Mains Practice Questions

Q. Explain with examples what do you mean by the term empathy. Also, discuss how it is an important trait for the present-day civil servants?

Q. A better solution than privatization may well be giving Public Sector Banks autonomy to reform themselves and function free of political interference. Justify.

Q. BIMSTEC needs a paradigm shift in raising the level of cooperation and regional integration. Discuss.

Q. The role played by B R Ambedkar has helped in nation-building and continues to have a prominent impact on the present Indian socio-economic-political setup. Discuss.

Q. The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance.

Q. Sandeep Patel an IAS officer, was posted as Transport Commissioner. While performing chi’s duties he found that the whole of the Transport department including its Minister are steeped in corruption.

It is widely believed that the Minister of the Department has arranged posting of ‘bad elements’ to sensitive jobs with the sole objective of facilitating rent seeking. Due to this, corrupt practices took place mainly in check-posts.

There is heavy vehicle traffic to the neighbouring state which has many ports. There is a parking area where the drivers of the trucks first park the vehicle. They then collect ‘challans’ (demand note) after standing in a long queue before the window of the challan issuing officers.

The driver may have to wait in the queue anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour to collect the challan from the clerk. Along with the challan amount, the truck drivers also paid an ‘extra’ amount as indicated in a coded sign language by the challan issuing staff.

Further, due to the manual system, vehicles are held up for considerable time at the check-posts.

In Sandeep’s place how would you try to improve the system?

Q. “The dormancy of the Parliament makes democracy in India as good as dead. The deterioration in Parliament’s functioning needs to be stopped to make it fulfill its constitutional mandate”. Discuss. 

Q. Discuss Kautilya’s philosophy of “Yatha Raja Tatha Praja” (As the king is, so will be the people) in the context of today’s political leadership in India. 

Q. Indian Monsoon remains one of the most complex geophysical phenomena. In light of the statement explain the mechanism of the onset of the Indian monsoon.

Q. The growing use of technology in the election process has made cybersecurity a crucial issue. Analyse

Q. The greatest power is not money power, but political power.

Q. BIMSTEC can act as a suitable replacement of SAARC, in India's neighbourhood foreign policy domain. Critically Analyse.

Q. Discuss the relevance of Biotechnology in the growth trajectory of India.

Q. Explain the term western disturbances and their impact on the Indian weather systems.

Q. Explain the term probity and its relevance to civil services in India.

Q. PM-KISAN has the potential to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty and the low income of farmers. Critically Discuss.

Q. Feminism is for everybody.

Q. Elections have been declared in the state. According to the election code of conduct, all major decisions have been put on hold. In this situation, chief secretary, Deepankar Prakash faced a delicate problem that arose from the failure of rains in some parts of the state.

In this case, extra power has to be supplied to farmers to enable them to run irrigation pump sets. Power was also needed to tackle drinking water supply problems. The situation led to public dissatisfaction and the Chief Minister knew that it would affect the party’s election prospects.

However, the state had no generation capacity, power has to be purchased at a high cost. Further, the state electricity board had no money. Funds can be given to the board only by withdrawing a large sum from the contingency fund.

In this situation, the chief minister has asked Deepankar Prakash to do something about the matter. Imagine yourself as the chief secretary and discuss the different options available and how will you respond in this case?

Q. Explain the term welfare state? Discuss to what extent Indian fulfills the criteria of being a welfare state?  

Q. Discuss the major factors that are responsible for the origin of ocean currents across the globe.

Q. Citizen’s Charter seeks to continuously improve the quality of public services for the people so as to respond to their needs and wishes. In the light of the statement discuss the foundational features of a citizen’s charter and what do citizens expect out of it.

Q. Farmer producer organizations have the potential to act as a solution to agrarian distress. Comment. 

Q. Great powers must be forever vigilant and never subordinate survival to any other goal, including prosperity.

Q. Enabling lateral entry into the current system of administration is a positive step towards administrative reforms in India. Critically analyze.(250 Words)

Q. Explain the various types of landforms formed under Karst topography.

Q. Highlight the differences between codes of ethics and codes of conduct.

Q. India is known to be the pharmacy of the world. However, the Indian pharma sector faces many issues that it needs to rectify. Comment.

Q. Discuss the major reservations of India with respect to the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Q. There are no beautiful surfaces without a terrible depth.

Q. Discuss the term heat budget and how it impacts the temperature in the earth's atmosphere.