PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Equality

Comment on affirmative action.

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 most contested instrument of substantive equality deliberate support for historically disadvantaged groups

Route 2 India = reservation in education / employment / legislatures Articles 15 & 16

Body flow

equal rules fair conditions past injustice + structural exclusion Rawls (difference principle, least advantaged) Ambedkar (political democracy needs social democracy) Sowell (reverse discrimination, merit, division) creamy layer + self-perpetuation counter: merit socially produced + right, not charity

Counter-view

reverse discrimination, merit erosion, social division, creamy layer rights / socially-produced merit / inclusion

Conclusion routes

Route 1 necessary for distributive justice must stay calibrated (evolving criteria, creamy-layer exclusion, review)

Route 2 Ram Singh, 2015 continuous review so deserving benefit

Model answer

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

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2021, Equality