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The initiative of 'Mains Answer Writing' by IASbook will help the UPSC & State PSC aspirants to daily practice before doing a mock test series. This free answer writing programme is available in English & Hindi to boost preparation with improved writing skills. Students can ask questions and write answers. You can also download free test papers pdfs, current affairs analysis and other educational resources to secure your selection in examination by scoring in all GS & Essay Papers.

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Mains Answer Writing Latest Questions

Suraj Singh
  • 0
Suraj SinghLearner
Asked: June 19, 2024In:
  • 0

What is a nation’s balance of payments? Describe its different components. (Answer in 200 words)

upsc: external sector
  1. Umang Singh Yadav
    Umang Singh Yadav Expert

    Reserve Bank of India defines Balance of Payments as a statistical statement that summarizes transactions between residents and non-residents of a country over a specific period of time. It provides a comprehensive picture of the country's economic transactions with the rest of the world. ComponentsRead more

    Reserve Bank of India defines Balance of Payments as a statistical statement that summarizes transactions between residents and non-residents of a country over a specific period of time. It provides a comprehensive picture of the country’s economic transactions with the rest of the world.

    Components of Balance of Payments –

    1. The Current Account measures the net flow of goods, services, income, and current transfers between a country and the rest of the world excluding capital transactions.components of current accounts are merchandise trade,services trade,income & current transfers.
    2. The Capital Account measures the net flow of capital transactions including investments, loans and transfers between a country and the rest of the world.components of capital accounts are direct investments, portfolio investments, capital transfers.
    3. The Financial Account measures the net change in a country’s financial assets and liabilities including transactions in foreign assets and liabilities, such as investments, loans, and reserves.components of financial accounts are foreign assets and liabilities .

     

    The Balance of Payments is a vital tool that helps countries track their economic transactions with the rest of the world. It provides a comprehensive picture of a country’s trade, investment, and financial transactions.

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Ayushi jain
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Ayushi jainBegginer
Asked: June 19, 2024In:
  • 0

Although the digitalization of land records is a good thing, there are certain issues that must be resolved. (Answer in 200 words)

upsc: land reforms
  1. Gitanjali Reena
    Gitanjali Reena Begginer

    Access to land is a critical factor for economic growth and poverty reduction. For government, industry, and citizens to be able to use this asset effectively and to minimize land conflicts, digitization can help by improving access to reliable land and property records. Advantages of digitization oRead more

    Access to land is a critical factor for economic growth and poverty reduction. For government, industry, and citizens to be able to use this asset effectively and to minimize land conflicts, digitization can help by improving access to reliable land and property records.

    Advantages of digitization of land records:

    • Reduction in litigations and burden of cases: A NITI Aayog paper suggests that land disputes on average take about 20 years to be resolved. Land disputes add to the burden of the courts and impact sectors and projects that are dependent on these disputed land titles.
    • Promoting agricultural credit: Land is often used as collateral for obtaining loans by farmers. Digitization of land records and online creation of equitable mortgages would help in faster disbursement of agriculture credit.
    • Development of new infrastructure: The economy of the country is shifting from agrarian to manufacturing and services-based. However, several new infrastructure projects are witnessing delays due to a lack of updated land records.
    • Urbanization and housing: Slum dwellers do not have access to a clear land title or ownership rights. Further, since many colonies in which the poor reside are unauthorized, it is difficult for Urban local bodies to provide basic services to them. Easier online approvals of plans and occupancy certificates will provide clarity over ownership status.
    • To check benami transactions: Unclear titles and non-updated land records enable carrying out property transactions in a non-transparent way. The Standing Committee on Finance in 2015 noted that the generation of black money through benami transactions could be eliminated by the digitization of land records and their regular updation.

    Challenges Faced in Digitization of Land Records:

    • Lack of unified legal framework: The system of land records was inherited from the Zamindari system. The legal framework in India does not provide for guaranteed ownership, and how information about land records is collected and maintained further exacerbates the gaps in these records.
    • Land unavailability in the development of infrastructure: These delays occur because of non-availability of encumbrance-free land, non-updation of land records, resistance to joint measurement survey of land records, demands for higher compensation by landowners, and filing of large number of arbitration cases by landowners.
    • Lack of manpower: One of the major roadblocks in ensuring continuous updation of land records is the lack of skilled manpower in the land record departments of states.
    • Poor synergy across land record departments: The Revenue department is the custodian of textual records; the survey and the settlement departments manage the spatial records and the registration department responsible for registering land transactions, lacks synergy in functioning.
    • Digital divide: Lack of awareness and digital illiteracy are prevalent, especially in rural areas.

