- Analysis
- Instructions
- Culture (40m)
- Indian History (30m)
- World History (30m)
- Social issues (50m)
- Geography (100m)
- Mains-2014 GS1 Question Paper: Linear format
- Bogus Marketing Propaganda
Analysis of Mains-2014 GS1 Paper
- Word limit reduced but complexity & vagueness increased. साला इतना डिटेल में कोन प्रिपेर करता है? (Who prepares everything in this much detail?)
- It seems Mains exam has become a competition, not to select “best among good answers” but rather “less bad among the worst answers”. Because it’s impossible to write 25/25 in honest manner even with sincere preparation.
- Easy to give arm-chair commentaries like “UPSC is testing candidate’s emotional aptitude, and for xyz question- Hindu, old-NCERT or some random optional subject book has given 1-2 points, so candidate ought to have web-researched backwards and prepared a decent 200 words notes on everything under the Sun”….Plain waste of demographic dividend, electricity and bandwidth it is.
- But positive side: Paper doesn’t put those without coaching, at disadvantage. Even for Mains-2015 exam, if coaching-walla try to revamp their material from scratch, perhaps UPSC will come up with yet another Back-Breaking MoveTM.
- More can be said after analyzing the paper and preparing its Answerkey in peace.
2013 | 2014 |
---|---|
10 marks = 200 words | No five-marker questions this time. 10 mark = 150 words. Word limit reduced. Seems UPSC examiner realized it’s difficult to assemble 200 words for every topic under the Sun. |
Culture difficult. | More difficult, and weightage doubled from 20 to direct 40 marks. |
Modern Indian History: Lord Dalhousie asked. (1850s) | Rewind the tape even further (1760s). Panipat asked. |
— |
|
Freedom struggle complicated- like role of foreigners who made India their homeland. Women freedom fighters. |
|
Less questions of this format. | Question with interlinking between two syllabus topics Example
|
Globalization topic asked | Not asked. |
Geography 70 marks. |
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sociology vague (increase male membership in women organization) | Slightly less vague because there is ample opportunities to ‘invent’ answers in joint family-economic factors, patriarchy and working women. |
Anyways, let’s check the paper:
Instructions for General Studies Paper1
- There are TWENTY-FIVE (25) questions printed both in HINDI and ENGLISH.
- All the questions are compulsory.
- The number of marks carried by a question/part is indicated against it.
- Answers must be written in the medium authorized in the Admission Certificate which must be stated clearly on the cover of this Question-cum-Answer (QCA) Booklet in the space provided. No marks will be given for answers written in a medium other than the authorized one.
- Word limit in questions, wherever specified, should be adhered to.
- Any page or portion of the page left blank in the answer book must be clearly struck off.
- Answer the questions in NOT MORE THAN 150 words each. Contents of the answer is more important than its length. All questions carry equal marks.
Culture (40m)
Syllabus Topic: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
- To what extent has the urban planning and culture of the Indus Valley Civilization provided inputs to the present day urbanization? Discuss.
- Gandhara sculpture owed as much to the Romans as to the Greeks. Explain.
- Taxila university was one of the oldest universities of the world with which were associated a number of renowned learned personalities of different disciplines. Its strategic location caused its fame to flourish, but unlike Nalanda, it is not considered as a university in the modern sense. Discuss.
- Sufis and medieval mystic saints failed to modify either the religious ideas and practices or the outward structure of Hindu / Muslim societies to any appreciable extent. Comment.
Indian History (30m)
- The third battle of Panipat was fought in 1761. Why were so many empire-shaking battles fought at Panipat?
- Examine critically the various facets of economic policies of the British in India from mid-eighteenth century till independence.
- In what ways did the naval mutiny prove to be the last nail in the coffin of British colonial aspirations in India?
World History (30m)
Syllabus Topic: History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.- their forms and effect on the society.
- What were the major political, economic and social developments in the world which motivated the anti-colonial struggle in India?
- What were the events that led to the Suez Crisis in 1956? How did it deal a final blow to Britain’s self-image as a world power?
- The New Economic Policy – 1921 of Lenin had influenced the policies adopted by India soon after independence. Evaluate.
