Introduction: With a quotation or Hypothetical question
Followed by
“India’s new identity as a federal nation has been determined by the values & the heritage cherished by our trimphed national liberation movement. Media/Indian Education/Democratic Principles (depending on topic) has not only played an important role to liberate India from foreign rule but also to emancipate its people from the tribal & feudal practices & elaborate indigenous system of sanctified social inequalities & oppression”.
Content:
· All Dimensions should be included.
· Social
· Economic
· Historical
· Political
· Administrative
· Psychological
· Geographical (E.g. Geographical Inequalities, Variations etc)
· Humanitarian Dimension
· International Dimension (Developed Versus Developed Countries, South-South Cooperation,International Bodies like UNO, FAO, IMF, World Bank etc)
· Environmental Dimension.
· Quote examples from GS, News, Magazines, TV etc. Current examples add marks.
· Don’t stretch on idea nor repeat any idea. Essay is coherent story of a number of ideas.
· Quotations are highly useful for essays & need to be memorized well.
· Language should be powerful (Sentences which show your command over language: “Read Essay on “Whither Indian Democracy” – Crack IAS material to get a glimpse of the demands of language required in essay writing”.
· Language should be creative (E.g. Not many would have imagined that the India Democracy would not be a case of Infant Mortality).
Conclusion:
The end of conclusion can be “Remember the immortal words of Swami Vivekananda or Gandhiji or Nehru etc” followed by quotation on that topic.
Some Typical Words to be Used:
Problem: predicament, plight, dilemma, quandary, bone of contention, hassle, conundrum, crisis.Criminal/Wrongdoer: offender, wrongdoer, culprit, lawbreaker, criminal, hooligan, vandal, ruffian,hoodlum, miscreant, malefactor, transgressor; juvenile delinquent, young offender.delinquent
adjective 1. delinquent young people mischievous, culpable, transgressing, offending, criminal.
2.delinquent policemen negligent, neglectful, remiss, careless, slack, derelict.Love/Affection: affection, fondness, care, concern, attachment, regard, warmth, intimacy, devotion,adoration, passion, ardour, desire, lust, yearning, infatuation, adulation.
Hate:1. loathe, detest, abhor, dislike, abominate, despise, execrate, have an aversion to, feel hostile towards, be unable to abide/bear/stand, view with dislike, be sick of, be tired of, shudder at, be repelled by, recoil from.Destroy: destroy the bridge demolish, knock down, pull down, tear down, level, raze, fell, dismantle,wreck, smash, shatter, crash, blow up, blow to bits, explode, annihilate, wipe out, bomb, torpedo.
2.destroy the countryside ruin, spoil, devastate, lay waste, ravage, wreak havoc on, ransack.
3. destroy their confidence terminate, quash, quell, crush, stifle, subdue, squash, extinguish, extirpate.
4. destroy the herd/tribe kill, kill off, slaughter, put to sleep, exterminate; slay, murder, assassinate, wipe out, massacre,
liquidate, decimate.
5. destroy the enemy/opponents defeat, beat, conquer, vanquish, trounce, rout, drub; inf. lick, thrash.
Hope: expectation, expectancy, anticipation, desire, longing, wish, wishing, craving, yearning, aspiration,ambition, dream, belief, assurance, assumption, confidence, conviction, faith, trust, optimism.
Initiative: deed, move, effort, operation, performance, undertaking, manoeuvre, endeavour, exertion,exploit, striving.
Emancipation (Focus on Spelling): setting free, liberation, release, deliverance, discharge, unfettering,unshackling, manumission; freedom, liberty.
Empower:1.allow, permit, authorize, entitle, qualify, fit, license, sanction, warrant, accredit, validate,commission, delegate, legalize, empower.
2. enable you to cross the river allow, permit, give the means/resources to, equip, prepare, facilitate, capacitate.
