Essay: New Cults and Godmen,Threat to Traditional Religion

Essay: Do social movements strengthen democracy or weaken it?

Essay: Environmental Problems and Sustainable Development

Essay: Corruption In Public Life

I wrote this essay last year as a part of my preparation. I have written this essay with minimum of information and a fair amount of analysis.

Corruption is the buzz word today. Right from the local government to national government to international practices corruption is rampant in public life. The recent economic crisis is a good example of the corrupt practices and their impact on international arena.

In India, the corruption is there in bureaucracy, political parties, media and even NGOs. Although, it’s not a new phenomenon but its character has changed. Before liberalization it was retail in nature but now it has increased in both spread and amount. Earlier it was confined to lower bureaucracy but now it has reached to the level of ministers.

Corruption is no longer practiced quietly. It is directly impacting the policy making. For example – In 2G case, the licenses were not auctioned but given at throwaway prices and the difference was pocketed by a few politicians. It has become the part of our system. People are accepting it as a routine affair.

Some economists see corruption as “Speed Money” i.e. price needed to be paid for faster and efficient work. But, this is a faulty way to look at the corruption. It accentuates the inequity present in the system. Those who are rich can buy the services of public officials and poor can’t. Therefore, for corrupt officials money becomes more important than their duty.   

But, then maintenance and breeding of corruption is not easy. For this, the officials have to become inefficient in a sustainable manner. Once they become inefficient they are paid to become efficient. More the efficiency greater will be the earning. Hence, all the energy is wasted in devising innovative ways to become inefficient. The duties attached with the post become secondary. This also gives rise to the culture of middlemen who work as shield for officials and, thus, adds to the cost.

Corruption is a very simple way to curb competition. To illustrate, those who bribe more will get government contracts easily than others. Corruption makes the mockery of merit and brings in inefficient players. Recently concluded CWG games validates this assertion where the contracts were given to the ineligible companies in lieu of petty individual gains.

It seems that national interests are no match to individual interests. Greed is given more prominent place than ethics. The democratic ideals are absent from societal values. There exists no place for an honest person to perform his duties. For example- In the election process the expenses are so high that an honest and poor candidate can’t afford to contest elections. The election commission requires all candidates to file their assets but nobody asks them how their assets got doubled between two elections. Tax authorities and ED work only when government asks them. Clearly the transparency and accountability is missing from public sphere.

Media, which acts as a medium of communication between politicians and public, is also tainted with corruption. The role of media is to educate people on various political issues and to expose the corruption taking place in society. But, the practice of paid news is becoming a normal phenomenon today. Many new agencies earn their profits from politicians.

Clearly, there is no political will to put an end to corruption. It is mainly because the government thrives on corruption. Be it the BJP or the Congress or any other political party all are accused of some sort of corruption scandal. The fact that Lokpal bill is pending from the last 30 years and now also is taken up by the civil society supports this assertion. Then the next question that arises is “Where the corrupt money goes?”

It gets accumulated as black money. It gets deposited in tax haven countries such as Switzerland. This black money then generates employment in Switzerland and helps in improving its economy. Here, in India, we face price rise, unemployment and many other social problems such as Naxalism. The rising inflation, which even RBI is unable to handle, is the direct consequence of black money. Few studies have shown the amount of black money as comparable to India’s GDP. If it continues it may take centuries for India to become a developed country.  

There is an urgent need to understand the seriousness of situation. It is true that corruption can’t be tackled overnight. Long term measures with full dedication needs to be taken by all stakeholders to tackle corruption. One of the reasons of corruption is scarcity of resources in the light of growing population. Therefore, it is important that proper population control measures should be undertaken by both the civil society and government.

Red-Tapism should be taken care of immediately. The ‘ease of doing business index’developed by the World Bank places India at 134^th position out of 183 countries. The bureaucratic procedures are so length and time consuming that companies think twice before investing in India. This is the era of globalization and we should project ourselves as more friendly in terms of foreign investment. If not our growth is bound to suffer.

There is also a need to strengthen various vigilance agencies. CVC, CAG, CBI and ED are either ineffective to control corruption or depend upon the government. There is a need to make them independent of political interference. Today, Supreme Court is burdened with extra work and is supervising various investigations.