Social issues (50m)
Role Of Women |
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Population Issues |
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Population Issues |
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Role Of Women / Poverty-Development |
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Secularism |
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Geography (100m)
Industrial Location (30m)
- Whereas the British planters had developed tea gardens all along the Shivaliks and Lesser Himalayas from Assam to Himachal Pradesh, in effect they did not succeed beyond the Darjeeling area. Explain.
- Account for the change in the spatial pattern of the Iron and Steel industry in the world.
- Why did the Green Revolution in India virtually by-pass the eastern region despite fertile soil and good availability of water?
Physical Geography (20m)
- Explain the formation of thousands of islands in Indonesian and Philippines archipelagos.
- Why are the world’s fold mountain systems located along the margins of continents? Bring out the association between the global distribution of Fold Mountains and the earthquakes and volcanoes.
Climatology (30m)
- Tropical cyclones are largely confined to South China Sea, Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Mexico. Why?
- Most of the unusual climatic happenings are explained as an outcome of the El-Nino effect. Do you agree?
- Bring out the relationship between the shrinking Himalayan glaciers and the symptoms of climate change in the Indian sub-continent.
Resource distribution (20m)
- Critically evaluate the various resources of the oceans which can be harnessed to meet the resource crisis in the world.
- How does India see its place in the economic space of rising natural resource rich Africa?
[accordion] [accordion_item title=”Question Paper: Linear format. Click to expand”]
- To what extent has the urban planning and culture of the Indus Valley Civilization provided inputs to the present day urbanization? Discuss.
- Gandhara sculpture owed as much to the Romans as to the Greeks. Explain.
- Taxila university was one of the oldest universities of the world with which were associated a number of renowned learned personalities of different disciplines. Its strategic location caused its fame to flourish, but unlike Nalanda, it is not considered as a university in the modern sense. Discuss.
- The third battle of Panipat was fought in 1761. Why were so many empire-shaking battles fought at Panipat?
- Sufis and medieval mystic saints failed to modify either the religious ideas and practices or the outward structure of Hindu / Muslim societies to any appreciable extent. Comment.
- Examine critically the various facets of economic policies of the British in India from mid-eighteenth century till independence.
- In what ways did the naval mutiny prove to be the last nail in the coffin of British colonial aspirations in India?
- What were the major political, economic and social developments in the world which motivated the anti-colonial struggle in India?
- What were the events that led to the Suez Crisis in 1956? How did it deal a final blow to Britain’s self-image as a world power?
- The New Economic Policy – 1921 of Lenin had influenced the policies adopted by India soon after independence. Evaluate.
- How does patriarchy impact the position of a middle class working woman in India?
- Why do some of the most prosperous regions of India have an adverse sex ratio for women? Give your arguments.
- Whereas the British planters had developed tea gardens all along the Shivaliks and Lesser Himalayas from Assam to Himachal Pradesh, in effect they did not succeed beyond the Darjeeling area. Explain.
- Why did the Green Revolution in India virtually by-pass the eastern region despite fertile soil and good availability of water?
- The life cycle of a joint family depends on economic factors rather than social values. Discuss.
- Discuss the various economic and socio-cultural forces that are driving increasing feminization of agriculture in India.
- How do the Indian debates on secularism differ from the debates in the West?
- Most of the unusual climatic happenings are explained as an outcome of the El-Nino effect. Do you agree?
- Why are the world’s fold mountain systems located along the margins of continents? Bring out the association between the global distribution of fold mountains and the earthquakes and volcanoes.
- Explain the formation of thousands of islands in Indonesian and Philippines archipelagos.
- Tropical cyclones are largely confined to South China Sea, Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Mexico. Why?
- Bring out the relationship between the shrinking Himalayan glaciers and the symptoms of climate change in the Indian sub-continent.
- Account for the change in the spatial pattern of the Iron and Steel industry in the world.
- Critically evaluate the various resources of the oceans which can be harnessed to meet the resource crisis in the world.
- How does India see its place in the economic space of rising natural resource rich Africa?
[/accordion_item] [/accordion]
Bogus Marketing Propaganda
There is not much to propagandize, because just two questions where Mrunal.org had sufficient content:
Question | utility out of 10 marks |
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|
10/10 |
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10/10 |
World history questions- good amount of points in old NCERTs uploaded at Mrunal.org/history | 0 because I didnot write old NCERT. |
Darjeeling Tea. | 5/10. Because the said article only talks about why Darjeeling was suitable. But doesn’t talk about why Britishers couldn’t move beyond that. Those points had to be ‘invented’. |
Total Aukaat | 25/250 |
visit Mrunal.org/download for more papers.