    To address these challenges, there is a need for wider adoption of technologies such as geographical information systems, data warehouses, and webs. It would help in making land records management efficient and easier for decision-making, strategy planning, and productive modeling. Also, an online or digital record department could be established for the betterment of online land records maintenance.

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Vishal Singh
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Vishal SinghBegginer
Asked: June 25, 2024In:
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Talk about the valuable lessons that Guru Nanak Dev imparted that still apply to today’s youngsters. (Answer in 150 words)

upsc: teachings of great leaders reformers & administrators
  1. Yash Sihare
    Yash Sihare Begginer
Anshika Singh
  • 0
Anshika SinghLearner
Asked: June 25, 2024In:
  • 0

The creation of a successful investment strategy for urban infrastructure depends on cooperation between the public and private sectors. Talk about it. (Answer in 250 words)

upsc: investment models
  1. Gita Sharma
    Gita Sharma Begginer

    In urban infrastructure, stakeholders from different economic sectors are involved including real estate, knowledge economy sectors etc. There is a multiplicity and sometimes, divergence of interests. Hence, there emerges a need for collaboration of public and private sectors to address the common mRead more

    In urban infrastructure, stakeholders from different economic sectors are involved including real estate, knowledge economy sectors etc. There is a multiplicity and sometimes, divergence of interests. Hence, there emerges a need for collaboration of public and private sectors to address the common misalignment between them in the following ways:

    • Investment requirements: Significant initial public subsidies might help kick-start the development. But long-term budget commitments – spanning over potentially different political mandates – may ultimately become a threat to the full delivery of the project and raise risks. Thereby, there is requirement of mobilisation of additional private capital.
    • Convergence of different interests: Usually the public sector has some clear interests in developing, urbanising, regenerating, or optimising profits from either derelict or underperforming sites and brownfield areas. At the same time, for the private sector it means unlocking of new jobs and new investment opportunities in real estate and the possibility of associated investments in the local economy.
    • Reduced risks: Risk allocation between partners needs to be at the heart of any collaboration between the public and private sector. While the government needs to take care of policy continuity, security of private investment, predictable timeframe of regulatory processes etc., the private sector undertakes socially comfortable cost recovery pricing of services and bears operational and constructional risk.
    • Sharing of responsibility: While the government can bear the administrative and transactional cost of managing a collaborative project and wading through the complex bureaucratic procedures, the private sector can bring in efficiency gains from improved project delivery, operation and management, and access to advanced technology.
    • Increase in rewards: Properly executed planning and development of a project also allows better screening of options, and helps in deciding appropriate project structure and choice of technology considering cost over the whole life cycle of the project. This expertise of the private sector provides relief to the public sector from the burden of the costs of design and construction.
    • Complementary objectives: Stakeholders from business sectors require the levelling of knowledge gap regarding dynamics, pace and plurality of assets while the public sector seeks opportunities to create economic growth, boost innovation, tap into new technologies and invest in the future of the region.

    Smart city solutions have emerged as a way forward to enable the convergence of stakeholders’ interests and to facilitate cooperation between investors for a more efficient and transparent use of resources and capital. The public sector may contribute by delivering the initial infrastructure rather than subsidising the development in later stages. Binding land use regulations should be set by the public sector from the early planning stages to ensure a wider shared value is delivered to the local community. Special public agencies or a department of local government could oversee relations with the developer over time. Some cities have successfully implemented public-private collaboration in wastewater management e.g. Alundur, Bangalore, Salt Lake (Kolkata) etc. as well as in urban road projects such as Mumbai Trans Harbour Sea Link Project, IT corridor project in Chennai, Hyderabad Outer ring road, Delhi- Gurgaon Expressway etc.

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Gita Sharma
  • 0
Gita SharmaBegginer
Asked: June 26, 2024In:
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Crop losses as a result of post-harvest value chain inefficiencies have a severe negative influence on small and marginal farmers’ means of subsistence. Talk about it in relation to India. What actions has the government done to resolve these issues? ...

upsc: storage transport & marketing in agriculture
  1. Bhairavi Gauatam
    Bhairavi Gauatam Begginer

    The post-harvest value chain includes harvesting and primary processing; storage and crop protection; processing; and market linkage. As per NITI Ayog, the estimated post-harvest losses in foodgrains hovers around 10%, semi-perishables and commodities like milk, fish, meat, eggs, fruits, and vegetabRead more

