PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Rights & Human Rights

Assess the significance of right to property in political theory.

How the answer moves

The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.

Flow snapshot — how the answer moves
Intro routes

Route 1 property at the centre of liberal thought its significance lies in how sharply thinkers disagree over what it secures

Route 2 one right, opposite verdicts from Locke’s labour-foundation to Marx’s critique

Body flow

Locke (labour + person + liberty + consent + right to resist) Plato vs Aristotle (conflict / corruption vs virtue) Smith / Bentham (instrument of progress) Laski (social service) / Gandhi (trusteeship) Marx (exploitation, alienation, class) Rawls / Sen (redistribution as justice)

Counter-view

a foundational liberal right vs a Marxist source of exploitation and inequality

Conclusion routes

Route 1 important for liberty and dignity, but bounded by justice and redistribution

Route 2 significance inseparable from fraternity, social justice, inequality

Model answer

Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2020, Rights & Human Rights