UPSC Mains 2025 Political Science and International Relations Optional Question Papers with Model Answers
All 56 questions of the 2025 Civil Services Main Examination, PSIR Paper I and PSIR Paper II, with marks and a suggested time per part. Solve each part on paper first, then open the model answer, or send it to answer-writing practice for evaluation.
UPSC Mains 2025 Political Science and International Relations PSIR Paper I
Question 1 (50 marks)
Q1(a) · Political Theory and Theories of the State · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Approaches to Political Theory: Normative, Historical, Empirical, Behavioural and Post-behavioural
Explain the Philosophical approach to the study of Political theory.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
राजनीति सिद्धान्त के अध्ययन के दार्शनिक उपागम को समझाइये।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q1(a)
Approach: Define the philosophical approach, show its method and thinkers, note its value and limits, and conclude on its continuing relevance.
The philosophical approach is the oldest way of studying politics. It asks what the state, law and authority ought to be and why citizens should obey, rather than how institutions actually work.
Method: it reasons deductively from first principles about human nature and the good life, uses thought experiments, and clarifies concepts such as justice and liberty. Leo Strauss (What Is Political Philosophy?, 1959) defended it as the attempt to replace opinion about political things with knowledge of them.
Thinkers: Plato’s ideal state ruled by philosopher-kings, Hobbes’s state of nature in Leviathan (1651), Rousseau’s general will and, in our time, Rawls’s original position and veil of ignorance in A Theory of Justice (1971).
Value: it supplies the standards by which policies are judged; debates on reservation, euthanasia or privacy (Puttaswamy, 2017) are at bottom philosophical.
Limits: behaviouralists such as Easton called it speculative and unverifiable, and it can ignore the facts of power.
Today it works best alongside empirical research: facts tell us what is possible, philosophy what is desirable.Q1(b) · Justice, Equality and Rights · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Multiculturalism, Citizenship and Recognition
Write a note on the relation between equality and liberty from the multi-cultural perspective.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
बहु-सांस्कृतिक परिप्रेक्ष्य में समानता तथा उदारवाद के मध्य सम्बन्ध पर टिप्पणी लिखिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q1(b)
Approach: A short note: show how multiculturalists reinterpret equality (equal recognition, not identical treatment) and liberty (cultural context of choice), the tension between group rights and individual liberty, and an Indian illustration.
Liberal theory usually links equality with identical treatment and liberty with individual choice. Multiculturalism reinterprets both from the standpoint of cultural diversity.
Equality as equal recognition: Charles Taylor (The Politics of Recognition, 1992) and Bhikhu Parekh argue that difference-blind rules often reflect the majority's culture, so equal treatment can be unequal in effect. Equality may require differentiated rights, such as exemptions for Sikh turbans from helmet rules.
Liberty as culturally situated: Will Kymlicka (Multicultural Citizenship, 1995) argues that a secure societal culture provides the context of choice; protecting minority cultures thus enhances, rather than limits, individual liberty.
Tension: Kymlicka allows external protections for groups but not internal restrictions on members. Susan Okin warned that group rights can curb women's liberty, and Brian Barry defended uniform rules.
India's Constitution combines equality and liberty with cultural rights under Articles 29–30, while the Supreme Court's striking down of instant triple talaq (Shayara Bano, 2017) shows liberty within groups prevailing.Q1(c) · Democracy, Power and Political Ideologies · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Power, Hegemony, Ideology and Legitimacy
Explain the Macpherson's view on power.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
शक्ति पर मैक्फर्सन के दृष्टिकोण को समझाइये।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q1(c)
Approach: Explain Macpherson's distinction between developmental and extractive power, link it to his critique of capitalism and possessive individualism, and assess briefly.
C.B. Macpherson, in Democratic Theory: Essays in Retrieval (1973), criticised liberal theory for confusing two different senses of power.
Developmental power is a person's ability to use and develop his own human capacities, the ethical ideal of liberalism since J.S. Mill. Extractive power is the ability to use the capacities of others, which in a capitalist market is exercised by owners of capital over those who must sell their labour.
Because capitalism concentrates ownership, it involves a continuous net transfer of power from the many to the few, so the developmental power of most people is diminished. Liberal democracy, resting on possessive individualism, thus contradicts its own promise of equal freedom.
Macpherson concluded that democracy must reduce extractive power through greater economic equality and participatory institutions. His view anticipates Amartya Sen's capability approach, though critics find his account of markets one-sided and his remedies vague.Q1(d) · Democracy, Power and Political Ideologies · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Fascism, Gandhism and Feminism
Mention the difference between Italian and German brands of fascism.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
इतालवी और जर्मन ब्रांड के फासीवाद के बीच अन्तर का उल्लेख कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q1(d)
Approach: State the common features of the two fascisms briefly, then list the differences point-wise: the primacy of state or race, racism, economy, ideological sources and degree of control.
Fascism in Italy (Mussolini, in power from 1922) and Nazism in Germany (Hitler, from 1933) shared ultra-nationalism, anti-communism, anti-liberalism, a leader cult and a one-party totalitarian state, but they differed in important ways.
(i) Basis: Italian fascism made the state supreme, while Nazism made the race or Volk supreme, with the state only its instrument. (ii) Racism: biological racism and anti-Semitism were central to Nazism and ended in the Holocaust, while Italy adopted racial laws only in 1938, under German influence.
(iii) Economy: Italy built the corporate state, organising employers and workers in corporations, while Nazism controlled private industry less formally for rearmament.
(iv) Ideological sources: Italian fascism drew on Giovanni Gentile's idealism and on syndicalism; Nazism on Social Darwinism and racial theory, as set out in Mein Kampf. (v) Degree of control: Nazi totalitarianism was more complete, while Mussolini coexisted with the monarchy and the Catholic Church.Q1(e) · Democracy, Power and Political Ideologies · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Democracy: Classical and Contemporary Theories
Explain briefly the elite theory of democracy.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
लोकतंत्र के अभिजन सिद्धान्त को संक्षेप में समझाइये।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q1(e)
Approach: The question asks for a brief explanation, so define the elite theory, trace it from the classical elitists to Schumpeter, and close with the main criticism and an Indian illustration.
The elite theory of democracy holds that every society is ruled by a small organised minority, so democracy cannot mean literal rule by the people. It reinterprets democracy as a method by which elites compete for power.
The classical elitists laid its base: Vilfredo Pareto's circulation of elites, Gaetano Mosca's ruling class (The Ruling Class), and Robert Michels' iron law of oligarchy (Political Parties, 1911), under which even socialist parties are run by a few leaders.
Joseph Schumpeter, in Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1942), recast this as democratic elitism: democracy is a competitive struggle among leaders for the people's vote, and the citizen's role is to choose and remove governments, not to rule.
Pluralists like Robert Dahl replied that power is dispersed among competing groups, and Carole Pateman criticised the theory for reducing citizens to passive voters. In India, party high commands and political dynasties lend the theory support, but the rise of backward-caste and Dalit leaders shows elites widening under democratic pressure.
Question 2 (50 marks)
Q2(a) · Political Theory and Theories of the State · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Marxist and Pluralist Theories of the State
What is the Marxist and liberal approach towards the state? On what grounds the theoretical differences between them are premised? Explain.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
राज्य का मार्क्सवादी एवं उदारवादी परिप्रेक्ष्य क्या है? दोनों के बीच के सैद्धांतिक अन्तर किन आधारों पर स्थापित हैं? व्याख्या कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(a)
Approach: Two parts: set out the Marxist and the liberal approaches to the state, then explain the premises (view of society, human nature, origin, role, neutrality, future of the state) on which they differ.
The state is the central concept of political science, but liberals and Marxists explain its nature and purpose in opposite ways.
Liberal approach: the state is created by individuals through a social contract (Hobbes, Locke) to protect life, liberty and property. It is a neutral arbiter among competing interests, limited by a constitution and rights. Its form has changed from Locke’s night-watchman state to the welfare state of Green and Keynes and back to the neo-liberal minimal state.
Marxist approach: the state arises when society splits into classes. Engels (The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, 1884) called it a product of irreconcilable class antagonisms; the Communist Manifesto (1848) called the executive of the modern state a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. After a proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat, the state will wither away. Later Marxists refined this: Gramsci’s hegemony, Miliband’s instrumentalism and Poulantzas’s relative autonomy.
Premises of difference: (1) Unit of analysis: liberals start from the individual, Marxists from class. (2) Origin: consent versus class conflict and property. (3) Nature: neutral umpire versus instrument of the dominant class. (4) Freedom: liberals see the state as protecting freedom, Marxists see formal rights masking economic exploitation. (5) Method: liberal idealism and contract theory versus historical materialism. (6) Future: the state is permanent for liberals, transitional for Marxists.
Indian illustration: liberals read the Indian state as a constitutional democracy; Marxist scholars such as Pranab Bardhan identify a coalition of dominant proprietary classes shaping it.
Both have insights: liberals guard against the abuse of power, Marxists expose the economic roots of power.Q2(b) · Democracy, Power and Political Ideologies · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Liberalism
Karl Popper presents a defence of the open society against its enemies. Elaborate.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
कार्ल पौपर खुले समाज की अपनी दुश्मनों के खिलाफ एक बचाव प्रस्तुत करते हैं। विस्तार से बताइये।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(b)
Approach: Elaborate Popper's argument: define the open and closed society, explain his attack on historicism in Plato, Hegel and Marx, present his alternative of piecemeal reform, and end with an assessment.
Karl Popper's The Open Society and Its Enemies (1945), written in New Zealand during the Second World War, is a defence of liberal democracy against totalitarianism of both the right and the left.
The open society is one in which individuals take personal decisions, institutions can be criticised and changed, and rulers can be removed without bloodshed. The closed society is tribal and governed by unquestioned taboos and authority.
Its enemies are thinkers who claimed to know the laws of history. Popper attacked historicism, the belief that history follows inevitable laws that allow prediction, in Plato, who wanted a fixed state ruled by philosopher-kings; in Hegel, whom he accused of glorifying the Prussian state; and in Marx, whose prophecy of revolution he regarded as false and dangerous.
He replaced the question 'who should rule?' with the question of how bad rulers can be removed without violence, and preferred piecemeal social engineering, cautious reforms tested by trial and error, to utopian blueprints. This follows from his theory of knowledge: knowledge grows through criticism and the elimination of error.
Critics argue that he misread Plato and Hegel and that his liberalism neglects economic inequality. Yet his warning against closed ideologies remains relevant in an age of disinformation and authoritarian populism.Q2(c) · Justice, Equality and Rights · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Rawls' Theory of Justice
Explain how Rawls used the liberal and egalitarian perspective to develop his concept of distributive justice.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
रॉल्स ने अपनी वितरणात्मक न्याय की अवधारणा के विकास में उदारवादी और समतावादी दृष्टिकोण का किस प्रकार उपयोग किया है? वर्णन कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q2(c)
Approach: The question asks how Rawls fused two traditions, so the answer shows the liberal elements (priority of liberty, contract, neutrality) and the egalitarian elements (fair equality of opportunity, difference principle) of his distributive justice, then notes critiques.
John Rawls' A Theory of Justice (1971) is often described as liberal egalitarianism: it keeps the liberal commitment to individual liberty while answering the socialist charge that liberal societies tolerate unjust inequality.
Liberal foundations: Rawls revives the social contract of Locke, Rousseau and Kant. Free and equal persons in the original position, behind a veil of ignorance, choose principles for the basic structure. Rawls rejects utilitarianism because it ignores the distinction between persons. His first principle gives each person an equal right to the most extensive scheme of basic liberties compatible with a similar scheme for all, and this principle has lexical priority: liberty cannot be traded for economic gain.
Egalitarian content: the second principle requires fair equality of opportunity, and the difference principle, which permits social and economic inequalities only if they benefit the least advantaged. Natural talents are treated as a common asset.
Primary goods such as rights, opportunities, income, wealth and the social bases of self-respect are the currency of distribution.
Nozick objected that taxation for redistribution violates self-ownership, G.A. Cohen that Rawls allows too much inequality through incentives, and Sen that primary goods ignore differences in converting resources into capabilities.
Rawls thus gave the welfare state a philosophical foundation, combining a market economy and civil liberties with strong redistribution, an idea reflected in India's Directive Principles.
