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Examination 2018
Solutions
Political Science
Paper 1
By
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Political Science and IR - 2018

Paper - I
SECTION - A
1. Comment on the following in about 150 words each :-
1. (a) John Stuart Mills is a ‘reluctant democrat’. - C.L. Wayper
Ans. C.L. Wayper called Mills reluctant Democrat in his celebrated work Political Thoughts (1954). He
considered 18th and 19th century as the times of Revolution and Consolidation of Capitalism
respectively and in the early 19th century also Democracy was developing in its early stages transiting
from Monarchy and Autocracy.
And in those times Mill was a democrat but only by the standards of 19th century. James Stuart
Mill in his work “Considerations on Representative Government” shows himself distrustful of
democracy . He is a democrat because he believes that democracy alone gives freedom , the means
to prosperity and happiness , democracy makes people better. But at the same time he is reluctant
to have democracy everywhere in order to have safeguard and protect it in future. He do not want
to lose the hard won democracy to “Mass Democracy”. According to Mill Democracy is “Not a Gift to
be Distributed Everywhere” it is not suitable for all people like in colonies of Asia, Africa. ‘Benevolent
Despotism’ is something is suggesting as the way forward for colonies in South Asia and Africa while
working for East India Company.
Mill also distinguished between false and true Democracy . He called democracy of numbers i.e best
explained in current times as Majoritarianism as the degenerate form of governments. As per him,
the principle of “every man to count for one and no one to count for more than one” would mean a
government of least educated class and manual labours . Mill suggested caution about democracy
not because he did not have faith in it but with a view to make it more effective . Sabine puts it –
“Mill’s fear of oppressive and intolerant public opinion was in part a realization that individualism of
early liberal theory was inadequate. Although he never really quoted the Ancient Athenian system
of Democracy but he regarded Rights to participate in suffrage , liberty should be conferred only to
those who had the character for self control and interest in using them.
Wayper in a way judged Mills on modern standards of Democracy and therefore found many faults
in his world view and hence while allowing him a seat among the earliest democrats of Modern
times he called him Reluctant Democrat.
(b) Decline of Political Theory
Ans. After the end of second World War all the Political Scientists knew that Classical approach won’t
be able to predict the political scenario and hence all out efforts were made to base political
theory upon the foundation of empirical research and to scrutinize political principles by data and
facts. David Easton writes, “Political theory today is interested primarily in the history of ideas”. This
was the exact character of political theory. Also it was inextricably associated with notions of value
and general principles. Easton could not accept this position of political theory. He thought that
value, principles and history cannot be the sole determiners of political theory. He further elaborated
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that the ever-increasing role of historicism (a belief that history is governed by inexorable laws of
change and that human actions are guided by permanent ultimate purposes.) is a major cause of
the decline of political theory. In his words: “Political theory has been devoted to a form of historical
researches that has robbed it of its earlier, constructive role”. He even went on to say that because
of the excessive dependence of political theory on historical facts and data there is practically no
difference between history and political science. W.A. Dunning also believed that political theory
was nothing but a historical account of condition and consequences of political ideas. Traditional
political, scientists generally built up the principles of political science on the basis of historical facts
which they collected from past history. This approach made political theory completely dependent
on history and it lost its own identity.
Beyond this other reasons are:
●● Hyper Factualism: It’s excessive dependence upon facts and the failure to relate facts to the theory.
Easton said because of this hyper-factualism a conceptualisation of political theory has not taken
place.
●● Domination of Moral Theory: For several centuries political science in general and political theory
in particular was dominated by the moral premises of Western civilisation. The exponents of these
moral premises have constantly and vigorously preached that they are right and no objection or
criticism can be levelled against them. This notion crippled all sorts of research work.
●● Ideological Reductionism: Reductionism is the practice of analysing and describing a complex
phenomenon in terms of its simple or fundamental constituents especially when it is said to
provide a sufficient explanation. According to Dante Germino (Beyond Ideology: The Revival of
Political Theory) one of the major causes of the decline of political theory is colourful emergence of
ideology or ideological reductionism. He called the whole idea of Marxism to be nothing more than
a Reductionist look of Historical events.
●● Absence of Man of Vision: Current lot of Political scholars lack the vision and zeal of their
predecessors. Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, Marx comfortably traversed the outer
and inner roads and lanes of political science, political theory, philosophy, and political philosophy
with a clear vision in their mind and far-flung outlook. There is no one scholar currently who has
done that in last century.
●● Contemporary Conditions: Contemporary conditions of various parts of the globe have contributed
to the decline of political theory. No one really have time to understand things in larger context and
each and every plan is made in all nation states to win the next elections only.
(c) Distributive Justice
Ans. Distributive justice seeks to specify what is meant by a just distribution of goods among members of
society. A society in which inequalities in outcome do not arise would be considered a society guided
by the principles of distributive justice.
Following are the principles of Distributive Justice:
●● Strict Egalitarianism: It calls for the allocation of equal material goods to all members of society. The
principle is most commonly justified on the grounds that people are morally equal and that equality
in material goods and services is the best way to give effect to this moral ideal. The index problem
arises primarily because the goods and services to be distributed need to be measured if they are
going to be distributed according to some pattern (such as equality).
●● Difference Principle: Given by John Rawls. It permits diverging from strict equality so long as the
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inequalities in question would make the least advantaged in society materially better off than they
would be under strict equality. Every act of the state should be aimed towards the greatest benefit of
the least advantaged members of society. Its main critics are Advocates of strict equality who argue
that inequalities permitted by the Difference Principle are unacceptable even if they do benefit the
absolute position of the least advantaged.
●● Equality of Opportunity and Luck Egalitarianism: Distribution of material goods and services is not
the only economic distribution which is important to people. The distribution of opportunities is
also important. Equality of opportunity is often contrasted favorably with ‘equality of outcome’ or
strict egalitarianism, by those who believe that we can show equal concern, respect, or treatment
of people without them having the same material goods and services, so long as they have equal
economic opportunities. the luck egalitarian ideal (also sometimes known as the ‘level playing field’
ideal) elevates the role of equal opportunity to the central distributive ideal, so that distributive
inequalities are only just when they flow from one’s choices or from factors for which one can
reasonably be held responsible.
●● Welfare based Principle: It’s motivated by the idea that what is of primary moral importance is
the level of welfare of people. Welfare theorists have defined Welfare both at Economic and
Philosophical level. Philosophers have tended to focus on an extremely small subset of the available
welfare functions. Although there are a number of advocates of alternative welfare functions (such
as ‘equality of well-being’), most philosophical activity has concentrated on a variant known as
utilitarianism.
●● Desert based Principle: The complaint about Welfarism is often motivated by the concern that
various forms of it treat people as mere containers for well-being, rather than purposeful beings,
responsible for their actions and creative in their environments. It differ primarily according to what
they identify as the basis for deserving. While Aristotle proposed virtue, or moral character, to be the
best desert-basis for economic distribution, contemporary desert theorists have proposed desert-
bases that are more practically implemented in complex modern societies. Most contemporary
desert theorists have pursued John Locke’s lead in this respect. Locke argued people deserve to have
those items produced by their toil and industry, the products (or the value thereof) being a fitting
reward for their effort
●● Libertarian Principle: Advocates of libertarian distributive principles rarely see the market as a
means to some desired pattern, since the principle(s) they advocate do not ostensibly propose a
‘pattern’ at all, but instead describe the sorts of acquisitions or exchanges which are just in their
own right. The market will be just, not as a means to some pattern, but insofar as the exchanges
permitted in the market satisfy the conditions of just acquisition and exchange described by the
principles. For libertarians, just outcomes are those arrived at by the separate just actions of
individuals; a particular distributive pattern is not required for justice. Most contemporary versions
of the principles discussed so far allow some role for the market as a means of achieving the desired
distributive pattern—the Difference Principle uses it as a means of helping the least advantaged;
utilitarian principles commonly use it as a means of achieving the distributive pattern maximizing
utility; desert-based principles rely on it to distribute goods according to desert
●● Feminist Principle: There is no one feminist conception of distributive justice; feminists defend
positions across the political spectrum. Hence, feminists offer distinctive versions of all the theories
considered so far as well as others. One way of thinking about what unifies many feminist theorists is
an interest in what difference, if any, the practical experience of gender makes to the subject matter
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or study of justice; how different feminists answer this question distinguishes them from each other
and from those alternative distributive principles that most inspire their thinking.
(d) Substantive Democracy
Ans. Substantive Democracy is one where Elections represent the will of the people. Its main purpose is
to work for the interest of the governed. It can also be defined as the advanced version of Procedural
Democracy where although the electorate cast their vote but the outcome don’t always represent
the will of the people. Between 1974 and 2018 the number of declared democracy has increased
from 34 to 121. However, achieving substantive democracy is difficult in low-income and transitional
countries where the election process may be neither free nor fair. Many transitional elections are
characterized by issues such as vote rigging, irregular observance of election law, and repression or
violence toward minorities and opposition parties.
Following are certain mandatory features of Substantive Democracy:
●● Presence of Independent Electioneering Agency
●● Presence of Legitimate Participants in Election
●● Independent Participation of Citizens in the Election Process.
●● Proper system for Transfer of Power to the winning candidate/Party.
●● Support of Bureaucracy and opposition to the elected government for running the business of the state.
●● Absence of Corrupt methods in the election process.
Direct Democracy can help in bringing real Substantive democracy into picture but for the while
although many countries boost to be the Substantive Democracy but very few passes all the criteria.
For example Country like India which looks substantive from outside but doesn’t have inner party
democracy and Political process is highly corrupt so its can’t be considered a perfect substantive
Democracy, same is the situation of all South Asian Countries.
Among the Western World too USA has faced issues related to voter fraud and counting mistakes
upto the extent of changing the whole outcome of 2000s Presidential Election similarly in 2016
election although Ms. Clinton won in absolute vote count but Mr Trump won because of the electoral
college system which is criticized from last few decades.
Although some countries mostly with smaller population i.e. where the electorate is smaller like
Switzerland have shown some tremendous results by the use of Direct Democracy.
(e) “Nothing against the state, nothing over it, nothing beyond it”- Mussolini
Ans. This statement of Benito Mussolini not only outlines the idea of Fascism but also explains fundamental
concept of Totalitarianism. Liberal ideas like Individualism had no place in a fascist system. Fascists
believe that liberal democracy is obsolete and they regard the complete mobilization of society
under a totalitarian one-party state as necessary to prepare a nation for armed conflict and to
respond effectively to economic difficulties. In the wake of end of First World War although Italy
was listed among the winners they didn’t really got benefited in any way. And out of this sense of
desperation, under the leadership of Mussolini the Fascist ideas evolved which only aspired for the
greater glory of the state even if it hampers the idea of Individual Liberty. In reality, over the period,
Mussolini wasn’t able to achieve the propagated ideas and instead started running the state with
help of political elites while oppressing the Italian people. This ultra nationalistic approach pushed
Italy towards Expansionist ideas which started by Invasion and recolonisation of Ethiopia in 1935-36
but ultimately ended with the worst destruction of Italian state in 1945.
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2. (a) Critically examine the neo-liberal theory of state.
The fundamental concept of Neo-liberal state is its capability of resolving its issues. The neo-liberal
theory goes way beyond the ideas of Classical Liberalism propagated by Adam Smith. While Smith
simply demanded freedom of Market, he never negated the role of the state, he even suggested
that the state has to take up those projects which Private participants are hesitant to get involved
because of either slim or no profit. While the Neo-liberal theory which was although evolved during
the great depression itself by F.A. Hayek who even lambasted the Keynesian theory as something
which will create another bubble instead of original growth but was practiced initially by Margret
Thatcher when she brought in radical reforms calling it Thatcherism followed by Reagan in the USA
where they popularly called it Reaganomics. Countries like India were forced to accept its tenants by
IMF and World Bank in the light of Economic Distress situation of 1991. Finally, with the formation of
WTO (World Trade Organization) in 1995 it received universal acceptability.
Another reason for support of Neoliberal ideas in the Cold War era was its tenants being the exact
opposite of that of the model of Soviet economics. For example, while Soviets planned everything
according to Five-year approach, Hayek called Planning as a road to Serfdom.
Neo-Liberal theory believes that Trickle Down effect is capable to resolve the issue of poverty
although the observed reality only contradicts this idea.
Although there are certain benefits of Neo-liberal theory:
●● Brings in much-needed capital for the influx in the economy through FDI, FPI and other channels.
●● It provides level playing field to corporations because of its support for disinvestment of state
holdings and discouragement of any involvement of government in running businesses.
●● It supports the protection to the right to property. It opposes the concept of Eminent Domain.
●● It further connects the world by supporting measures to reduce tariffs and other barriers to trade
and hence pulls the whole world towards being a single market.
●● In a way the Neo-liberal theory of state if applied with certain constraints which assure maintainability
of minimum living standards by all, it can show mankind the way forward.
(b) Analyse John Rawls justification of discrimination to achieve the goals of Justice.
Ans. Rawls went a step beyond the concept of the Utilitarian approach of Bentham and supported
the idea of Deliberative Democracy as Immanuel Kant. According to him, when people are kept
behind a veil of ignorance (to maintain neutrality) the only method for them to make a decision is
Rational deliberation and though this method one arrives at following principle of Justice in order of
importance:
●● Maximum Equal Liberty
●● Equality of Opportunity
●● Difference Principle (working in the interest of least advantage)
He used the difference principle to articulate his idea on the discrimination in society. Firstly, he defined
that Natural distribution is neither just nor unjust. Mr A being born in a rich family is not doing injustice
to Mr B who is born in a poor family unless the state institutions are discriminating between them.
