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WEEKLY UPSC IAS ESSAY WRITING CHALLENGE
Following are the topics on which our followers have written (and writing essays) every Sunday to hone their essay writing skills. The topics are chosen based on UPSC previous year topics. Writing one essay on each Sunday will help you get better marks in this paper.
ESSAY STRATEGY by Topper – Rank 1 CSE 2017
ESSAY STRATEGY by Topper – Rank 25 CSE 2015
ESSAY STRATEGY by Topper – Rank 40 CSE 2015
- [VIDEO] How to Improve Marks in Essay and Ethics Papers?
- [VIDEO] How to Write Philosophical Essays
WEEKLY UPSC IAS ESSAY WRITING CHALLENGES – 2023
- February 19, 2023 : When you kill time, you kill life.
- February 12, 2023 : Delayed success mostly stays forever.
- February 05, 2023 : The wound is the place where the Light enters you.
- January 29, 2023 : Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.
- January 22, 2023 : I am what I am, so take me as I am
- January 15, 2023 : Real learning comes about when the competitive spirit has ceased
- January 08, 2023 : Time hurts but it also heals. It punishes but it rewards too- it is the greatest teacher ever for a human.
- January 01, 2023 : The Beginning is the End and the End is The Beginning.
WEEKLY UPSC IAS ESSAY WRITING CHALLENGES – 2022
- December 25, 2022 : To tolerate is purely an act of mind
- December 18, 2022 : The arc of moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice
- December 11, 2022 : Religion is a culture of faith; Science is a culture of doubt.
- December 04, 2022 : My best friend is a person who will give me a book I have not read
- November 27, 2022 : Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits
- November 20, 2022 : We are always blind as we want to be
- November 13, 2022 : By your stumbling, the world is perfected.
- November 6, 2022 : You cannot step twice in the same river
- October 30, 2022 : Just because you have a choice, it does not mean that any of them has to be right.
- October 23, 2022 : A smile is the chosen vehicle for all ambiguities
- October 16, 2022 : The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining
- October 9, 2022 : A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ship is for
- October 2, 2022 : History is a series of victories won by the scientific man over the romantic man
- September 25, 2022 : Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world
- September 18, 2022 : Forests are the best case studies for economic excellence
- September 11, 2022 : Culture changes with economic development.
- September 4 2022 : We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.
- August 28 2022 : The obstacle is the path.
- August 21 2022 : What is to give light must endure burning.
- August 14 2022 : “He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander.” Aristotle.
- August 7 2022 : Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” Albert Einstein
- July 31, 2022 : A bad conscience is easier to cope with than a bad reputation. Friedrich Nietzsche.
- July 24, 2022 : Time is all we have and don’t
- July 17, 2022 : Life fritters away when distractions become your lifestyle
- July 10, 2022 : After every darkness comes the dawn July 10, 2022 : After every darkness comes the dawn
- July 3, 2022 : Mind – a beautiful servant? Or a dangerous master?
- June 26, 2022 : Education Breeds Peace
- June 19, 2022 : A great leader is never angry
- June 12, 2022 : That which hurts, instructs; That which instructs, creates; Creates Wonders!
- June 05, 2022 : Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do
- May 29, 2022 : The journey is a reward as well as destination
- May 22, 2022 : Imagination creates reality
- May 15, 2022 : The curious paradox is, only if we accept things as they are, things can change
- May 08, 2022: The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are so certain of themselves, while wiser people are so full of doubts
- May 01, 2022: Loyalty To Country Always. Loyalty To Government Only When It Deserves
- April 24, 2022: Successful Investing Is Anticipating The Anticipations of Others
- April 17, 2022: Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear
- April 10, 2022 : Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn
- April 03, 2022 : Forgiveness is the final form of love
- March 27, 2022 : The world of reality has its limits; the world of imagination is boundless
- March 20, 2022 : Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form.