Seriously its rubbish to see such paper by UPSC….i am not able to understand what they are testing and what they are expecting from aspirants…I dont understand is that a GS paper or optional paper(esp history and geography)..the more coaching centers are adopting themselves to upsc pattern the more variety of patterns upsc is introducing which is a very bad sign..its demoralizing and injustice especially who are preparing seriously since ages…they should give some model answer so that we know what exactly they are expecting from us.
PS: Mrunal also have a hand in this…he is covering almost everything so upsc is trying to beat mrunal and in the process they have ended up preparing such paper….;)
It’ seems upsc lifts all the material from mukhrji or rajendra I.e.HOT spots of upicology. Some one from paper setter joins all leading coaching test series. .And unfortunately this year UPSC got a link to Mrunal.org too..so useful tips for next year. .
1.Join a test series based out of delhi..
2..Mrunal need to have a cyber security in place by the earliest to avoid the p hissing or snoop gate like things..
haan bhai..ppr dkh kr yhi laga ki ab mrunal Da ki bhi jasoosi krne lage hain UPSC waale.. -_-
upsc determined to kill us… 25 questions in180 min
avg less than 7 min to write meaningfull answer in 150 words (only if u know something about it). i can write only 10 out of 25 answers .just few points about 5 and complete answers of 5 questions.
planned for cse 2015.
DOnt give up bro….quitting is a permanent situation…better move forward
Sir, if UPSC doing this type of magics every year, then how can we crack it ? even they analyzed your material and framed out of questions ! how neatly they are linking the two topics. It throws out so many serious players and aspirants out of the Race..Really very Bad.
I am suprised that everybody is criticising the paper. I think, this is the transition in the right direction. You don’t need to mug up the facts. If you have the ability to interlink the things, you are perfect for the situation. Why you people want questions to be asked only from what you studied through coaching waala material and particular websites and books? Is it not again a rot learning?
UPSC declared what it wants in yesterday comprehension:
” ….. Above all, never forget that creative intelligence is correlation of facts and ideas, not mere memorizing. What counts is what you can do with your knowledge, by linking it with other things you have studied or observed. …… In everything you read, keep at the back of your mind what it means to your life here and now, how it supports or challenges the things you were taught in school, in church and at home, and how the wisdom you get from books can guide you in your thinking, in your career, in your voting as a citizen and in your personal morals.”
May be it does not want you to know why Britishers did not venture beyond Darjeeling, but want you to link the concepts you learnt to the said observation.
Is this relevant for IAS ?
My guess is yes. According to Mary Parker Follet:
A leader is one:
“Who can see all around a situation, who sees it as related to certain purposes and policies, who sees it evolving into the next situation, who understands how to pass from one situation to another”
That requires linking the observation. UPSC didn’t create the new observation, but put a real observation and asked to analyse it. (like the one about vulnerable class and businesses in urban areas)
Yes, hard work of past one year was not put to test, but exam is to chose better administrator and not to ask what candidates generally prepared. Even UPSC itself say that a well informed guy can attempt the paper
This from NCERT geography class xi … Page 13 …. Darjiling and Sikkim Himalayas …. Shivalik vs Duar formation
well said vakkoda , even though paper toughness was rapidly increased compared to last year !
Did you Wrote vakkoda ?
There should be a like + thanks button on mrunal.org, for you @vakkoda, every one is crying out loud but reality is that the paper was like breath of fresh air and it was deliberately inserted in the syllabus by UPSC that the mains exam is intended to access ‘overall intellectual traits’ and ‘depth of understanding’ rather than merely ‘range of information’ and ‘memory’.
Well done UPSC!
BTW this is the real aukaat of mrunal-
http://www.worthofweb.com/website-value/mrunal.org ->yes a whopping 4.87 crore!
I personally agree… It was a bit shattering not to see stuff I spent so long studying, but this paper made us really dig deep into every piece of information we’ve ever come across to see if it can find application… In the long run, this is probably a better approach.. but at the same time, that much range of thought is really hard with 25 questions in 3 hours…
Having said which, I wouldn’t go so far as to call the paper easy.. But it was definitely more enjoyable to write :) it was not just spewing mugged up facts, but having to actually analyse and construct an answer that somehow addressed such abstract question!