According to Rawls inequality is justified only on two conditions:
●● It should be the outcome of fair equality of opportunity.
●● If inequality can be utilised to take care of the interest of the Least advantaged section of society.
He claimed that rational people will understand and support this because the strength of the chain is
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equal to the strength of its weakest link and to make a just society, the first right on justice is of the
weakest member of the society.
Rawls by saying this supported the Welfare State and progressive taxation policy to help the weakest.
This concept of Justice explains the current Reservation policy in Indian Government institutions
where the socially backward classes are given preferences in opportunities.
(c) Equality means fair treatment rather than equal treatment. Comment.
Ans. In his 1958 Essay “Justice as Fairness,” Rawls says instead of comparing Equal treatment with
fair treatment one should compare Equality with Equity. Equal treatment can be best explained
as a situation where every person gets exactly the same thing whether s/he needs it or not. For
example, Mr A has an inherited wealth often Crore and Mr B has no inherited wealth now if both
are unemployed and Government starts to give both of them equal Unemployment Allowance, the
value of this money for Mr A will be far less than for Mr B and therefore it will be unfair towards Mr B.
On the other hand, Fairness i.e. Equity is a relative word which is different for different people in a different
situation. It’s best defined as a sense of fairness in the exchange of goods, services, time, and effort.
Therefore in the current system where all state either follow or tries to follow the traits of Welfare
States, Fairness is used as a benchmark for Equality. Whether it was South Africa which introduced
Racial Quotas for Athletes in Games or Indian system of reservation at educational institution level
or even U.S.A. reservation policy for Native Americans is based on this understanding of Fairness as
the just means of understanding Equality.
3. (a) What do you understand by three generations of Human Rights?
Ans. Human rights recognize the dignity inherent in every person as a human being, regardless of his
or her particular nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, class or any other group
affiliation or characteristic. As a result, they assert the moral and legal primacy of the individual over
other entities that have “rights,” such as the family and the state. This modern conception of rights
can be traced back to Enlightenment political philosophy and the movement, primarily in England,
France, and the United States, to establish limited forms of representative government that would
respect the freedom of individual citizens.
There are three overarching types of human rights norms: civil-political, socio-economic, and
collective-developmental defined by Karel Vasak, these theories have primarily taken root in
European law. The first two, which represent potential claims of individual persons against the state,
are firmly accepted norms identified in international treaties and conventions. The final type, which
represents potential claims of peoples and groups against the state, is the most debated and lacks
both legal and political recognition.
●● First Generation of Human Rights, also known as “Blue Rights” deal essentially with liberty and
participation in political life. They are fundamentally civil and political in nature: They serve negatively
to protect the individual from excesses of the state. It include: Right to life, Equality before law,
Freedom of Speech, Freedom to practice religion to ones choice, electoral rights etc. Its fundamental
idea can be traced back to Magnacarta (1215) and further brought into present form through
American Bill of Rights (1787) and French concept of Declaration of Rights of Man and citizens (1789).
●● Second Generation of Human Rights, developed after the end of Second World War, it’s mostly
based upon concept of Equality. Economic, Social and Cultural equality. The ideas like Social Security
provided by State to the citizens were part of this type of Human Rights. Although developed
countries provided these to its citizens most of the Developing countries are still in the process of
catering its citizens with welfare schemes.
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●● Third Generation of Human Rights, also known as Green rights, the fundamental tenants of these
kind of rights are still debatable but its foundational idea goes back to the Stockholm Declaration
(1972) and the Rio Declaration (1992). The environmental rights, communitarian rights come under
this stage and because it require participation of whole world as one to provide these rights to all,
it’s debated.
UNSDG2030 (UN Sustainable Development Goals) covers many of the nominal steps needed to be
taken to provide this form of Human Rights.
Finally it time is perfect for the world community to define the fourth generation of Human Rights
based upon the recent development in the field of artificial intelligence, which is more aptly defined
in form of fourth Industrial revolution, with the basic goal of providing every Human being reach to
latest technical instrument to assure his/her growth in most sustainable way.
(b) Critically examine Macpherson’s view on Democracy.
Ans. C. B. Macpherson was a Canadian Political Scientist who was a very influential during the Cold War. He
wanted to understand liberal democracy with a historical view, so he linked it back in time and argued
that our attitude could be traced back to Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. He gave the theory of
“possessive individualism”, in which an individual is conceived as the sole proprietor of his or her skills
and owes nothing to society for them. These skills (and those of others) are a commodity to be bought
and sold on the open market, and in such a society is demonstrated a selfish and unending thirst for
consumption which is considered the crucial core of human nature. Much of his writings are concerned
about how we can rescue liberal democracy from the distortion by possessive individualism.
He believed that our liberal democracy was built upon market assumptions of individuals as possessive
orientated creatures always seeking to maximize satisfaction. True Democracy should try “to provide
the conditions for the full and free development of the essential human capacities of all the members
of the society”. Instead liberal democracy had taken the attributes of possessive individualism; it was
defined so it could fit into capitalist market, which produced a culture where even human capacities
were treated as commodities. He said “It was the liberal state that was democratized, and in the
process, democracy was liberalized”. This new system had more freedom and opportunities, and “so
the new freedom was held to be a net gain”. It came to be a justification of the liberal democracy
simply because it was seemed to be an improvement. But in fact the only form of power, or decision,
liberal democracy seemed to give to the people was the “choosing and authorizing [of] governments”.
Wood said It is clear that Macpherson put great emphasis on these matters, maybe too much, maybe
he had “fallen under the spell of liberalism”.
Macpherson used the power-transfer argument, again, for socialism while explaining Welfare State.
He argued that “it is now possible, as it was not possible in the heyday of capitalism, to conceive a
system in which high productivity does not require the transfer of powers from non-owners. He further
emphasised the uncertainty, for “we do not know and cannot demonstrate whether or not a socialist
society necessarily contains some other diminution of each man’s power”.
The main problem with him was always that he had no real theory of improving neither Welfare state
based on Socialist ideas nor the Western Democratic system, he only stated what should be changed,
and briefly explored the issue about human capacities.
(c) Explain the relationship between Power, Authority and Legitimacy.
Ans. Power is the ability of a person to face or influence others to do what they would otherwise not have
done. It is usually accompanied by the threat of sanctions. Power in any political system is in the
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hands of few people who use it either to reward or punish the people as they deem fit. Generally, in
politics and social science, power is the ability to influence the behaviour of people.
When it comes to authority, Herbert A. Simon defines authority as being in power i.e. The role of
Power becomes most effective when Power does not remain a source of coercion. In-fact after
getting legitimized it becomes Authority, it then can be attributed to either a person, institution or
even the state through Government.
If legitimacy is interpreted descriptively, it refers to people’s beliefs about political authority and,
sometimes, political obligations. Max Weber put forward a very influential account of legitimacy
that excludes any recourse to normative criteria. According to Weber, a political regime is legitimate
means if its participants have certain beliefs or faith (“Legitimitätsglaube”) in regard to “the basis
of every system of authority, and correspondingly of every kind of willingness to obey, is a belief, a
belief by virtue of which persons exercising authority are lent prestige”
In contrast to Weber’s descriptive concept, the normative concept of political legitimacy refers to some
benchmark of acceptability or justification of political power or authority and possibly obligation. On
the broadest view,legitimacy both explains why the use of political power by a particular body a state,
a government, or a democratic collective, for example is permissible and why there is a pro tanto
moral duty to obey its commands.
There is no question, that without Power it will be very difficult to implement the official decision
as well as rules, but only by the fear of punishment or by the coercion authority may not prove
successful as far as long term benefits are concerned. In fact such a step becomes tyranny and works
as a catalyst for the rebellion.
Certain example to further give perspective about the idea of relationship between Power, Authority
and Legitimacy: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) between 2004-2014, the then Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh had Legitimacy but didn’t had power and as a result never commanded authority
whereas in case of Non-democratic Military rulers of Pakistan whether it was Ayub Khan, Zia Ul
Haq or Pervez Musharraf although they never had legitimacy but through power they commanded
authority and ultimately they lost the power in dampening manner.
Therefore, the able use of Power always gets support from legitimacy. Most of the society follows
the rules on the basis of legitimacy therefore using Power does not become necessary all the time.
No one will follow the rule or a regulation if the legitimacy of that rule is ruined irrespective of the
Power of Authority.
4. (a) John Locke is the father of Liberalism. Explain.
Ans. The British philosopher (and physician) John Locke (1632-1704) was one of the progenitors of
Liberalism. The belief that humans are born with certain rights, and that governments cannot
interfere with these. “Liberal” is related to “liberty” or freedom; Locke was one of the main thinkers
whose ideas influenced the founding of the United States. Classical Liberalism is considered as the
philosophy of Bourgeoise class liberal state i.e. constitutional state or limited state.
Locke’s main contribution to Liberalism is:
●● The theory of Natural Rights, which is the basis of fundamental rights which later on included in
American Constitution in form of Bill of Rights.
●● He came up with the concept of Separation of Power, through this he provided the very basis for
present system of government in most of the countries.
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●● He mentioned about Democracy, Majoritarianism, Peaceful constitutional changes and Principle of
Toleration.
Locke is also considered a Utilitarian, a individualist and a materialist which were later on taken
into the fold of Liberal ideology. He saw the Glorious revolution of 1688 where bloodless transfer
of po wer took place, this further supported his conviction that Man is reasonable by nature and all
the issues can be resolved by debate and discussion, there is no need for brute force of state to be
applied against anyone.
While talking about social contract he mentioned that People have transferred only three rights to
state : to make Law, to execute law and to adjudicate law but neither they have nor they can transfer
the Rights to: Life, Liberty and Property to the state. Through this idea he became the torch bearer
of the Liberal school of thought.
Further by writing in support of people to act against the state if it attempts to deprive or limit their
rights, he gave the ultimate right to the people in a way made them ultimate sovereign.
(b) Discuss Ambedkar’s idea on ‘Annihilation of Caste’.
Ans. One of the tallest leader of era of Indian Independence struggle was B.R. Ambedkar, the torch
bearer of the cause of Oppressed Classes, who set an example by his own intellectual achievement
that what can be achieved if one aspires to go beyond the social and cultural norms. He faced the
atrocities of Brahmanicalised ideologies in his early days and when given a chance in 1936 prepared
a speech talking about the steps and instruments for removing the social evil of caste system.
In his lecture (which he was not allowed to give) he out rightly blamed the Caste-Hindus (those who
practice verna system) for the oppression and suggest destruction of the religion as the only way forward.
The first edition was published in 1937 and soon the idea of destruction of religion got popularised
among the activists and sympatherisers of Dalit cause but at the same time it was opposed
vehemently by Mahatma Gandhi, who although wanted to take steps for bringing changes in life of
Dalits but was totally against the idea propagated by Ambedkar which further bifurcated the Hindus
into Caste Hindus and Dalits.
Congress party too opposed this mbecause it considered Muslim league as opposing force who were
already cutting into the congress membership, they didn’t wanted further dispersion of its support base.
In the treatise Ambedkar mentioned few anecdotes regarding the specific instances of oppression
in the Mid 1930s to bring the issue back to limelight. He also blamed leaders like Tilak and M.M.
Malviya under whose leadership the Social Conference which started as sister organisation of
Congress in 1883 lost its mass support. He called Congress party as bunch of Hypocrites and said
“Every Congressman repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is not fit to rule another country,
but find it acceptable that one class is ruling other.”
Ambedkar was always in favour of bringing radical changes to uplift the oppressed classes, the mass
conversion to Buddhism in 1956 led by him is just an example of it. He has seen so much pain
and agony around himself that he wanted to bring change at fast pace and the steps suggested in
Annihilation of Caste were also part of it.
(c) Critically examine Machiavelli’s view on Religion and politics.
Ans Machiavelli, also known as father of European Secularism and Political Realism. He looked at the
society as it is -corrupt and immoral and instead of trying to develop a utopia he suggested Prince
ways and means through which he can resolve the problems. He advised that the Politics is not a
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profession of goodness. How we live is far removed from how we ought to live. He advised that
Prince should give preference to will of the people above his own beliefs because Politics is neither
ethics nor religion, it’s autonomous. It has its own set of morality and political actions won’t be
judged by normal social standards. One of his biggest observation cum suggestion to Prince which is
still debated in current times is that in Politics end justifies the means.
G.A. Sabine in ‘A History of Political Theory’ wrote that Machiavelli is narrowly dated and narrowly
located i.e. his Political observations were myopic based only upon what was going in Italy. Although
most of the Machiavellian ideas are in synchrony with the the writings of Kautilya.
While talking about religion, he said that although he is not against Religion but was against the
interference of Church (Roman Catholic Church) in the state’s affairs.
He mentioned in his writing that he don’t want the Prince to be Anti-religion or Atheist but to take a
utilitarian approach towards Religion. Religion should be used by Prince as an instrument to maintain
order.
SECTION - B
5. Comment on the following in about 150 words each:
(a) Revolt of 1857 was a ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ or ‘First War of Independence’.