- March 13, 2022 : Everything we hear is an opinion; not a fact
- March 5, 2022 : There are better practices to “best practices”
- February 27, 2022 : History repeats itself first as a tragedy second as a farce.
- February 20, 2022 : What is research, but a blind date with knowledge!
- February 13, 2022 : Hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
- February 6, 2022 : The real is rational and the rational is real.
- January 30, 2022 : Philosophy of Wantlessness Is Utopian, while the philosophy of materialism is chimera.
- January 23, 2022 : Your perception of me is a reflection of you; my reaction to you is an awareness of me.
- January 16, 2022 : The process of self-discovery has now been technologically outsourced.
- January 09, 2022 : Knowing oneself is the beginning of all wisdom
- January 02, 2022 : Biased Media Is A Real Threat To Indian Democracy
WEEKLY UPSC IAS ESSAY WRITING CHALLENGES – 2021
- December 26, 2021 : What Gets Measured Gets Managed
- December 19, 2021 : The enemy of stability is complacency
- December 12, 2021 : A clear conscience fears no accusation
- December 05, 2021 : Power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas
- November 28, 2021 : The whole is more than a sum of its parts
- November 21, 2021 : Scientific and technological progress cannot be equated with the progress of humanity
- November 14, 2021 : The price of our vitality is the sum of all our fears
- November 7, 2021 : Lawlessness is the result of failure to cultivate a sense of self-evaluation
- October 30, 2021 : What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make
- October 24, 2021 : Science for the economic freedom of humanity
- October 17, 2021 : An interdependent world cannot be an inequitable world
- October 03, 2021 : Strength comes from an indomitable Will
- SEPTEMBER 26, 2021 : Ethnocracy and concentration of power can derail even an affluent nation
- SEPTEMBER 19, 2021 : Conservation is a state of harmony between men and land.
- SEPTEMBER 12, 2021 : Culture of entitlement comes with unreasonable expectations and insecurities
- SEPTEMBER 5, 2021 : Literacy is a vital skill that enhances dignity, improves health outcomes, empowers people to access their rights and bolsters opportunities
- AUGUST 29, 2021 : A parliamentary system of government rests on a functioning opposition as ‘no democracy can do without it’.
- AUGUST 22, 2021 : Development must lead to dismantle all kinds of human unfreedom
- AUGUST 15, 2021 : Sport is a reflection of larger social phenomena
- AUGUST 8, 2021 : Every social stratum has its own Common Sense and its own good sense
- AUGUST 1, 2021 : Capitalism without competition is not Capitalism. It is Exploitation.
- JULY 25, 2021 : We don’t have to sacrifice a Strong Economy for a Healthy Environment
- JULY 18,2021 : We Need not a social conscience, but a social consciousness.
- JULY 11, 2021 : The cure for evils of democracy is more democracy.
- JULY 04, 2021 : No Constitution by itself achieves perfect justice
- JUNE 27, 2021 : Our world has achieved brilliance without conscience.
- JUNE 20, 2021 : Our common humanity demands that we make the impossible possible.
- JUNE 13, 2021 : Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.
- JUNE 06, 2021 : The political problem of mankind is to combine three things: economic efficiency, social justice and individual liberty.
- MAY 30, 2021 : Economics without ethics is a caricature & ethics without economics is a fairy tale.
- MAY 23 , 2021 : Indecisiveness is the rival of Progression
- MAY 16 , 2021 : Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change.
- May 09, 2021 : The possession of arbitrary power has always, the world over, tended irresistibly to destroy humane sensibility, magnanimity, and truth
- May 02, 2021 : The truth of character is expressed through choice of act ions
- April 25, 2021 : It is not our differences that divide us; It is our inability to recognise, accept, and celebrate those differences.