Above all, there is a need for more public awareness. The public acceptance of corruption must go down. If there is nobody to offer bribe then automatically it will go down. People should make full use of democracy to check corruption. Democracy demand accountability, transparency and gives voice to all sections of society. Therefore, faster we understand and use democracy better it will be for the society.     

Essay: Science and Technology

This year an essay came on the topic "Science and Technology is the panacea for the growth and security of the nation". I am writing down my framework here for the essay.

First note down the important aspects from the topic.

1. Focus on the word panacea.

• Is it panacea? NO. 
• How can it be a solution to all problems when it creates problems itself?
• So, write it in the beginning itself so that examiner understands what you want to say.

2. Find out the parameters of growth?

• High GDP.
• More average income, employment, poverty
• Equitable distribution or relative deprivation.
• Environmental aspects.
• Sustainable use of resources.
• Presence of structural inequalities.
• Agriculture (Bio technology), industries (Food processing) and service sector.
• Informal sector, Child labor, tribal welfare.
• Presence of conflict at large scale. (Naxalism)
• Less importance to religion.
• More freedom to people to do whatever they want.

3. Note down the aspects of security.

• Defence - Air, water and land
• Cyber security
• Money laundering
• Nuclear technology and weapons.
• Privacy of citizens.
• Disasters.
• Terrorism.
• Many more you can think

4. Now think to what extent science and technology will be able to achieve this.

• Enter these aspects and find out what science can do and what can not.

Framework

1.  What is science and what is technology?
2.  Why they are important? Features.
3.  Why are we saying that science can lead to growth. So, what makes it different from when we didn't have scientific inventions? (Efficiency)
4.  What kind of growth can it have?
5.  Will poor people, villages or poor nations get benefited?
6.  In what way the technology can be made cheaper and accessible to all?
7.  Are sufficient fund being allocated for this by the government? If not, what can private sector do?
8.  How it can lead to inclusive growth and good governance (Aadhar).
9.  What about the aspects of environment? GHGs, Carbon emissions, CFCs.
10. If it leads to benefit of human beings at the cost of environment will it be fruitful growth. (Uttarakhand)
11. Is it leading to structured inequalities or removing them. (Women Empowerment and caste system)
12. Rationality of science vs Religion. Is religion impediment to growth? Is science changing religion?
13. Technology changes the culture. That culture demands new institutions and new ideals arise in society which leads to further growth. (Metro changed the way railway stations look)
14. This change of culture generates conflict. Is technology able to manage this conflict which it has only created? Conflict between old and new values.
15. Nuclear energy: Controlled vs Uncontrolled reaction.
16. Terrorists using technology for destroying humanity? Use modern gadgets but traditional mindset.
17. Biotechnology can affect the environment and create problems?
18. So, bigger question is: " Overall science creates problem or solves them?"
19. If it creates problem then should we stop using it at all or we stop using it beyond a point?
20 Have we become dependent on science so that any roll back is not possible?
21. Is there any flaw in our development model?
22. What about Gandhian model of development? Village self sufficiency. Greed vs Need. Consumerism?
23. What is the way forward and conclude the essay.
 

Civil Services Exam Cleared: Rank 383

I thank all the followers of my blog for critically replying to my blog. I started writing this blog to develop it as a hobby as mentioned in UPSC form. In the process, I developed better writing skills and improved upon my thoughts.
This blog helped me a lot in my interview and a substantial portion of it was from my blog. I will keep on writing as and when time permits.
Here is my mark sheet for civils exam.

