PYQ Vault · Paper 1 · Equality

Equality means fair treatment rather than equal treatment. Comment.

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 equal moral worth, not sameness Aristotle: equals equally, unequals unequally

Route 2 two readings of equality same rule for all vs treatment by circumstance / need

Body flow

equal treatment = sameness in law (Nozick redistribution as rights-violation) but unequal starting points Dalits / Blacks / women / disabled identical rule entrenches advantage Tawney pike–minnows fair treatment corrects differential treatment by need / disadvantage Rawls difference principle Sen resources vs functionings protective discrimination / affirmative action

Counter-view

Nozick: differential treatment violates rights answer: not arbitrary, bounded, only to protect the weakest

Conclusion routes

Route 1 identical treatment of unequals reproduces inequality equality = fair treatment

Route 2 fair treatment secures equal worth in moral + material sense distributive equality

Model answer

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

Handwritten model answer — UPSC PSIR 2018, Equality