Ans. V.D. Savarkar was the first one to call Revolt of 1857 as ‘First War of Independence’ in 1897, the idea
was to provide a foundation for Indian Nationalism to grow on.
Before coming under the British Raj the region from Baluchistan to Myanmar and Kashmir to
Kanyakumari was never under one empire, neither under Magadh or under Mughals, there were
always some kingdoms maintaining their sovereignty, it was only under the Raj that either the states
were directly under control or through regents in Princely state and for the first time the subcontinent
felt similar level of oppression and hence the ground for Nationalism to grow was perfect and those
who were fighting for self rule used it.
On the other hand Marxist scholars like Irfan Habib and Romila Thapar and British historian Eric
Stokes has argued that the rebellion was actually a variety of movements, not one movement. They
have pointed out that leave about all of subcontinent fighting against the East India Company, there
were states who supported them like Punjab and the Gorkhas. The movement started from Bengal
and impacted the region of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi but most of the South India was not at all
impacted by the revolt. There have been written proofs that the Madras port was working without
any disturbance.
On the ideological level too there was no framework among the leaders-mutineers, they were
fighting individual battles sometimes to win a fort or a small kingdom or even small Zamidaries.
Although there have been many other mutinies throughout the subcontinent before 1857 for
example The Santhal revolt preceded the Sepoy mutiny by two years. Pazzhasi Raja, a chieftain in the
Malabar region of what is now Kerala, struggled against the British from 1793 till his death in 1805.
Yet it is given more importance because it swayed almost entire North Indian plains and forced East
India Company to transfer the power to Crown.
(b) Indian Constitution is a Lawyer’s Paradise - Ivor Jennings
Ans. A criticism against the Indian Constitution because of its length and elaborate legal language is that
it is “A Lawyers’ Paradise”.
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Making a general comment on the Constitution, one member in the Constituent Assembly observed,
“The draft tends to make people more litigious, more inclined to go to law courts, less truthful
and less likely to follow the methods of truth and non-violence. If I may say so, the Draft is really a
lawyers’ paradise. It opens up vast avenues of litigation and will give our able and ingenious lawyers
plenty of work to do”.
Many members of the Constituent Assembly were “lawyer-politicians”. And therefore it was
maintained that because the Drafting Committee was consisted of mostly lawyers and as lawyer’s
minds are prone to verbiage, arguments, twisting and bending of words, they deliberately made the
Constitution a long and complex document. They have made the constitution not only long, but also
extremely complicated.
Looking into these arguments and studying Indian constitution in detail Ivor Jennings has described
our constitution as a ‘lawyer’s paradise’. Jennings said that a constitution should be intelligible to
common people, but they fail to clearly understand the Indian constitution which is very complex.
Every article of this constitution can be interpreted by the higher judiciary, and lawyers, while
interpreting, different articles, further complicate the constitution.
It is true that the Constitution is a long and complex document. The long size and the complexity
was the result of many contributory factors like the variety of ethinicities which were present in
the country in volatile times after Independence, and every one of them needed certain type of
protection or guaranty. Another reason is also the number of constitutions which were studied.
Sir B.N. Rao informed drafting committee that 39 different constitutions have been studied before
framing Indian Constitution.
(c) New Panchayat Raj is an effective instrument for Women Empowerment
Ans. Participation of women in Panchayati Raj Institutions has been considered as the most effective
instrument to remove their inequality, invisibility and powerlessness. The participation of women in
the grassroots politics grew rapidly due to 73rd constitutional amendment, which has realized the
reservation policy for women in the three tiers of the power structure. The Act gave more and more
representation and power to the women in the field of political sphere.
In last quarter of a century it has been observed that although the elected representatives are
Woman but the decisions are taken mostly by the male family members usually Husband or father
but still government accepted it as a favourable change because atleast the women folks were the
sitting in seat of power. Lately, the participation of women in Panchayati Raj Institution has increased
with the spread of education, and lately seen level of modernisation mostly through technological
advancement. Increased literacy among the women have also given them the power to question
the status quo and assert their authority.
Various changes on village level have been brought because of their involvement:
●● The condition of Primary schools at village level have improved because it is found that Women are
more interested in the education of children usually.
●● Their involvement has made Local PDS agents to act efficiently.
●● They also care more about family hygiene and issues related to it are discussed in Gram Sabha
Meetings which was earlier rarely done.
Some measures to further improve the Women participation:
●● People in general and women in particular have to be made fully conscious of their rights and
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responsibilities under the new system. Government should organize seminars, training camps to
bring awareness regarding the utility of local self government so that the participation of women
can be increased.
●● Not only Women Literacy programs needs to be organised but Education program with special
emphasis on Civic law needs to be organised for Women folks through DWACRA Training
Programmes, the Mahila Samikhya Programms, CSWB Awareness Generation Camps, legal literacy
camp, sponsored by Department of Women and Children, CAPART OB Programmes etc.
●● Another important effort required for real empowerment of rural women is to bring an attitudinal
change in both men and women. For this, the curriculum for the students at the primary, secondary
and higher secondary levels should be modified to promote gender sensitivity among the students.
(d) Implementation of GST and NEET is major challenge to Indian federalism.
Ans. Giving rights to states to collect tax at their own level and conduct examinations according to their
needs for various state level institutions is one of the basic feature of Indian federal structure which
is considered quasi federal because of various constrainments through which Union government/
Parliament can over-ride the decisions of the state government/state legislature. Implementation
of GST (Goods and Services tax) and NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance test) is considered by a
large portion of stakeholders as another step towards reducing the autonomous character of Indian
Federalism and move towards Centralist approach on the other hand those who support these
steps consider it to be necessary steps for administrative ease and to treat each and every region of
country by same standards.
One can always discuss the pros and cons of Seventh Schedule of Constitution, which divides the
Power between States and the Union into three List: Union List - Controlled directly by Centre, State
List: Left to the State Government and the Concurrent List - States are allowed to handle it but all
their laws/directions should be in conformity with Union Law or they’ll be nulls and void. How the
Union List is increasing every year and State list is reducing How various taxation tools are taken
away from States command through GST and its long term impact is still looked into. Education
which was left to the State is now through NEET is in a way taken over by Union.
Following are the major Challenges because of GST:
●● Although Union will make-up for the monetary loss but States will lose wheeling power on its
residents in long run.
●● It erodes the very compartmentalization of Power which is given under Seventh Schedule
●● In long run States will find themselves more and more dependent upon Union.
●● Beyond these effects NEET will bring few more challenges, they are:
●● The states haven’t prepared their youth for Uniform testing methods.
●● The states with better resources won’t be able to serve its residents first.
●● It will dent the plans of state to conserve the language and culture of the region upto certain extent.
(e) Political Personalities are more significant than Political parties in India.
Ans. Parliamentary democracy was developed with one main ambition to provide space for participation
of all stakeholders in decision making and country wouldn’t have to be run by whim of one individual,
as done in Monarchies. But throughout the Modern World History there have been Leaders whose
individual clout have been so large that there own party seemed smaller to them. Leaders like Indira
Gandhi, Margret Thatcher, Narendra Modi, Winston Churchill are few to name.
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Over the years Indian Electioneering have evolved on the lines of US Presidential elections where
one leader is elected and Congress elections take place separately but in India it’s not the case, even
though Parliamentarians have to elect their leader, more emphasis is given on the person from the
very beginning.
Reason for Political Personalities becoming more significant are:
●● Citizens find it difficult to hold a bunch of people accountable and therefore search for one face.
●● Psychologically Human beings prefer one to one interaction, and new communication tools like TV
and Internet have provided that to citizens to connect with Individual leaders, doing same with a
party is difficult.
●● Even Political parties find it easy to place a Honest, Clean face in public while letting the others to
use power for personal gains.
●● But for a better viable democracy it’s preferred to have a parliamentary system whose churning not
only hold leaders accountable but acts as check on their whimsical endeavours.
6. (a) Whether Judicial Activism has undermined or strengthened Parliamentary Democracy in India?
Discuss.
Ans. Judicial Activism is defined as a scenario when Judiciary of a state starts actively taking decisions,
passing down judgement based mostly upon the opinion of the judges instead of following Rule
established by law, while doing this many times judges reinterpret and reorient old laws. For example
the Article 19 related to Freedom of Expression have evolved over the period because of Judicial
Activism, similar is the case of Doctrine of Basic Structure. Recently, the Supreme Court of India
used the Doctrine of Essential Practices of a religion while looking into a case related to one religion
and passed the other, experts and legal scholars like Fali Nariman and Soli Sorabji have stated that
it active judgement of the Supreme Court can be used as a tool by future Lawyers to reinterpret
cultural and religious practices.
At this very point Judicial Activism becomes Judicial Overreach and which is detrimental to the
Parliamentary Democracy.
The other school of thought regarding this issue is of opinion that the Member Judges of the higher
courts are capable enough to opine on specific matters and with changing times reinterpretation of
Law is also needed. In present day India, where overall efficiency of Parliament is minimum citizens
have no where else to look but Courts for retribution in situations where Legal system is left far back
in history in comparison to present social norms, a recent example of this is removal of IPC Section
377 by Supreme Court.
Regarding the issue of undermining the strength of Parliamentary democracy, till the time Parliament
can overrule the changes brought in by Judiciary, there is no case of undermining, an example of
this is The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act,1986 brought after the Shahbano
Judgement. But there have been instances where the court has declared the amendments null and
void based upon the supremacy of either Fundamental Rights or Doctrine of Basic Structure, in such
cases, there are legitimate concerns regarding the undermining issue, the NJAC (National Judicial
Appointment Committee) Act was one such case.
Currently, there is a ongoing tussle between the Judiciary and Parliament for supremacy and
whatever law of the land is framed is done only after a thorough churning process.
(b) Do the Lieutenant Governors have more power than the Governors of the States? Explain.
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Ans. Currently India has three Lieutenant Governors for Union Territory of NCT, Puducherry and Andaman
and Nicobar islands. Usually Chief Commissioners directly govern UTs with smaller population but
situation is different for UTs of National Capital Terrritory (NCT) and Puducherry, both of them
have elected government along with Lieutenant Governors and therefore many a times it’s difficult
to ascertain who is the actual authority and a tussle exist between the elected government and
office of LG, and while this confusion persist, Lieutenant Governors (LGs) sway far more power than
Governors of other states.
LGs control land, Local Government (Municipal corporations) and Police directly, which otherwise
are under state list.This makes LG not only more powerful than normal Governor but also directly
responsible to people. In a way its single office in Union of India where a selected and not elected
person is responsible to people, although he fetches power from office of President and therefore
all his/her are performed in name of President while keeping the Union government in loop.
Reasons why the Union government tries to maintain stakes in larger Union territories:
for Delhi:
●● Being national capital, central government needs land for its use, also it needs control of Police (Law
enforcement organizations) to maintain order as per its requirement.
●● Being a capital, it has representation of each and every part of country in terms of residents and giving
complete state ship could led to development of feeling of regionalism which will be detrimental.
for Puducherry:
●● It consist of four small territories in 3 different states with one specific ethnincity contributing to
majority of residents. Giving complete state ship to them will cause tension between these four
parts.
●● It has French ancestry which needs to be preserved and Union government can only do it properly.
(c) Critically examine the ethnic conflict in North-east India.
The present-day North-east consist of Eight states which at the time of independence had three
states - Assam, North-East Frontier Province and the Kingdom of Sikkim, while Sikkim joined India in
1975, NEFP became Arunachal Pradesh, it was Assam which had most diverse population in terms of
ethnicity, this ultimately led to various ethnic conflict and bifurcation of state based on Ethnic lines.
Major insurgency groups:
●● The Naga insurgency, which started in the 1950s, with the aim to carve out a separate state for Ethnic
Naga people, it’s known as the mother of the Northeast insurgencies, is one of the oldest unresolved
armed conflicts in the world. The talks between NSCN(IM) and government of India is going on while
NSCN(K) has been declared a terrorist organisation.
●● The Mizo insurgency, started in the mid-1960s under the banner of Mizo National Front to achieve a
sovereign state for Mizos, it ended with the Mizo accord of 1986.
●● The Assam Insurgency, led by ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) its aim was to establish
Sovereign Assam. Following the 1971 War and influx migration of Bangladeshi population in Assam
another ethnic conflict started led by AASU (All Assam Student Union) and later on by AGP (Assam
Gan Parishad)
As already mentioned in most of the cases the starting of Ethnic conflict has one common reason,
the demand of facilities for local tribes which is called for because there is a sense of oppression
among the tribal people from the Union government. They find many times their cultural and ethnic
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customs aren’t respected by the state machinery and their residents aren’t getting enough space to
develop and grow on the lines of people in another part of the country.
Most of these conflicts start as an act of desperation, which then evolves into a full-fledged war
against the state, and with no way out for the participants, the conflict only broils further.
7. (a) Examine the provisions of Panchayat Extension Services Act (P.E.S.A), 1996.
The Scheduled Areas as identifies by Constitution in fifth schedule, were not covered by the 73rd
Constitutional Amendment or Panchayati Raj Act of the Indian Constitution as provided in the Part IX
of the Constitution, this was done in order to show respect for the local customs of tribal regions but
in the fifth decade of independent India, it was observed that all the regions including the tribal ones
should have Panchayat samiitis, if required, certain exceptions and modifications can be brought in
to bring synergy between Local customs and law of the state, hence, PESA was brought it.