- April 18, 2021 : Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
- April 11, 2021 : Solutions emerge if situations are not forced
- April 04, 2021 : Morality is subservient to materialistic values in present times
- March 28, 2021 : Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible
- March 21, 2021 : Our major social problems are not the cause of our decadence but are a reflection of it
- March 14, 2021 : The Future of Multilateralism : Towards a responsible Globalization
- March 07, 2021 : Subtlety may deceive you; Integrity never will
- February 28, 2021 :Technology as the silent factor in international relations
- February 21, 2021 :Patriarchy is the least noticed yet the most significant structure of social inequality
- February 14, 2021:There can be no social justice without economic prosperity but economic prosperity without social justice is meaningless
- February 07, 2021: Culture is what we are civilization is what we have
- January 31, 2021: Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
- January 24, 2021: Ships do not sink because of water around them , ships sink because of water that gets into them
- January 17, 2021: Mindful manifesto is the catalyst to a tranquil self
- January 10, 2021: Life is long journey between human being and being humane
- January 03, 2021: The Covid pandemic has revealed the urgent need for effective governance everywhere”
- December 27, 2020: Challenges of 21st Century – insurmountable?
- December 20, 2020: Too much Democracy is Detrimental to Development
- December 13, 2020: Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination.
WEEKLY UPSC IAS ESSAY WRITING CHALLENGES – 2020
- December 06, 2020 : As you Start to walk on the way, the Way appears
- November 29, 2020: Need of the Hour is to Maximise Possibilities of Agriculture in India
- November 22, 2020: The survival of democracy depends on its ability to lower social uncertainty
- November 15, 2020: There is no greatness where there is no simplicity
- November 08, 2020: Inequality can be Reduced by the Power of the Market rather than the Government
- November 01, 2020: Civil liberties are fundamental to the functioning of modern democracies
- October 25, 2020: Artificial Intelligence is Not All Evil – It can Promote Social Good Too
- October 18, 2020: Wherever law ends, tyranny begins
- October 11, 2020:Hyper-globalism is threat to human prosperity
- September 27, 2020: Our World is in a Surplus of Multilateral Challenges and a Deficit of Solutions
- September 20, 2020: In India Agriculture and the Farmer are both the Victims of Narrow Political Vision
- September 13, 2020: India Needs Aggressive and Pragmatic Neighbourhood Policy
- September 6, 2020: “The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude .
- August 30, 2020: The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal
- August 23, 2020: Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.
- August 16, 2020: Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.
- August 09, 2020: Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value
- August 02, 2020: New Education Policy 2020: A Progressive Policy with Diverse Challenges
- July 26, 2020: In a democracy, the individual enjoys not only the ultimate power but carries the ultimate responsibility
- July 19, 2020: Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance
- July 12, 2020: The human spirit must prevail over technology
- July 05, 2020: When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
- June 28, 2020: Today India Needs ‘Harmony in Diversity’, Not Unity in Diversity.
- June 21, 2020: A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.
- June 14, 2020: Post Independence, the Issue of Land is at the Core of India’s Non-Achievement of Its Development Aspirations
- June 7, 2020: Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste
- May 31, 2020: Despite Challenges, To be a Healthy and Successful Nation, India must Ensure Universal Health Coverage
- May 24, 2020: Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
- May 17, 2020:The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little
- May 10, 2020: Urban Exclusion of Migrant Workers in India is a Reality and Needs Urgent Robust Policy Measures
- May 03, 2020: Uncertainty should ignite creativity, not depravity
- April 26, 2020: The fool doth think he is wise but the wise man knows himself to be a fool
- April 19, 2020: Social Harmony, not Social Distancing, is the final solution to all our problems
- April 12, 2020: It is our choices, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities
- April 05, 2020: Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking
- March 29, 2020: “Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them”
- March 22, 2020: In order to understand the world one has to turn away from it on occasion
- March 15, 2020: Pandemics such as COVID-19, though Catastrophic, are in the end Meant to Reset Humanity and its Priorities
- March 08, 2020: Those who have wisdom have all: Fools with all have nothing
- March 01, 2020: Indifferentism is the worst kind of disease that can affect people.