Question 3 (50 marks)
Q3(a) · Political Theory and Theories of the State · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Approaches to Political Theory: Normative, Historical, Empirical, Behavioural and Post-behavioural
Provide a comparative analysis of behavioural and institutional approach to the study of political theory.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
राजनीतिक सिद्धांत के अध्ययन के व्यवहारवादी एवं संस्थावादी उपागम का तुलनात्मक विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(a)
Approach: A comparison is demanded: explain each approach, then compare them on focus, method, unit of analysis and values, and end with the new institutionalism that bridges them.
Political science began as the study of institutions and was transformed after 1945 by the behavioural revolution. The two approaches differ on what should be studied and how.
Institutional approach: the traditional approach studied formal structures such as constitutions, legislatures, executives, courts and federal arrangements, using legal, historical and descriptive methods. James Bryce (Modern Democracies, 1921) and Herman Finer compared constitutions country by country. Its strength was precision about rules; its weakness, as critics said, was that it described the law on paper and ignored how people actually behave.
Behavioural approach: led by Charles Merriam’s Chicago School and systematised by David Easton, it shifted attention to the observable behaviour of voters, legislators and groups. Easton’s intellectual foundation stones included regularities, verification, quantification, value-free inquiry and integration with other social sciences. Voting studies, surveys and Almond and Verba’s The Civic Culture (1963) were typical products.
Comparison: the institutional approach is normative-legal, qualitative and state-centred; the behavioural approach is empirical, quantitative and individual-centred. The first asks what the rules say, the second what actors do. The first is often parochial to Western constitutions; the second claimed universal, scientific laws but was criticised as value-blind and status-quoist.
Indian illustration: an institutional study of Parliament examines its constitutional powers; a behavioural study examines party discipline, defections and voting patterns, as in the Lokniti-CSDS election studies.
Synthesis: the new institutionalism of James March and Johan Olsen (‘The New Institutionalism’, 1984; Rediscovering Institutions, 1989) shows that institutions shape behaviour and behaviour reshapes institutions.
The two approaches are therefore complementary rather than rival: a sound analysis of any political system needs both the formal rules and the behaviour that gives them life.Q3(b) · Indian Political Thought · 15 marks≈ 11 min
M.K. Gandhi
"State .......... does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality, which lies at the root of all progress." — Mahatma Gandhi. Elucidate.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"राज्य ने .......... वैयक्तिकता का अन्त करके मानव सभ्यता की गम्भीर हानि की है, जो कि हर विकास का आधार है।" — महात्मा गाँधी। स्पष्ट कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(b)
Approach: Elucidate the quotation by explaining Gandhi's reasons for distrusting the state (violence, centralisation, loss of individual moral responsibility), his alternative of enlightened anarchy and village swaraj, and his practical concessions, with a short critique.
The statement comes from Gandhi's interview with Nirmal Kumar Bose published in 1935, where he said he looked upon an increase in the power of the state with the greatest fear. It expresses his philosophical anarchism.
Why the state harms individuality: first, the state represents violence in a concentrated and organised form; it rests on coercion, while moral progress requires free, voluntary action. Second, the individual has a soul but the state is a soulless machine, so it cannot be weaned from violence. Third, by doing good for people through compulsion, the state makes them passive and destroys self-reliance, which Gandhi regarded as the root of progress. He thus preferred voluntary effort and trusteeship to state ownership.
His alternative was enlightened anarchy, a stateless society where each person rules himself, and in practice decentralised village swaraj arranged in oceanic circles, where power flows upward from self-governing villages.
Gandhi was pragmatic: he accepted that a state would exist and wanted it minimal, non-violent and decentralised. His position echoes Thoreau's maxim that government is best which governs least.
Critics note that a minimal state cannot remove caste oppression or poverty, which Ambedkar and Nehru expected an active state to do. Still, Gandhi's warning against concentrated power informs Article 40 and the 73rd Amendment.Q3(c) · Democracy, Power and Political Ideologies · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Fascism, Gandhism and Feminism
Explain how the slogan 'the personal is political' addresses the issue of women's oppression and discrimination?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
'व्यक्तिगत ही राजनीतिक है'। यह नारा किस प्रकार से महिलाओं के शोषण और भेदभाव को संसूचित करता है? वर्णन कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q3(c)
Approach: Explain the origin and meaning of the slogan, show how it exposes women's oppression in the private sphere, illustrate with India, and note its critiques.
'The personal is political' became the slogan of second-wave radical feminism in the late 1960s and was popularised by Carol Hanisch's essay of that title, published in 1970. It challenges the liberal division between a public sphere of politics and a private sphere of family and personal life.
It addresses women's oppression in several ways. First, it shows that what seems to be individual unhappiness, such as domestic violence, unpaid housework or control over sexuality and reproduction, is a shared, structural problem rooted in patriarchy. Second, it extends politics to power relations within the family; Kate Millett's Sexual Politics (1970) treated patriarchy as the most pervasive ideology of the culture. Third, it justifies state action in the private sphere, which liberal theory treated as outside politics. Fourth, consciousness-raising groups helped women see their experiences as collective.
In India, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, the laws against dowry and the debate on marital rape reflect this insight.
Critics argue that the slogan can justify excessive intrusion into private life, and Black and postcolonial feminists note that the 'personal' differs across race, caste and class. Still, it remains one of feminism's most important conceptual contributions.
Question 4 (50 marks)
Q4(a) · Western Political Thought · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Hobbes and Locke
The foundational base of western democracy has been shaped by Locke's ideas of constitutionalism, freedom and property. Elucidate.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
लॉक की संविधानवाद, स्वतंत्रता एवं सम्पत्ति की अवधारणा से पश्चिमी लोकतंत्र को आकार दिया गया है। वर्णन कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(a)
Approach: Elucidate each of the three Lockean ideas (constitutionalism, freedom, property) and show how each became a foundation of Western democracy, with examples, then note critiques.
John Locke's Two Treatises of Government (1689) and A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), written around the Glorious Revolution of 1688, laid the intellectual foundation of liberal democracy. His state of nature is governed by natural law, and individuals possess natural rights to life, liberty and estate, which he collectively called property.
Constitutionalism: people consent to a social contract only to secure these rights; government is therefore a trust with limited powers. The legislature is supreme but bound by natural law and must rule by known, standing laws; executive and federative powers are separate from it. If government breaks the trust, the people may resist and replace it. These ideas shaped the English Bill of Rights (1689), the US Declaration of Independence (1776) and the separation of powers developed by Montesquieu.
Freedom: liberty means freedom under law, not licence; where there is no law there is no freedom. His plea for religious toleration helped separate church and state, a basis of secular liberal democracy and of the First Amendment in the United States.
Property: a person owns his labour, and by mixing labour with nature he acquires property, subject to provisos of leaving enough for others and avoiding waste, which money later relaxed. Protection of property became the purpose of government and the base of market society and representative taxation, as in 'no taxation without representation'.
Critiques: C.B. Macpherson called his theory possessive individualism that justified unlimited capitalist accumulation; feminists note that his consent excluded women; and his views did not prevent colonial dispossession.
Still, consent, limited government, rights and the rule of law, the core of Western democracy and of India's Part III, carry Locke's imprint.Q4(b) · Western Political Thought · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Hannah Arendt
Hannah Arendt analysed a few categories of vita activa. Explain.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
हाना आरेन्ट ने वीटा एक्टिवा की कुछ श्रेणियों का विश्लेषण किया था। स्पष्ट कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(b)
Approach: Explain the vita activa and its three categories (labour, work, action) as analysed in The Human Condition, and Arendt's argument about their modern reversal, with a brief critique.
In The Human Condition (1958), Hannah Arendt distinguished the vita activa, the active life, from the vita contemplativa, which Western philosophy since Plato had ranked higher. She identified three fundamental activities corresponding to basic conditions of human existence.
Labour corresponds to life itself. It is the cyclical activity of meeting biological needs, such as producing food, whose products are consumed and leave nothing durable; its subject is animal laborans, bound by necessity.
Work corresponds to worldliness. Homo faber fabricates durable objects, tools, buildings and works of art, creating an artificial world that outlasts individual lives. It is instrumental, governed by means and ends.
Action corresponds to plurality, the fact that men, not Man, live on earth. It is the only activity that goes on directly between people, through speech and deeds in the public realm, revealing who each person is. Rooted in natality, it begins something new, but it is unpredictable and irreversible, remedied by promising and forgiving.
Arendt argued that modernity reversed this hierarchy: labour and consumption came to dominate, the rise of the social swallowed the public realm, and action declined.
Critics call her distinctions too rigid and her model nostalgic for the Greek polis, which excluded women and slaves; yet her defence of action enriches participatory democracy.Q4(c) · Democracy, Power and Political Ideologies · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Power, Hegemony, Ideology and Legitimacy
Do you think that legitimacy acquired by consent or manufactured by indoctrination is an essential element in maintenance of political rule? Justify your answer with relevant examples.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या आप मानते हैं कि सहमति से प्राप्त वैधता अथवा मतारोपण से निर्मित वैधता राजनीतिक शासन को बनाए रखने के लिए एक आवश्यक तत्व है? अपने उत्तर को उपयुक्त उदाहरणों के द्वारा स्पष्ट करें।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q4(c)
Approach: Argue that legitimacy is essential for stable rule, contrast legitimacy based on consent with legitimacy manufactured by indoctrination using examples, and give a reasoned judgement.
Every ruler needs more than force. Rousseau observed in The Social Contract that the strongest is never strong enough to remain master unless he transforms strength into right and obedience into duty. Legitimacy, the belief that rule is rightful, makes obedience voluntary and rule cheaper and more stable.
Legitimacy by consent arises from free elections, constitutional rule and good performance. Weber's legal-rational authority, Locke's government by consent and Habermas's deliberative legitimacy belong here. India's peaceful transfers of power after elections, including in 1977, show its strength.
Legitimacy can also be manufactured. Gramsci's hegemony explains how dominant classes win consent through schools, religion and the press; Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent (1988) showed how mass media filter news in favour of elites; Nazi propaganda and personality cults in the Soviet Union and North Korea are extreme cases.
Both kinds help maintain rule, but they differ in durability. Manufactured legitimacy is brittle: the Soviet regime collapsed when belief evaporated, and the Arab Spring of 2011 toppled long-ruling regimes. Consent-based legitimacy can absorb crises because it is renewed through elections and rights.
Thus legitimacy is essential, but only legitimacy grounded in genuine, informed consent is lasting and morally justified.
Question 5 (50 marks)
Q5(a) · Indian Nationalism and the Making of the Constitution · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Revolutionary, Peasant and Workers' Movements
Explain briefly the role of Peasant Movements after 1857 and before independence.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
1857 के पश्चात् और स्वतंत्रता से पहले के किसान आंदोलनों को संक्षिप्त में समझाइये।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(a)
Approach: Briefly trace the main peasant movements from 1857 to 1947 in phases and explain their role in the national movement.
Peasants were the largest victims of colonial land revenue, rent and commercialisation, and their movements between 1857 and 1947 gradually merged with nationalism.
Early phase: the Indigo Revolt in Bengal (1859–60), the Pabna agrarian leagues (1873–76) and the Deccan riots (1875) were directed against planters, zamindars and moneylenders rather than colonial rule itself, but they led to protective laws and were supported by the educated middle class.
Gandhian phase: Champaran (1917), Kheda (1918), the Awadh Kisan Sabhas and Eka movement (1920–22) and Bardoli (1928) under Vallabhbhai Patel tied peasant grievances to the national movement.
Organised phase: the All India Kisan Sabha (1936), with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati as president, demanded abolition of zamindari and pushed Congress towards agrarian reform; Tebhaga (1946–47) and Telangana (1946–51) were radical struggles.
Role: peasants gave the national movement its mass base, and their demands shaped land reform after independence.Q5(b) · Indian Nationalism and the Making of the Constitution · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Perspectives on the National Movement: Liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Radical Humanist and Dalit
Write a note on the Dalit perspective of Indian National Movement.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारतीय राष्ट्रीय आन्दोलन के दलित परिप्रेक्ष्य पर टिप्पणी लिखिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(b)
Approach: Write a note on how Dalit thinkers and movements viewed the national movement: their critique, their own struggle for emancipation, and their contribution.