Following are the provisions of PESA:
●● State legislation to be in conformity with customary law, social and religious practices, and customary
modes of dispute resolution: It helps to bring the fifth schedule regions in fold 73rd constitutional
amendment over the time.
●● Hamlet level villages and Gram Sabhas: In normal PRA, many Hamlet together makes a Gram Sabha,
but in Schedule five areas it is difficult because of low population density and hence PESA provides
for every Hamlet to form Gram Sabha, further deepening the Democratic decentralization.
●● Every Gram Sabha shall be competent to safeguard and preserve the traditions and customs of
the people including Community resources and Local methods of dispute resolution: PESA further
strengthen the customery practices by providing legal legitimacy to the methodology of the tribal
communities with very few checks.
●● Approval of Projects related or effecting the region only after permission from respective Gram
Sabhas.
●● Gram Sabhas are also given rights over Minor forest produce: This assures the communities of their
source of livelihood.
●● PESA further provides reservation for Scheduled tribes in Gram Panchayats.
●● PESA gives rights to commuities to regulate Village markets, management of minor water bodies and
control over Money lending
●● PESA also gives rights to regulate or prohibit intoxicants to Gram Panchayats in scheduled regions.
●● The main aim behind these rights is to further strengthen the bond between scheduled communities
and Union of India by assuring them the sense of respect for their customs and regulations.
(b) Analyse the arguments in favour and against the lateral entry into higher Civil Services in India.
Sardar Patel called the Civil Servants as the “Steel-frame” of Indian Government Machinery and
there is a rigorous methodology to select people for the job which has been performed from 1926 by
UPSC. But over period it has been observed that the best talent isn’t really getting into the services
and one reason for it is the tedious process of selection and smaller paycheck in comparison to what
private sector offers to person of same caliber. The way out suggested by many is Lateral entry, which
is defined with many ifs and buts but the basic idea is to allow professionals to join government at
the rank of higher Civil Servants (Grade-A) on mid-career basis and also leave it in same manner. It’s
like taking up a contractual job.
Arguments in favour of allowing Lateral Entry:
17
●● Government can be assured of getting the more options of candidates to select from, this will mostly
assure them of a better lot of officials.
●● The sense of competition will rise, leading to increased efficiency because of constant inflow of fresh
minds into services at various levels.
●● Those who’ll be highly motivated for performing public service will come in mid career, so corruption
will reduce.
●● Professionals from different work background will bring much needed transformation in working
style of government.
Arguments against allowing Lateral Entry:
●● The rigorous selection procedure prepares one for the difficult life of a civil servant, one who comes
in between can’t be dependent completely.
●● The increase sense of competition will increase negativity in bureaucracy which will hamper overall
working.
●● Those who come in between can always have hidden agenda and they can’t be trusted with the high
level of secrecy.
●● A civil Servant is prepared from very grassroot and s/he knows the trade inside-out by experience,
specialists won’t be able to handle generalist issues, which in most cases comes up.
●● The best way forward is to allow few Lateral entries, look at their performance, analyse it, and frame
the regulation regarding it accordingly.
(c) Discuss Asymmetrical federalism in India.
Ans. Asymmetrical federalism is one where few provinces/states posses more power than others. All
the countries which follow federal structure of government find their states with different level of
powers even when the constitution provides equal rights to them.
For example, In U.S. State like California posses far more power than the Dakotas or Carolinas because
of the economic powerhouse it is even when constitutionally all of them are equals.
In a country like India which provides representations to States in Upper house of Parliament
depending upon population, the asymmetry is more visible, because Economic power is one thing,
the constitution itself as matter of written law gives different level of powers to different States.
Also, through the Article 370 and Article 371, Schedule five and Schedule Six, Indian constitution
provides different level of Autonomy to different states and regions. For example - A resident of
Uttar Pradesh can purchase a house in Mumbai, but he can’t make the same purchase in Jammu and
Kashmir or Himachal Pradesh for that matter. Even the fundamental right to move around is curbed
by different level of Autonomy to different states. For example - One can’t go to parts of Arunanchal
Pradesh without a permit even when s/he is a Indian Citizen.
This asymmetrical Federalism has its benefits and ill effects both
Benefits:
●● Provides space for region to develop its culture and safeguard its inheritance.
●● The provinces can use its resources for benefits of its residents first while maintaining a connect with
the Union too.
Ill Effects:
●● Degrades the sense of Unity among Countrymen, sense of separatism evolves.
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●● All citizens aren’t left equal in the eye of constitution.
●● All Citizens are provided equality of Opportunities.
8. (a) Examine the various causes of Agrarian crisis in India.
Ans. Agrarian Crisis in India is consistent issue suffering Indians right from the very beginning of time, the
demand and supply system is already broken and it is very very difficult to feed 1.3 billion people.
Indian farmers perform the herculean task of growing the food for all but because various lacunas in
the system like inefficient distribution system and hefty marginal siphoning they don’t get what they
deserve for their hard labour. This then leads to no further improvement in agricultural techniques
and further causes them monetary losses. All these factors together causes the Agrarian Crisis.
Following are the major Causes of present Agrarian Crisis:
●● Over dependence on Nature for Farming: Only 37% of Indian farmlands are provided with proper
irrigation facilities, rest are dependent upon either groundwater or Monsoon.
●● Lack of advancement in Technology: Even when rest of the world is using new advance technology
for increasing the yield, Indian farmers are still stuck to same methodologies which were used in
Medieval times, with almost no real help from government farmers are left to their own devises to
resolve there problems regarding increasing the yield.
●● Lack of Agri-literacy: The farmers don’t really have knowledge of best practices available and the
various government schemes to inform them aren’t very much helpful.
●● Improper trading mechanism: The farmers don’t really get even half of what the his products sold
off to the final consumers and this causes resentment towards the whole profession among farmers.
●● Excessive Corruption: Various government schemes right from Government Mandis to rebated loans
get effected by the corrupt officials and never really helps the farmers in the way they are planned
to.
●● Unempathetic approach of state: States machinery don’t plan schemes for real issues of the
distressed farmers and comes up every time with generic solutions to the specific problems. the
latest example of this are Farm loan waivers, instead of looking for ways to increase the annual
yield of the farmlands which will make farmers self sufficient, Loan waivers will provide a instant fix
without rooting out the problem.
●● Farmer Suicides: It takes places because of Agrarian crisis but further aggravates the issue because
in most of the cases, the one who commits suicide is the main breadwinner for the family and his/
her passing away leaves rest of the family without any future prospects.
What government needs is more participation of farmers in designing the schemes itself, that too
at local level i.e. the Panchayat level, Indian farmers on a whole are too diverse to have same set
of issues and therefore their resolutions can’t be by generic schemes implemented in top down
approach.
(b) Explain the increasing role of regional political parties in the national politics.
Right after 1989 general elections India saw a phase where Coalition politics became the way
forward. In the absence of a Mass leader who could connect to everyone throughout India’s length
and breadth, Regional political parties became more and more powerful, the electorate which
was very clear how to vote for State parties for Legislative elections and opt for a national party
when it came to Parliamentary elections moved towards having complete faith in state parties at
all levels. Parties like Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) went on to
19
become national parties based upon their performance in state on Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal
respectively. Other parties like Dravida Munetra kazhagam (DMK) and All India Anna Dravida Munetra
Kazhagam (AIADMK) swayed enough power to gets their demands met or the Central government
would loose their office as happened with A.B.Vajpayee when AIADMK took back its support from
NDA. Looking at these examples one can conclude that although presently one party has complete
majority in centre but this is the era of Coalition politics and no leader how so strong s/he may, can
fight regional parties. One example of this is present government where even when BJP has numbers
to form government alone they form it through NDA.
Benefits of their increased role:
●● It will act as another check on central leadership and stop them from taking any hasty decision.
●● It will provide more bargaining power to states, who otherwise have to depend only on Council of
States for getting their demands met.
●● It will also provide regional leaders to showcase their leadership qualities which can help them to
come to centre.
Ill effects of their increased role:
●● Many times state parties hold the smooth working of Union government hostage to their demand.
●● Decision making process becomes slower, this hits very hard to the economy of the country, for
example: the Teesta water issue - talks between state government of West Bengal and Bangladesh
government even when Indian External affairs ministry is handling the issue only make the process
more tedious and hamper the economic prospects of people on both side of border.
While trying to showcase themselves on national stage many times state leaders causes more
damage. As has happened many times when State leaders have started talking National Security
issues with neighbouring countries without informing the central leadership.
(c) Critically analyse the Environmentalist movement in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu.
The protest at the Vedanta Sterlite plant which led to the killing of 13 innocent people in Police
firing is an example of up to what extent people can go to demand a safe environment. The protest
at Tuticorin was not the first environmental protest taking place in India and states like Odessa and
Tamil Nadu have seen many such instances.
One needs to understand it is the inability of state machinery to find a sustainable way to develop
the region which forced them to allow development of pollutant exhaling industries while knowing
its ill effects all very well. The question arises what is more important instant source of wealth which
can be availed by the opportunities as such plants or livable environment where one can prosper
without worrying about the ill effects of environmental degradation.
This question has been asked again and again starting from the 1970s when an initiative was
taken at the global level to establish Brundtland Commission which heralded hope for sustainable
development when it submitted a report, Our Common Future in 1987. But still, private industrial
units have been able to pursue their commercial interests regardless of environmental concerns
thanks to the implementation of neo-liberal economic policies since the 1990s. There has been a
massive expansion of private industrial activities in mineral abundant tribal areas. Yet unrest among
tribals is a constant whenever governments allowed these units to undertake operations in the areas
which affect them. The various regulations of Environmental protection law and various reports of
Environmental impact assessments haven’t really resolved these problems to a large extent.
20
Another issue is the people who have to face the brunt of these factories are the ones who are at
the lowest strata of society and not really know how to make people sitting in a position of power to
hear them.
It is high time that government starts taking environmental issues on the ground more seriously,
it could be done by taking the following steps:
●● All infrastructural development should take place only after permission in accordance with
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
●● Government need to develop a new scale to measure the Environmental cost of economic growth
and how one can repay those who are impacted the most by the degrading environment.
●● Even beyond CSR, companies should take measures from their side to i) reduce the effect of pollutants
at their plants and ii) to take care of those who are in direct line of effect.
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Political Science and IR - 2018

Paper - II
SECTION - A
1. Comment on the following in about 150 words each :-
1. (a) Describe the changing nature of Comparative Politics. Briefly explain the Political economy
approach to the study of comparative politics.
Ans. As the name suggests Comparative Politics is a discipline of Politics where scholars compare the
different political system to analyze each one of them in a better way. Till the end of 19th century
Traditional approach towards Comparative Politics was taken, under it, the Legal Institutional
Approach was preferred i.e. studying government institutions like Legislature, Executive, Judiciary
and Bureaucracy. Although after the first World War the world saw the rise of Communism and
Fascism as the main political ideologies in Europe and the scholars saw a need for studying the
Social and Economic conditions also. After this World saw the downfall of Fascism and the era of De-
colonisation and rise of Cold War, Decolonisation forced the Western political scientists to also look
in to the polity of Developing Nations and also Behaviouralism was considered for the first time as a
legitimate tool to understand Intellectual development of the states and hence came in picture the
major Behavioural approaches towards the Modern Comparative Politics, they are:
●● System Approach: Developed by David Easton, Considered Status-quoist by Marxist scholars; Although
gives an idea of how Polity as a system works but generalizes the nuances of Developing nations.
●● Structural-Functional Approach: Almond and Powell build upon the system approach to develop it.
They stated all political systems are in the different stages of evolution but there are certain essential
functions which needed to be performed and they could be used for comparison.
●● Political Development: It considers the system to be moving toward a democratic form of government.
Lucian Pye gave three parameters of Political development which then can be compared, they are
Equality, Capacity and Differentiation.
●● Political Modernisation: It didn’t give any added importance to Democracy bu to Modernisation and
S.P. Huntington wrote 4 tenants of Modernisation: Industralisation, Secularisation, Rationalisation
and Urbanisation., based upon which comparison can be done.
●● Political Cultural Approach: Culture is a long term trend and can very well be used for comparison.
Almond and Verba developed Models for comparison based on Max Weber’s Model using the Input-
Output model of David Easton.
●● Political Economy Approach: Adam Smith first defined it as that branch of learning meant for
statesman which aims at achieving the welfare of the people. It’s nothing but studying the Economic
Policies of the state.
One can go for comparative analysis of states based upon their Economic policies. Political Economy
approach is a combination of both Quantitative and normative approach, Quantitative because of
Empirical methodologies used and normative because of the presence of different schools of thoughts.
The two main schools of thoughts are:
●● Liberal School: It includes supporters of Laissez-fare, Utilitarianism and Welfare Economics.
3
●● Marxist School: Its based upon criticism of Liberal School. It highlights the exploitative nature of
Capitalism. The Dependency School of Marxism analysed the phenomena of Neo-colonialism.
Rudolph and Rudolph’s “The Pursuit of Lakshmi” and Gunnar Myrdal’s “Asian Drama” are recent
comparative work done using the Political Economy approach.
(b) Describe the changing nature of the state in the developing societies in the context of inclusive
growth in the 21st century.
