- Diplomacy & Globalization
- Democracy, Development & Society
- Science, Religion & Misc.
- Ethics/ Mains General Studies paper 4
Write an essay on following topics in 1200-1500 words each in 3 hours.
Diplomacy & Globalization
- “If the basics of a just world economic order are absent, a just world communication order is an illusion.” (Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer)
- To claim its rightful place in the world, India has to reinvent itself as a more competitive, confident and secure country first.
- A true sovereignty is an absolutely necessary condition of the existence any state. (Putin)
- Can robust foreign policy sustain without foundation of a strong domestic policy?
- The arc of failing, revanchist and scofflaw states around India.
- Is free trade always a fair trade? (Jaitley says not when companies use it for tax avoidance and tax evasion)
- In an increasingly globalized world, isolating domestic priorities from international standing, is difficult. (Context: WTO- India wants food security but can’t afford to be isolated on TFA either, same on climate change, free-trade, nuclear disarmament etc.)
Democracy, Development & Society
- Information without communication is social suffocation (Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer)
- Importance of Social media as the free platform for collective expressions of a vibrant citizenry.
- At the heart of democracy is access to information.
- Only non-violent interactions between different ideologies and disciplines will strengthen democracy in any country. (P. K. Pokker)
- If development is made a people’s movement…..(Madhav Gadgil column.)
- Is harsh economic environment a necessary obstacle for Indians to overcome? (Putin says atleast it is essential for “Patriotic Russians”.)
- Is rightist tilt bad for Indian education and polity?
Science, Religion & Misc.
- Prospects and dangers of a fully developed artificial intelligence. (Stephen Hawking says it can wipe out human race just like in Terminator 3.)
- Essence of the Gita, Bible and Kuran lies in their substance and not in symbolism. (Context: Foreign minister’s demand to declare Gita as national scripture).
- Time and tide wait for no man. (Yes, even such clichéd proverbs are now “essay worthy” topics after Mains 2014 paper!)
- (Non-serious) “Is science a dwarf in front of astrology?” (BJP MP Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank says yes it is.)
Ethics/ Mains General Studies paper 4
Discuss/elaborate/examine following quotes/statements in 200 words each.
- If contemporary India is to survive, citizens must comprehend the values of mutual sharing.
- Examine the need to cultivate a stronger culture of self-reliance among Indian youth.
- A good administrator must be a raging egalitarian, an invisible socialist, and an economic democrat.
- A good administrator has nothing to hide and everything to discover without fear or favour.
- Success of the initiatives taken for Accountability and autonomy depends on depend on the caliber of men entrusted with the tasks of governance.
- The very concept of VIP culture is an anathema to a socialist democracy. (Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer)
- Discuss the importance of Democratic processes and shareholder participation for an effective governance.
- The timeless values in life- mutual understanding, attitudes of sharing, and tolerance for others.
- Technocratic top-down systems of management are largely ineffective in public service. Do you agree?
- If you can fill the unforgiving minute, with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.” (Rudyard Kipling)
- “If I can stop one heart from breaking I shall not live in vain, If I can ease one life the aching, I shall not live in vain.” (Emily Dickinson)
- Suggest remedies for elimination neglect, abuse and violence against old persons in India. (In Mains-2014, they asked similar question about women)
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For earlier lists, visit Mrunal.org/essays.
Really appreciate the good work from you Sir. Your site is of so much help for everyone appearing for any competitive exams.
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subscribe kr lo naa.. -_- new posts ko… :/
thanks mrunal bhai. aap jo bhi matter dete hai uske kuch hindi material ya link dene ki kosis karen. thanks
Hi Mrunal, Why is India pursuing the Nuclear liability Act, which is acting a show stopper. US claims that the provisions are against the International Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage.
Why do India have a non-standard provisions and don’t adopt the global accepted laws for such issues?
thank you sir for all the work you are doing to help the aspirants.if possible then please provide essay quotes in Hindi language too
sir. thora. rest kr lo
Sir u are a source of inspiration :)
Q) Prospects and dangers of a fully developed artificial intelligence.
Ans) Human society has been curious about robotics ever since the term was popularised by science fiction and hollywood. Artificial has demonstrated its usefullness in various circumstances. However recently their has been a debate about whether it endangers mankind or not especially after stephen hawking has said that one day artificial Intelligence might destroy humanity.
Humans have been using computers since the mid 21st century. However computers need programming and hence cannot be used to do creative work like painting, thinking, learning etc… Since the early days of computers, computer scientists and programmers have dreamed about creating a machine which can think and take decisions on its own. However due to lack of technology this has remained on paper.