The Dalit perspective views the national movement from the standpoint of the untouchable castes. It asks not only freedom from whom but freedom for whom, arguing that political independence without social emancipation would merely transfer power to upper castes.
Roots: Jotirao Phule (Gulamgiri, 1873; Satyashodhak Samaj, 1873) saw Brahmanical domination as the primary slavery. Ayyankali in Travancore and Mangoo Ram’s Ad-Dharm movement in Punjab carried this forward.
Ambedkar’s critique: in What Congress and Gandhi Have Done to the Untouchables (1945) he argued that Congress was dominated by caste Hindus and that Gandhi’s Harijan uplift was paternalistic. The clash over separate electorates ended in the Poona Pact (1932), which gave reserved seats in joint electorates.
Contribution: the Mahad Satyagraha (1927), temple-entry struggles and political organisation forced the movement to address untouchability and shaped constitutional guarantees such as Articles 15–17 and reservation.
The Dalit perspective thus deepened Indian nationalism into a demand for social democracy.Q5(c) · Planning, Social Cleavages, Party System and Social Movements · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Green Revolution, Land Reforms, Agrarian Relations and Liberalisation
Land reforms programmes led to some constitutional amendments. Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भूमि सुधार कार्यक्रमों के कारण कुछ संवैधानिक संशोधन हुए। टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(c)
Approach: Comment by tracing how land reform laws collided with the right to property and courts, which led to a series of amendments, and assess the result.
Zamindari abolition and ceiling laws clashed with the fundamental right to property (Articles 19(1)(f) and 31). When the Patna High Court struck down the Bihar Land Reforms Act in the Kameshwar Singh case (1951), Parliament responded with constitutional amendments.
The First Amendment (1951) inserted Article 31A, protecting laws acquiring estates, and Article 31B with the Ninth Schedule, shielding listed laws from challenge for violating fundamental rights. The Fourth Amendment (1955) made the adequacy of compensation non-justiciable. The Seventeenth Amendment (1964) widened the meaning of estate to cover ryotwari lands.
After Golaknath (1967), the 24th and 25th Amendments (1971) restored Parliament's amending power and replaced compensation with amount, adding Article 31C. The 44th Amendment (1978) removed property from Part III, making it a legal right under Article 300A.
The courts responded with the basic structure doctrine (Kesavananda Bharati, 1973) and, in I.R. Coelho (2007), held that Ninth Schedule laws added after 24 April 1973 are open to review. Land reform thus shaped India's constitutional development.Q5(d) · Grassroots Democracy, Statutory Institutions and Federalism · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Integrationist Tendencies, Regional Aspirations and Inter-State Disputes
Delineate the key factors that have shaped the evolving political landscape in Jammu and Kashmir post 2019.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
2019 के पश्चात् जम्मू और काश्मीर में बदलते राजनीतिक परिदृश्य को प्रभावित करने वाले प्रमुख कारकों को रेखांकित कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(d)
Approach: Delineate the key factors: the 2019 constitutional change and its judicial validation, delimitation and elections, security, regional divisions and the statehood question, ending with a brief assessment.
Constitutional change: in August 2019 Article 370 was made inoperative and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 created two Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Ladakh without one; the Supreme Court upheld this in December 2023 and asked for early elections and restoration of statehood.
Electoral restructuring: the Delimitation Commission (2022) raised assembly seats to 90, giving Jammu 43 and Kashmir 47, while new domicile rules and Scheduled Tribe status for Paharis (2024) reshaped political constituencies.
Assembly elections in 2024, with high turnout, brought a National Conference-led government under Omar Abdullah, showing the revival of regional parties, though the Lieutenant Governor retains key powers.
Security remains decisive: militancy shifted towards the Jammu region, and the Pahalgam attack of April 2025 renewed tensions with Pakistan.
The statehood demand, Ladakh's agitation for Sixth Schedule protection, and the Jammu-Kashmir regional divide will continue to shape a landscape that has moved from special status to integration but not yet to full normalcy.Q5(e) · Grassroots Democracy, Statutory Institutions and Federalism · 10 marks≈ 7 min
National Commissions: SCs, STs, Women, Human Rights, Minorities and Backward Classes
How far has been the National Human Rights Commission successful in achieving its objectives? Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
राष्ट्रीय मानव अधिकार आयोग अपने उद्येश्यों को प्राप्त करने में कहां तक सफल हुआ है? टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q5(e)
Approach: Comment on how far the NHRC has achieved its objectives: state its mandate briefly, give its achievements, then its structural limits, and conclude with a balanced assessment.
The National Human Rights Commission, set up under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, in line with the UN Paris Principles, aims to protect rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity.
Achievements: its guidelines require custodial and encounter deaths to be reported, it has acted on bonded labour and manual scavenging, recommended compensation in many cases, and in 2002 approached the Supreme Court over the Gujarat violence.
Limits: its recommendations are not binding; it cannot inquire into complaints more than a year old; for the armed forces it can only seek a report from the Union government (Section 19); and it depends on government for staff and funds.
Critics call it a toothless tiger dominated by retired judges; in 2023 GANHRI, the global alliance of such institutions, deferred its re-accreditation over concerns about independence and pluralism.
The NHRC has partly succeeded as a forum of redress and awareness, but full success needs binding powers in defined cases, a broader, independent membership and greater autonomy.
Question 6 (50 marks)
Q6(a) · The Constitution and the Organs of Government · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Union Executive and Parliament: Envisaged Role and Actual Working
Parliamentary committees are indispensable to the legislative process. It provides for the opportunity for cross-pollination between the two chambers of the Parliament. Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
संसदीय समितियां विधायी प्रक्रिया के लिए अनिवार्य हैं। यह संसद के दोनों सदनों के बीच पारस्परिक परागण (क्रॉस-पॉलिनेशन) के अवसर प्रदान करती हैं। विवेचन कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(a)
Approach: The question asks to discuss why committees are indispensable and how they link the two Houses, so the answer explains their types and functions, shows the cross-pollination, notes weaknesses and suggests reforms.
Woodrow Wilson wrote in Congressional Government (1885) that Congress in its committee rooms is Congress at work. The same holds for India: with limited sitting time and a heavy agenda, parliamentary committees do the detailed work the floor of the House cannot.
Types: financial committees, namely the Public Accounts Committee, the Estimates Committee and the Committee on Public Undertakings; 24 Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs), set up in 1993, which examine bills, demands for grants and policies of ministries; and ad hoc select and joint committees on particular bills or issues.
Why they are indispensable: they scrutinise bills clause by clause, take evidence from experts, citizens and officials, and work in closed sittings where members can rise above party lines. They give Parliament continuity, specialisation and a check on delegated legislation.
Cross-pollination: each DRSC has 21 Lok Sabha and 10 Rajya Sabha members, and the PAC and the Committee on Public Undertakings include Rajya Sabha members. Joint committees, such as those on the Personal Data Protection Bill (2019) and the Waqf (Amendment) Bill (2024), bring together the popular mandate of the Lok Sabha and the federal and expert perspective of the Rajya Sabha. This builds consensus before a bill reaches the floor.
Weaknesses: referral is not mandatory, and the share of bills sent to committees fell sharply after 2014; recommendations are not binding; attendance is uneven; and committees lack research staff.
Reforms: mandatory referral of major bills, dedicated research support and debate on committee reports in the House would strengthen them.
Committees are indispensable to quality legislation and to bicameral cooperation; strengthening them is the surest way to revive parliamentary scrutiny.Q6(b) · The Constitution and the Organs of Government · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Supreme Court: Envisaged Role and Actual Working
Examine the constitutional provisions and nature of advisory jurisdiction of Supreme Court of India. Evaluate your answer with relevant examples.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारतीय सर्वोच्च न्यायालय के सलाहकारी क्षेत्राधिकार की प्रकृति तथा संवैधानिक प्रावधानों का परीक्षण कीजिए। अपने उत्तर का समुचित उदाहरणों द्वारा मूल्यांकन कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(b)
Approach: The question asks to examine the provisions and nature of the advisory jurisdiction and to evaluate it with examples, so the answer explains Article 143, describes its nature, illustrates its use and assesses its value.
Advisory jurisdiction lets the highest court give its opinion on a legal question at the request of the executive, without a live dispute between parties. In India it rests on Article 143, modelled on the Government of India Act, 1935.
Provisions: under Article 143(1) the President may refer any question of law or fact of public importance, and the Court ‘may’ report its opinion. Under Article 143(2) the President may refer disputes arising from pre-constitutional treaties and agreements, and the Court ‘shall’ give its opinion. Article 145(3) requires at least five judges.
Nature: the jurisdiction is discretionary under clause (1), so the Court can decline, as it did on the Ayodhya reference (Ismail Faruqui, 1994). The opinion does not bind the President, though it carries great weight. A reference cannot be used to review a judgment already delivered (Cauvery reference, 1991).
Instances: In re Kerala Education Bill (1958) on minority institutions; the Berubari reference (1960), holding that ceding territory requires a constitutional amendment; and the natural resources reference (2012), which held that auction is not the only method of allocation. In 2025 the President sought the Court's opinion on timelines for Governors and the President to act on bills.
Evaluation: the jurisdiction resolves constitutional doubts early, but it can draw the Court into political controversies.
Used sparingly, Article 143 strengthens the Court's role as constitutional counsellor.Q6(c) · Grassroots Democracy, Statutory Institutions and Federalism · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Federalism: Constitutional Provisions and Changing Centre-State Relations
The recent developments in Indian Politics has not eroded the true spirit of federalism in India. Critically examine this statement with the help of appropriate examples.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारतीय राजनीति में हाल में हुए परिवर्तनों ने संघवाद की भावना को भारत से विनष्ट नहीं होने दिया है। इस कथन का समुचित उदाहरणों द्वारा आलोचनात्मक परीक्षण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q6(c)
Approach: Critically examine the claim: present developments that suggest erosion of federalism and those that show its resilience, with examples, and give a balanced judgement.
Indian federalism, described by Alfred Stepan as a holding-together federation, combines a strong Centre with constitutionally protected states; whether recent developments have eroded its spirit is debated.
Signs of strain: the 2019 reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into Union Territories without a state legislature's consent; the 2023 law giving the Centre control over Delhi's services; disputes with Governors in opposition-ruled states; withdrawal of general consent to the CBI by several states; and rising cesses outside the divisible pool.
States have also turned to litigation, for example Kerala on borrowing limits and Karnataka on drought relief (2024), showing a shift towards confrontational federalism.
Signs of resilience: the GST Council works by bargaining and mostly by consensus; the 15th Finance Commission kept the states' share at 41 percent; and opposition parties continue to win and govern many states.
Courts have defended federal balance: in State of Tamil Nadu v Governor of Tamil Nadu (April 2025) the Supreme Court held that Governors cannot indefinitely withhold action on bills, and in 2023 it upheld the elected Delhi government's control over services before Parliament amended the law.
The statement is therefore only partly true: the institutional framework of federalism endures, but its spirit of mutual trust is under strain, and restoring it needs an active Inter-State Council and consultative use of central powers.
Question 7 (50 marks)
Q7(a) · Grassroots Democracy, Statutory Institutions and Federalism · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Panchayati Raj, Municipal Government and the 73rd and 74th Amendments
Enunciate the impediments to women's participation in local governance in the process of political decentralisation.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
राजनीतिक विकेन्द्रीकरण की प्रक्रिया में स्थानीय शासन में महिलाओं की भागीदारी की बाधाओं को स्पष्ट कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(a)
Approach: The directive is to enunciate impediments; after a brief context on decentralisation and reservation, classify the barriers (social, economic, political, institutional) with evidence, and end with remedies.
Political decentralisation through the 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) reserved not less than one-third of seats and chair posts for women (Article 243D), and about twenty states have raised this to half; women now form close to half of all elected panchayat representatives.
Social and cultural barriers: patriarchal norms, purdah and restrictions on mobility, the double burden of domestic and farm work, and the expectation that public affairs belong to men keep many women silent in Gram Sabha meetings.
Caste hierarchy compounds gender: Dalit and Adivasi women sarpanches have faced boycotts, no-confidence motions and even violence when they challenged dominant castes, which shows how social power can override legal status.