    The post-harvest value chain includes harvesting and primary processing; storage and crop protection; processing; and market linkage. As per NITI Ayog, the estimated post-harvest losses in foodgrains hovers around 10%, semi-perishables and commodities like milk, fish, meat, eggs, fruits, and vegetables between 10 to 20%, and the horticultural produce at around 16%. Inefficiencies in the post-harvest value chain

    • Inadequate harvesting and primary processing: Lack of awareness, limited finance, and weak markets for primary processed produce restrict small and marginal farmers from adopting primary processing such as threshing, sorting, and grading.
    • Lack of storage and crop protection: Small and marginal farmers lack access to suitable on-farm and near-farm storage facilities and packaging materials. Whereas, middlemen invest very little in quality storage and packaging leading to post-harvest losses.
    • Lack of near-farm processing facilities: Due to a lack of near-farm processing infrastructure, a considerable quantity of farm produce is lost before it reaches distant processing units through a chain of middlemen.
    • Lack of market information: Due to lack of market information, crop selection is based on prevailing prices instead of projected market demand, resulting in oversupply.

    Impact on the livelihood of small and marginal farmers :

    • Income loss: Crop losses due to inadequate primary processing lead to income loss for farmers.
    • Distress sale: Lack of near-farm storage facilities forces farmers to make distress sale thus affecting their profit margins.
    • Lack of value addition: The absence of near-farm processing facilities leads to farmers earning lower incomes, as the benefits of value addition mostly accrue to middlemen and large private sector firms.
    • Low bargaining power: Poor linkage with markets, limits selling options to mandis and local middlemen resulting in low bargaining power.

    Steps Taken by the Government Few major schemes have been introduced by the government to address the problem of losses in the post-harvest value chain and subsequently provide better remuneration to small and marginal farmers for their produce.

    • PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana: It will result in the creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet. In addition to the growth of the food processing sector, it would also help in providing better returns to farmers.
    • Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI): It aims to support food manufacturing companies to expand their processing capacity and branding abroad to incentivize emergence of strong Indian brands. This in turn will help in ensuring remunerative prices of farm produce and higher income to farmers.
    • Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee Scheme: This scheme aims at the construction of storage godowns in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Out of a sanctioned capacity of 152.74 LMT under the PEG scheme, a storage capacity of 144.67 LMT has been completed as of March 2022.
    • Viability Gap Funding Scheme: Capital investment in the creation of modern storage capacity has been made eligible for the Viability Gap Funding scheme of the Finance Ministry. Cold chain and post-harvest storage have been recognized as an infrastructure sub-sector.

    Increasing activity in agribusiness from the government, private sector, and civil society organizations is translating into a wide range of interventions towards post-harvest loss reduction and improvement in the livelihoods of small and marginal farmers. Further, effective farmer engagement through models like Farmer Producer Organizations, Self Help Groups, etc. is critical for the success of interventions to address post-harvest losses.

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Sangeeta rathor
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Sangeeta rathorBegginer
Asked: June 27, 2024In:
  • 0

The demands of the British Empire dictated colonial forest policies, which showed little regard for the welfare of the surrounding population or the environment. Talk about it in relation to India. (Answer in 150 words)

upsc: british policies in india
  1. Jitendra Singh
    Jitendra Singh Begginer

    In the pre-British period, the indigenous communities enjoyed unrestricted use of forest. However, the British rule in India witnessed large-scale administrative and structural changes in the forest governance. The main motive of policies was to serve the interest of the British Empire and to maximiRead more

    In the pre-British period, the indigenous communities enjoyed unrestricted use of forest. However, the British rule in India witnessed large-scale administrative and structural changes in the forest governance. The main motive of policies was to serve the interest of the British Empire and to maximize their profitability. Regulation and extraction of luxuriant forest resources of India through successive forest policies was one among various such measures.

    The colonial forest policy can be divided into three distinct stages:

    • Regulation of forest land (1860 to 1900): The realization of the size of Indian forest wealth made Britishers establish the Imperial Forest Department in 1864. Subsequently, they demarcated forest categories like the ‘reserved’ and ‘protected’ forests, which restricted the traditional rights of the native population, which was mainly tribal.
      • The Act of 1865 empowered the British government to declare any land covered with trees as a government forest and make rules to manage it. This made Britishers the sole benefactor from the resources, which was opposed by the local population.
    • Regulation of activities inside forests (1900 to 1930): Several Forest Acts were promulgated to regulate the activities inside forest. The expansion of the railways and communication networks for better exploitation of Indian resources drove the colonial administrators deep into the countryside and forest areas, leading to ruthless plunder of forests for railway sleepers and construction of railway tracks. The Act of 1927 sought to regulate movement and transit of forest produce, and duty levied on timber and other forest produce.
    • Sustainable management of forests (1930 to 1945): During the Great Wars, the true potential of forests was realized. By the beginning of 1941, the forest department was asked to meet the entire timber requirement of the Middle East forces and later of the Allied Forces in Iraq and Persian Gulf. This required large scale regeneration of already exploited forests. Therefore, more areas under reserved category were brought in Assam, Bihar, Bengal, Orissa etc.
      • Post-war years were marked by drawing up a forest policy to rehabilitate the overexploited forests through developmental plans like plantation activities, research in silviculture especially those of timber, which had served as substitute for steel.