- [VIDEO] Perspectives on Essay Topic of Feb 23
- February 23, 2020: To ease another’s heartache is to forget one’s own.
- February 16, 2020 : When civil services does its job, people will not need social service
- February 09, 2020 : The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.
- February 02, 2020: Ability will get you success, Character will keep you successful.
- January 26, 2020: Media’s duty is to inform public, not manufacture opinion.
- January 19, 2020: Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes
- January 12, 2020 : Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition
- J anuary 5, 2020 : All war is a symptom of man’s failure as a thinking animal
- December 29, 2019 : There cannot be daily democracy without daily citizenship
- December 22, 2019: War is the ultimate Price we pay for lasting Peace
- December 15, 2019 : Inclusivity and Plurality are the hallmarks of a peaceful society
- December 08, 2019: Justice Loses Character if it becomes Revenge
- December 01. 2019: Economic Growth and Development are Shaped by the Societies in which they Operate
- November 24, 2019: Social Media is the Fourth Pillar of Democracy
- November 17, 2019: Media is No More a Fourth Pillar of Democracy
- November 10, 2019: Rise of Artificial Intelligence: the threat of jobless future or better job opportunities through reskilling and upskilling
- November 03, 2019:Biased media is a real threat to Indian democracy
- October 27, 2019: Neglect of primary health care and education in India are reasons for its backwardness
- October 20, 2019: South Asian societies are woven not around the state, but around their plural cultures and plural identities
- October 13, 2019: Courage to accept and dedication to improve are two keys to success
- October 06, 2019: Best for an individual is not necessarily best for the society
- September 29, 2019: Values are not what humanity is, but what humanity ought to be
- September 22, 2019: Wisdom finds truth
WEEKLY UPSC IAS ESSAY WRITING CHALLENGES – 2019
- September 15, 2019: Kashmir Problem – Historical Injustice or Misguided Geopolitics?
- September 08, 2019: India’s Space Ambitions – Are they Welfarist?
- September 01, 2019: India – $5 Trillion Economy: Dream or Reality?
- August 25, 2019 Knowledge will give you power, but character respect.
- August 18, 2019 The mind is everything. What you think you become.
- August 11, 2019: Virtue is Knowledge
- August 04, 2019: Inclusive governance begets Inclusive growth
- July 28, 2019: India’s headache: Unemployment or Underemployment?
- July 21, 2019: The road to science and spirituality are opposite, but we should tread both
- July 14, 2019: India is a leading power, rather than just a balancing power
- July 07, 2019: Should the world embrace democratic socialism or progressive capitalism?
- June 30, 2019: Impact of Digital Revolution on Human Wellbeing
- June 23, 20 19: Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty
- June 16, 2019: The definition of happiness is the full use of your powers, along the lines of excellence.
- June 09, 2019: Not Corruption, Communalism is the Greatest Threat India is facing Today
- May 19, 2019: First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
- May 12, 2019: Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake
- May 05, 2019: Happiness equals reality minus expectations
- April 28, 2019: Political correctness is tyranny with manners
- April 21, 2019: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
- April 07, 2019: Dogma is the sacrifice of wisdom to consistency
- March 31, 2019: The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.
- March 24, 2019: Terrorism has No Religion
- March 17, 2019: Money and Religion – Great Unifiers of Humankind?
- March 10, 2019: Tradition becomes our security, and when the mind is secure it is in decay
- March 03, 2019: Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower
- February 24,2019: Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens
- February 17, 2019: Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by fighting back
- February 10, 2019: Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
- February 03, 2019: You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality
- January 27, 2019: Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever
- January 20, 2019: All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
- January 12, 2019: All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.
- January 06, 2019: National security is Irreversibly linked to good economic growth
WEEKLY UPSC IAS ESSAY WRITING CHALLENGES – 2018
- December 28, 2018: To plan for smart development, governments and business must recognize nature’s role in supporting economic activity
- December 23, 2018: Government Surveillance – Good or Bad?