Ans. Inclusive growth means economic growth that creates employment opportunities and helps in reducing
poverty. It means having access to essential services in health and education by the poor. It includes
providing equality of opportunity, empowering people through education and skill development.
Every modern developing state aspires to fulfil these requirements of its citizens. In the new world
order formed after second World War the countries which came out of colonial rule entered into the
club of Developing nations, they needed to develop their Institutional system along with providing
facilities to citizens which was promised by their leaders, for this purpose states opted for different
nature of State China opted for a one-party state based upon the worldview of Mao, Singapore opted
for a Totalitarian regime with Welfare as final aim based upon the worldview of Lee Kuan Yew, India
opted for Fabian Socialism based upon the observations of her founding father led by Mahatma
Gandhi and J.L. Nehru. On one hand, while the Maoist experiment caused the death of millions of
citizens and destruction of whatever institutions they had till 1966, the Singapore experiment made
Singapore a city-state with one of the topmost by HDI and per capita income wise.
India too faced a period of stagnation with almost no employment forever bulging population, low
rate of GDP (the 2% growth rate) became almost synonymous to Indian State.
All these situations forced both China and India to mend their ways, China adopted the policy of
Gaige Kaifang (reform and Openness) in 1987-88 under Deng Xiaoping and India opened its economy
for trade through Liberalisation in 1991-92 under Narasimha Rao. Both the countries opened their
economy for global trade to bring in more capital to develop opportunities for the citizens.
All three states mentioned above still consider themselves to be a welfare state. This idea is impacting
the African nations who have got their independence in the 1970s and early 1980s and were still
toying with the concept of development without giving much importance to inclusive growth.
The Scandinavian countries are a good example of what can be achieved if the concept of inclusive
growth is kept at the core of policymaking.
(c) How big a role does identity play in determining political participation in the developing countries?
Discuss your answer with suitable illustration.
Ans. Identity plays a very important role in political participation all around the world, its impact in the
developing countries is even more because most of the developing countries have come out of
the colonial rule in later half of last century and as Ambedkar opined Democratic process has been
superimposed on us without any foundation with the hope that roots will develop and grasp-in. In
actuality on an inherent level our society is divided on different identities like - Race, Caste, Religion,
Linguistic differences and many more. These inherent characters of the newly formed Democratic
states have now started showing its traits. Politics not only in India but whole of subcontinent is
example of this-instead of supporting for developmental agenda citizens votes on caste/religion/
tribes lines - Yadav support base for Samajwadi party in Indian plains, Pashtun support base for
Ashraf Ghani and Hazara base for Abdul Mazari in Afghanistan, Punjabi support base for PML(N) and
Sindhi support base for PPP in Pakistan further support the argument.
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The major reasons for the growth of identity politics in developing nations:
●● Political outfits know that accomplishing all the promises made during campaigns are impossible
with the financial condition of the state and therefore arousing people’s feeling on identity lines is
the best way to assure electoral support.
●● Many a times communities feel that they need to secure their identity ( culture, a way of life) and
support individuals or specific parties for doing the same. MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement)
received the electoral support of Muhajir community in Pakistan for this only purpose. BJP’s electoral
advancement from 2 to 85 in 1989 General Election is attributed to similar phenomena when Hindu
community support them for securing the identity.
Although Identity politics impacts even the developed world, 2008 U.S. general election saw
unprecedented electoral support for Obama among the African-American community because of
his race which is a type of identity. Therefore, one shouldn’t always find problems in Identity politics,
there have been instances when Identity politics has been done for good, for example, the Civil
Rights Movement of the 1960s in the U.S.A.
(d) Bring out the major differences between the Classical Realism of Hans Morgenthau and the Neo-
realism of Kenneth Waltz.
Ans. According to the orthodox view, Realism is concerned with the world as it actually is rather than how
it is ought to be. In other words, as Morgenthau stated, it is an empirical rather than a normative
paradigm. Realism is also pessimistic and emphasises the recurrent patterns of power politics as
manifested by reoccurring conflicts, rivalries and wars. Concepts such as the balance of power and
the security dilemma become the main realist analytical tools. Realists of all strands also consider
the state as the principal actor in international affairs. Special attention is afforded to great powers
as they have the most leverage on the international stage.
There are however four key differences between classical realism and neo-realism, they are:
●● Classical realist locates the roots of international conflict and war in an imperfect human nature
while neo-realists maintain that its deep causes are found in the anarchic international system.
Emphasizing on this point Kenneth Waltz considered Morgenthau’s approach as bottom-up and
reductionist.
●● The state is ontologically superior to the system in classical realism, in contrast to neo-realism,
allowing more space for agency in the former approach.
●● Classical realists differentiate between status-quo powers and revisionist powers while neo-realism
regards states as unitary actors.
●● Neo-realists attempt to construct a more rigorous and scientific approach to the study of international
politics, heavily influenced by the behaviourist revolution of the 1960’s while classical realism
confines its analyses to subjective valuations of international relations.
●● Neo-realist lead by Waltz considered Power as a means while security as the final end, hereto his
approach was different from Morgenthau who considered Power as the means as well as the end.
Lately, attacks like 9/11, London Bombing and Paris Bombing shows that only accumulating power as
stated by Morgenthau won’t be enough and Power has to be used to further assure the security of
the state and its citizens.
(e) What, according to Joseph Nye, are the major sources of a country’s soft power? Discuss its
relevance in the contemporary world politics.
For Nye, power is the ability to influence the behaviour of others to get the outcomes you want.
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There are several ways one can achieve this: you can coerce them with threats; you can induce them
with payments, or you can attract and co-opt them to want what you want. This soft power – getting
others to want the outcomes you want – co-opts people rather than coerces them. In his 1990
book, Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power he wrote:
“when one country gets other countries to want what it wants-might be called co-optive or soft
power in contrast with the hard or command the power of ordering others to do what it wants.
A country’s soft power can come from three resources:
●● Its culture: In places where it is attractive to others. For example, France is ranked high among
countries with high soft power because of its vibrant culture, its openness and acceptance of free
speech on not only political level but also on a cultural level. At the same time, Saudi Arabia is
condoned throughout the world for its repressive culture which has held on the patriarchal mindset
with the help of Orthodox religious sects like Wahhabism.
●● Its political values: When it lives up to them at home and abroad. For example, again France not only
implemented the idea of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity at home but also exported it to other parts
like the U.S.A. and from there it got universal acceptance after the Second World War. On the other
side the Political values of Pakistan which although was a secular state back in 1947 but toyed with
religious ideas and now finds itself in a web of situation where blasphemy law related judgment is
setting its agendas.
●● Its foreign policies: When they are seen as legitimate and having moral authority. For example, U.S.A
was celebrated as an eternal friend after second World War in Western Europe because of the part
it played this helped it to build a reputation of torchbearer of Freedom but its action in Iraq (2003)
has damaged its image and seriously degraded its Soft Power capabilities on Foreign Policy stand.
In contemporary World, Soft Power plays more important role than any time before, because of
advancement in the field of communication the whole world has evolved into a global village and
through Internet every state’s culture and Politics is open to being debated and discussed. Therefore
every country needs to show its good side to the world while making sure that the disputed/difficult
side is kept on the back till it’s resolved. The Chinese policy of sending Pandas to other countries is
one such trick to form an acceptable narrative among the rest of world about China while making
sure that to hide the running concentration camp on Chinese lands or the behaviour of Chinese
administration with the ethnic Uyghur population.
A country like India has a lot to showcase, the similarity of the Political system already makes the
Western World interact with India, its nuanced cultural and ethnic identities are well celebrated all over
the World. India’s Foreign Policy stand regarding most of the world issues are also considered neutral
and India prefer to use the international institution like UN to make her voice heard. These traits assure
the rest of the world of India’s acceptable nature and increase its Soft Power on World forums.
2. (a) Discuss the significance of Non-aligned Movement as a unique contribution of the Non-Western
world to World politics.
Ans. Non-aligned Movement was set up in 1961 as a force to counter the plans of both Superpowers
to bring the nation states in their fold. It was a brainchild of Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia, J.L. Nehru
of India and G.A. Nasser of Egypt. There were countries throughout the World who didn’t identify
themselves in sink with either of the ideologies propagated by the Superpowers but at the same
time, they needed both capital and intellectual support of the superpowers to build their countries.
In such a scenario NAM provided them a much-needed platform to assert their point of view.
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Following are the contribution of the Non-aligned Movement towards Non-Western Countries:
●● All the World institutions were built by Western Powers and therefore there was always a sense of
disenchantment among the other member states who find it difficult to pursue their agenda.
●● NAM provided them with another platform through which they could raise their voice.
●● South-South Unity also traces back its origin to the NAM summits.
●● Most of the African nations received their independence in and after the 1960s and countries like
Angola became the playground for Soviets and Americans to settle their scores. It was NAM which
made sure that such Wars don’t impact other parts of Africa.
●● NAM also took the much-needed stand against the Racist practices world over, they not only passed
a resolution against Apartheid South African state but also supported the Civil Rights activists in the
U.S.A. in NAM summit of 1964 held in Cairo.
●● NAM member states presented the case of de-colonisation in the trusteeship council in much more
fervent manner than ever before.
●● NAM played a very important role in making sure that South American countries are allowed to carry
on their independent foreign policy and not become backyard of U.S.A.
●● States like Cuba under Fidel Castro and Palestine under Yaseer Arafat were able to punch far above
their weight because they were provided a platform by NAM.
But over the period its impact has reduced and it’s in need of much needed transformation, leaders
and countries have been talking about NAM 2.0 through which the developing countries can once
again join hands to provide their citizens the much needed favourable trade deals in WTO’s summit
level of talks.
(b) Discuss the consequences of trump’s “America First” and Xi’s “Chinese Dream” on World Politics.
Nation states from the very beginning of the very idea have been competing against one another for
achieving the title of Supreme Nation, nomenclature have been different but the aim has been the
same whether it was the Anglo-French rivalry of the 18th and 19th century or the aim of the Third
Reich in 1930s or even after the Second World War when the Soviets and the American went to the
phase of Cold War to achieve the superiority over the side.
China’s consistent growth for last three decade has brought it in a position where it is and will
continue to aim for Global Supremacy all this while the U.S.A. will try to maintain its Supremacy by
leaving behind China in all the global aspects mainly lead by Economic growth.
“America First” and “Chinese Dream” are just the instrument respective countries have decided to
use to achieve the aim.
Important features of America First Policy:
●● It’s based upon Economic Nationalism, Non-interventionism and Rejection of Internationalist Policies.
●● The current U.S. administration is of the opinion that they are spending way too much on international
agendas whose return to them is negligible while not providing adequate support to domestic issues
and therefore the fulfilling domestic needs are going to be their priority.
●● U.S. President has increased tariffs on most of the Chinese imports with the aim of increasing the
domestic production. This plan is based on the very idea of America First.
Important features of the Chinese Dream:
●● It’s based upon collective hope for restoring China’s lost national greatness.
●● As a policy of Chinese state, it’s credited to Current Chinese President Xi Jinping, although it was
popularised by Thomas Friedman on the lines of the idea of “American Dream”.
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●● While the U.S.A. is trying to disconnect itself with the international forums China is increasing its
influence. For example, U.S.A. backed out from Paris Climate Agreement and Trans-pacific Partnership
(TPP) while not only China kept its commitment to Paris Climate Agreement buy also in talks to
enforce Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
●● The various international infrastructure Projects like OBOR and CPEC and international line of credit
China is facilitating through AIIB are steps to increase its influence on the Global platform to fulfill
the “Chinese Dream”. The most expected outcome is China will take over the position of World
leader from U.S.A. in near future unless and until U.S. mends its ways and reach back for support
from its long time Western European allies.
(c) “Some feel Multinational Corporations (MNCs) are a vital new road to economic growth, whereas
others feel they perpetuate underdevelopment.” Discuss.
Ans. With Apple and Amazon both hitting the mark of $1 Trillion in market Capitalization (if ranked along
with Countries as per their GDP value they’ll be fifteenth in the world) no one can deny the power of
the MNCs on the global scale. They have amassed huge economic power which ultimately has lashed
them with certain Political leeway too. For example, the UPA government was supportive of Walmart
entering India in the Retail sector even though it would have impacted the small business. Similarly,
in the U.S.A. Governors of seven different states have given a presentation to Amazon for opening its
second headquarter in their state. Under these circumstances it has become really difficult to control
the MNCs by any single country’s government, this has brought in a situation where MNCs are free
to perform their operations world over in an unrestricted manner. This has both good and ill effects
on the economies. They are:
The good effects:
●● Companies like Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Walmart bring in the much-needed capital in form of
FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) which is much appreciated in Developing Countries.
●● They provide job mostly in Manufacturing and Tertiary sectors were otherwise domestic growth is
not much.
●● The youth learns the much needed technical know-how and further build on the concepts. So,
technical and scientific growth also takes place.
●● The government gets benefited not only through the Direct taxes but also because the youth gets
employment the future of the country is secured.
The ill effects:
●● The completely demolishes the small business. For example, Amazon forced the Retail bookstores and
various Mom&Pop stores to close their shutters where ever their business went. This causes accumulation
of capital while the small shop owners are forced to work as employees rather than entrepreneurs.
●● MNCs are so big that they can’t be regulated by a country’s government. For example, Apple denying
opening phone of a dead terrorist.