Proxy representation: the sarpanch-pati phenomenon means husbands or relatives attend meetings and sign papers; an advisory committee of the Panchayati Raj Ministry (2025) recommended exemplary penalties and women-only consultations to curb it.
Economic and educational barriers: low literacy, lack of independent income, costs of campaigning and dependence on family finances limit autonomous decision-making; the Supreme Court in Rajbala v State of Haryana (2015) upheld educational qualifications for candidates, which critics say excludes poor and Dalit women.
Institutional barriers: rotation of reserved seats every term prevents women from building experience and a constituency; panchayats themselves have limited funds, functions and functionaries, so even an assertive woman leader has little to govern; bureaucrats and panchayat secretaries often control information.
Studies such as Chattopadhyay and Duflo (2004) nevertheless show that women pradhans shifted spending towards drinking water and other needs of women; removing the impediments requires longer reservation cycles, sustained training, women's sabhas, federations of elected women and real devolution of the 3Fs.Q7(b) · Planning, Social Cleavages, Party System and Social Movements · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Caste, Religion and Ethnicity in Indian Politics
Caste remains a vital axis for political mobilisation in India. How would the caste census address the aspirations of people? Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत में राजनीतिक सक्रियता के लिये जाति एक महत्वपूर्ण धुरी बनी हुई है। जाति जनगणना लोगों की आकांक्षाओं को कैसे पूरा करेगी? विवेचना कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(b)
Approach: Show briefly why caste remains a mobilising axis, then discuss how a caste census could meet aspirations (data, targeting, sub-categorisation) and its risks, ending with a balanced view.
Caste remains a vital axis of mobilisation because it combines identity, social network and shared disadvantage. Rajni Kothari described the politicisation of caste, and Christophe Jaffrelot's India's Silent Revolution (2003) traced the rise of lower castes to power after Mandal. Parties still build caste coalitions, as in the SP's PDA formula in Uttar Pradesh in 2024.
The caste census debate: India has not published a full caste count since 1931; the Socio-Economic and Caste Census of 2011 caste data was never released. Bihar's caste survey (2023) and the Union government's decision in 2025 to include caste enumeration in the next Census have revived the issue.
How it may address aspirations: reliable data would allow reservation and welfare to be calibrated to actual numbers and deprivation; support sub-categorisation of OBCs, as examined by the Rohini Commission, and of Scheduled Castes, permitted by the Supreme Court in 2024; and give the Indra Sawhney (1992) ceiling debate an empirical base. Recognition itself matters to groups that feel invisible.
Risks: it may harden caste identities, intensify competitive demands to breach the 50 percent ceiling, and create classification disputes over thousands of jatis.
A caste census is a tool, not a solution; it will meet aspirations only if linked to education, jobs and fair targeting rather than mere quota politics.Q7(c) · Grassroots Democracy, Statutory Institutions and Federalism · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Election Commission, CAG, Finance Commission and UPSC
There is a debate on the procedure for appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners to the Election Commission of India. Analyse its various aspects.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत के निर्वाचन आयोग में मुख्य चुनाव आयुक्त एवं चुनाव आयुक्तों की नियुक्ति को लेकर एक बहस चल रही है। इसके विभिन्न पहलुओं का विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q7(c)
Approach: Analyse the debate: set out the constitutional gap in Article 324, the Anoop Baranwal judgment, the 2023 Act and the arguments on both sides, and conclude with a reform suggestion.
Article 324(2) left the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and Election Commissioners to the President, subject to a law of Parliament that was never made, so the Union government effectively chose them.
Critics argued that this weakened the independence of a body that referees contests in which the ruling party is itself a player.
In Anoop Baranwal v Union of India (2023), a Constitution Bench held that, until Parliament legislated, appointments should be made on the advice of a committee of the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Justice of India.
Parliament then passed the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023: a selection committee of the Prime Minister, a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by him and the Leader of the Opposition chooses from a search committee's shortlist.
Supporters say appointment is an executive function, judges should not sit on executive panels, and the Act gives the process a statutory basis for the first time.
Critics say the government now has a two-to-one majority on the panel, defeating Baranwal's purpose; appointments, including the CEC's in 2025, were made while challenges to the Act were pending.
A balanced reform would be a panel without an executive majority and with transparent criteria, because free and fair elections are part of the basic structure and trust in the umpire is essential.
Question 8 (50 marks)
Q8(a) · Grassroots Democracy, Statutory Institutions and Federalism · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Federalism: Constitutional Provisions and Changing Centre-State Relations
The decision to conduct Population Census-2027 has reopened the debate on delimitation in India. Discuss its various aspects.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
जनसंख्या जनगणना-2027 कराने के निर्णय ने भारत में परिसीमन पर बहस को फिर से शुरु कर दिया है। इसके विभिन्न पहलुओं पर चर्चा कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(a)
Approach: Discuss the delimitation debate reopened by Census 2027: the constitutional background of the freeze, the arguments of equal representation versus federal fairness, linked issues (women's reservation, SC/ST seats, finances), and possible solutions.
Delimitation is the readjustment of seats and constituency boundaries after a census (Articles 82 and 170), carried out by a Delimitation Commission whose orders cannot be questioned in court.
The 42nd Amendment (1976) froze the allocation of Lok Sabha and assembly seats among states on the 1971 census to avoid penalising states that controlled population; the 84th Amendment (2001) extended the freeze until the first census after 2026, and the 87th Amendment (2003) allowed boundaries within states to be redrawn on the 2001 census.
The decision to hold the next census with 2027 as its reference year, including caste enumeration, means the freeze will end and inter-state reallocation becomes possible for the first time in five decades.
Argument for reallocation: the principle of one person, one vote requires seats to reflect population; today an MP from a populous northern state represents far more people than one from a southern state.
Federal objection: southern and some other states that achieved demographic transition fear losing seats and influence to the more populous Hindi heartland; Tamil Nadu convened a meeting of several states in March 2025 seeking an extension of the freeze.
Linked issues: women's reservation under the 106th Amendment (2023) takes effect only after delimitation following the next census, and seats reserved for SCs and STs must also be recalculated.
Possible solutions include enlarging the Lok Sabha so that no state loses seats, a longer freeze, capping any state's gain, or strengthening the Rajya Sabha's role as the house of states.
Delimitation thus pits democratic equality against federal balance; a consensual formula, reached through dialogue with states, is essential to preserve the legitimacy of both Parliament and the Union.Q8(b) · Planning, Social Cleavages, Party System and Social Movements · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Planning and Development: Nehruvian and Gandhian Perspectives, Planning and the Public Sector
With reference to Nehruvian perspective of planning and economic development, examine how the early phase of economic planning in India has laid the foundation of modern India's economic growth.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
परीक्षण कीजिए कि किस प्रकार योजना एवं आर्थिक विकास के नेहरुवादी दृष्टिकोण ने, भारत में आर्थिक नियोजन के आरम्भिक चरण में, आधुनिक भारत के आर्थिक विकास की नींव डाली थी।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(b)
Approach: The question asks how early Nehruvian planning laid the base of later growth; outline the Nehruvian perspective, then show the industrial, human and institutional foundations it created, and close with its limits.
The Nehruvian perspective saw planning as the instrument for turning a colonial, stagnant economy into a self-reliant industrial one through democratic consent. It rested on a mixed economy, the socialistic pattern of society (1954-55) and faith in science.
Industrial base: the Mahalanobis strategy of the Second Plan (1956-61) gave priority to heavy and capital goods industries. Steel plants at Bhilai, Rourkela and Durgapur, dams such as Bhakra-Nangal, power, railways and heavy engineering created the capital stock on which later private industry built.
Human capital: the IITs, the atomic energy and space programmes, CSIR laboratories and public universities produced the engineers and scientists who later powered the IT and pharmaceutical industries.
Institutions and agriculture: planning built a professional statistical system, public financial institutions and, from the mid-1960s, the agricultural research and extension network that made the Green Revolution possible.
Limits: Bhagwati and Desai showed that licensing and import substitution bred inefficiency, and growth stayed near what Raj Krishna called the Hindu rate of growth. Primary education, health and agriculture were relatively neglected, which later weakened the social base of growth.
On balance, the Nehruvian phase did not deliver rapid growth, but it laid the industrial, scientific and institutional foundations without which the post-1991 acceleration would not have been possible.Q8(c) · Planning, Social Cleavages, Party System and Social Movements · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Party System, Coalition Politics and Pressure Groups
Illustrate with examples how political parties in India have played a crucial role in drawing the historically disadvantaged groups into the mainstream political system.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
सोदाहरण समझाइए कि किस प्रकार भारत में राजनीतिक दलों ने ऐतिहासिक रूप से वंचित वर्ग को राजनीति की मुख्यधारा में लाने में महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाई है।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper I, Q8(c)
Approach: Illustrate with party examples how disadvantaged groups (Dalits, OBCs, Adivasis, minorities, women) were drawn into mainstream politics, and note the limits of this incorporation.
Political parties are the main channels linking citizens to the state. In India they have drawn historically excluded groups into politics through representation, mobilisation and policy, the process Yogendra Yadav calls the second democratic upsurge.
Congress as umbrella: the early Congress system, in Rajni Kothari's sense, accommodated Dalits through leaders like Jagjivan Ram and reserved constituencies, and Indira Gandhi's garibi hatao and KHAM coalition in Gujarat brought the poor and minorities into its base.
Dalit parties: Ambedkar's Scheduled Castes Federation and Republican Party were early vehicles; Kanshi Ram's BSP (1984) turned Dalit voters into a ruling force, with Mayawati becoming Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh four times.
OBC and regional parties: the DMK and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, and the SP and RJD in the Hindi belt, brought backward castes into power; Christophe Jaffrelot calls this India's silent revolution.
Adivasis and minorities: the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha led the movement for Jharkhand (2000); parties such as the IUML represent Muslims in Kerala. The BJP has recently expanded among non-dominant OBCs, Dalits and tribal communities through social engineering and welfare.
Limits: incorporation is often symbolic or clientelist; women remain under-represented, and leadership within many parties is dynastic or upper caste. Still, parties have converted the formal equality of the vote into real political presence for groups once excluded.
UPSC Mains 2025 Political Science and International Relations PSIR Paper II
Question 1 (50 marks)
Q1(a) · Comparative Politics · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Comparative Politics: Nature, Major Approaches and Limitations of the Comparative Method
Discuss the psychological approach to the study of comparative politics.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
तुलनात्मक राजनीति के अध्ययन के लिए मनोवैज्ञानिक दृष्टिकोण पर चर्चा कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q1(a)
Approach: The question asks for an account of the psychological approach, so the answer defines it, presents its main contributors and concepts, gives an example, and notes its limits.
The psychological approach explains political behaviour and regimes through attitudes, personality, emotions and perceptions of individuals and groups, rather than through formal institutions. It grew with the behavioural revolution.
Graham Wallas (Human Nature in Politics, 1908) first argued that politics is driven by impulse and habit, not pure reason. Harold Lasswell (Psychopathology and Politics, 1930) traced political leadership to private motives displaced onto public objects. Adorno and colleagues (The Authoritarian Personality, 1950) linked rigid personality types to support for authoritarian rule.
In comparative politics the approach fed into political culture research: Almond and Verba's The Civic Culture (1963) compared citizens' orientations in five countries. Studies of charismatic leaders, voter identification and, today, political psychology of populism and polarisation continue this line.
Limitations: it may reduce structural causes such as class or institutions to individual minds; survey concepts travel poorly across cultures; and it explains stability better than change.
Used with institutional and political economy approaches, it adds the human dimension that explains, for instance, the appeal of strong leaders across democracies.Q1(b) · Approaches and Key Concepts in International Relations · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Liberal Institutionalism, Constructivism, Feminist and Critical Approaches
Neo-liberalism lightened neo-realism's dark view of international politics. Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
नव-उदारवाद ने नव-यथार्थवाद की अंतर्राष्ट्रीय राजनीति के अंधकारमयी दृष्टिकोण को प्रकाशमान किया। टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q1(b)
Approach: Comment: state neo-realism's pessimism about cooperation, show how neo-liberal institutionalism moderated it while sharing its premises (the neo-neo debate), and note the limits of that optimism.