- December 16, 2018: Trade Wars – Economic or Geopolitical?
- December 02, 2018: Immigration is Not a Threat, but Fundamentally it’s an Economic Issue
- November 25, 2018: A people that values its privileges above its principles loses both
- November 18, 2018: “The past’ is a permanent dimension of human consciousness and values
- November 11, 2018: A good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge
- November 04, 2018: Management of Indian border disputes – a complex task
- October 28, 2018: Alternative technologies for a climate change resilient India
- October 21, 2018: Poverty anywhere is a threat to prosperity everywhere
- October 14, 2018: Reality does not conform to the ideal, but confirms it
- October 07, 2018: Customary morality cannot be a guide to modern life
- September 30, 2018: Commercialization of Space : Importance and the need for regulation
- September 23, 2018: E-commerce as a new form of trade and its challenges to India.
- September 16, 2018: Ability is nothing without opportunity
- September 09, 2018: Death Penalty eliminates Criminals, not Crime.
- September 02, 2018: Dissent is the foundation of democracy.
- August 26, 2018: Mars Mission and Mob lynchings are two obverse faces of India
- August 19, 2018: Strengthening Land Rights Strengthens Development
- August 12, 2018: Age of Big Data: Data is the New Oil, History is its oldest bank
- August 05, 2018: Strong Institutions and fair procedures, not personalities constitute the fundamentals of good governance
- July 29, 2018: Social reform is a myth if places of worship are open only to all castes and not to all genders.
- July 22, 2018: Section 377, not the carnal acts banned under it is ‘against the order of nature ‘
- July 15, 2018: Schooling Is Not Education
- July 08, 2018: Sometimes it takes a natural disaster to reveal a social disaster.
- July 01, 2018: Normal human activity is worse for nature than the greatest nuclear accident in history
- June 24, 2018: Gender Sensitive Indian Society is Prerequisite for Women and Child Empowerment
- June 17, 2018: Where Should India Invest More – Human Capital or Human Development?
- June 10, 2018: Has Democracy Taken Backseat Due to the Rise of Populists and Demagogues?
- June 03, 2018: We won’t have a society ,if we destroy the environment
- May 27, 2018: Can Development and Environment Protection Go Together?
- May 20, 2018: Governor is the Choke Point of Federal Circuit of India
- May 13, 2018: Anonymity is the Best and the Worst Feature of Urbanism
- May 06, 2018: A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes
- April 29, 2018: Guaranteeing Right to Vote may Establish a Democracy, But Ensuring it’s Right Use Only Will Bring a True Democracy
- April 22, 2018: Stereotyping is an Ideological Force Which Hinders and Endangers Consolidation of India
- April 15, 2018: Can Education and legislation Address Violence Against Women and Children in India?
- April 8, 2018: Banking Crisis in India – Failure of Governance and Regulation?
- April 1, 2018: Privacy is the fountainhead of all other rights
- March 25, 2018: Impact of Technology on Human Relations and Human Productivity
- March 18, 2018: India’s Focus should be on Ease of Living, not on Easy of Doing Business
- March 11, 2018: A friend to everybody is a friend to nobody
- March 04, 2018: Capitalism can not Bring Inclusive Growth
- February 25, 2018: The unprecedented advance of technologies facilitate individual empowerment but at the cost of Institutions and Democratic societies
- February 18, 2018: Threats being Faced by Liberal Democratic Systems are both Dangerous and Permanent
- February 11, 2018: For India, Stigmatised Capitalism is Better than Crony Socialism
- February 04, 2018: Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics.
- January 28, 2018: Politics of Identity is the Politics of the Weak
- January 21, 2018: Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime
- January 14, 2018: Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding
- January 07, 2018: The Root Cause of Agrarian Distress in India – Failure of Policies or Failure of Governance?
