UPSC Essentials | Mains answer practice : GS 4 — Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude (Week 10)

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QUESTION 1

Religious notions of India provide an understanding of the natural order, and resources to resist its degradation. Discuss.

QUESTION 2

CASE STUDY

Shanti is an 18 year old hoping to complete her schooling in April next year from a government school in southwest Delhi. She lost her mother, Santosh, the only breadwinner in the family, last year. Santosh was a masseur, known in her gali as a “maalishwali”, a widow who brought up her two sons and daughter on her meagre earnings. Santosh was married into a family that owned some land in Haryana. With the division of the land between brothers, the income was not enough to cover expenses, so her father moved to the city in search of a livelihood. Here, the city was seen as a lifesaver. He got a job as a contract long-distance truck driver and became a heavy drinker. Shanti and her brothers were brought up in an atmosphere of domestic violence, with her mother, Santosh, as the target. There were no networks to help out this family in distress. On the contrary, family ties with the village had weakened without any compensatory support in the city. In the city, they faced challenges of housing, water, and medicines. Shifting to the margins of the city due to housing concerns also meant a higher transport bill, as well as greater vulnerability to sexual harassment.

Santosh’s husband died of alcohol abuse. She died last year of a mysterious illness at 45. It was said that a neighbour in the unrecognised slum colony where they live had performed “tantric rites” against her. Shanti does not want to believe this, having learnt health science in school, but is silenced by her two brothers, both dropouts, both older, who warn her that she will meet the same fate if she displeases “society”. As a single woman, their mother faced social disapproval for travelling to distant places in pursuit of her work, often returning late at night. Shanti, too, has become the target of gossip. In the last year, she has developed a close relationship with a boy a little older than her, which has met with strong disapproval from her brothers. She has been beaten by her eldest brother because she defied him. They punished her by preventing her from going to school for two months. They want to marry her off to a person of their choice. He lives in a village in Haryana. Shanti has rebelled. She has moved out of the half-built structure her mother left for her children, and is now living with her 80-year-old grandmother. “How can I go back to the village,” she asks. “I am a city girl now.”

Shanti’s grandmother is your house help and Shanti’s story comes to your knowledge. You want to meet Shanti and understand her case.

(a) What are the various issues which are highlighted in the case study and why are they problematic?

(b) Why would you like to help? Suggest a few steps which can be taken to make Shanti’s life better.

(c) Is it right to ask whether Shanti the “city girl” is better off today than she would be if she had stayed on in her village?

(Source: The divided city by Brinda Karat)

THOUGHT PROCESS

You may enrich your answers by some of the following points

QUESTION 1

Religious notions of India provide an understanding of the natural order, and resources to resist its degradation. Discuss.

Introduction

You may begin your answer by a general statement which may indicate the examiner about the content of your body. For example:

The inherent culture of entrusting sacred identities through the articulation of beliefs, rituals, art and myths form collective memories and ownership to protect the environment.

Or

You may simply connect religion with nature and resources.

Body

For a theoretically abstract question, examples are very important. Support your points with examples you know from religion and society. You may talk about tribal initiatives. For example:

The Hindu Vedic principle of Rta dharma — and similar principles in Sikhism, Sufism and religious thoughts of other indigenous communities in India — provides guidelines to counter the irresponsible decisions made in the name of development by governments and private stakeholders benefiting from environmental clearances. In the book The Work of Nations, author Robert Reich states that the nation that judiciously manages water, soil and other natural resources will be the global success story.

The Hindu concept of Rta dharma, explained by Kapila Vatsyayan in her essay ‘Ecology and Indian Myth’, states that the moral duty of communities is through karma towards sustaining and maintaining Rta (cosmic natural order). The same thought is reiterated in the Guru Granth Sahib: The book enunciates a concern for the environment as an integrated approach to life and nature by stating that air, water, earth, and life — all originated from the True Lord who resides in each one of us and requires protection. Islamic scholar Sigrid Nökel offers similar ideas through terms such as fitra creation as natural order; tawhid — that all things in the world are related to one another and are, as aspects of God, valuable and worthy of preservation; and, that khilafa refers to the role of mankind as the trustee of creation.

The myth of Krishna punishing the serpent Kaliya, who polluted the river Yamuna, is one example. This traditional wisdom in the semantics of development is marginalised — building roads, setting up industries, creating infrastructure spell short-term gains for the few and apocalypse for humanity as a whole.