Important/Crucial: decisive, critical, determining, pivotal, central, testing, trying, searching. 2. the matter is of crucial importance very important, high-priority, essential, momentous, vital, urgent, pressing,
compelling
Macabre: grisly, grim, gory, morbid, grim, ghastly, hideous, horrific, horrible, horrifying, horrid,horrendous, terrifying, frightening, frightful, fearsome, shocking, dreadful, appalling, loathsome,repugnant, repulsive, sickening.Pathetic: pitiful, pitiable, piteous, to be pitied, moving, touching, poignant, affecting, distressing,heartbreaking, heart-rending, sad, wretched, mournful, woeful. pitiful, lamentable, deplorable, miserable,wretched, feeble, woeful, sorry, poor, contemptible, inadequate, unsatisfactory, worthless.
Terrorism/Violence
1. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” – Mahatma Gandhi
2. Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary – Mahatma Gandhi
3. Hate the sin, love the sinner. – Mahatma Gandhi
4. When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won.
There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they
always fall. Think of it–always. – Mahatma Gandhi.
5. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. – Mahatma Gandhi
6. To err is human, to forgive divine – Alexander Pope
Hope/Corruption/Faith
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean
does not become dirty. – Mahatma Gandhi
You must be the change you want to see in the world – Mahatma Gandhi
Arise awake and stop not till the goal is reached — Swami Vivekananda
Only as high as I can reach can I grow.
Only as far as I can seek can I go.
Only as deep as I can look can I see.
Only as much as I can I dream can I be. – Unkown (Karen Ravn).
Freedom/Liberty
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. – Mahatma Gandhi
General Quotes
Gandhiji’s Talisman (Use in Swaraj, Liberty, Poverty, Help etc)
· “I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you,apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away.”Preamble of Indian Constitution
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens: JUSTICE, social, economic and political; LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship; EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;and to promote among them all
FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November,1949,do HERE BY ADOPT,ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.
· Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress – Mahatma Gandhi
· A strange darkness engulfs earth today – Jibanananda Das (Used in Essay on Indian Heritage).
· One ounce of practice is worth twenty thousand tons of big talk (Swami Vivekananda – This quote can be used to conclude almost every essay).
· “The future depends on what we do in the present.” Mahatma Gandhi (Can be used to conclude almost every essay).
“Strength is Life, Weakness is Death.
Expansion is Life, Contraction is Death.
Love is Life, Hatred is Death.”— Swami Vivekananda
Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom – Nehru’s Speech on India’s Independence.
(The speech was made to the Indian Constituent Assembly, on the eve of India’s independence, towards midnight on August 14, 1947. It focuses on the aspects that transcend India’s history. It is considered in modern India to be a landmark oration that captures the essence of the triumphant culmination of the hundred-year Indian freedom struggle against the British Empire in India.)
I am a slow walker, but I never walk backwards – Abhraham Lincoln
Only as high as I can reach can I grow.
Only as far as I can seek can I go.
Only as deep as I can look can I see.
Only as much as I can I dream can I be.
Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and conspires only to give the best to those who dream and work. – Abdul Kalam
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the
dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action–
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.– Rabindranath Tagore (Let us remember the golden words of Guru Rabindra Nath Tagore which still serve as lighthouse & illuminate the direction for the nation to move in).
India of my Dreams
“I shall work for an India in which the poorest shall feel that it is their country, in whose making they have an effective voice, an India in which there shall be no high class and low class of people, an India in which all communities shall live in perfect harmony. There shall be no room in such an India for the curse of untouchability. Women will enjoy same rights as men. We shall be at peace with the rest of the world.This is India of my dreams” – M.K. Gandhi.
Education
The real difficulty is that people have no idea of what education truly is. We assess the value of education in the same manner as we assess the value of land or of shares in the stock-exchange market. We want to provide only such education as would enable the student to earn more. We hardly give any thought to the improvement of the character of the educated. The girls, we say, do not have to earn; so why should they be educated? As long as such ideas persist there is no hope of our ever knowing the true value of education. – Mahatma Gandhi
Sustainable Development
“The earth, the air, the land and the water are not am inheritance from our fore fathers but on loan from our children. So we have to handover to them at least as it was handed over to us.” ~Mahatma Gandhi
“Nature has enough for Man’s Need but not for Man’s Greed” – Mahatma Gandhi
Conclusion: “Man has been uniquely endowed in that he can contemplate on his mortality & sadly if we do not soon realize that it is no longer a question of either development or environment but harmonius development or doom, we may find that we should be the first species to orchestrate its own extinction” Women Empowerment
(Include examples of Inspirational & Remarkable women like Hellen Keller, Joan of Arc (French Catholic Saint & led French army to victory during the Hundred Year’s war indirectly leading to coronation of Charles VII), Mother Teresa, Sister Nivedita, Margaret Thatcher (Iron Lady & PM of England from 1979 to 1990), Indira Gandhi, Aung San Suu Kyi, Angela Merkel, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
The real difficulty is that people have no idea of what education truly is. We assess the value of education in the same manner as we assess the value of land or of shares in the stock-exchange market. We want to provide only such education as would enable the student to earn more. We hardly give any thought to the improvement of the character of the educated. The girls, we say, do not have to earn; so why should they be educated? As long as such ideas persist there is no hope of our ever knowing the true value of education. – Mahatma Gandhi
“It is impossible to think about the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is impossible for a bird to fly on only one wing” – Swami Vivekananda.
