UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 12)

QUESTION 1

The year 2023 marks the 25th year of India and France’s strategic cooperation. Discuss the recent developments between India and France.

QUESTION 2

The Indian health system has overcome seemingly insurmountable problems. Discuss the outcomes of the National Health Accounts Estimates for India: 2019-20.

General points on the structure of the answers

Introduction

— The introduction of the answer is essential and should be restricted to 3-5 lines. Remember, a one-liner is not a standard introduction.

— It may consist of basic information by giving some definitions from the trusted source and authentic facts.

Body

— It is the central part of the answer and one should understand the demand of the question to provide rich content.

— The answer must be preferably written as a mix of points and short paragraphs rather than using long paragraphs or just points.

— Using facts from authentic government sources makes your answer more comprehensive. Analysis is important based on the demand of the question, but do not over analyse.

— Underlining keywords gives you an edge over other candidates and enhances presentation of the answer.

— Using flowcharts/tree-diagram in the answers saves much time and boosts your score. However, it should be used logically and only where it is required.

Way forward/ Conclusion

— The ending of the answer should be on a positive note and it should have a forward-looking approach. However, if you feel that an important problem must be highlighted, you may add it in your conclusion. Try not to repeat any point from body or introduction.

— You may use the findings of reports or surveys conducted at national and international levels, quotes etc. in your answers.

Self Evaluation

— It is the most important part of our Mains answer writing practice. UPSC Essentials will provide some guiding points or ideas as a thought process that will help you to evaluate your answers.

THOUGHT PROCESS

You may enrich your answers by some of the following points

QUESTION 1: The year 2023 marks the 25th year of India and France’s strategic cooperation. Discuss the recent developments between India and France.

Introduction:

A simple introduction to this answer can revolve around a general statement about India and France relations.

— India and France have long had close and amicable relations. Since the establishment of the strategic partnership in 1998, there has been significant progress in all areas of bilateral cooperation, including regular high-level exchanges at the Heads of State/Heads of Government levels, as well as growing cooperation and exchanges in strategic areas such as defense, counter-terrorism, nuclear energy, and space.

— Following the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group’s waiver, India was the first country to sign into an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation with France, allowing India to restart full civil nuclear cooperation with the world community.

(Source: http://www.mea.gov.in)

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in the body of your answer:

Recent developments

The roadmap for bilateral relations has three pillars:

(1) Partnership for security and sovereignty;

(2) Partnership for the planet;

(3) Partnership for the people.

Partnership for security, sovereignty

Defence

— Continuation of the cooperation on fighter jets and submarines, following the timely delivery of the 36 Rafale jets for the IAF and the success of the P75 programme (six Scorpene submarines).

Space

— Several agreements between France’s CNES and India’s ISRO have strengthened the scientific and commercial partnership, most notably concerning reusable launchers; the completion of the joint Earth observation satellite, TRISHNA; the first phase of the Indian Ocean maritime surveillance satellite constellation; and the protection of Indo-French satellites in orbit from collision.

Civil nuclear energy

— Both parties were pleased with the progress made on the 6-EPR power plant project at Jaitapur. They decided to start working together on small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors.

Indo-Pacific

— Adoption of a blueprint for collaborative Indo-Pacific initiatives that covers all facets of our entire Indo-Pacific policy. Work on finalizing an Indo-French development fund for third countries, which will allow for collaborative financing of Indo-Pacific sustainable development initiatives.

Counter-terrorism

— Strengthening of cooperation between France’s GIGN and India’s National Security Guard.

Critical technology

— Collaboration on cutting-edge digital technologies, including supercomputing, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing, is being strengthened. A deal has been announced between Atos and India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences for the provision of supercomputers valued at more than Rs 920 crore.

Civil aviation

— Signing of civil aviation technical and safety agreements to promote the extension of routes between France and India, as well as the growth of the Indian civil aviation market

Partnership for the planet, global issues

Plastic pollution

— Commitment of France and India for the adoption of an international treaty to put an end to plastic pollution throughout the entire life cycle of plastic products.

Health

— Signing of a Letter of Intent on health and medicine, to structure cooperation in hospitals, medical research, digital technology, biotechnology, public health and combating micro-bacterial resistance as part of the One Health approach.

Financing the energy transition

— Announcement of Rs 923 crore in financing from the French Development Agency for the second phase of India’s flagship sustainable cities programme “CITIIS 2.0”, in partnership with the European Union and KFW of Germany.

— Announcement of Rs 246 crore in financing from Proparco for the South Asia Growth Fund (SAGF III), which will invest in companies promoting energy efficiency, clean energy, and optimization of natural resources in the region.

De-carbonised hydrogen

— Announcement of a partnership between McPhy and L&T on manufacturing electrolyzers in India, under the Indo-French roadmap for decarbonised hydrogen adopted in 2022.