You are partially right. Well informed means what? Information would be comparative. One would read to increase it and analyse and Co relate it. But in exam hall you have to do it fast and the fastest would be selected. It does not mean others failed to analyse. It just means they could analyse fewer topics than others. Ultimately it is becoming a race. A person who is just well informed can’t succeed and i can bet on that and one needs to be trained for analysing faster and syllabus is a good counter to your argument too if you ll get what i am saying.
Well said man! and especially the link with English comprehension. The direction UPSC is taking is the right one. Who wants a knowledge bank? When we need an administrator we have to test for the right attributes. I also gave the exam, and I did not know why panipat was chosen explicitly, but I inferred from how medieval battles were fought and what kind of geographical factors suited them, and how Panipat was near to Mughal capitals,etc etc. All in all it was almost accurate answer except for one fact which I missed that Panipat was just before Delhi on the Grand Trunk road from Afghanistan. I did the same process for Taxila University also. Everything needs to be collated with the knowledge you have gained and understood the significance of. Students have to take cognizance of this fact. The Nation needs suitable people and we have to strive to develop those abilities in ourselves.
‘You don’t need to mug up the facts. If you have the ability to interlink the things, you are perfect for the situation. Why you people want questions to be asked only from what you studied through coaching waala material and particular websites and books? Is it not again a rot learning?’
‘May be it does not want you to know why Britishers did not venture beyond Darjeeling, but want you to link the concepts you learnt to the said observation.’
Excellent analysis vakkoda. Maybe UPSC wants to see as to what extent the answer that we guessed (by using what we have studied) and the real answers (provided by UPSC) match with each other? The more the accurate answer the more the marks.
This exam is mostly about application of knowledge.
this the right attitude!
@Deven, Srinath, Dexter, Stresscat, Sherlock, Shanky, Sanket, Sahil: “This from NCERT geography class xi … Page 13 …. Darjiling and Sikkim Himalayas …. Shivalik vs Duar formation”. According to me this is not the right approach. The question was nothing to deal with NCERT. We already mugged up them and still mugging up..and continue to mug up…. Finding the answer is not that difficult as long as you have reliable resources.. Plz try to learn how you got the answer or arrived at answer / conclusion.. This is what UPSC started testing. When you know all basic facts, its just the matter of applying common sense. I was felt LOL when I read interview of this years topper Gauravji. Most of the time he was telling “Everyone knows everything”. “common sense” for most part of syllabus. Now I got the real intent behind that. We knew panipat, we knew Darjeeling, we knew assam- tea plantations, we also knew about Gandharva sculptures and Taxila-Nalanda University. Everybody who wrote this exam atleast once, they might have come across these terms… But the thing is, while answering, how our common sense works is. In paper-2, I did not know much about funding agencies – purchasing from leading countries question. But I just tried to apply my common sense. So, mentality of finding answers from standard books, websites, Delhi coaching factory materials etc…must change to adapt to this pattern change by UPSC. Hope you understand. These are my views and I may be completely wrong. Just forgive me.
GS paper 2 was d toughest ppr i v evr seen in upsc!
it doesn’t matter whether how many questions came directly from mrunal.org but important thing is that you always show us a new way in understanding many topics….thanks for that.. n hope it will continue with same enthusiasm..
both paper were lenghty,difficult to give meaningful answer for all,in second paper tough task was understand the question,
sidhi bat no bakwas; mai to kahta hun ki upsc to dasega hi chahe use upsc kaho ya upsc ji. btw thanks mrunal bhai.
Questions on Indian Culture were selectively chosen from the Book – “Indian Civilization and Culture” by Suhas Chatterjee (Out of print)
Yes,but tat to answer mere panipat battle..but to answer why panipat one shed have read medieval India also..only then u can understand why panipat was the battle ground those years..
Yes..I too felt the same..tat too first time I felt tat Upsc is moving in the direction which requir s a well informed person who can analyse how things are changing and ways write and wrong…etc.
But I think time was very less for paper 2 as well informed person may need som.e time to think and provide rationale behind stuff and then give suggestions…questions were complex to understand in 1 go…
But gs1 was a little unexpected…and unproprotionate imp togeography makes others vulnerable who did not read to answer turf question s like Indonesia. Islands..