Neo-realism (Waltz, 1979) holds that anarchy, the security dilemma and concern for relative gains make cooperation rare and fragile; Joseph Grieco (1988) stressed that states fear partners will gain more.
Neo-liberal institutionalism, led by Robert Keohane (After Hegemony, 1984), accepted anarchy and rational, self-interested states but drew a brighter conclusion. Institutions reduce transaction costs, provide information, monitor compliance and lengthen the shadow of the future; Robert Axelrod (The Evolution of Cooperation, 1984) showed that tit-for-tat strategies sustain cooperation in repeated games. States care mainly about absolute gains. The WTO's dispute settlement system, the EU and the ozone regime illustrate this.
This 'neo-neo debate' (David Baldwin, 1993) narrowed the gap between the two.
Yet neo-liberalism lightened rather than dispelled the darkness: on security issues such as US-China rivalry and the war in Ukraine, realist pessimism still holds.Q1(c) · Approaches and Key Concepts in International Relations · 10 marks≈ 7 min
National Interest, Security and Power
Explain the non-traditional security threats in the context of food and environmental crises.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
खाद्य एवं पर्यावरणीय खतरों के संदर्भ में गैर-पारम्परिक सुरक्षा संकटों की व्याख्या कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q1(c)
Approach: Define non-traditional security and the widening of security, then explain food and environmental crises as security threats with examples, and close with the need for cooperative responses.
Non-traditional security threats are non-military dangers to the survival and well-being of states and people. Barry Buzan's People, States and Fear (1983) widened security to economic, societal and environmental sectors, and the UNDP's Human Development Report (1994) listed food and environmental security among the seven components of human security.
Food crises: the 2007-08 price spike triggered food riots in many countries, and the Russia-Ukraine war of 2022 disrupted grain and fertiliser exports, hitting import-dependent states in West Asia and Africa. Food insecurity fuels unrest, migration and conflict.
Environmental crises: climate change brings droughts, floods, sea-level rise and water stress. It is a threat multiplier: drying of Lake Chad fed instability in the Sahel, and low-lying states such as Tuvalu face an existential threat.
These threats are transnational and cannot be met by force. India's National Food Security Act (2013) and its International Solar Alliance initiative show that resilience, cooperation and climate finance are the real tools of security.Q1(d) · Comparative Politics · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Political Economy and Political Sociology Perspectives
Discuss the political socialization of open and closed societies.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
खुले तथा बन्द समाज में राजनीतिक समाजीकरण की चर्चा कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q1(d)
Approach: The question asks to discuss political socialisation in two kinds of society, so the answer defines socialisation and its agents, contrasts open and closed societies, notes the digital twist, and concludes.
Political socialisation is the process by which individuals acquire political values, beliefs and identities. Its agents include family, school, media, religion and the state. The terms open and closed society come from Karl Popper (The Open Society and Its Enemies, 1945).
Open societies: agents are plural and compete; schools, a free press and civil society expose citizens to rival views, so socialisation is diffuse and allows dissent. Almond and Verba linked this to a participant civic culture, as in Britain and the US.
Closed societies: the state or a ruling party monopolises agents and uses them for indoctrination — the Komsomol in the Soviet Union, the Hitler Youth in Nazi Germany, or state-controlled media and curricula in North Korea. Socialisation is intensive and uniform, producing subject orientations and outward conformity.
Yet closed systems often fail to fully control belief. Digital media complicate the contrast: open societies face echo chambers and disinformation, while closed ones build firewalls.
Democratic resilience therefore depends on pluralistic socialisation backed by civic education.Q1(e) · Comparative Politics · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Parties, Pressure Groups and Social Movements in Comparative Perspective
Comment on the Red Lipstick Movement in the context of feminist rights.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
नारीवादी अधिकारों के संदर्भ में लाल लिपस्टिक आंदोलन पर टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q1(e)
Approach: The question asks for a comment on the Red Lipstick Movement in the context of feminist rights, so the answer explains the symbol, traces its main episodes, links it to feminist debates on the body and choice, and assesses its significance.
The Red Lipstick Movement is not one organisation but a recurring protest symbol: women wear or post images of red lipstick to assert autonomy, defy intimidation and reject the idea that appearance invites violence or lowers credibility.
Episodes: suffragists marching in New York in 1912 reportedly wore red lipstick as a sign of independence. In Nicaragua in 2018, after activist Marlén Chow defied interrogators by applying red lipstick, supporters posted red-lipped photos to demand the release of political prisoners. In Chile in 2019, women protesting sexual violence wore red lips and blindfolds in the LasTesis performance.
Feminist significance: it embodies the slogan 'the personal is political', treating the body and self-presentation as sites of power. It reflects third-wave and 'lipstick feminism', which reclaims femininity as choice, against radical feminist critiques that cosmetics reproduce the male gaze.
Assessment: as low-cost, visual and viral protest, it builds solidarity across borders, but symbolic action alone cannot secure legal change. Its value lies in reinforcing campaigns for bodily autonomy and safety.
Question 2 (50 marks)
Q2(a) · The United Nations, Regionalism and Global Concerns · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Global Concerns: Democracy, Human Rights and Gender Justice
The world currently has been in the throes of a twin process of 'democratic backsliding' and 'democratic backlash'. How would you explain this paradox?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
वर्तमान विश्व 'लोकतांत्रिक पतन' तथा 'लोकतांत्रिक प्रतिक्रिया' की दोहरी प्रक्रिया से गुज़र रहा है। आप इस विरोधाभास को कैसे समझाएँगे?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q2(a)
Approach: Define both terms, explain the causes of backsliding and the forms of backlash with examples, then resolve the paradox by showing how the two processes feed each other, and conclude.
Democratic backsliding, in Nancy Bermeo's account (2016), is the state-led weakening of democratic institutions, increasingly through 'executive aggrandisement' by elected leaders rather than coups. Anna Lührmann and Staffan Lindberg called the trend a 'third wave of autocratisation' (2019). Democratic backlash refers to the reaction against this erosion: citizens, courts, oppositions and civil society mobilising to defend democracy.
Backsliding: Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, in How Democracies Die (2018), show how elected leaders capture referees such as courts and election bodies, sideline opponents and change rules. Examples include Hungary under Viktor Orbán's 'illiberal democracy', Turkey after 2016, Tunisia after 2021, coups in the Sahel (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger) and the storming of the US Capitol in 2021. Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart trace populist authoritarianism to a cultural backlash against liberal values, economic insecurity and polarisation fuelled by social media.
Backlash: mass protests forced out leaders in Sri Lanka (2022) and Bangladesh (2024); in South Korea the National Assembly overturned President Yoon's martial law in December 2024 and he was later impeached and removed; Polish voters in 2023 replaced a government accused of undermining judicial independence; and Brazil's institutions resisted the attack on government buildings in January 2023.
Explaining the paradox: the two processes are linked. Backsliding provokes resistance because democratic norms remain popular; surveys show most people still want democracy even when they distrust institutions. At the same time, populists present themselves as a backlash against unaccountable elites, using democratic means to weaken democracy. The contest is thus over what democracy means, majoritarian or liberal-constitutional.
The paradox shows that democracy is not in simple decline but in contestation; its resilience depends on independent institutions, free media and active citizens.Q2(b) · The United Nations, Regionalism and Global Concerns · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Specialised Agencies and UN Reforms
The withdrawal of the United States of America from the World Health Organization is set to have far-reaching impacts on global health. Reimagining the existing WHO is vital for the global health agenda. Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन से संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका के हट जाने से वैश्विक स्वास्थ्य पर दूरगामी प्रभाव आने निश्चित हैं। मौजूदा डब्ल्यू० एच० ओ० की पुनर्कल्पना करना वैश्विक स्वास्थ्य एजेंडा के लिए महत्त्वपूर्ण है। विवेचना कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q2(b)
Approach: Explain the US withdrawal and its effects on WHO's finances and global health, then argue why and how WHO should be reimagined (financing, governance, authority, equity), concluding with India's interest.
On 20 January 2025 President Trump ordered the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization, repeating a 2020 attempt that President Biden had reversed. Washington accused WHO of mishandling COVID-19 and of being unduly influenced by China.
Impacts: the US has been WHO's largest single funder, so the exit opens a large budget gap, forcing cuts in staff and programmes. It weakens disease surveillance and data sharing, and it removes the US from the Pandemic Agreement adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2025.
Why reimagine WHO: the crisis exposes old weaknesses. Most of WHO's money is earmarked voluntary funding, letting donors set priorities. It has no power to enforce the International Health Regulations, so states delayed reporting during COVID-19. Vaccine nationalism showed the lack of health equity.
Directions for reform: raise assessed contributions, as agreed in 2022, towards half of the base budget; widen the donor base to emerging economies and philanthropies with fewer strings; strengthen compliance with the amended International Health Regulations; and give the Global South a larger voice.
For India, which supplied vaccines under Vaccine Maitri, a stronger and more equitable WHO serves both national and global interests. Global health is a global public good, and the US exit should become a catalyst for a WHO that depends less on any single power.Q2(c) · Approaches and Key Concepts in International Relations · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Transnational Actors and Collective Security
Transnational actors have qualitatively transformed the world by the way of their fresh insights and actions. Illustrate your answer with suitable examples.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
बहुराष्ट्रीय अभिनेताओं ने अपनी नवीन अंतर्दृष्टि और कार्यों के माध्यम से दुनिया को गुणात्मक रूप से बदल दिया है। अपने उत्तर को उपयुक्त उदाहरणों से स्पष्ट कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q2(c)
Approach: Define transnational actors, then illustrate with examples how different types (MNCs, NGOs and advocacy networks, foundations, tech platforms, diasporas, violent networks) have qualitatively changed world politics, and close with a balanced note.
Transnational actors are non-state entities whose activities cross borders and are not controlled by governments. Keohane and Nye (Transnational Relations and World Politics, 1971) first brought them into IR theory.
Qualitative transformation: (i) MNCs organised global value chains that changed the geography of production; a smartphone is designed in one country and assembled from parts made in many. (ii) NGOs and advocacy networks created new norms: the International Campaign to Ban Landmines produced the Ottawa Treaty (1997) and won the Nobel Peace Prize, and ICAN's campaign led to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2017). Keck and Sikkink (Activists Beyond Borders, 1998) described their boomerang pattern of pressure. (iii) Foundations such as the Gates Foundation, through Gavi, reshaped global health.
(iv) Technology platforms now shape information flows and even war, as Starlink's role in Ukraine showed. (v) Diasporas, including the Indian diaspora, influence policy and remittances. (vi) Violent networks such as al-Qaeda turned terrorism into a global security issue after 9/11.
The change is qualitative because these actors set agendas and norms, not merely influence states. Yet they are often unaccountable, and states remain the final regulators.
Question 3 (50 marks)
Q3(a) · Comparative Politics · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Parties, Pressure Groups and Social Movements in Comparative Perspective
Of late, centrist and centre-left political parties have been facing setbacks while centre-right parties have been in ascendency the world over. Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
हाल के समय में केन्द्रवादी और वामपंथी राजनीतिक दलों को असफलताओं का सामना करना पड़ रहा है, जबकि दक्षिणपंथी दल विश्व भर में बढ़त हासिल कर रहे हैं। टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q3(a)
Approach: The question asks for a comment on the global rise of the centre-right and decline of the centre and centre-left, so the answer establishes the trend with examples, explains it through economic, cultural and party-system factors, notes counter-examples, and gives a balanced conclusion.
Over the past decade, many democracies have seen centre-right, national-conservative and radical-right parties gain, while social democratic and centrist parties have lost ground. Donald Trump's re-election in 2024, Giorgia Meloni's victory in Italy (2022), the PVV's first place in the Netherlands (2023), Javier Milei in Argentina (2023), the CDU's win and the AfD's surge in Germany (2025) and right-wing gains in the 2024 European Parliament elections illustrate the trend.
Economic explanations: globalisation, deindustrialisation and the 2008 crisis hurt the industrial working class, the traditional base of the left. Centre-left parties that embraced 'Third Way' market policies lost their distinct identity, and Thomas Piketty argued they became parties of the educated elite — a 'Brahmin left' — while less-educated voters drifted right. Post-pandemic inflation punished incumbents of all colours.