WEEKLY UPSC IAS ESSAY WRITING CHALLENGES – 2017
- December 31, 2017: Impact of the new economic measures on fiscal ties between the union and states in India
- December 24, 2017: Fulfilment of ‘new woman’ in India is a myth
- December 17, 2017: Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.
- December 10, 2017: Farming has lost the ability to be a source of subsistence for majority of farmers in India
- December 03, 2017: Destiny of a nation is shaped in its classrooms
- November 19, 2017: Has the Non- Alignment Movement(NAM) lost its relevance in a multipolar world
- November 12, 2017: Social media is inherently a selfish medium.
- November 04, 2017: We may brave human laws but cannot resist natural laws
- October 29, 2017: Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.
- October 22, 2017: Harith Diwali, Swasth Diwali : What measures are needed to deal with Festivity and Air Pollution?
- October 15, 2017: Biggest Threat to Humanity – Moral Crisis or Climate Change?
- October 08, 2017: The monsoon is a defining aspect of India’s nationhood
- October 01, 2017: India’s Infrastructure Story – Why is India not able to Build like China?
- September 24, 2017: Impact of Digital Technologies on Globalisation
- September 17, 2017: Urbanisation and Solid Waste Management in India – Challenges and Opportunities
- September 10,2017: Gender Equality and Peace: Are They Connected?
- September 03, 2017: Recent Natural Disasters – What do they Reveal about Humanity?
- August 27, 2017: Godmen – A Threat to Indian Society and Culture
- August 20, 2017: Corruption in India: Neither Systemic Reforms nor Surgical Strikes would End it
- August 13,2017: Interrelationship between Gender Equality and Sustainable Development
- August 06, 2017: Utility and relevance of Parliament in our polity
- July 30, 2017: Caste System – Source of India’s Eternal Inequality?
- July 23, 2017: Indian Democracy, Media and Public Opinion – Does Public Opinion Matter in Policymaking?
- July 16, 2017: Poverty and Environment – Their Interrelationship is the Key to Sustainable World
- July 09, 2017: Soft Power is India’s Strength, not its Weakness
- July 02, 2017: Technology and Jobs – Is Technology a Curse?
- June 25, 2017: Democracy’s Relevance in the Face of New Global Threats
- June 18, 2017: Federalism in India – Competitive or Cooperative?
- June 11, 2017: Peace, Environment and Development: Are these Interrelated?
- June 04, 2017: Role of Technology in Development – Is Technology Helping or Hindering Development?
- May 28, 2017: Poverty is a State of Mind
- May 21, 2017: Does India Need Superpower Status?
- May 14, 2017: India’s Achilles Heel – Lack of Ambition or Lack of Leadership in Achieving Greatness?
- May 07, 2017: Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.
- April 29, 2017: The greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation
- April 23, 2017: To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom
- April 16, 2017: One-Party-Dominant System – Is it Good for India?
- April 09, 2017: Should Youth in India Consider Politics as Career?
- April 02, 2017: Can World Save Succeeding Generations from the Scourge of War?
- March 26, 2017: Low, stagnating female labour-force participation in India: An anomaly or an outcome of economic reforms?
- March 19, 2017: When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw
- March 12, 2017: The marks humans leave are too often scars
- March 05, 2017: Environmental Challenges and Geopolitics: How to save our Environment?
- February 27, 2017: Radical Solutions are Needed to Address Today’s Radical Problems
- February 19, 2017: India’s Importance in the Post-truth World
- February 12, 2017: The Role of Politics in Development
- February 05, 2017: Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored
- January 29, 2017: Building Walls and Banning Refugees – Does this Help Humanity?