    The exploitative policies of Britishers led to erosion of traditional fabric of tribal life, customs and rituals, which resulted in conflicts of varying magnitude and violent nature of death and destruction. In the long run, the colonial forest policy severely altered the indigeneity of the tribal culture and severely compromised its demographic profile and ecological sustainability.

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Rupali Sharma
  • 0
Rupali SharmaBegginer
Asked: June 27, 2024In:
  • 0

Talk about the different obstacles to providing quality mental healthcare in light of the variety of variables influencing mental health in a globalized society. (Answer in 150 words)

upsc: effects of globalization on indian society
  1. Chandrapal Singh
    Chandrapal Singh Begginer

    The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as a state of well-being that enables people to cope with the normal stresses of life, realise their capabilities, work productively, and contribute to their community. In an inter-connected world, the following factors affect the mental wellRead more

    The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as a state of well-being that enables people to cope with the normal stresses of life, realise their capabilities, work productively, and contribute to their community.

    In an inter-connected world, the following factors affect the mental well-being of a person:

    • Migration: Migrants have to delink their physical and emotional ties, and deal with a situation of anonymity, loneliness, socio-cultural changes, racism, etc.,
    • Economic factors: Low socio-economic status is associated with a high level of psychiatric morbidity. Also, materialistic success is being valued more leading to cut-throat competitions at academic and professional levels, which adds to mental stress.
    • New patterns of relationships: The safety net of a joint family has weakened over time, adding to the stress of married couples and straining their relationship. The amount of interaction among family members has also decreased, and people are finding it tough to establish close inter- personal relationships outside their nuclear family.
    • Rise in use of social media: More young adults and teenagers are getting addicted to the virtual world, and at the same time, the culture of comparison and affirmation by others is on rise, impacting sleep cycle, behaviour and mental health.

    Though India launched a National Mental Health Program in 1982 itself, as per the National Mental Health Survey, 2016, close to 14% of India’s population requires active mental health interventions and about 2% suffers from severe mental disorders.

    The various challenges in achieving sound mental healthcare include:

    • Stigma: Because of the associated stigma, mental health patients do not seek any medical help. This has a deep and isolating psychological impact.
    • Costly and long treatment: Sometimes treatment including counselling for mental health patients can take over a year. Also, these sessions are prohibitively costly, forcing patients to withdraw.
    • Shortage of doctors: India has around 9,000 psychiatrists i.e. only 0.75 psychiatrists for one lakh people, while the requirement is three psychiatrists per lakh. Further, estimates from the WHO in 2017 show that India has only 0.15 psychologists per lakh.
    • Inadequate training of doctors: There is a range of mental illnesses that need to be identified and treated, however, the training of doctors is currently not commensurate with the demand of the job.
    • Resources at the Primary Health Centres (PHCS): The supply of medication at the PHCs are irregular and inadequate, given the wide range of mental health illnesses.
    • Rehabilitation facilities: Rehabilitation facilities are either missing or inadequate in India, especially in rural areas.
    • Lack of coordination: Given that mental health involves both medical treatment and social welfare, there is an overlap between the Ministries of Health and Social Justice, however, inter-sectoral coordination is missing.
    • Underutilisation of funds: Less than 40% of funds allocated to states from 2015 to 2020 under the District Mental Health Programme were utilised.
    • Regional disparity: Due to inadequate resources in rural and remote areas, many mental health professionals are reluctant to work in rural areas.

    In this context, the government has taken several steps passing of the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, implementation of the National Mental Health Programme, Tele-Mental Health Assistance and Nationally Actionable Plan through states. In addition, careful mapping and research is required to produce quality data and understand the size of the problem. Policies must recognize the diverse mental health needs of the population and move away from a one-size-fits-all approach. Also, mental health services should be planned keeping the socio-economic, cultural and structural determinants of mental health issues in mind.

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