●● Those who are at bottom most strata of society don’t have basic e-literacy which is much needed to
operate the products of these MNCs and therefore they are not the targeted market and their needs
aren’t given any importance too by market forces.
●● MNCs are also using corrupt practices and lobbying for getting favourable deals from governments
which hampers the development of the country.
MNCs have much to offer to mankind, but they have to keep in mind that the ultimate aim has to be
serving the people and profit-making comes second. A recent example is Facebook whose data was
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used to influence the U.S. Presidential elections impacting the whole world at once. MNCs possess
great power and they need to operate it carefully to boost economic growth and reduce under-
development.
3. (a) Discuss the relevance of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on the security of women in conflict
zones.
Ans. UNSC resolution 1325 was adopted unanimously by Security Council. The resolution acknowledged
the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and girls. It calls for the
adoption of a gender perspective to consider the special needs of women and girls during the conflict,
repatriation and resettlement, rehabilitation, reintegration, and post-conflict reconstruction.
The main components and recommendations of the resolution are:
●● Preventing sexual and gender-based violence in armed conflict.
●● Participation of Women in peace negotiations.
●● Protection of women and girls in refugee settings
●● Taking care of the needs of female combatants in Disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration
process.
●● Assuring Women political participation
●● Incorporate a gender perspective into peacekeeping operations
●● Providing training and sensitising the UN member states regarding the protection, rights and needs
of Women folks.
●● Gender balancing in UN
●● Reporting the impact of ongoing armed conflict on the Women in zones by UN Secretary-General.
Although Women are the worst impacted in the conflict zones throughout the history lately after the
ISIS/IL took over major cities of Iraq and Syria, many disturbing reports came out of brutality by ISIS
fighters towards the Women mostly of Yazidi tribe. This again brought back the world focus to the
issue. Recently Nadia Murad who was enslaved by ISIS fighters was given the Nobel Peace Prize for
bringing back this issue in focus and her work for helping other who suffered from ISIS hands.
(b) Would you agree that the on-going debates on international environment politics continue to be
marred by a new North-South ideological divide over historical responsibility and developmental
model? Illustrate your answer with suitable examples.
Ans. Over the past centuries the Northern Countries (Most of Western Europe and the U.S.A) have reaped
the benefits of Industrial revolution while using the South (Asia, South America and Africa) as their
farmland for raw material, this process has brought them in an economic well to do condition
where they can shred the old techniques which ultimately are the main agent of causing drastic
Environmental degradation. And the South still needs high growth for sustenance which can be
either achieved by these old technologies or by new advanced technologies which are again in a
development stage and require more capital infusion to bring it on the ground.
This is the core reason why the North which consist of almost all the developed nations to be held
accountable for the present level of environment degradation and as a way to self-atone this wrong
they should help out the South with technology and capital, not doing this while expecting the same
level of commitment from Southern Countries is the main reason for the on-going North-South debate.
Days leading to Paris Climate Agreement saw this debates in nastiest forms when the Northern
(Developed) countries wanted the Southern (Developing) countries to come up with the same level
of INDC (Intended Nationally Determined Contribution).
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Issues brought up by Northern Countries:
●● Southern (Developing) Countries like China, India, Brazil etc to reduce there annual per capita
emission because they are the one growing at the fastest rate.
●● Every Human being has the same responsibility towards the Earth and therefore should contribute
equally towards saving Environment.
●● They rarely share new advanced technology because of Intellectual Property clauses in their domestic
law.
Issues brought up by Southern Countries:
●● Since the Northern Countries growth has been brought at the cost of Environment degradation for at
least two centuries now the Southern Countries can’t be stopped from doing the same for sustenance
purposes.
●● When Countries like the U.S.A. who has been the largest emitter of GHGs over past fifty years has
backtracked on its commitment regarding Paris Agreement, the Northern Countries can’t force the
Southern Countries like China, India and Brazil to regulate their emission levels.
●● There is also the context of Neo-imperialism too i.e. the Northern Countries have acted as the imperial
power for centuries and now also they are trying to regulate the growth of Southern Countries through
these International Agreements.
The Developed countries have committed to jointly provide $100 Billion annually by the year 2020 to
the Developing countries in exchange of them regulating their annual GHGs emission level. But the fine
points about the source and dispensation process of the fund is yet to be developed, this is also causing
the rift between the two sides.
(c) “Since its inception the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has failed to
deliver on its promises.” What initiative should be taken to reinvigorate the organisation?
Ans. SAARC was set up in 1985 with the intention of enhancing Regional cooperation and economic growth
by the integration of the South Asian Nations on various levels lead mainly by Trade and people to
people contact. But in past three decades, much has not changed on the ground mainly because of
Bilateral issues of two of its biggest member states -India and Pakistan. Lately the faith of Motor Vehicle
Agreement where Pakistan walked out the agreement forcing other states to go for BBIN (Bangladesh
Bhutan India Nepal) Road Network impacting not only its own citizens but also the state of Afghanistan.
Major Initiative that could be taken to rejuvenate the SAARC process:
●● India and Pakistan assuring not to bring Bilateral issues on SAARC platform and handling it separately.
●● Certain points of Gujral Doctrine needs to be brought back as the confidence-building measures to
reassure the smaller member states of India’s good intentions. Launching of SAARC satellite is one such
event.
●● India has to make sure not to let China hack the leadership of SAARC grouping because of Chinese
Hegemonic tendencies.
●● SAARC needs to start separate Secretary-level/Track-2 level talks regarding the Trade facilitation and
cultural connect with specific TOR (Term of References) making sure that the ongoing international
issues don’t impact the process. For example for the current ongoing turmoil in Sri-Lanka or Maldives
SAARC could play the role of mediator instead of India doing so.
●● SAARC also needs to take of people causes like the Rohingyas and the Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
●● SAARC as a body needs to take a stand on ongoing Conflicts in various parts of World like on Syria
Scenario, Yemen Crisis etc.
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●● India needs to find more alternative channels to connect with its immediate neighbourhood and
reduce some pressure from SAARC. India has taken initiative regarding this through this new Process
BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation).
4. (a) Critically examine the notion of “Asian Values” in the context of the on-going debates on Human
rights.
Ans. Asian Values are defined as the value system based upon elements of society, culture and history
common to the nations of Southeast and East Asia. It aimed to use commonalities such as the
principle of collectivism and the ancient cultural connect – to unify people for their economic and
social good and to create a pan-Asian identity. This value set was on the lines of the European
concept of Universal Rights of Man. The concept was initially used by Lee Kuan Yew (Prime Minister
of Singapore, 1959–1990) and supported by Mahathir Mohamad (Prime Minister of Malaysia,
1981–2003, 2018–present) and later accepted and used as the core idea of ASEAN (Association of
South East Asian Nations). Even Deng Xiaoping also found the concept of Asian Values acceptable for
Chinese people.
Lee Kuan Yew quoted about Democracy “The exuberance of democracy leads to undisciplined and
disorderly conditions which are inimical to development.” and therefore Asian Values which gives
preference to community development over Individual development should preferred model for
Asian nations. He said, the government’s primary duty is to create a “stable and orderly society”
where “people are well cared for, their food, housing, employment, health and for this if certain
stringent steps are needed to be taken, a leader should take it. He implemented these ideas in
Singapore 1965 onward in the form of compulsory public Housing which forced cultural integration
and imposed various kinds of restriction on freedom of expression.
Lung Ying-tai, a Taiwanese social and political critic, supported by Kim Dae Jung (former President of
South Korea) and Lee Teng-hui (former President of Taiwan), argues that “Asian values” is doublespeak
for suppressing universal values such as freedom of speech and human rights.
Amartya Sen criticised Asian Values as less supportive of freedom and more concerned with order
and discipline than are Western values, and that the claims of human rights in the areas of political
and civil liberties are, therefore, less relevant in Asia than in the West.
But one can find these stringent constrainments on Human rights even in Historical texts regarding
Imperial Japan and in recent times Chinese state is putting on restrainments upon people to maintain
order based on these ideas only one such example lately is Chinese Social Credit System.
(b) Discuss the implication of the Trump-Kim Singapore Summit on the prospects of denuclearisation
of the Korean Peninsula.
Ans. Since the end of Second World War the greatest man-made threat World faces is the threat of
Nuclear Annihilation. And to eliminate or reduce this threat the P5 along with other UN member
states have tried to come up with different schemes like Nuclear Umbrella (provided by U.S.A and
Soviet Union), NPT (Non-proliferation Treaty), CTBT (Counter-test Ban Treaty) and NWFZT (Nuclear
Weapon Free Zone Treaty) like Pelindaba Treaty but North-Korea has never followed these treaties
and twice entered and went back out of NPT latest in 2003. Under Kim Jong Un’s leadership, they
have developed ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) with the capacity to attack mainland U.S.A.
This has made the very threat of a North Korean attack on the U.S. seem real for the very first time
since the end of Korean War (1950-53).
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The triggering reasons for both the countries to come to talking tables are:
●● The ever enhancing American scheme of putting sanction on North-Korea has devastated their
economy completely but hasn’t been able to stop their program to make an ICBM.
●● The North Korean regime also finds the current U.S. administration especially President Trump
eclectic and therefore a much more severe threat.
Main implications of the Singapore Summit on the prospects of Denuclearisation:
●● U.S.A and DPRK has come to talking tables, this will assure that even in case of immediate crisis there
will be a channel of communication and the U.S.A don’t have to contact the North Koreans through
either the Chinese government or the Olympics Association office in Pyongyang.
●● The North Korean regime has assured to dismantle the ICBM constructing facility near Pyongyang.
●● The North Korean regime has taken steps to dismantle rocket launching and a testing site near
Tonchang.
●● The Trump-Kim summit was preceded by the Moon-Kim summit (Moon Jae-in, President of South
Korea), this will reduce the threat level between the neighbours and the prospect of a Nuclear war
because the South Korean state is covered by U.S. Nuclear Umbrella.
●● There are also talks going on regarding the second round of U.S.A-DPRK talks where the denuclearisation
issue will be on the table in exchange for the removal or reduction of American sanctions.
4. (c) Critically examine the Functionalist approach to the study of International Relations.
Ans. The functionalist approach to study international relations arose during the inter-War period principally
from the strong concern about the obsolescence of the State as a form of social organization. Rather
than the self-interest of nation-states that realists see as a motivating factor, functionalists focus on
common interests and needs shared by state actors and also by non-state actors in a process of global
integration triggered by the erosion of state sovereignty and the increasing weight of knowledge and
hence of scientists and experts in the process of policy-making.
Its roots can be traced back to the liberal/idealist tradition that started with Kant and goes as far as
Woodrow Wilson’s “Fourteen Points” speech which led the foundation of League of Nation.
The classic functionalist believed that the idea was to pool the sovereignty of members of an
international organization like the European Union, as they worked together to deal with a common
task. The idea was to do away with the evils of nationalism as individual citizens would transfer
their loyalties to a higher or supranational authority. It was hoped that economic and technical
cooperation would “spill-over” into the political world.
David Mitrany, the originator of functionalism, believed that this would result in a working peace
system. A working peace system would be built gradually and incrementally. That is, “peace would
be built by pieces.”
The main criticism about Functionalist approach are:
●● Realist School: Security of Nation state is threatened as the Nation state depends on international
organisations like UN, EU and NATO.
The concept of Shared Sovereignty evolves and the people of the state are not the final decision
maker even in case of a democratic form of government. The latest example was the Greek Economic
Crisis and European Unions reaction towards it.
●● Neo-Functionalist School: It builds on the work of David Mitrany, it downplays the global dimension
and reintroduces the concept of Territorialism.
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It’s declared to be non-normative and tried to describe and explain the process of regional integration
based on empirical data. Integration was regarded as an inevitable process, where the invisible hand
of integration (Political or Functional Spillover) works rather than a desirable state of affairs that
could be introduced by the political or technocratic elites of the involved states’ societies.
SECTION - B
5. Comment on the following in about 150 words each:
5. (a ) Do you agree with the view that Indian Foreign policy is increasingly being shaped by the Neoliberal
outlook? Elaborate.
Ans. Historically Indian Foreign Policy is impacted by the worldview of our founding fathers like M.K.
Gandhi, J.L. Nehru and the top Bureaucrats who headed the External Affairs Ministry like K.P.S.
Menon and Subimal Dutt.
The foundational idea in initial years was Fabian Socialism (taken from Nehru’s worldview regarding
the Economics) and non-interference which took the form of Panchsheel. But over time these ideas
were not able to fulfil the aspirations of growing Indian Demography and Globalisation was allowed
under forcible conditions in 1991-92. With this change, the worldview of Foreign policy experts also
mended, more Neoliberal ideas were given more importance with every passing day as India finds
itself closer to the Western ideas of economics.
Following changes in Foreign policy shows India’s increasing tilt towards Neoliberal Worldview:
●● The opening of the Indian Market in 1991-92 followed by joining WTO (1995).
●● Many changes have been brought to the Indian way of life to bring people on the same standards as
the Western/Developed World is, this will let them act as a Demographic dividend.
●● Lately, India is supporting the opening of World Market while countries like U.K. and U.S.A. are
opting for a more conservative approach.
Another reason is that of sudden development in the communication techniques Indian people are
knowing the benefits of transforming the World into an inter-connected global community and this puts
pressure on the Foreign policymakers to get in line and bring desired changes. Recently, even the Saudi
Administration took some steps to bring changes to the domestic level mostly because of similar reasons.