- January 22, 2017: Digital economy: A leveller or a source of economic inequality
- January 15, 2017: Cyberspace and internet: Blessing or curse to the human civilization in the long run
- January 08, 2017: Water disputes between states in federal India
- January 01, 2017: Need brings greed, if greed increases it spoils breed
WEEKLY UPSC IAS ESSAY WRITING CHALLENGES – 2016
- (December 25, 2016) – Cooperative federalism: Myth or reality
- (December 18, 2016) – Innovation is the key determinant of economic growth and social welfare
- (December 11, 2016) – Near jobless growth in India: An anomaly or an outcome of economic reforms
- (December 04, 2016) – If development is not engendered, it is endangered
- (November 27, 2016) – Social media is better at breaking things than at making things
- (November 20, 2016) – Deglobalization is good for the world
- (November 12, 2016) – Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others
- (November 06, 2016) – It is not inequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence
- (October 30, 2016) – Reducing Poverty while also Conserving Nature is an Impossible Task
- (October 23, 2016) – Poverty can be eliminated by putting science at the heart of development
- (October 16, 2016) – People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people
- (October 09, 2016) – Better Access is Key to Inclusive Cities
- (October 02, 2016) – The weaker sections of Indian society – Are their Rights and Access to Justice Getting Better?
- (September 25, 2016) – Imagination is more important than intelligence
- (September 18, 2016) – Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life
- (September 11, 2016) – Not what we have But what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance
- (September 04, 2016) – It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it
- (August 28, 2016) – If one can Address Moral Crisis, many of World’s Problems can be Solved
- (August 21, 2016) – Overdependence on Technology will Advance Human Development
- (August 14, 2016) – Geography may remain the same ; history need not
- (August 07, 2016) – Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom
- (July 31, 2016) – To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all
- (July 24, 2016) – True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing
- (July 17, 2016) – We Can Not Fight Terrorism – We have to Live With it
- (July 10, 2016) – A house divided against itself cannot stand
- (July 02, 2016) – When the going gets tough, the tough get going
- (June 26, 2016) – India a Reluctant Participant in the New Global Order?
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UPSC Civil Service Mains - Preparation Strategy for Essay Paper
While preparing for UPSC Civil Services Mains Exam, aspirants spend a lot of time in handling the general studies and optional subjects as well. But they should also focus equally on Essay paper. You need to write two essays, for each one you get four topics to choose from. Each essay accounts for 125 marks. However, it is prudent to prepare for this paper since it is for 250 marks and can make or break your final tally. This article gives you a few tips to follow while preparing for the essay paper.
Aspirants would find this article very helpful while preparing for the IAS Exam .
How to Prepare for Essay in UPSC Civil Service Exam?
- Read many good essays and articles. This will give you a feel of what constitutes a well-written essay.
- Build a habit of reading newspaper editorials every day. Essay questions are many times asked from current affairs.
- Note down relevant lines or quotes which you can use in your essay, whenever you read books or newspapers.
- Have a good collection of opening and closing lines.
- Prepare some material on general topics like development, women, education, healthcare, internet, technology, science, etc. Your material should include quotations, case studies, examples, government initiatives, etc. This will be useful while writing the essay. But beware of writing all that you have prepared. You must fine-tune your essay according to the topic, not as per what you have prepared.
- Focus more on real-life examples rather than theoretical jargon. Even though many topics may seem like theoretical, you must write relevant, contemporary, current affairs-related stuff in your essay. For instance, in a topic like “Can capitalism bring inclusive growth?” (UPSC Mains 2015) you need not write about the entire history of capitalism, but tune your answer towards current events and focus on ‘inclusive growth’.
- Similarly, even if your essay question is philosophical, your essay need not be so. It should be relevant to current times.
- You should try to approach a topic from different angles like political, social, historical, environmental, ethical, etc.
- You must prepare by writing essays during your preparation time. Also get feedback on the essays you write from mentors, teachers or seniors.
- You essay should have an introduction, body and conclusion.
- Resist the urge to give too aggressive or one-sided arguments in the essay no matter how passionate you are about the topic.
The above details would help candidates prepare for UPSC 2023 .
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Topper’s Strategy: How to prepare and score good in UPSC IAS Mains Essay Paper?