I think it shud have had equal distribution
Also bhakti movement and Indus valley were not read for mains…and then compare it to present is a challenge…
But yaar them hai …no one can be perfect for all 25 quest…I think all HV written to the best of their k owl edge and tat counts…
We HV to c GS 3 4…and their marking ..to k ow wat their acceptance or rejection to vague story filled answers…
such questions can be answered in a better way if someone would have relied more on self study and incidental observations rather than the stereotype study.Such paper in future would be boon to candidates who are more creative, better organizer and gives more time in thinking.But again looking at this year prelims question, the level was not good as the previous year. So, unwillingly i have to take this last stand “YOU NEVER KNOW” ..
..its how, why what….rather than who, which, whom……..you will not gain much if you know..” who won battle of Panipat ” but why only in Panipat and what factors were responsible for that battle to take place at 90 km away from Delhi…..why is it the common ground for both the armies………its a change from logical reasoning rather than vomiting out what you had memorized.
Ncert shows best way to learn….its psychologically designed so that people make student ask why and how of things……..so i can ask plz revisit NCERTS and solve those questions also which are there at starting of chapter and in end of it. thanku……mrunal sir…i salute your honesty
well said friend !!!!
The Darjiling and Sikkim Himalayas
They are flanked by Nepal Himalayas in the
west and Bhutan Himalayas in the east. It is
relatively small but is a most significant part
of the Himalayas. Known for its fast-flowing rivers such as Tista, it is a region of high
mountain peaks like Kanchenjunga
(Kanchengiri), and deep valleys. The higher
reaches of this region are inhabited by Lepcha
tribes while the southern part, particularly the
Darjiling Himalayas, has a mixed population
of Nepalis, Bengalis and tribals from Central
India. The British, taking advantage of the
physical conditions such as moderate slope,
thick soil cover with high organic content, well
distributed rainfall throughout the year and
mild winters, introduced tea plantations in this
region. As compared to the other sections of
the Himalayas, these along with the Arunachal
Himalayas are conspicuous by the absence of
the Shiwalik formations. In place of the
Shiwaliks here, the ‘duar formations’ are
important, which have also been used for the
development of tea gardens.
Mrunal thanks a lot for ur efforts. Cud I request for one thing. The way you have segregated this article into subtopics, can we (possibly after mains exam) have a series wherein past say (10 if not 22 years) questions are posted for each subtopic like the essay article written by you. With that all of us shall be able to understand the depth and breadth of UPSC questions being asked and will help us prepare effectively. I’ve done that for past 2 years including pre and last years mains but looking at this years papers the trend seems to go for a toss. Please help
purchase chronicle q bank, they segregate question asked in mains chapter wise for popular optional and gs mains as it was called earlier
I do have Disha 18 years for pre .. but didnt find it so good .. I mean some eco ques clubbed with geo and stuff … anyways if Mrunal comes up with that article nothing like it else will follow as suggested by you. Tnx
Haryana n Maharashtra elections
upsc:how to use this in question paper…hm..let me look at history….haryana(panipat)…third battle of panipat….link with Marahtas(that means Maharashtra)….vow…got it…u candiadates take it….ha.ha.ha
Modu use to sell chai when he was young(Chaiwalla). Hence the Darjeeling tea question..ha.ha.ha
Sahi hai…What an analogy..Out of the Box thinking.. :)
hahahahaha… :D
kyaa baat hai…
mogambo khush huaa..
war”n”peace ..paper setter chek him out..:P
Mrunal bhai…Aaap Hanuman ho…aapko apni aukat ka pata nahi hai…it might look 25/250…lekin aap ne jo hidden Gyan diya hai uske dam pe ham sab ka kalyan ho jayega …aur janta 100/250 pa jayegi ish paper men…
The GS 1 and GS 2 papers established 2 facts:
1. Gone are the days when to clear CSE, one had to memories truckload of information instead of critically understanding his/her surrounding. The precis in the English paper itself was a statement by the UPSC on this. In fact questions could be answered by anyone, without any revision, who had invested in one good reading to understand the world around us.
2. Mrunalji is on right track as far as the requirement from Civil Servants as expected by UPSC is concerned. Mrunalji has been providing the right fodders, it is upto us to feed on them and digesting them.
