Polity & Governance — UPSC Mains Essay PYQ

2025

1. Q2
   The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.

   125 marks 1200 words Medium Model answer →

2021

1. Q8
   There are better practices to ‘best practices’.

   125 marks 1200 words Medium Model answer →

2019

1. Q7
   Biased media is a real threat to Indian democracy.

   125 marks 1200 words Medium Model answer →

2018

1. Q4
   Management of Indian border disputes – a complex task.

   125 marks 1200 words Medium Model answer →

2017

1. Q2
   Impact of the new economic measures on fiscal ties between the union and states in India.

   125 marks 1200 words Hard Model answer →
2. Q4
   Has the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) lost its relevance in a multipolar world?

   125 marks 1200 words Medium Model answer →

2016

1. Q3
   Water disputes between States in federal India.

   125 marks 1200 words Medium Model answer →
2. Q5
   Cooperative federalism: Myth or reality.

   125 marks 1200 words Medium Model answer →

2015

1. Q3
   Character of an institution is reflected in its leader.

   125 marks 1200 words Medium Model answer →

2014

1. Q5
   Was it the policy paralysis or the paralysis of implementation which slowed the growth of our country?

   125 marks 1200 words Hard Model answer →
2. Q6
   Is sting operation an invasion on privacy?

   125 marks 1200 words Medium Model answer →

0

1. •
   Strategic autonomy is the diplomacy of refusing every binary

   125 marks 1150 words Hard Model answer →
2. •
   Deliberation is the slow language in which good policy is written

   125 marks 1100 words Medium Model answer →
3. •
   Judicial review is the conscience the legislature lends itself

   125 marks 1150 words Hard Model answer →
4. •
   An electoral roll is the most quiet promise a republic makes

   125 marks 1100 words Medium Model answer →
5. •
   Civic virtue is the unwritten amendment every Constitution depends on

   125 marks 1050 words Easy Model answer →
6. •
   Accountability is the daily renewal of consent in a democracy

   125 marks 1100 words Medium Model answer →
7. •
   Post-truth politics is the privatisation of reality

   125 marks 1150 words Hard Model answer →
8. •
   Federalism is the muscle of a continent-sized democracy

   125 marks 1150 words Hard Model answer →
9. •
   Federalism is the genius of holding-together a continent-civilisation

   125 marks 1100 words Medium Model answer →
10. •
    Public ethics is the conscience of governance

    125 marks 1100 words Medium Model answer →
11. •
    An election is not merely a count of votes; it is a covenant of trust

    125 marks 1100 words Medium Model answer →
12. •
    A democracy is measured by the patience of its institutions

    125 marks 1100 words Hard Model answer →
13. •
    Justice delayed is democracy denied

    125 marks 1100 words Easy Model answer →