Cultural explanations: Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart (Cultural Backlash, 2019) see a reaction by older and rural voters against rapid change in values; immigration, national identity, crime and religion have become central cleavages, issues on which the right appears more credible. Cas Mudde notes that radical-right themes have entered the mainstream.
Party-system factors: declining party loyalty, social media and personalised leadership reward clear, emotive messages; centre-right parties have often absorbed populist themes to compete.
Counter-trends: the pattern is not universal. Labour won a landslide in Britain (2024), Claudia Sheinbaum's left-of-centre party won in Mexico (2024), a leftist coalition won in Sri Lanka (2024), and centre-left governments were returned in Australia and Canada in 2025. Many swings reflect anti-incumbency rather than ideological realignment.
The trend is real but uneven. The left's recovery depends on reconnecting with working-class insecurity while offering credible answers on migration and identity, and the right's durability on delivering economic results.Q3(b) · Approaches and Key Concepts in International Relations · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Transnational Actors and Collective Security
Collective security and responsibility to protect (R2P) are similar but different in scope, goals and methods. Explain.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
सामूहिक सुरक्षा और सुरक्षा की जिम्मेदारी (R2P) समान हैं किन्तु कार्यक्षेत्र, लक्ष्य तथा पद्धति में भिन्न हैं। समझाइए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q3(b)
Approach: Define both concepts and their origins, show the similarity (collective, UN-centred response to threats), then distinguish them on scope, goals and methods, with examples such as Korea, Kuwait and Libya, and conclude.
Collective security is the principle that all states jointly respond to aggression by any state, embodied in the League Covenant (Article 16) and Chapter VII of the UN Charter. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) was proposed by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (2001) and endorsed at the 2005 World Summit.
Similarity: both rest on collective action authorised by the international community, mainly through the Security Council, and both qualify absolute sovereignty in the name of a common interest.
Differences: (i) Scope: collective security addresses inter-state aggression; R2P addresses four crimes within states: genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. (ii) Goals: collective security restores international peace and the territorial status quo, as against North Korea in 1950 and Iraq in 1990-91; R2P protects populations from their own governments. (iii) Methods: collective security uses sanctions and force against an aggressor; R2P works through three pillars, the state's own responsibility, international assistance, and timely and decisive collective action, with force as a last resort.
Libya (2011) showed the risk of R2P becoming regime change, which made India and others wary.
Both remain hostage to great-power vetoes, but together they express an evolving sense that peace and people both deserve protection.Q3(c) · Comparative Politics · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Globalisation: Responses from Developed and Developing Societies
Global South-sensitive model of globalization would prevent the danger emanating from overcentralized globalization. Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
वैश्वीकरण का वैश्विक दक्षिण-संवेदनशील प्रतिमान, अति-केन्द्रित वैश्वीकरण के खतरे को रोकेगा। विवेचना कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q3(c)
Approach: The question asks to discuss whether a Global South-sensitive model can avert the dangers of over-centralised globalisation, so the answer explains the dangers, outlines the features of a Global South-sensitive model with examples, assesses its limits, and concludes.
Over-centralised globalisation refers to the concentration of production, finance, technology and rule-making in a few countries, firms and institutions — supply chains centred on China, finance on the dollar, platforms on a few corporations, and IMF voting power on the North.
Its dangers: the COVID-19 pandemic exposed fragile supply chains and 'vaccine nationalism'; dollar dominance transmits US monetary shocks to emerging economies; sanctions show interdependence used for coercion; and many developing countries face debt distress, as Sri Lanka's 2022 default showed. Dani Rodrik warns that rules set by the powerful shrink the weak's policy space.
A Global South-sensitive model would: (i) diversify supply chains and manufacturing widely; (ii) reform the IMF, World Bank and UN Security Council; (iii) protect policy space; (iv) secure technology transfer and access to medicines, as the India–South Africa TRIPS waiver proposal (2020) sought; (v) honour climate finance; and (vi) build South-South institutions such as the New Development Bank and share digital public infrastructure such as UPI. India's G20 presidency (2023), which secured African Union membership, reflects this vision.
Limits: the Global South is heterogeneous — China itself is a centre of concentration; Southern institutions can create new dependencies; and fragmentation into rival blocs could reduce efficiency.
A Global South-sensitive model is therefore a necessary corrective, making globalisation more resilient and legitimate, though it must be inclusive rather than merely shifting the centre.
Question 4 (50 marks)
Q4(a) · The United Nations, Regionalism and Global Concerns · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Regionalisation of World Politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, SAARC and NAFTA
Latin America has made moderate success in countering US-led global economic order by forming various organizations emphasizing regional sovereignty, economic integration and alternative development. Discuss.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्षेत्रीय सम्प्रभुता, आर्थिक अखण्डता और वैकल्पिक विकास पर बल देने वाले विभिन्न संगठनों की स्थापना के आधार पर लैटिन अमेरिका ने यू० एस० के नेतृत्व में स्थापित वैश्विक आर्थिक व्यवस्था का विकल्प प्रस्तुत करने में सीमित सफलता प्राप्त की है। चर्चा कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q4(a)
Approach: Explain the US-led order Latin America sought to counter, describe the main regional organisations and what each achieved, then show why success has been only moderate, and conclude.
For much of the twentieth century Latin America lived under US hegemony, from the Monroe Doctrine to the Washington Consensus of the 1990s, which tied IMF and World Bank lending to privatisation and liberalisation. Dependency theorists such as Raúl Prebisch and Andre Gunder Frank had long argued that this order kept the region on the periphery.
Regional responses: Mercosur (1991), formed by Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, built a customs union and gave the region bargaining power; its trade agreement with the EU was concluded in December 2024. The defeat of the US-backed Free Trade Area of the Americas at Mar del Plata in 2005 was a turning point. ALBA (2004), led by Venezuela and Cuba, offered solidarity-based trade, such as oil for doctors, as an explicit alternative to neoliberalism.
UNASUR (2008) promoted South American political and security cooperation and helped defuse crises in Bolivia in 2008, while CELAC (2011) brought together 33 states without the US and Canada and became the region's voice in dialogue with China and the EU. The Bank of the South (2009) was meant as an alternative to the IMF.
Why success is moderate: these bodies depended on the 'pink tide' of left governments and weakened when governments changed; UNASUR lost most members after 2018. Intra-regional trade remains low, economies still export commodities, and Venezuela's collapse discredited ALBA. Rivalry between Brazil and Mexico, and the Pacific Alliance's preference for open markets, divided the region. Much of the alternative also meant new dependence on China.
Latin America has thus asserted regional sovereignty and autonomy in diplomacy, but its regionalism remains more political than economic. Lasting success needs institutions that survive changes of government.Q4(b) · The United Nations, Regionalism and Global Concerns · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Regionalisation of World Politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, SAARC and NAFTA
How successful has the 'ASEAN Plus Three' been in addressing regional problems? Support your answer with specific examples.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्षेत्रीय समस्याओं को सम्बोधित करने में 'आसियान प्लस थ्री' किस हद तक सफल रहा है? सुस्पष्ट उदाहरणों द्वारा अपने उत्तर को समर्थित कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q4(b)
Approach: Introduce APT's origin in the Asian financial crisis, assess its record with specific examples in finance, food security, health and trade, then note its limits and give a verdict.
ASEAN Plus Three (APT), linking the ten ASEAN states with China, Japan and South Korea, began with an informal summit in Kuala Lumpur in 1997, in the middle of the Asian financial crisis, when IMF conditions convinced East Asian states that they needed their own safety net.
Financial cooperation: its main success is the Chiang Mai Initiative (2000), a network of currency swaps that became a multilateral reserve pool in 2010 and was later enlarged. The ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) monitors regional economies, and the Asian Bond Markets Initiative developed local-currency bond markets to reduce dependence on the dollar.
Food and health: the APT Emergency Rice Reserve (2012) provides rice in disasters, as after Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013. APT cooperated against SARS (2003), avian influenza and COVID-19.
Trade and community-building: APT built habits of cooperation that fed into the East Asia Summit and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (2020), now the world's largest trade bloc.
Limits: the Chiang Mai facility has never been drawn upon, as members still prefer IMF links and bilateral swaps; China-Japan rivalry and the South China Sea disputes are outside its agenda; and decisions follow the consensus-based ASEAN Way.
APT has therefore been moderately successful as a functional economic and crisis-management framework, but not as a security community.Q4(c) · The United Nations, Regionalism and Global Concerns · 15 marks≈ 11 min
Regionalisation of World Politics: EU, ASEAN, APEC, SAARC and NAFTA
"Trump's return to the White House is a jolt to push the European Union to invest in its own defence and economic and technological revival." Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
"ट्रम्प की व्हाइट हाउस में वापसी यूरोपीय संघ को अपनी रक्षा तथा आर्थिक और तकनीकी पुनरुद्धार में निवेश करने के दबाव के लिए एक झटका है।" टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q4(c)
Approach: Comment on the statement: explain why Trump's second term pushes the EU towards strategic autonomy in defence and economy, cite the EU's responses, then weigh the obstacles and conclude.
Since 1945 Western Europe relied on the United States for security through NATO. Donald Trump's return in January 2025, with his questioning of commitments to allies, pressure for a quick deal on Ukraine and tariffs on European goods, has turned the long-discussed idea of strategic autonomy into a necessity.
Defence: in March 2025 the European Commission proposed the ReArm Europe plan (Readiness 2030), aiming to mobilise up to 800 billion euros, including a 150-billion-euro loan instrument (SAFE) for joint procurement, and allowing national defence spending outside fiscal rules. At the NATO summit in The Hague in June 2025, allies agreed to raise defence spending towards 5 per cent of GDP over a decade.
Economic and technological revival: the Draghi report of 2024 warned that Europe was falling behind the US and China in productivity and technology. The EU is pursuing a Competitiveness Compass, simplification of regulation, investment in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and diversification of trade through agreements with Mercosur and India, which reduces dependence on the US.
Obstacles: member states differ on threat perception (Poland versus Hungary), fiscal capacity and whether to buy American weapons. Europe's defence industry is fragmented, and nuclear deterrence still depends largely on the US.
The statement is largely valid: Trump has acted as a jolt. Whether it produces a durable European pillar depends on sustained funding and political unity.
Question 5 (50 marks)
Q5(a) · Indian Foreign Policy, Non-Alignment and South Asia · 10 marks≈ 7 min
India and Its Neighbours: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Myanmar
China's growing footprint and a tangible shift in power dynamics in Bangladesh has weakened India's leverage in Dhaka. Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
चीन के बढ़ते प्रभाव और बांग्लादेश में शक्तियों के संतुलन में बड़े बदलाव ने ढाका में भारत के प्रभाव को कमजोर किया है। टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q5(a)
Approach: Comment on whether India's leverage in Dhaka has weakened after the 2024 change of government and China's growing role. Describe the shift, China's footprint, then the remaining sources of Indian influence, and conclude.
Under Sheikh Hasina (2009-2024), Bangladesh was among India's closest partners, acting against Northeast insurgents and expanding connectivity. Her fall in August 2024 and the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus changed the power dynamics in Dhaka.
Signs of weakened leverage: anti-India sentiment rose because of India's closeness to Hasina, who took refuge in India; Dhaka warmed to Pakistan; Yunus visited China in March 2025 and described India's Northeast as landlocked with Bangladesh as the region's access to the sea, which alarmed New Delhi; and India withdrew a transshipment facility for Bangladeshi exports in April 2025.
China's footprint: China is Bangladesh's largest trading partner and main arms supplier, Bangladesh joined the Belt and Road in 2016, and China has offered to develop the Teesta river.
Limits of the shift: geography, trade, electricity supply, water sharing and India's surrounding border keep interdependence high.
India's leverage has weakened but not vanished. It should engage whoever governs Dhaka, avoid seeming partisan, and offer tangible benefits.Q5(b) · Indian Foreign Policy, Non-Alignment and South Asia · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Indian Foreign Policy: Determinants, Institutions, Continuity and Change
Would you agree with the contention that India's inclination to lean on a 'more aggressive hyper-realist posture' has gained a new momentum in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terrorist strike? Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
क्या आप इस तर्क से सहमत हैं कि भारत के 'अधिक आक्रामक अतियथार्थवादी (हाइपर-रिअलिस्ट) दृष्टिकोण' के प्रति झुकाव ने पहलगाम आतंकवादी हमले के बाद एक नई गति प्राप्त कर ली है? टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q5(b)
Approach: The question asks whether India's response to the Pahalgam attack shows a turn towards hyper-realism. Define hyper-realism using Kanti Bajpai's typology, list the new elements of India's response, then weigh the evidence of restraint before concluding.