Mrunal, first a thousand thanks to you:) i felt a bit disheartened by the paper, yet am happy with my performance. the four year studies, time pass knowledge and films all put in a basket and shuffled and then cream topped by your work, was my exam writting… thanks man….
hi anyone giving wbcs mains exam 2014. Not being able to download admit card . link not working. can someone plesae suggest from where can I download?
the reason for choosing panipat for all three battles is asked.
1. All defenders of delhi seemed to have a psychological need to take the battle away from delhi but close to their supply lines.Supply of foodgrain,material was a continous process which was totally unplanned and hence supply lines had to be protected ;from all accounts indian armies of those days were truly gigantic numbering in lakhs, hence supply had to be continous.
2.all messages were compulsorily carried by horse, panipat was well connected to both punjab and north west frontier, as well as to the doab…also, water. north india had in those days shahi nehars or royal ponds for water, in various places, but they were concentrated along the ‘royal road’ leading away from delhi
3but there is another simple and powerful reason, understand that ARTILLERY was used in all three battles. in fact in the 1st battle that artillery proved to be decisivein 2nd not so much so but arrows and muskets were used to devastating effect by the mughals in third also both marathas and abdali both were packing lots of artillery,(light for abdali and heavy for marathas)
Now artillery is used on open ground not in forests ditto for muskets like jezail which all afgans carried
.
Sir,I ‘m a regular follower of ur blog
1. The third battle of Panipat was fought in 1761. Why were so many empire-shaking battles fought at Panipat?
Answer: – The central asian invaders(babur and durrani) as well as Akbar had a captured Punjab(Present day Pakistan+Punjab+Haryana) and establish a resource base.
They wanted to capture Delhi because it is very important strategic location as it facilitates expansion into the doab which is an excellent resource base for manpower, revenues and food supply and also as it was the seat of political power since the Delhi Sultanate.
Since panipat is between Punjab and Delhi and also as it is a flat ground suitable for cavalry movement, hence it was the site for many empire shaking battles.
its also the gateway to india.one should first cross punjab[panipat],so it its the meeting point of 2 different powers leading to war.it also shows the weak presence of forces at the order area
bhaai exact yahi likh kr aaye ho??
I did not give this years mains. However Mrunal Sir told has advised us to attempt the questions and post comments. Besides if somebody knows the correct answer, he can correct me.
good one hai dost…keep doing writing practice.. tumhare baaki answers bhi dekhe ..!
a long way to go… :) all d best .. :)
Also Maratha’s knew that if they wish to rule over India then they need to do power assertion near Delhi. Hence, if they win a battle in Panipat that will open up the gates for them to overcome Delhi’s thrown and thereby could expand their rule all over India.
(What you all feel about this?)
Thank you for reviewing my answer
The Maratha confederacy had already established themselves over large parts of North India. Hence they were already the dominant power.
Accordingly to a pact made earlier between the Mughal Emperor and Marathas, they came to defend Delhi from Abdali’s threat. However Abdali managed to isolate them diplomatically. When the campaign started, Abdali successfully cut of the food supplies of the Marathas. The Marathas preferred to die fighting rather than die of starvation, hence they were forced to attack Abdali who was well entreched in Panipat.
Thus the battle site of Panipat was chosen by Abdali and not the Marathas. Also the Maratha attack in Panipat was an act of desperation and not a assertion of power.
Thank you for the explanation. I accept your answer.
best answer so far.
Question. To what extent has the urban planning and culture of the Indus Valley Civilization provided inputs to the present day urbanization? Discuss.
Ans. 1. Planning: – The Harrappan civilization was well planed as can be seen from the drainage system whereas the present Indian cities are growing in an extremely unplanned and haphazard manner
2. Water Management: – The Harappan cities like Dholavira which faced scarcity of water made efforts to store water as can be seen from a tank in Dholavira.
Question. Sufis and medieval mystic saints failed to modify either the religious ideas and practices or the outward structure of Hindu / Muslim societies to any appreciable extent. Comment.
Ans. Although the Sufis and other mystics opposed various practices like inequality, rituals etc… however they were never able to modify the structure or practices of the society because: –
1. Unlike Hinduism and Islam which were directly linked to the state via land grants in the case of Hindus and Shara in the case of Islam, Sufis and other mystics never directly involved with the state.
2. They were not widespread due to opposition from the orthodox elements.
Dear Sanket
The question says how Harappan Civilization “PROVIDED inputs” i.e. we need to write about the already implemented techniques originating in the Harappan Civilization and your answer is what presently we can do accepting the inputs from the civilization.