“Women have been taught that, for us, the earth is flat, and that if we venture out, we will fall off the edge”
The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says,
“It’s a girl.” ~Shirley Chisholm
Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, “She doesn’t have what it takes.” They will say, “Women don’t have what it takes.” ~Clare Boothe Luce
I asked a Burmese why women, after centuries of following their men, now walk ahead. He said there were many unexploded land mines since the war. ~Robert Mueller
All nations have attained greatness by paying proper respect to women. That country and that nation which do not respect women have never become great, nor will ever be in future – Swami Vivekananda
Manu, the law giver, has written Yatra naryastu pujyante ramante tatra devta, it means God resides in homes where women are respected
It’s a tragedy that since the time the first human opened his eyes, he started subjugating his own creator –the woman.
Religion
“True religion is not a narrow dogma. It is not external observance. It is faith in God and living in the presence of God”. – Mahatma Gandhi
“All the different religions are but applications of the one religions adapted to suite the requirements of different nations”. – Swami Vivekananda.
Media
“Let the people know the facts & the country will be safe” – Abraham Lincoln
“Where the Eyes go, the mind also goes there” – Vedas (Among the five sense organs, eye is the most subtle. Whatever the eyes see the mind perceives quickly and retains for a long period. This underlines the impact of Media on human mind as well as behaviour).
Conclusion: If world has become a prosperous global valley it is the Media which will have to become a lighthouse.
Humanity (Serving Humanity)“All my life I have lived like an animal on the street & now I am dying like an angel” – A man uttered .these final words as he lay dying in an angel’s lap. The angel was none other than Mother Teresa who in
the slums of Kolkata saw Christ in the distressing disguise of a destitute & downtrodden.
“If in this hell of a world one can bring a little joy & peace even for a day into the heart of a single person, that much alone is true; this I have learnt after suffering all my life, all else is mere moonshine” –Swami Vivekananda
Judicial Activism
“Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.”William Shakespeare (Wrote this in his hamlet many centuries back. Even today judiciary is seen as the last asylum to many who long for the deserved justice).
Equality:
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” – Martin Luther King
Examples of Creative Sentences (Which can be Generalized Elsewhere)
· Any judge/MP who seeks immunity from truth under the cover of the robe robs the right of We, the People of India, the sovereign of Bharat.
· The Court is an open book & if the Bench seeks an iron curtain between its economic interest & Litigant community, it is violative of Glasnost (the policy of openness & transparency).
· Democracy is an open book & if any public functionary seeks an iron curtain between its own interest & the public, it is violative of Glasnost.
· In our murky world of gloom, greed & agony, our duty is to save the country of means of a compassionate recipe & dedicated endevaours.
· Hope….is defined by a farmer who ploughs his land when drought conditions prevail,by the blind who learn colors,young girl who steps into mama’s high heels.
· Conclusion of Essay on Democracy: The success of Indian democracy in future will hugely depend on how the human resource of this nation is able to raise itself to face the challenge of the new economic & political scenario,. For all its strengths & weaknesses, this is where the future of the Indian democracy hinges. Go to the interior tribal villages of India. If you have a healthy little girl child coming out of the school with a smile on her face & a mind sharper than yesterday, we should be on the right track.
· The unmatchable planning of Harrapans, the empire of Ashoka, the ragas of Nanak, Kabir & Namdeva find their place in the Golden words throughout the world. (India of my Dreams).