Kanti Bajpai identifies three streams in Indian strategic thought: Nehruvianism, neoliberalism and hyper-realism, which trusts credible force above all in dealing with hostile neighbours. The Pahalgam terror attack of 22 April 2025, which killed 26 people, mostly tourists, revived this stream.
Evidence of a hyper-realist turn: India held the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, closed the Attari crossing and cancelled visas. Through Operation Sindoor (May 2025) it struck terror infrastructure deep inside Pakistan and declared that future terror attacks would be treated as acts of war. This extends the trend of the 2016 surgical strikes and the 2019 Balakot strike.
Evidence of restraint: the strikes were described as focused and non-escalatory, a ceasefire came within days, and India followed force with diplomacy through all-party delegations abroad.
The posture is better called calibrated realism: force is now a normal instrument against terrorism, but it stays limited by nuclear deterrence and by India's interest in being seen as a responsible power.Q5(c) · India and the World · 10 marks≈ 7 min
Recent Developments: Afghanistan, Iraq, West Asia, Israel and a New World Order
For India, a multipolar world order would also mean a multipolar Asia. Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत के लिए एक बहुध्रुवीय विश्व व्यवस्था का अर्थ एक बहुध्रुवीय एशिया का होना भी होगा। टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q5(c)
Approach: The statement asks for a comment on the link between a multipolar world and a multipolar Asia, so the answer explains the idea, why it matters to India, how India pursues it, and the challenges.
India has long sought a multipolar world in which no single power dominates. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has repeatedly argued that a multipolar world must also mean a multipolar Asia, because a world freed from US dominance could still leave Asia under one Asian hegemon, China.
Why it matters: China seeks a hierarchical, China-centred Asian order, visible in its pressure on the LAC and in the South China Sea; an Asia dominated by China would limit India's autonomy as much as a US-dominated world.
How India pursues it: partnerships with Japan, Australia, ASEAN, South Korea and the US through the Quad and Act East; a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific with ASEAN centrality; and engagement with Russia, Central Asia and the Gulf.
At the same time India works with China in BRICS and the SCO, showing it seeks balance, not containment.
Challenges: the power gap with China, divided Asian partners and uncertain US commitment.
The statement is valid: for India, global multipolarity is meaningful only if Asia itself remains plural.Q5(d) · Indian Foreign Policy, Non-Alignment and South Asia · 10 marks≈ 7 min
India and the Non-Aligned Movement: Phases and Current Role
Does the Non-Aligned Movement have any future in the wake of India's growing indifference towards it?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत की गुटनिरपेक्षता के प्रति बढ़ती उदासीनता के बीच क्या गुटनिरपेक्ष आंदोलन का कोई भविष्य है?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q5(d)
Approach: Assess NAM's future given India's declining interest. Show the evidence of indifference and its reasons, then the case for NAM's continued relevance, and conclude.
India was a founder and long a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), but in recent years it has given the movement lower priority.
Signs of indifference: Prime Minister Modi did not attend the NAM summits of 2016 (Venezuela) and 2019 (Azerbaijan). India now invests more in the G20, Quad, BRICS, SCO and its own Voice of the Global South summits, and prefers multi-alignment to bloc-like solidarity.
Reasons: NAM's large, divided membership struggles to agree; members such as Pakistan use it against India; and India's interests are now global, not only Third World.
Case for a future: NAM still has about 120 members, the largest grouping after the UN; in a new US-China rivalry its core idea of autonomy is more relevant than ever, and it can voice Global South concerns on debt, climate and UN reform.
NAM has a future as a forum of principles, not as a central instrument of Indian policy; India can use it selectively to build Global South coalitions.Q5(e) · India and the World · 10 marks≈ 7 min
India, the European Union and Japan
Historical ties between India and Japan grew into a 'special strategic and global partnership'. Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत और जापान के बीच ऐतिहासिक संबंध एक 'विशेष रणनीतिक और वैश्विक साझेदारी' में बदल गए हैं। टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q5(e)
Approach: The statement asks for a comment on how historical ties grew into the Special Strategic and Global Partnership, so the answer traces the stages and identifies the pillars of the present partnership.
India-Japan ties have deep roots: Buddhism, the friendship of Tagore and Okakura, Justice Radhabinod Pal's dissent at the Tokyo tribunal, and India's 1952 peace treaty waiving reparations.
Stages: after a dip over India's 1998 nuclear tests, the Global Partnership (2000) and the Strategic and Global Partnership (2006) followed; Shinzo Abe's 'Confluence of the Two Seas' speech (2007) gave it an Indo-Pacific vision, and Modi's Tokyo visit in 2014 raised it to a Special Strategic and Global Partnership.
Pillars today: investment and infrastructure (Delhi Metro, freight corridors, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail); the 2016 civil nuclear agreement; defence ties through the 2+2 dialogue, the 2020 logistics agreement and exercises; and Quad cooperation for a free and open Indo-Pacific.
In August 2025 the two set a target of 10 trillion yen of Japanese private investment over a decade and updated their security cooperation declaration.
Limits remain in trade volumes and project delays, but shared democratic values and concern about China make Japan one of India's most trusted partners.
Question 6 (50 marks)
Q6(a) · Indian Foreign Policy, Non-Alignment and South Asia · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Indian Foreign Policy: Determinants, Institutions, Continuity and Change
Critically analyze the different phases of India's foreign policy since independence. How justified, do you think, is S. Jaishankar's classification of the current phase as the phase of 'energetic diplomacy'?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
स्वतंत्रता के बाद भारतीय विदेश नीति के विभिन्न चरणों का आलोचनात्मक विश्लेषण कीजिए। आपके अनुसार एस० जयशंकर द्वारा वर्तमान चरण का 'सक्रिय कूटनीति' के चरण के रूप में वर्गीकरण कितना उचित है?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q6(a)
Approach: The question has two parts: a critical account of the phases of India's foreign policy since 1947, and a judgement on whether Jaishankar's label 'energetic diplomacy' fits the post-2014 phase. Use Jaishankar's own six-phase scheme from The India Way, add a critique, then evaluate the label.
India's foreign policy has kept a constant goal, strategic autonomy in the service of security and development, while its methods have changed with the international system. S. Jaishankar, in The India Way (2020), divides it into six phases.
1946-62, optimistic non-alignment: Nehru used moral leadership, Panchsheel and NAM to stay out of the Cold War but neglected defence, as 1962 revealed. 1962-71, realism and recovery: military rebuilding and arms from both blocs. 1971-91, regional assertion: the Indo-Soviet Treaty and the creation of Bangladesh made India South Asia's dominant power, though the IPKF in Sri Lanka showed its limits.
1991-98, safeguarding autonomy: after the Soviet collapse and the economic crisis, India liberalised, launched Look East and resisted pressure on the NPT and CTBT. 1998-2013, a balancing power: nuclear tests, the strategic partnership with the US and the civil nuclear deal let India balance among the major powers.
Since 2014, energetic diplomacy: a more active, leader-driven style: Neighbourhood First, Act East, the Indo-Pacific and the Quad, multi-alignment with the US and Russia, diaspora outreach, and the 2023 G20 presidency as a voice of the Global South.
How justified is the label? It fits the tempo: more summits, new groupings and sharper responses to terror. But energy is not the same as results: ties with Nepal, the Maldives and Bangladesh have seen strains, China's 2020 incursions in Ladakh showed the limits of engagement, and India left RCEP in 2019.
The phasing is useful but neat, since every phase mixed continuity and change. 'Energetic diplomacy' fairly describes the style and ambition of the present phase; its success depends on turning activity into lasting gains in the neighbourhood and in economic strength.Q6(b) · India and the World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
India and Multilateral Groupings: BRICS, SCO, G20, QUAD and the Indo-Pacific
India maintains strong ties with countries that will assure a free and open Indo-Pacific and guarantee greater connectivity with rest of the world. Analyze.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत उन देशों के साथ मजबूत संबंध बनाए रखता है जो एक स्वतंत्र और खुली इंडो-पैसिफिक सुनिश्चित करेंगे और दुनिया के बाकी हिस्सों के साथ बेहतर संपर्क की गारंटी देंगे। विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q6(b)
Approach: The statement asks for an analysis of India's partnerships for a free and open Indo-Pacific and connectivity, so the answer explains India's interests and vision, analyses its partnerships and connectivity projects, and notes the limits.
Most of India's trade by volume moves by sea, and its growth depends on open sea lanes from the Gulf to the Pacific. India's vision, set out by Prime Minister Modi at the Shangri-La Dialogue (2018), is a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific with ASEAN centrality and a rules-based order, not a club against any country.
Partnerships for openness: the Quad with the US, Japan and Australia; strategic partnerships and logistics agreements with France, Japan and Australia; trilaterals such as India-France-Australia; maritime cooperation with Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, including BrahMos sales to the Philippines; and the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (2019) with partners leading its pillars.
Connectivity: Act East projects such as the Kaladan corridor and the India-Myanmar-Thailand highway; Chabahar and the INSTC to the west; IMEC to Europe (2023); and Japanese-funded infrastructure in the Northeast.
Indian Ocean: SAGAR, now MAHASAGAR, capacity building for island states, the Colombo Security Conclave, and the Indian Navy's role as first responder.
Economic links: the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (joined 2022, outside its trade pillar), supply chain initiatives with Japan and Australia, and free trade agreements with the UAE and Australia.
Limits: project delays, limited finance compared with the Belt and Road, India's exit from RCEP, and uncertain US policy.
India's strategy is therefore one of networked partnerships that keep the region open and plural; its credibility depends on faster delivery.Q6(c) · India and the World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
India, the European Union and Japan
The tariff threats have pushed India and the European Union closer. Evaluate the India-EU partnership.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
टैरिफ की धमकियों ने भारत और यूरोपीय संघ को करीब ला दिया है। भारत व ई० यू० की साझेदारी का मूल्यांकन कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q6(c)
Approach: The question asks for an evaluation of the India-EU partnership in the light of US tariff threats, so the answer explains how tariffs pushed the two closer, evaluates the pillars and the remaining frictions, and gives a balanced judgement.
India and the EU have been strategic partners since 2004, but their trade talks stalled for years. In 2025 the US imposed sweeping tariffs on many partners, including steep additional duties on Indian goods linked to India's purchases of Russian oil, and threatened the EU too. This shared exposure to unilateral tariffs gave both a strong reason to diversify and to lock in a rules-based partnership.
Trade: the EU is one of India's largest trading partners and a major source of investment; the visit of the full College of Commissioners to New Delhi (February 2025) set the goal of concluding the free trade agreement by the end of 2025, alongside investment protection and geographical indications agreements.
Technology and supply chains: the Trade and Technology Council (2022) covers semiconductors, digital governance and clean technology, and both want to reduce dependence on China.
Connectivity and climate: IMEC, the Global Gateway and cooperation on green hydrogen and solar energy add strategic depth.
Frictions: the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and deforestation rules, Indian tariffs on cars and wines, data adequacy, and differences over Russia and Ukraine.
Evaluation: tariff pressure has accelerated convergence, but the partnership rests on deeper interests, a multipolar order and economic resilience; its success depends on concluding a balanced trade deal and settling CBAM concerns.
Question 7 (50 marks)
Q7(a) · Indian Foreign Policy, Non-Alignment and South Asia · 20 marks≈ 14 min
Indian Foreign Policy: Determinants, Institutions, Continuity and Change
India continues to invoke its time-tested policy of strategic autonomy vis-à-vis both the United States of America and Russia by rejecting US' offer of mediation on Kashmir issue and by refusing to criticize Russia in its ongoing war against Ukraine. Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत अपनी समय-परखित रणनीतिक आत्मनिर्भरता की नीति संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका तथा रूस दोनों के साथ संबंधों में जारी रखते हुए कश्मीर मुद्दे पर यू० एस० की मध्यस्थता के प्रस्ताव को अस्वीकार करता है तथा यूक्रेन के साथ चलते युद्ध के लिए रूस की आलोचना करने से इनकार करता है। टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q7(a)
Approach: Comment on how India's two choices, rejecting US mediation on Kashmir and refusing to condemn Russia over Ukraine, express strategic autonomy. Define the idea, explain each case with its reasons, note the costs and criticisms, and conclude on autonomy as multi-alignment.