Having said that, one should always keep in mind that the experience of the Indian way of handling
foreign issues have served us best (except in 1962) and there is much to learn from experiences
and even when Neoliberalism has been instilled in Indian foreign policy core ideas, Experts are and
should keep on applying the principles of Neoliberalism in an Indian way not try to superimpose the
western idea of Neoliberalism.
(b) “India is often said to have a rich strategic culture”. Discuss.
Strategic Culture as defined by scholar Colin Gray, it refers to the “disarmingly elementary” notion that “a
security community is likely to think and behave in ways that are influenced by what it has taught
itself about itself and its relevant contexts. And that education, to repeat, rests primarily upon the
interpretation of history and history’s geography. And therefore the Indian nation knowing the
bloody geographical history of the subcontinent has built a separate rich Strategic Culture.
Few characteristics of Indian Strategic Culture:
●● Individual leadership, bureaucratic politics, and civil-military relations put in appearances in such
accounts alongside strategic culture itself that is not found in any other developing democratic state
world over.
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●● India has been very economical in its foreign entanglements but not engagements. Except the IPKF
episode in Sri-Lanka India’s strategic outreach has never failed whether it was Maldives (1988) or
Seychelles (1986) or recent evacuation ops. in Yemen.
●● Shivshankar Menon called Indian Diplomatic outreaches to be the most frugal diplomacy, with a
small band of professional diplomats with minimum means to deliver all and more that much larger,
better equipped and well- funded foreign services do.
●● Providing a forum to those in need. M.K. Rasgotra mentions in his biography how the India house in
London acted as the NAM’s outreach centre for most of the African and South American countries
in the 1980s.
●● India has so far resisted siren calls for us to do what others want us to, in the name of being
“responsible” or “stepping up to the plate”. For example, the A.B. Vajpayee government rejected the
appeal of U.S. government to send Boots on the ground in Iraq in 2003.
The prime reason for people like George Tanham of RAND corporation who propounded the idea
that India doesn’t have a rich strategic culture is lack of understanding of Indian past specifically the
Arthashastra and Kautilya.
What Indian scholars need to do is follow the Chinese and Yan Xuetong have mined and reinterpreted
their own past to produce what they see as a Chinese theory of international relations we should do
the same.
5. (c) Evaluate India’s stand on the recent Rohingya refugee issue.
Ans. The Rohingya are an ethnic community in the Rakhine state of Myanmar having linguistic similarities
with some regional dialects of Bangladesh. The Myanmar authorities do not recognize them as its
citizens but consider the Rohingya migrants from Bangladesh. This left the Rohingya in a stateless
condition and subject to persecution in Myanmar. In the last 4-5 years due to consistent persecution
Rohingyas are leaving Rakhine and moving to Bangladesh, India, Thailand and where ever they could
feel safe. Bangladesh is currently giving refuge to 700,000 Rohingyas and an approximate 40,000 of
them have been staying in India.
India’s response to the Rohingya crisis:
●● First phase: After the conflict started in 2012; Main Indian concern was the Humanitarian approach.
Delhi considered it an ‘internal affair’ but was sympathetic to Myanmar. The then External Affairs
Minister Salman Khurshid visited Rakhine State and announced a US$ 1-million package of relief
assistance to Myanmar. India also allowed Rohingya refugees to enter the country and did not make
it an issue in its domestic politics or in its bilateral relations with Myanmar.
●● Second phase: After Mid 2017; Main Indian concern was Internal security followed Humanitarian
approach. The government planned to deport the Rohingyas who have settled in different parts of
India. The government considered them Illegal Immigrants and not refugees. India supported the
Myanmar Government after Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) carried out attacks in Rakhine
against state forces. India launched “Operation Insaniyat” to provide relief assistance for the refugee
camps in Bangladesh.
●● Third phase: Main concern is steps to find a legitimate acceptable resolution. The phase began
soon after China stepped in with its “three-step solution” to the Rohingya crisis and the subsequent
signing of the repatriation agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Indian Foreign Secretary signed a MoU on Rakhine State Development Programme with Myanmar’s
Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement aimed at “socio-economic development and
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livelihood initiatives in Rakhine State” that included “a project to build prefabricated housing in
Rakhine State to meet the immediate needs of returning people.”
There is a view that with the Western world embroiled in its own challenges, there is a lack of
global leadership. Under these circumstances, perhaps Delhi has framed an approach towards the
Rohingya crisis without the need to concern itself about the reactions of the Western powers, who
otherwise tend to preach to other countries from their self-appointed high-moral ground.
There are 2 schools of thoughts which explains India’s stand regarding Rohingya Crisis:
●● The first school argues that the current Rohingya approach has some elements of continuity, as it is
“consistent with [India’s] traditional hesitation about automatically designating asylum seekers as
refugees.”
According to this line of thinking, India has conventionally “created disincentives” for refugees to
“stay on in India permanently”, citing the case of refugees from Bangladesh during the 1971 War.
●● Second School views the current approach as a departure from the past and analyses it from the
perspective of potential implications on India. This school argues that the framing of the Rohingya
crisis through the security argument is short-sighted as it could create more security challenges for
India, including “greater radicalisation” of a repressed community that could have serious “spillover”
effects on India.
It asserts that the government’s silence has allowed “ceding space for other countries to take the
lead” in the Rohingya crisis. Further, the approach has undermined India’s long traditional heritage
as an “open” and “democratic” society that has always kept its doors open for refugees.
5. (d) “India’s current foreign policy marks significant qualitative shifts from that of the previous
regimes.” Discuss.
Ans. India is well known for that fact that its Foreign Policy doesn’t change much with changing of the
government. Indian Foreign policy in that regarding is different from the U.S. or U.K. foreign policy
outlook where the change of guards from Republican to Democrats (vice-versa) or Conservative to
Labour respectively changes the overall foreign policy outlook of the nation. Instead, India has some
core ideas and certain set agendas, till now every government aspires to achieve them. Certainly, the
path to achieving the agendas somewhat change for example the current Prime Minister believes
in personal diplomacy than the previous Prime Minister. In a way, this is something which can be
explained best by the behaviourist approach to International relations. The recent informal summit
between Modi and Xi Jinping in China and Modi and Putin in Russia are an example of this.
Following are the small changes which are visible in Foreign Policy initiatives to achieve the preset
agendas:
●● India has become more assertive on international platforms. For example Prime Minister personal
outreach to China, Israel and even Pakistan. India also expanded the scope of its engagement
with East and Southeast Asia in a year when India and ASEAN observed 25 years of their Dialogue
Partnership, 15 years of summit-level interaction and five years of strategic partnership this year.
India publicly and vigorously supported freedom of navigation and access to resources in the South
China Sea in accordance with principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In its immediate neighbourhood, New Delhi followed a two-pronged policy. On the one hand, it
continued its high-decibel campaign to marginalise Pakistan by repeatedly underscoring the
pernicious nature of the terror threat emanating from that country. On the other hand, it started
15
an ambitious undertaking of re-imagining its strategic geography by linking itself more closely with
the wider Bay of Bengal community. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and
Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal (BBIN) Initiative are
being revived by New Delhi’s newfound interest. India has taken up the initiative in Afghanistan
while using its Soft power tools to connect with the Afghan people.
Through participating in Security exercise like Malabar Exercise where along with India, Japan, U.S.A.
and Australia participated, India again asserted its presence in the Indian Ocean.
It was India’s diplomatic winning that the U.S. renamed its Pacific command Indo-pacific command,
this will further assert India’s presence in the region where otherwise China is having Hegemonic
aspirations.
●● India undertook measures to gather support for its membership of NSG, MTCR, Wassenaar Agreement
and Australia group. Except NSG India has been able to receive membership of rest three control
regimes and soon it will gather the support of NSG too.
On Cultural level too, India has taken steps like
●● Getting unanimous support from UNGA for declaring June 21st as Yoga day. This adds another
instrument to propagate Indian ideas and way to life to the whole world.
●● Steps have been taken to increase the number of countries to allow visa-free travel to Indians.
On trade side
●● The Indian government is assertively showcasing itself to the countries with large coffers in the form
of Sovereign funds like U.A.E, Japan and Saudi Arabia, etc.
5. (e) Analyse the significance of India’s Look East Policy in the light of concerns of the indigenous peoples
of North-east India.
Ans. Despite having cultural and historical proximities, India could not ascertain mutual cooperation with
the countries of East and Southeast Asia, particularly because of the existing global political scenario.
Traditionally, India looked towards the West for her economic and trade interests. The dismantling of
the Soviet Union and penetration of neo-liberal economy in a globalised set-up forced India to look for
other avenues to connect with rest of the world. Look East Policy (LEP) was evolved in the early nineties
giving paradigm shift to the country’s foreign policy and international trade and cooperation.
Northeast India’s stake in the Look East Policy has been visualised from two different perspectives.
One view looks the region from the euphoria of economic growth in larger economic and trade
frame of the global economy where driving forces are market reforms, transnational connectivity
and market integration. This as the ‘continental pole’ which eventually bypass and supersede the
local concerns of the indigenous people of the region.
Another perspective looks at the bargaining point of how much it (Northeast) can gain from the
continental policy creating hope and excitement in different circles. The Look East Policy has also
changed the perception of Northeast India from ‘an anthropologist paradise’ during the colonial era
and the ‘security perception’in the post-colonial era to the ‘gateway for trade and cooperation’ with
Southeast Asia in the contemporary era of globalisation.
Following are the major significance of LEP with respect to the concern of Indigenous peoples:
●● Those tribes who are completely disconnected because of the unnatural land border can reconnect.
People to People interaction will develop. Nagas are present on both sides of the Indo-Myanmar
border.
16
●● There is no big industrial or otherwise economic development going on in the region that means
the youth are unemployed and are forced to live their life in most difficult manner. the projects like
the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway (IMTTH) will open new avenues of development for
them.
●● Once the tribal communities will interact as well as connect with the wider world, it will be easier
for the Indian Union to bring them to mainstream and many of their differences can be resolved
automatically.
●● Economic development will also provide an additional reason for different tribes to interact and their
differences will reduce as their interactions will increase.
But at the same time, the Indian state has to be vigilant that this new avenue of prosperity is not
misused by secessionist powers active in the region.
6. (a) India’s coalitional diplomacy within the WTO has earned it wide appreciation. What accounts for
the success of India’s coalitional diplomacy.
Ans. Coalition diplomacy developed when Individual states find themselves incapable of making their
perspective understand to the International organisation like UN and GATT (General Agreement
on trade and tariff). It predates the WTO. First such grouping was Cairns Group of non-subsidizing
agricultural producers that first came together a month before the launch of the Uruguay round.
Under the leadership of India, the LikeMinded Group (LMG) initially brought together countries
that opposed the placement of labour standards on the negotiating agenda in the 1996 Singapore
Ministerial Conference. The LMG “was attempting to restrike the balance of negotiating power
in the WTO in favour of the growing majority of developing countries by bringing the negotiating
process more into the open, where the large and rich countries would have to leave their backroom
machinations behind.
On many occasions, India has had to subordinate its own national interest in the interest of that
solidarity.
Among all the large, developing countries it is India that has consistently worked with the Africans,
with the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific), with these smaller countries all across the world. For
example, G20 made side payments to members of LMG at the time of the Uruguay round.
●● Leaders offered concessions in the form of preferential market access for LDCs (Least Developed
Countries), and also regional trade arrangements (economic and political) with various members,
such as the IBSA (India, Brazil, and South Africa) initiative and India’s Africa Forum. India many times
on its own cost has represented the African members’ issues for example during the Doha round
India not only helped the AU (African Union) to form a coalition but also helped Tanzania and Uganda
on a personal level.
The main reason for the success of India’s Coalitional Diplomacy are:
●● The earlier record of India: Whether it was against the Anti-apartheid regime of South Africa or the
Colonial powers in Trusteeship Council India always took a stance against it and supported the cause
of LDCs. India also played a vital role in providing a platform to LDCs through NAM.
●● India’s trade methodology is based upon People to People partnership and not like taking over the
whole project as China has been doing in recent past. This further increases India’s standing in the
eye of LDCs (mostly in African nations) and they support India for the leadership post in Coalitional
Diplomacy.
17
(b) “ India’s capacity building programmes under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation
(ITEC) has earned much goodwill for it in Africa.” Discuss.
Ans. Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) was started in 1964 and has
allowed India to boost people-to-people relations and enhance its ties with developing countries
as it followed a strategy of economic and technical cooperation. African countries have greatly
benefited from a bilateral capacity-building programme launched by India more than 50 years ago
as it helps expand, build and share technical skills among developing countries. It is a demand-
driven, response-oriented programme that focuses on addressing the needs of developing countries
through innovative technological cooperation between India and the partnering nation.
Along with its corollary the Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa Programme, ITEC covers
158 countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and several Pacific and
Caribbean nations. But its main focus has been in Africa where partner countries are Algeria, Angola,
Benin, Burundi, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Congo, Chad etc.
Major reasons for Goodwill connected to ITEC programme:
●● There are 47 training institutions in India which run more than 280 training courses in diverse
subjects ranging from IT, public administration to election management, SME, entrepreneurship,
rural development, parliamentary affairs, renewable energy to name a few.