Consider the importance given to the elements such as earth, water, air, and fire, in Vedic hymns, and in gaathas or myths. The tribal rising to protect their sacred mountains in Chhattisgarh or Odisha, is a recollection of the metaphor of the mountain that symbolises the mythical centre and the axis of the world as represented in the idea of Meru and Kailash; it is a physical form that harbours water, soil and vegetation. “The disturbance in water, earth, vegetation, river and mountain ecology system has threatened all manner of life. mythically, Seshnaga (the cosmic serpent in the sea) upholds the earth.which is threatened,” writes Vatsyayan.

The community ownership expressed in the protests in Chhattisgarh requires duplication in many more areas. The approaching national water emergency “is not because of lack of rains or water bodies, but mismanagement of resources on the ground,” says water warrior Farhad Contractor. The Rta dharma towards water, for instance, is expressed in rituals to clean waterbodies in Rajasthan and to appease water spirits in Uttarakhand. Air pollution defies the concept of Vayu, the god of pure air, in the Vedic ethos. Cutting of trees, escalating construction without consideration to secure water catchment areas or aquifers, is letting loose the tamsic energies: Tamas, in Samkhya Hindu philosophy, refers to a proclivity to generate sickness, dullness and inertia. These gaathas needs to retold and understood by the community to assert environmental citizenry.

Conclusion

Such a question gives you a scope to write a thoughtful answer linking it to a subject which isn’t directly mentioned by essentially talking about it. For example, you may conclude by talking about ‘culture’.

Culture is the human response to a geographical context that dictates the way communities dress, eat, design houses, and celebrate. Even the manner in which language — sounds evolve — is inspired by natural environments. Social groups, traditionally, create livelihoods by harnessing available natural resources. Not factoring cultural wisdom to conserve natural environment impacts geographies and, in turn, reconfigures cultural responses.

(Source: In Good Faith – Ecological dharma by Navina Jafa, a cultural activist, an academic and a performing artist.)

QUESTION 2

CASE STUDY

Shanti is an 18 year old hoping to complete her schooling in April next year from a government school in southwest Delhi. She lost her mother, Santosh, the only breadwinner in the family, last year. Santosh was a masseur, known in her gali as a “maalishwali”, a widow who brought up her two sons and daughter on her meagre earnings. Santosh was married into a family that owned some land in Haryana. With the division of the land between brothers, the income was not enough to cover expenses, so her father moved to the city in search of a livelihood. Here, the city was seen as a lifesaver. He got a job as a contract long-distance truck driver and became a heavy drinker. Shanti and her brothers were brought up in an atmosphere of domestic violence, with her mother, Santosh, as the target. There were no networks to help out this family in distress. On the contrary, family ties with the village had weakened without any compensatory support in the city. In the city, they faced challenges of housing, water, and medicines. Shifting to the margins of the city due to housing concerns also meant a higher transport bill, as well as greater vulnerability to sexual harassment.

Santosh’s husband died of alcohol abuse. She died last year of a mysterious illness at 45. It was said that a neighbour in the unrecognised slum colony where they live had performed “tantric rites” against her. Shanti does not want to believe this, having learnt health science in school, but is silenced by her two brothers, both dropouts, both older, who warn her that she will meet the same fate if she displeases “society”. As a single woman, their mother faced social disapproval for travelling to distant places in pursuit of her work, often returning late at night. Shanti, too, has become the target of gossip. In the last year, she has developed a close relationship with a boy a little older than her, which has met with strong disapproval from her brothers. She has been beaten by her eldest brother because she defied him. They punished her by preventing her from going to school for two months. They want to marry her off to a person of their choice. He lives in a village in Haryana. Shanti has rebelled. She has moved out of the half-built structure her mother left for her children, and is now living with her 80-year-old grandmother. “How can I go back to the village,” she asks. “I am a city girl now.”

Shanti’s grandmother is your domestic help and Shanti’s story comes to your knowledge. You want to meet Shanti and understand her case.

(a) What are the various issues which are highlighted in the case study and why are they problematic?

(b) Why would you like to help? Suggest a few steps which can be taken to make Shanti’s life better.

Why do you want to help? Just because she is your domestic help’s granddaughter or a responsible citizen. Here you should justify yourself. A one-liner won’t suffice.

What can you do as immediate solutions and as long term solutions to the problems? Remember you should be pragmatic in your approach. Your solutions should be realistic. Remember the case study doesn’t state your profession or position in society. So your solutions should remain close to the problems indicated in the case study:

1. Education

2. Counselling

3. Accompanying or arranging her visit to the village.

4. Talking to the family etc.

(c) Is it right to ask whether Shanti the “city girl” is better off today than she would be if she had stayed on in her village?

You may approach the above question in the following manner:

Share your views, answers and suggestions in the comment box or at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com