Strategic autonomy is the capacity to decide on the basis of one's own interests, free of any great power's preferences. Born in Nehru's non-alignment, it now takes the form of multi-alignment: many partnerships, no alliance.
Rejecting US mediation on Kashmir: after the May 2025 ceasefire with Pakistan, President Trump claimed credit and offered to mediate on Kashmir. India rejected this, restating that Kashmir is bilateral under the Simla Agreement (1972) and that the ceasefire came through direct military channels. Mediation, India fears, would internationalise the issue and equate the victim of terror with its sponsor.
Refusing to condemn Russia: since 2022 India has abstained on most UN resolutions against Russia, raised imports of discounted Russian oil and kept defence ties, while stressing sovereignty and dialogue; Prime Minister Modi told President Putin that this is not an era of war. The reasons are defence dependence, energy security and keeping Russia from drifting fully towards China.
Together they show autonomy directed against no one: India deepens the Quad and technology ties with the US while preserving its oldest partnership with Moscow.
Criticisms: Western critics call the Ukraine stance fence-sitting that weakens India's claim to defend a rules-based order; others say autonomy masks dependence on Russian arms and US markets, and that excessive balancing can erode trust on both sides.
Assessment: both choices are pragmatic, rooted in interest rather than neutrality. Autonomy will be sustainable only if India diversifies defence supplies, builds capacity under Atmanirbhar Bharat and grows economically, so that it remains a real choice rather than a posture.Q7(b) · The Changing International Order and the International Economic System · 15 marks≈ 11 min
From Bretton Woods to the WTO
Trump's unilateral imposition of reciprocal tariffs on scores of countries poses impending threat to the future of the rule-based multilateral global trading system under the WTO. What options do the WTO members have to salvage the organization?
हिंदी में प्रश्न
ट्रम्प द्वारा अनेक देशों पर एकतरफा पारस्परिक शुल्क लगाया जाना डब्ल्यू० टी० ओ० की नियम-आधारित बहुपक्षीय वैश्विक व्यापार व्यवस्था के भविष्य को संभावित खतरा पहुँचाता है। डब्ल्यू० टी० ओ० के सदस्यों के पास संगठन को बचाने के कौन-से विकल्प उपलब्ध हैं?
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q7(b)
Approach: Explain why reciprocal tariffs threaten the WTO's core principles, then set out the realistic options before members (legal, negotiating, plurilateral, reform, regional) and conclude.
In April 2025 the Trump administration announced reciprocal tariffs: a baseline tariff on most imports and higher country-specific rates, many later suspended for negotiation. Justified as correcting trade deficits, they bypass the WTO's most-favoured-nation principle and members' bound tariff commitments.
Why it threatens the system: the largest economy is treating tariffs as bargaining chips through bilateral deals; dispute settlement cannot restrain it because the Appellate Body has been non-functional since December 2019, after the US blocked appointments; and other members may copy unilateralism, triggering tit-for-tat retaliation.
Options for members: (i) Keep the rules among themselves: the rest of the membership accounts for most world trade and can continue to apply MFN to each other. (ii) Use dispute settlement through panels and the Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA), joined by the EU, China and others. (iii) Calibrated responses within WTO rights rather than escalating trade wars, while negotiating with Washington. (iv) Reform of dispute settlement, subsidies and special and differential treatment to address legitimate US concerns about China's state capitalism. (v) Plurilateral agreements, such as the investment facilitation initiative, and regional pacts like CPTPP and RCEP to keep trade open.
For India, which prefers bilateral negotiation with the US but defends multilateralism, the lesson is to reform the WTO, not abandon it. The organisation can survive as a rule-based core even without full US commitment.Q7(c) · Indian Foreign Policy, Non-Alignment and South Asia · 15 marks≈ 11 min
India and the Non-Aligned Movement: Phases and Current Role
NonAlignment 2.0 underscores India's unique aspiration to emerge as a site for an alternative universality. Comment.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
गुटनिरपेक्षता 2.0 भारत की अनोखी आकांक्षा को उजागर करता है कि वह एक वैकल्पिक वैश्विकता का स्थल बने। टिप्पणी कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q7(c)
Approach: Comment on the idea in NonAlignment 2.0 that India can be a site for an alternative universality. Introduce the document and its authors, explain what 'alternative universality' means, link it to India's democracy and Global South role, add critiques, and conclude.
NonAlignment 2.0 (2012) was a strategy document written by an independent group including Sunil Khilnani, Rajiv Kumar, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Shyam Saran, Srinath Raghavan and Nandan Nilekani. It argued that India should keep maximum strategic space and options in a changing world, and that its global influence will rest on the strength of its domestic example.
Meaning of 'alternative universality': the authors held that India's legitimacy comes from showing that a large, poor and diverse society can achieve growth and inclusion through democracy. If it succeeds, India would offer a universal model different from both Western liberal capitalism and China's authoritarian development, so its values, not just its power, would attract others.
Expressions in practice: India's pluralist democracy, its digital public infrastructure offered to other countries and its leadership of the Global South at the 2023 G20 present an Indian path to development that others may adopt.
Critiques: realists see such language as idealism that ignores hard power; critics argue that democratic backsliding, inequality and slow job creation weaken the example; and India's own preference for multi-alignment and national interest can sit uneasily with a universal mission.
The phrase captures the document's key insight: India's international standing depends on the success of its domestic project. Whether India becomes such a site will be decided at home, by inclusive growth and democratic quality, more than by diplomacy.
Question 8 (50 marks)
Q8(a) · India and the World · 20 marks≈ 14 min
India and the Nuclear Question
India's reluctance to perceive any 'existential threat' inevitably made the multilateral path to nuclear security a 'default option' until it decided to cross the nuclear Rubicon in 1998. Identify and analyze some of the major reasons behind this shift in India's position on the nuclear question.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत के किसी भी प्रकार के 'अस्तित्वीय खतरे' को समझने की अनिच्छा ने अनिवार्य रूप से परमाणु सुरक्षा के बहुपक्षीय मार्ग को एक 'डिफॉल्ट विकल्प' बना दिया था जब तक कि इसने 1998 में परमाणु रूबिकॉन को पार करने का निर्णय नहीं लिया था। परमाणु प्रश्न पर भारत की स्थिति में इस परिवर्तन के कुछ प्रमुख कारणों की पहचान तथा विश्लेषण कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q8(a)
Approach: The question asks for the reasons behind India's shift from a multilateral disarmament path to open weaponisation in 1998, so the answer explains the earlier policy, then analyses the security, regime-related, technological, domestic and status reasons, and evaluates.
For decades India did not see a threat grave enough to justify the bomb. Nehru championed disarmament, proposing a standstill on nuclear testing in 1954, and Rajiv Gandhi's Action Plan (1988) sought elimination of all nuclear weapons by 2010. Even after the 1974 peaceful nuclear explosion India kept its option open rather than weaponise. In May 1998, with Operation Shakti, India declared itself a nuclear weapon state.
Security environment: China, which had defeated India in 1962, tested in 1964 and became a recognised nuclear-weapon state; Prime Minister Vajpayee's letter to President Clinton cited an overt nuclear neighbour that had committed aggression and helped another neighbour's covert programme. Pakistan's China-aided programme had also matured.
Closing window of the regime: the indefinite extension of the NPT (1995) made the division between haves and have-nots permanent, and the CTBT (1996), with an entry-into-force clause requiring India's ratification, threatened to freeze India's option for ever; India had blocked it at Geneva.
Failure of the disarmament path: the nuclear powers ignored the Rajiv Gandhi plan and showed no intention to disarm, so multilateralism no longer protected India.
End of the Cold War: the Soviet Union, an implicit protector, had collapsed, and no credible security guarantees were available.
Technology and domestic politics: scientific capability was ready, and the BJP-led government had promised to exercise the option.
Status: Jaswant Singh, in 'Against Nuclear Apartheid' (1998), argued that India could not accept a regime that legitimised weapons for some and denied them to others.
The shift was thus a realist response to a deteriorating environment, combined with a sense of exclusion, yet India preserved continuity through no first use, a test moratorium and support for universal disarmament.Q8(b) · India and the World · 15 marks≈ 11 min
India and the Global South: Africa, Latin America, NIEO and WTO Negotiations
Discuss some of the key drivers of India's new interests in Africa which might help in developing long-term comparative advantage over China.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत की अफ्रीका के प्रति नई रुचि के कुछ मुख्य कारणों पर चर्चा कीजिए जो लम्बे समय में चीन के सापेक्ष तुलनात्मक लाभ विकसित करने में सहायक हो सकते हैं।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q8(b)
Approach: The question asks for the drivers of India's new interest in Africa and how they give India a long-term edge over China, so the answer lists drivers and then shows India's comparative advantages and limits.
Africa, with 54 states and the world's youngest and fastest-growing population, has moved from the margins to the centre of Indian foreign policy, especially after the third India-Africa Forum Summit (2015) and the Kampala Principles (2018).
Drivers: energy (oil from Nigeria and Angola) and critical minerals for the green transition; markets for Indian pharmaceuticals, vehicles and services; food security through farm investment; maritime security in the western Indian Ocean; and 54 votes for India's UN and global governance goals.
Comparative advantage over China: China's trade and loans dwarf India's, but India offers a demand-driven, consultative model focused on skills, through ITEC and e-VidyaBharati, which builds local capacity rather than debt.
Indian firms employ Africans, Indian generic medicines and the vaccines sent during the pandemic built goodwill, and the old diaspora and shared anti-colonial memory give India social roots China lacks.
India's diplomatic push for African Union membership of the G20 (2023) and its Voice of the Global South summits present India as a partner in Africa's voice, not only its resources.
Limits: slow delivery of lines of credit, smaller finance, and a fourth India-Africa Forum Summit long delayed weaken India's case.
India's edge therefore lies not in matching China's money but in trust, capacity building and partnership on African terms; faster project delivery is the key to turning goodwill into lasting advantage.Q8(c) · Indian Foreign Policy, Non-Alignment and South Asia · 15 marks≈ 11 min
SAARC and South Asia as a Free Trade Area
Discuss the potential role India can play in initiating a possible phase of trilateral economic engagement among India, China and Nepal.
हिंदी में प्रश्न
भारत, चीन और नेपाल के मध्य त्रिपक्षीय आर्थिक जुड़ाव के सम्भावित चरण को प्रारम्भ करने में भारत की भूमिका पर चर्चा कीजिए।
Model answer
Paper and question: Paper II, Q8(c)
Approach: Discuss what role India could play in a trilateral India-China-Nepal economic framework. Set out the idea and Nepal's interest, the potential gains, India's concerns, and the conditions under which India could lead, then conclude.
Nepal has long wished to be a 'bridge' rather than a 'buffer' between its two giant neighbours, and Chinese leaders have at times floated trilateral cooperation involving India, China and Nepal. India has so far been cautious, but such engagement could serve its interests if shaped on its terms.
Potential gains: Nepal's development through trade and investment from both neighbours; use of Himalayan trade routes such as Nathu La, Shipki La and Lipulekh; hydropower, where Nepal's surplus electricity already flows to India and could feed a wider grid; tourism and pilgrimage, including the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra; and disaster management in a seismic region.
India's concerns: China's Belt and Road projects in Nepal, including the planned Trans-Himalayan connectivity network, could erode India's special position; India objects to the BRI's debt and sovereignty problems; and the 2020 Galwan clash and Nepal's map dispute over Kalapani and Lipulekh add distrust.
India's possible role: India can lead with what it already does well: open borders, the largest share of Nepal's trade, cross-border rail and power lines, and the Motihari-Amlekhgunj oil pipeline (2019). It can propose projects that are transparent, commercially viable and demand-driven, focused on energy, trade facilitation and disaster resilience, while keeping sensitive security sectors out.
A trilateral track is feasible only after India-China trust improves. Engaging selectively would let India shape rather than resist Nepal's outreach to China.