Hence, we can write about ‘Chandigarh’ as it has been designed based on the
1. Town planning of Harappan Civilization: The whole Chandigarh city is divided into sectors which is one of the most efficient ways of town planning even the modern civilized world.
2. Drainage System of Harappan Civilization: The development of drainage system requires accurate knowledge of the gradient at which the roads need to be built. Hence, while developing Chandigarh’s drainage system the research in the Hadappan Civilization played a very crucial role.
Also covered drains were the part of Indus Valley Civilization. And there were old known flush toilets. (Read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitation_of_the_Indus_Valley_Civilization)
3. Roads: The roads in the Indus Valley Civilization were designed to meet at right angles. And Only smaller roads would lead to the households i.e. houses were not situated on the main roads of the town. Based on this input many modern architects have designed the modern cities like Chandigarh.
4. Water Management: Every house in the Indus Valley Civilization was provided with sufficient access to water and drainage facilities.
5. Egalitarian Society: The archaeological findings show that in this civilization everyone had an equal status. Hence, the modern governments have an aim to achieve such a society and Indus Valley Civilization played an important role in revealing that in olden times civilizations were indeed based on the principle of equality.
Thank you for reviewing my answer.
The answer you suggested is excellent especially the way you compared Chandigarh with Harappa.
However I do not agree with point no: 5. I do not feel the Harappa was egalitarian due to the differences between the citadel and lower town.
The Harappan civilization showed presence of citadel and place of commons. Excavations show presence of “The Great Bath”, restricted worship places, varied burial practices(showing belief in afterlife/rebirth), though there is no evidence of religion and caste but, it is well known that harappans worshiped the forces of nature. so, the presence of social equality is questionable.
other things to be mentioned are:-
Planning:-
* double (multi) storeyed houses.
* sewers with slabs.
* spacious dwellings for workmen.
* use of burnt bricks.
* higher storage places for protection of crops from perishing.
* The planning of cities was continued and developed till many centuries. It shows constructive administration and collective planning.
* The houses were similar, there were no windows towards the road which suggests the safety measures taken by them against theft.
Culture:-
* Although hierarchy of some sort is clearly evident, still the studies show that the living conditions of workmen was satisfactory.
* The cities in this civilization took care of their needs through trade of various agricultural and ornamental goods.
* Toys, jewelleries and statutes were also manufactured and consumed.
Thanks Sanket for sharing your views. Its good to have writing practice but unfortunately you couldn’t comprehend the question related to “Indus Valley Civilization” properly.
Mrunal sir, whenever i open some link in your page, it gets loaded in that page only.pls fix it so that it open in other page…hope u do it
Kshtriya- hold down ctrl button and then click on any link on any website. it’ll open in a new tab.
thanx
i dont know whether my two months of study leave from work was worth..i would have wrote the same if i had come and written from office………………
hahaha…. upsc is getting tougher and tougher every year….. from does it ask questions from… what are the sources… i just cant figure out…
The answer for, Why British did not move beyond darjeeling ?
Reason:
Beyond Darjeeling, Arunachal Himalayas exist. in Arunachal Himalayas Shiwalik formations are not exist, which are essential for tree
plantations. so British did not go beyond Darjeeling
Doesn’t it mention already that they developed estates till Assam too? And Assam is beyond Darjeeling if we’re interpreting it that way. I saw it as : “Why were the tea estates not very successful in areas other than Darjeeling, despite being established?”
tea estates were very succesfull in assam ie beyond darjelling..it wasnt succesfull with camellia sinesis breed of tea but from 1861 and camellia assamica breed…it was very succesfull …
and beyond darjelling ie between tista and brahmaputra lies assam himalayas and then purvanchal himalayas trm arunachal
After looking into these questions, I am happy that spending 3hrs a day in a newspaper is not waste of time. I can attempt most of the questions ,except culture questions by just reading newspapers in both horizontal and vertical reading. Thanks a lot mrunal.
please explain what do you mean by horizontal & vertical reading
like for honest comment – ”0 because I didnot write old NCERT”
Mrunal Sir,
Please let us know in how many days we will see the answers of this year Mains Exam so as to see the depth of questions asked. It will help us to arrange the references of the text books especially for the culture portion asked.