seek to create a fair society by giving equal rights, autonomy and opportunity to groups of people which have been subjected to discrimination based on their disability, race, ethnicity, religion, or gender.

• Subheadings: Delineate phrases that are asked in the question, and use them as your subheadings. It gives a sense of structure and objectivity to your write up. Besides, to make your answer reasoned, substantiate your arguments with statistics, wherever apt. To illustrate, consider the following question:
• Distinguish between religiousness/religiosity and communalism giving one example of how the former has got transformed into the latter in independent India.
• The subheadings and the broad structure of the answer would be as follows:
  • Introduction: Define religiosity and communalism with an example each
  • Differences between religiosity and communalism: Draw a table and list out 3-4 differences
  • How religiosity transformed into communalism: Mentioning the various reasons (with substantiation) across various dimensions — economic, social, political, technological etc.,
  • Way forward: Give 2-3 suggestions along with Constitutional provisions to solve the problem.
  • Conclusion: For sociology topics, it’s always advisable to use Constitutional provisions especially the preamble and the directive principles to conclude the answer.
    • To sum up, for a good answer under the Society topic, you need: a short definition, statistics, exploration of wide dimensions, sub headings that replicate the terms in the question and a solution-oriented conclusion. This will ensure that even when the questions are generic, you will have a basic framework ready to write an objective answer.

SAMPLE ANSWER

1. What is water stress? How and why does it differ regionally in India?

A. Water stress is a situation where the demand for water outstrips the available quantity in the region. India is home to nearly 17% of the world’s population but has only 4% of the world’s freshwater.

How water stress varies regionally

• High: UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, AP, Maharashtra
• Medium : Central and East India
• Low: Kerala, North East, West Bengal and Jammu & Kashmir

Why it varies— Reasons

•  Geographical: Availability of perennial rivers and high precipitation reduces chances of from water stress. Eg: Kerala and North East are water abundant whereas Vidarbha suffers from water stress.
• Economic: Reckless industrialisation leads to water pollution(Eg: Yamuna river in Delhi, Belandur lake in Bangalore). Further, unplanned urbanisation leads to encroachment of lakes and river beds, thus affecting ground water recharge.
• Agriculture: In UP, Punjab and Maharashtra, cultivation of water guzzling crops like paddy and sugarcane results in water stress.
• Populist policies such as free power causes excessive extraction and depletion of ground water.

Way forward

• Encourage water conservation practices such as watershed management(Ralegaon Siddhi), rain water harvesting through soak-it construction and waterbody rejuvenation (Eg: Mission Kakatiya of Telangana)
• Effective urban planning and removal illegal encroachments on water bodies.
• Increasing forest cover to at least 33% helps in preventing water run off and increased precipitation
• Practicing sustainable agriculture by cropping as per agro-climatic zones. Encouraging farmers to cultivate millets and pulses in rain deficit areas