Partnership for people

Student mobility

— The new target of welcoming 30,000 Indian students in France by 2030. Issuance of a 5-year short-stay Schengen visa for Indian students with a Master’s degree who have studied at a university in France.

— An announcement by France of a significant increase in the resources of the Campus France network in India.

— Creation of international classes to facilitate the integration of non-French-speaking Indian students into the French higher education system.

— The signing of two MoUs between the Institute Polytechnique de Paris (IPP), and IIT Delhi and IIT Madras.

Culture

— Announcement of France’s selection as India’s partner for the establishment of a major new National Museum in New Delhi.

— Announcement of an agreement between France Médias Monde and Prasar Bharati for the exchange of audio-visual content and the co-production of programmes on areas such as culture, education, science, and sports.

Research

— France and India will increase funding for the Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (IFCPAR/CEFIPRA) in order to fund new projects together.

Sports

— The signing of a Letter of Intent to structure cooperation in this field, particularly in view of major upcoming sporting events.

Civil society

— The objective of doubling the number of solidarity and civic service international volunteers in India and France by 2025.

(Source: Three pillars as its basis, India and France outline road ahead till 2047 by Shubhajit Roy)

Conclusion:

Your conclusion should be short.

— The joint statement – “25th Anniversary of the Strategic Partnership between France and India: towards a Century of Indo-French Relations” – sets the course for the France-India bilateral relationship in all areas till 2047, the year that will mark 100 years of India’s Independence, 100 years of diplomatic relations between our two countries, and 50 years of the Indo-French strategic partnership.

(Source: Three pillars as its basis, India and France outline road ahead till 2047 by Shubhajit Roy)

QUESTION 2: The Indian health system has overcome seemingly insurmountable problems. Discuss the outcomes of the National Health Accounts Estimates for India: 2019-20.

Introduction:

A simple introduction to this answer can revolve around a general statement about health care in India.

— Every individual should have access to health care. The government has created and executed several health initiatives and programs in order to provide basic health services to all inhabitants.

— Over time, the Indian health system has overcome apparently insurmountable difficulties that were formerly thought to be hopeless.

(Source: Healthcare in India has made great progress, but challenges remain by Shailaja Chandra)

Body:

You may incorporate some of the following points in the body of your answer:

National Health Accounts Estimates for India: 2019-20

Expenditure of the government

— Government spending on healthcare has been on the rise. The money spent by the government on healthcare as a percentage of GDP has increased from 1.13 per cent in FY 2015 to 1.35 per cent in FY 2020.

— The government’s share in the total money spent on healthcare in the country went up by a 12.4 percentage points between FY 2015 and FY 2020, increasing from 29 per cent to 41.4 per cent.

Out-of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE)

— The money spent by people from their own pockets on healthcare has been going down. The report shows that 47.1 per cent of the total spending on healthcare in FY2020 came directly out of people’s pockets. But this is actually a 15.5 percentage point drop from 62.6 per cent of the spending coming out-of-pocket in FY 2015.

The majority of government expenditure was done in primary sector

— Out of the total spending by the government on healthcare in FY 2020, 55.9 per cent went to primary care, 29.6 per cent went to secondary care, and 6.4 per cent went to tertiary care. To compare, the government spent 51.3 per cent on primary care, 21.9 per cent on secondary care, and 14 per cent on tertiary care in FY 2015.

Increase in social security expenditure by the government

— There has been a consistent increase in social security expenditure by the government, which increased from 5.7% of the total spending on health in FY 2015 to 9.3% in FY 2020.

(Source: What the latest National Health Account figures say about India’s healthcare sector by Anonna Dutt)

Conclusion:

Your conclusion should be short. You may include:

— The National Health Portal intends to provide citizens, students, healthcare professionals, and researchers with a single point of access to authorized health information.

— The National Health Account (NHA) estimates for India 2019-20 is the seventh consecutive NHA estimates report prepared by NHSRC, designated as National Health Accounts Technical Secretariat (NHATS) in 2014 by the Union Health Ministry.

— The NHA estimates are prepared by using an accounting framework based on the internationally accepted standard of System of Health Accounts, 2011, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

(Source: pib.gov.in)

Points to Ponder

Challenges in the Healthcare Sector

Related Previous Year Questions

Public health system has limitations in providing universal health coverage. Do you think that private sector could help in bridging the gap? What other viable alternatives would you suggest? (2015)

Appropriate local community-level healthcare intervention is a prerequisite to achieve ‘Health for All’ in India. Explain. (2018)

In order to enhance the prospects of social development, sound and adequate health care policies are needed particularly in the fields of geriatric and maternal health care. Discuss. (2020)

Previous Mains Answer Practice

UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 1 (Week 11)

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UPSC Essentials: Mains answer practice — GS 2 (Week 11)

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