SUBJECTS	MARKS
ESSAY (PAPER-I)	130
GENRAL STUDIES -I (PAPER-II)	069
GENRAL STUDIES -II (PAPER-III)	064
GENRAL STUDIES -III (PAPER-IV)	101
GENRAL STUDIES -IV (PAPER-V)	082
OPTIONAL-I (SOCIOLOGY) (PAPER-VI)	103
OPTIONAL-II (SOCIOLOGY) (PAPER-VII)	091
WRITTEN TOTAL	640
PERSONALITY TEST	157
FINAL TOTAL	797

NAXALISM: ILLEGITIMATE MEANS FOR THE LEGITIMATE ENDS

1. What is the history behind this Naxalite movement?

• In 1964, there occurred split in CPI leading to CPI and CPI(M). M stands for Marxists.
• This split happened as a section of people associated with CPI wanted to work with government rather than to involve in people's mobilization. Another section wanted to adopt revolutionary tactics and took an anti-government stand, this section was called as CPI(M).
• CPI(M) mobilized peasants between 1964-67 and helped them during famine, rain failure and inflation.
• In 1967, CPI(M) decided to fight elections. Though they didn't have much expectations but they won and form a government in West Bengal.
• Now, CPI(M) was in dilemma. On the one hand they cadres were trained to oppose government and on the other they themselves were government now.
• Young cadres of CPI(M) rejected the stand of their party of entering electoral politics to bring change and formed a new party CPI(ML) i.e. Marxist Leninist. 
• Due to the improper implementation of land reforms in Naxalbari and surrounding areas at that time the CPI(ML) acdres led to an armed uprising which has now 
• Finally, CPI(ML) merged with MCC to form CPI(Maoists) which is spearheading Naxalism in India today.

2. How this Naxalism is related to the failure of land reforms?

• CPI(ML) got the boost only when the government was not implementing the policy of land reforms in right manner. The upper castes colluded with the government officials and provided obstacle to land reforms.
• Also, the lack of implementation of 5th schedule by the respective state governments led to the alienation of tribal people from the government. 
• This led to the uprising by the CPI(ML) cadres and they advocated armed revolution to obtain their rights.
• Today, they want to overthrow the Indian state to realize their own vision of development.

3. Who supports Naxalites?

• It is the deprived and exploited sections of society, mainly tribals, whose basic needs such as food and water have not been fulfilled by the government.

4. What are the various causes of Naxalism?

• Land related issues: Evasion of land ceiling laws, lack of titles to landless people and transfer of land to no-tribals in the schedule 5 areas.
• Displacement related issues: Eviction of tribals from their traditional land for irrigation, mining and other projects. Failure to give proper compensation & lack of rehabilitation exacerbated the problem.
• Livelihood related issues: Lack of alternate work opportunities as these people don't have skills to work in modern occupations. Not given minimum wage for their hard work (Naxalites give them work with minimum wages). Lack of food security with non-functional PDS.
• Social Exclusion: Humiliation from upper castes in the form of forced labor, sexual exploitation of women leading to denial of respect and dignity.
• Governance related issues: Poor provisions of essential public services such as health, roads and other infrastructure. Lack of motivated personnel leads to corruption and exploitation of tribals. Failure of implementation of PESA by the state governments.

5. How these Naxalites generate support for themselves?

• They create conditions for the non-functioning of the government and seeks to disrupt the developmental activities of the government.
• Then they do some development work and create fear in the mind of people to control them.

6. What is the role of different agencies to solve this problem?

• Security Forces: Form trained special task forces on the pattern of grey hounds as done in A.P. Sensitize and re-train them to the root causes of the problem. Draw police force from local youth so that the locals will get employment and the police will get the local intelligence.
• Administrative Institutions: Effectively implement the laws and improve the service delivery mechanism. Implement FRA effectively. There is an urgent need to implement NREGS in letter ans spirit to solve the issues of depressed wages. Give more flexibility in the implementation of centrally sponsored scheme by decentralization.Timely and effective implementation of dispute settlement is necessary.
• Government Personnel: Identify the officers who have empathy and sensitivity towards the problem and the people. Recognize their service, reward them and finally involve them in policy making. Remove the dominance of non-tribals from the civil services in that area.
• Local bodies: Strengthen the local bodies to solve the local problems. Properly implement PESA. Cooperative sector should be developed to check corruption and inefficiency.
• Civil Society: It can check the abuse by the police. Educate the people about the futility of violence. Prevent the aggravation of situation by ventilating public grievances within the legal democratic framework.

7. What is Integrated Action Plan?

• Look at this link for complete information. http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=79472