●● African Union (AU), Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO), Pan African Parliament are
partners in these schemes with ITEC, they make sure that proper facilitation of these programmes
as per the needs of the Natives.
●● Apart from organizing training courses in India, it also covers deputation of Indian experts abroad, aid
for disaster relief, gifting of equipment, study tours and feasibility studies/consultancy services. ITEC
is a demand-driven programme, therefore, assistance offered under ITEC is usually in response to
requests received from friendly countries and the commitments made by India’s political leadership.
●● Through ITEC programme Indian government also helps African countries to provide mid-
career training to its bureaucrats in the field of Election Management, Government Performance
Management, Parliamentary Studies, Urban Infrastructure Management, WTO related Topics, this
further develop goodwill for India among the Bureaucracy which is very helpful at the level of
Government to Government relations.
(c) “India’s Research and Information system for Developing Countries” (RIS) is a major initiative in
the area of South-South Cooperation. Discuss.
Ans. Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) is a New Delhi–based autonomous
policy research institute that specialises in issues related to international economic development,
trade, investment and technology. RIS is envisioned as a forum for fostering effective policy dialogue
and capacity-building among developing countries on global and regional economic issues.
The focus of the work programme of RIS is to promote South-South Cooperation and collaborate
with developing countries in multilateral negotiations in various forums. RIS is engaged across inter-
governmental processes of several regional economic cooperation initiatives.
In recent years, the global dialogue on South-South Cooperation (SSC) has become more prominent
in discussions on international cooperation, highlighting the importance of SSC in the global arena.
Following are the major initiatives taken by India:
●● Research going on regarding Global Economic Governance: Research programme of RIS in this area
18
largely focuses on developments in various multilateral forums, in particular on the World Trade
Organization. The outcome of this research helps the developing countries mostly in Africa and
South America to handle the complicated issues on the various rounds of talks at WTO.
●● Regional/Bilateral Economic Integration: India has been actively engaged in deepening and widening
its economic engagements with major economies of East and South East Asia to make an Asian
Economic Community.
●● Helping LDCs through forums of SSC: RIS research programme has always given importance to
articulating the viewpoints of the developing world in international forums.
A number of specific issues being dealt with are:
n Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP)
n India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Partnership
n The partnership among Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) (Although Russia is
not a part of Global South)
n Biotechnology and development
n South-south cooperation regarding the Digital divide
n Intellectual property rights and health issues
n Indian Ocean Rim-Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC)
n Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD)
The desire of Southern economies to harness the potential of their cooperation has led to the
conception and formalisation of several platforms such as India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS), BRICS,
IBSA, New Development Bank and Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) including many
others and India is not only participating on all these forums but also taking a lead to help other
member countries.
7. (a) Discuss the role of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in promoting India’s soft power
abroad.
Ans. It was founded in 1950 under the leadership of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. The primary objective of
the Council is to establish, revive and strengthen cultural relations and mutual understanding between
India and other countries. In order to promote awareness of India’s composite cultural heritage
abroad, the Council has 35 Indian Cultural Centres in different parts of the world. The Cultural Centres
function under the administrative control of the Council and the respective Indian Missions abroad.
These Centres focus on programmes involving the participation of the local population and on the
teaching of various dance forms, vocal and instrumental music, yoga for both beginners and advanced
students, etc.
ICCR in the past has opened new avenues for Indian Movie Industry in the Soviet Union in the 1960s
and 1970s after which many Indian actors have become household names in Soviet states and even
now the Russians, Central Asians and East Europeans find a connect with Indian storytelling.
ICCR is an organisation which maintained a consistent relationship with India’s East Asian Neighbours
and provided support to the Cultural projects in countries like Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
ICCR also work in cooperation with the Japanese and Chinese government to make the Buddhist
pilgrimage a worthy experience for their citizens.
Till now ICCR has tried to provide a forum for NRIs (Non-Residential Indians) to keep in touch with
19
various Indian cultural activities but now the focus is to further increase the influence and use the
various ancient Indian inventions/techniques like Yoga, Ayurveda, Spiritual practices etc among the
citizens of other countries.
ICCR is also working with groups like NATA (North America Telugu Association) and FTSNA (Federation
of Tamil Sangams of North America) to further propagate the understanding of Indian language not
only among the NRI children but also among the North American society.
India always had much to offer to the world especially on the Spiritual side, even Prime Minister
Modi has supported the propagation Indian way of Life and consider it one of the tools using which
India can become the World leader or what he exactly says “VishwaGuru”.
(b) Discuss the role of Indian diaspora in promoting Indo-US relations.
Ans. Any person who immigrates from one country to other becomes a representative of his native
society/community to the other. Their actions act as a catalyst for the other society to understand
his/her society and forms an outlook towards the country.
Indian diaspora in the U.S. has this responsibility on them whether they want it or not but they are
the torchbearer of Indian Culture in the U.S.
Indians have been immigrating to the Western World under the impact of Colonial powers but the
latest lot of Indian immigrants who are in many places in decision-making positions are those who
immigrated in the 1970s,80s and 1990s.
There are two types of Indian Immigrants and each one play a different role:
●● The Second Generation Immigrants: Those whose parents immigrated in the 1960s and 70s and
worked hard to provide the opportunity to develop and be in a position of decision making, these
people being brought up in American society have a far better understanding of their way of life
and provide a cultural insight of the American people and government. People like Nikki Haley and
Ambassador Richard Rahul Verma are an example of it.
●● The First Generation immigrants: These are of two type, firstly who go there for livelihood only
and opt for a blue-collar job, these are the ones about whom Government needs to care and
look that they are not exploited. They are also the foot soldiers propagating Indian culture and
therefore should be informed about the importance of their behaviour. All the people who work
at gas stations, Mom & Pop Stores etc. Second are those who move to U.S. for a better life and
opt for White collar jobs, people like Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai etc, they understand the Indian
culture very well and are in decision making position in U.S. there actions have been helpful
in reducing the differences among the U.S. and India relations, for example, it was Sundar Pichai
personal involvement as the CEO of Google to resolve propriety issues between India and U.S.
Another example of the major role of Indian immigrants playing is of Mr Shalabh Kumar, a Chicago
based Indian American who was the point of contact between Government of India and Donald Trump
after he won the Presidency in November 2016.
(c) Discuss the various impediments in India’s way to a permanent seat in the Security Council.
Ans. The UN needs to be restructured to present the geopolitical realities of the 21st century· India
rightly deserves a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, due to being the largest democracy in
the world, home to 1/6th of mankind of the world, 4th largest economy.
Major impediments are the following:
●● All the decisions of Security have to unanimous i.e. every member country has veto power which it
20
can use any number of time. While the Western World is supportive of India’s claim China doesn’t
want another Asian country on the big table and therefore is against the entry of both India and Japan
to the Security Council.
●● Another impediment is the various other countries who also think that they deserve to be in the
Security Council, they are Germany, Japan and Brazil. Each one of them has their specific reasoning,
for example, Germany is the Centre of trade, manufacturing powerhouse and biggest economy of
Europe while Japan is third largest economy GDP wise, Brazil, on the other hand, is a growing power
just like India and claims to represent the whole of South America.
India has formed a Group of Four (G4) with these countries combindely they are trying to resolve
the issue at hand. Now whether it is good or bad diplomatically is still to be judged because the
formation of G4 pushed the individual countries opposing these countries to form another grouping
called “Coffee Club” which has countries like France which oppose Germany’s membership, South
Korea opposing Japan’s membership, Uruguay and Argentina who oppose Brazil, Pakistan which
opposes Indian membership.
●● Another issue is the complete absence of Africa from the Security Council. Kofi Annan being himself
from Ghana while at the post of Secretary-General raised the issue for and African representation
which is also used as a tool against aspirations of India by China and Coffee Club Members.
India believes that the United Nations (UN), especially the UN Security Council (UNSC), must reflect
contemporary global realities.
For this purpose the reform of the UN including the expansion of the UNSC in both permanent and
non-permanent categories is essential.
To this end, the Government of India has been actively working along with other like-minded countries
for building support among the UN membership for a meaningful restructuring and expansion of the
UNSC.
8. (a) Do you think that India’s capacity building role in Afghanistan has shrunk the strategic space for
Pakistan there? Discuss.
Ans. After the removal of the Taliban in 2001, India started helping the Afghan state in terms of Capital
support to redevelop its infrastructure. Till 1992 India had good relations with Afghanistan and it was
only between 1996 and 2001 when India totally alienated the Afghan cause on the government to
government basis, one reason for that was the absence of stable Union government in New Delhi.
Even in these times, India had good cordial relations with the Northern Alliance headed by Ahmad
Shah Massoud who associate Abdullah Abdullah is CEO of government in Kabul in present time.
So, it’s not like India is positioning itself out of the blue, we had a relationship which we didn’t really
build upon for some time.
Pakistan’s position with respect to Afghanistan is different, along with the Torkham pass there are
tribes with family relations on both sides of Durand line and for 35 years more than 3 million Afghans
stayed in Pakistan as refugees so there people to people contact is far better than India had any time
in past.
Recently India has taken steps like the building of Road from Delaram to Zaranj, this will connect
Afghanistan to the Iranian port of Chabahar providing an alternate way for Afghan trade which
till now only had Karachi Port for them. By doing this India has reduced Afghanistan’s strategic
dependence on Pakistan, similarly, India funded the Afghan India friendship Dam on Hari River which
21
will reduce the irrigation problem of North Western Afghanistan, Herat Province. India also funded a
new Parliament in Kabul. These steps further increase the goodwill for Indians among the Afghans.
While Afghanistan and Pakistan are going through a difficult phase where Afghanistan accuses
Pakistan of supporting the Taliban cause and Pakistan accuses them of providing safe heaven to TTP
(Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan).
The terrorist attacks on the Afghan soil are the main reason for the feeling of disgust among the
Afghans towards Pakistan and not India’s help to them in their capacity building.
(b) Critically assess the evolving convergence of India and China in the areas of trade and environment.
Ans. India and China both started almost the same time in 1947 and 1949 respectively, while India opted
for a system Mixed Economy with overarching control of Government which was forced out by Open
Market in 1992 China which went through phase of Cultural Revolution and almost absolute poverty
transformed itself into a Manufacturing Superpower under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping 1988
onward and continued on the path for last three and a half decade with double-digit growth rate.
Looking at such transformation of China India too decided to develop itself into a Manufacturing
hub, after all, it too has all the essentials which China have like Demographic dividend and Raw
material for Manufacturing.
Under these circumstances India and China are converging towards each other, some example
of it:
●● India started Make in India on the lines of Made in China.
●● Indian focus is to increase Export of Manufactured goods as China did since the 1990s.
●● India is following the Chinese system of developing SEZs (Special Economic Zones) to give an instant
boost to regional economies.
●● The 100 smart city plan is also inspired by the Chinese plan of developing New Cities which had not
only increased the overall infrastructure of the region but also increased the much-needed liquidity
in Market.
Following the Chinese system of radical development in India too faced Environmental degradation
as China did. The Air Quality of New Delhi and Beijing are an examples of it. And therefore both the
countries were forced to opt for similar methodologies to resolve the Environmental crisis.
Maintaining their commitment towards the Paris Climate Agreement even when the biggest Polluter
U.S.A. have backtracked is an example of this. Both the countries are coming up with similar plans
to rehabilitate and conserve its Flora and Fauna Diversity. But what is needed for India is to take a
bit different approach, India can’t copy the Chinese Model of Development because of two main
reasons:
●● India is a Democratic state: Periodic Election and hence the change of Government policies take
place, to plan for a much longer term as China does is very difficult. Also in India brute force of
administration can’t be used against citizens as has been done in China many times to maintain order.
●● Indian Economy is much more open to the world and India can’t really regulate its currency as China
does with Renminbi.
At the same time this two bane can be used by India as boon too, India can always advertise the
much better working conditions and Democratic form of government as positive points to Foreign
investors and since India’s economy is much more connected with the western world it will be easy
for investors to have faith in the Indian system.
22
(c) Do you agree that the growing assertiveness of China is leading to multilayered Indo-Japan
relations? Comment.
Ans. India and Japan have an evolving partnership which is based on the cultural and religious relationship
which tends back to the Ancient times but surely the newfound assertiveness of China has brought
the two countries much closer even at the level of security partnership.
Japan is one such country which imposed harshest of sanctions on India after the Pokhran test (1998)
on India and was not ready for a nuclear technology transfer treaty with India even after the Indo-
U.S. nuclear treaty of 2005 did a deal with India in 2016, security experts like Uday Bhaskar and C.
Raja Mohan gives credit for this to the Chinese hegemonic tendencies regarding the Senkaku islands
and in South China Sea. Japan was in need of a strong support in Asia as was the requirement of India
because of String of Pearl Port system developed by China.
On the Economic level too, Japan is providing loans and technical know-how for Indian projects
through JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) on much easier terms because Chinese firms
are also bidding for Indian projects with the financial backing of AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment
Bank) as was seen in case of the Mumbai-Ahmadabad Bullet train Project.
On Cultural level, both countries are collaborating more and more the Kyoto-Varanasi Partnership
Agreement is an example of this.
All in all, both countries serves very important purpose for each other with Japan’s ever-ageing
population they are needing new immigrants which can be fulfilled by Indian huge young
Demographics (Japan just softened its Visa rules in 2018) while India is in need of capital Investment
and technological know-how which Japan being the third biggest economy can help with.
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