· We have not invaded anyone. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them (Quotation by Abdul Kalam).
· Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? Is it a legacy of our colonial years? We want foreign television sets. We want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology. Why this obsession with everything imported?
· In the beginners mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.
Nehru’s Tryst with Destiny Speech
Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed,finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity. At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?
Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this Assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom we have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now.Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now.That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfil the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who
suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over. And so we have to labour and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart Peace has been said to be indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this One World that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.
To the people of India, whose representatives we are, we make an appeal to join us with faith and confidence in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism, no time for ill-will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell. The appointed day has come-the day appointed by destiny-and India stands forth again, after long slumber and struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. The past clings on to us still in some measure and we have to do much before we redeem the pledges we have so often taken. Yet the turning-point is past, and history begins anew for us, the history which we shall live and act and others will write about.
It is a fateful moment for us in India, for all Asia and for the world. A new star rises, the star of freedom in the East, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materializes. May the star never set and that hope never be betrayed!
We rejoice in that freedom, even though clouds surround us, and many of our people are sorrow stricken and difficult problems encompass us. But freedom brings responsibilities and burdens and we have to face them in the spirit of a free and disciplined people.
On this day our first thoughts go to the architect of this freedom, the Father of our Nation [Gandhi], who, embodying the old spirit of India, held aloft the torch of freedom and lighted up the darkness that surrounded us. We have often been unworthy followers of his and have strayed from his message, but not only we but succeeding generations will remember this message and bear the imprint in their hearts of this great son of India, magnificent in his faith and strength and courage and humility. We shall never allow that torch of freedom to be blown out, however high the wind or stormy the tempest. Our next thoughts must be of the unknown volunteers and soldiers of freedom who, without praise or
reward, have served India even unto death. We think also of our brothers and sisters who have been cut off from us by political boundaries and who unhappily cannot share at present in the freedom that has come. They are of us and will remain of us whatever may happen, and we shall be sharers in their good and ill fortune alike. The future beckons to us. Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman.We have hard work ahead. There is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make all the people of India what destiny intended them to be. We are citizens of a great country on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action. To the nations and peoples of the world we send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in furthering peace, freedom and democracy.
And to India, our much-loved motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service.
Ten Political Disgrace of Free India (India)1. The Emergency, June 1975-March 1977: It effectively bestowed on Indira Gandhi the power to rule by decree, suspending elections as well as civil liberties, such as the right to free press.
2. Operation Bluestar, June 1984: It was a political disaster and an unprecedented act in Indian history.Its aftermath and the increased tensions led to assaults on the Sikh community in India.
3 The Bofors scandal, 1987-1996: One of the biggest political scams in the country till date, involving Rs 64 crore. It was responsible for Rajiv Gandhi’s defeat in the November 1989 general elections.
4. Demolition of Babri Masjid, December 1992: The date has remained etched as a blot in Indian history.The mosque was destroyed by 15,000 strong Hindu extremists as BJP leaders watched.
5. The JMM Bribery Case, July 1993: The democratic values of the country were put to shame when the then PM P.V. Narasimha Rao was accused of bribing members of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to vote in his favour in the confidence motion.
6. Fodder Scam, January 1996: The scam involved millions of dollars in alleged fraudulent reimbursements from the treasury of Bihar for fodder, medicines and husbandry supplies for non-existent livestock. It forced Lalu Prasad Yadav, the then CM of the state, to resign.
7. The IC-814 Hijacking, December 1999: IC-814 was hijacked by terrorists and taken to Kandahar. The government was forced to release dreaded terrorists for the passengers.
8. The Arms Bribery Scandal, March 2001: India’s coalition government began to fall apart when video tapes of highly-placed officials taking bribes in arms deals were released in 2001, forcing the then BJP president Bangaru Laxman to resign.
9. Gujarat riots, February-March 2002: The riots were horrific blotches of communal hatred in the country’s secular history.Despite the killings of 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims, the state government chose to sit in a cushy corner, doing nothing to stop the wave of hatred.
10. The vote of no confidence, July 2008: Parliament was adjourned after BJP members waved around wads of money, claiming they were offered cash in return for their support.
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