However literature was quick to pick up the interest artificial intelligence especially science fiction. Science has always been ahead of science. Thus Jules Verne wrote ‘20,000 leagues under the sea’ even before the submarine was invented. Thus masters of science fiction were writing about artificial intelligence in 1960’s when even computers were not developed. The best example of this is ‘I Robot’ written by Isaac Asimov which talks about a robot driven by artificial intelligence gaining ‘consciousness’. Later Hollywood got interested in Artificial Intelligence and thus led to movies like ‘A.I.’ and ‘I Robot’.
Science fiction and Hollywood has inspired a generation of Scientist and innovators to take up the challenge of creating Artificial Intelligence and due to technological breakthroughs which have taken in the past 50 years unlike earlier, they are to some extent succeeding.
The early funding of artificial intelligence was taken up by the American defense establishment in order to create a system which will help army chiefs know the pros and cons of any decision taken by them by using the available data to guess the outcome which will be produced if the decision is actually implemented. A.I. was especially helpful during the Iraq war.
A.I. has been so successful as it is able to consider a very large number of variables which is impossible for a human being. Since due to globalization, technology and the rapidly changing political, social and economic conditions, the problems that world is facing has become very complicated. Although the complexity of problems has increased, human intelligence remains the same and has not evolved. Thus we are facing problems which are so complicated that it is impossible for humans to either analyze or solve. Hence A.I. has become a necessity for the modern governments and nation states.
As can be seen above, the development is necessary. However recently A.I. has been used for military purposes. Various defense companies have created robots which can be used for attacking the enemy. Such developments have been criticized by human rights groups. This is because although humans are capable of extreme acts of cruelty, they are also capable of mercy. Soldiers mostly do not kill women, children and surrendered soldiers. In many instances soldiers have refused to attack places where there is a possibility of high collateral damage. However A.I. knows no such distinction and if employed in the battlefield will kill randomly.
As science fiction and hollywood played an important role in creating an interest in A.I. they have played an important role in spreading pessimism and fear about it. Their is a fear that developments in AI will lead to loss of jobs. Movies like the ‘Terminator’ and ‘Matrix’ series have also created a fear that machines may one day gain consciousness and rise against their masters i.e. the humans or they may on account of some programming error, hacking or virus do things which will cause tremendous damage to the human race and may in extreme cases even lead to the complete destruction of humanity.
As can be seen above A.I like nuclear energy has tremendous prospects and dangers. However it should be kept in mind that A.I is yet in its initial stage and hence can neither be a great potential nor a great threat. This is because although A.I. is able to take decisions, it is not autonomous and must be programmed . Also it is unable to learn and hence cannot be compared to human intelligence which continues to be superior.
Hence it would be best for India to continue and also boost the research in A.I. as it has tremendous potential in policy making and analyses of complex problems and emerging socio – economic trends. However India must not promote the development of autonomous robots for agression and warfare. Also if in the future, the developed countries like USA, Japan etc… start advocating and using such robots or such machines then India must work with like minded countries and groups for restricting and regulating the use of A.I. for peaceful purposes by creating a body similar to International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA). Similarly an international treaty must be signed to restrict the use of AI to peaceful purposes only. However unlike the Non Proliferation Treaty, it must not be discriminatory and must also hold the developed countries like USA accountable and impose heavy fines if they break the treaty.
Thus considering the potential and dangers of AI, its peaceful use must be promoted by funding its R&D while its use for aggression and warfare must be restricted by diplomatic means.
(Approximately 840 words. Galat topic chun liya, ran out of words to write)
sanket essay is excellent write and upload more topic
Thank you. I have written answers for ethics 2014 mains. Plz review them.
https://mrunalmanage.wpcomstaging.com/2014/12/download-upsc-mains-2014-general-studies-paper-4-gs4.html
nice one saket keep uploading
In an increasingly globalized world, isolating domestic priorities from international standing, is difficult.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B85DvjvZN4i9a1VacFVLa3o5WVU/edit?usp=docslist_api
Nice sir
essence of scriptures lies in their substance not symbolism……. in a multireligious society like india the secularism in its true sense is as essential as is its sovereignity. it will suffocate in religious plight if balance of secularism is removed. we hve various faith followers in india and our type of secularism is positive i.e equal recognition of religions not like that of west. the scriptures of various religions teach us excellent moral lessons. describing us by name of humans. their teachings can clear any impasse in path moral exclence ,help us to bridge trust deficit which is required at this hour of moral crisiis . so to follow their teaching and not becoming chauvinist about one particular type andnot focussing on symbolism is need of the hour.
Sir you are inspiration for all aspirants
Mrunal sir,thank you so much. your website is being very useful for aspirants. you are doing a marvellous job sir!