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2. [Strategy- How to Ace the Essay Paper in UPSC Mains? UPSC IAS RANK 292 Arushi shares how she managed 141 [ Click Here ]

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UPSC CSE 2021: AIR 17 Sarthak Agrawal’s step-by-step strategy for essay paper
Essay is the one paper for which you will find excellent advice all over the internet - mostly on university websites - so make sure to look at them instead of just relying on the typical upsc resources, says agrawal .

My key advice for the essay paper is to be argumentative and imaginative. An academic essay is a formal piece of writing with a clear structure. This is the one paper for which you will find excellent advice all over the internet — mostly on university websites — so make sure to read them up instead of just relying on the typical UPSC resources.
The following approach worked best for me: start with a story that is relevant to the prompt. Then, state in a few words the “thesis” of your essay – what is the main argument you’re making? Next, support this central thesis with several claims, each one backed by strong evidence or reasoning, and occupying a separate paragraph. As you go along, address the counterclaims. But resist the urge of writing an essay like a mystery novel. This is best practiced when you have devoted some 10-20 minutes to plan and outline what you will write.
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Ultimately, the key to putting together a strong response is to make an innovative and strong argument – don’t just provide relevant information around the central topic but take a refined stand and stick to it. For instance, if I wrote an essay on the topic, “Are we entering an era of globalisation”, I wouldn’t just regurgitate data on both sides of the debate. Instead, I would present an incisive and informed opinion defended by evidence and reasoning with an intention to persuade the reader. Remember, variety goes a long way in achieving this aim – avoid repetition and alter your sentence length and vocabulary to keep things interesting. It is also useful to vary the kind of evidence you cite. In some places, data and figures are most appropriate; in others, a vivid example can go a long way in hammering in your point.
When you choose a topic, first make sure that you fully understand what each word in the prompt means. I would prefer a simple one over a more convoluted statement so that you have more latitude to experiment. The next thing to ask is whether you will be able to construct a novel argument around that prompt. Some topics are more conducive to a descriptive type of response, and others to a debate. The latter provides more scope for showing off your critical thinking skills. That’s the real “smartness” essays test, which is why writing them well is a pre-requisite for academic success in the top universities. When you start, make sure you introduce the topic and what you understand by it. This way, even if you make an error in interpreting the prompt, the examiner will know from the get-go what you are responding to and might be a bit more generous.
I find the best essays often start and end with a story. My favourite argumentative pieces are those that feature in The Economist’s leaders’ section; they often start with examples to invite the reader’s interest. In the same vein, I spent time thinking about the kind of stories that would align with different topics instead of memorising quotations. For example, in a mock response to the topic, “Digital infrastructure is key for future ready governance”, I included a fictional example of a future health secretary who can get her department to respond quickly to a SARS-kind of virus in rural Odisha thanks to a mature National Digital Health Mission.
I wrote five practice tests before appearing for the exam; incidentally, none of them was the ‘philosophical type’ that I had to write in the actual paper. The same advice applies for these kinds of essays too, except that the evidence here would be real-world examples and logical reasoning instead of data. There’s also more scope to be creative and critical, which is good for fetching higher marks. I think coaching institutes tend to be overly concerned about analysing the “social, economic, political, legal etc.” angles in an essay, while the essay is an argumentative piece of writing that provides the means to showcase your creativity. It is certainly not a test of your memory, vocabulary, or handwriting so don’t worry if you are a laggard on either (or all) of these.
A word on formatting — start a new paragraph from the middle of the line, leaving a forefinger’s space in the beginning. Try to connect one sentence with the next using bridge words like however, despite, moreover, etc; do the same for paragraphs as it gives the entire piece a nice, logical flow. Underlining important keywords and phrases is also useful to direct an examiner’s attention. Keep cuttings to a minimum and ensure that all paragraphs are of similar length, but these tips are much harder to follow in practice. And it’s okay to use the first person (“In this essay, I argue…”). Bureaucrats are taught to be self-effacing and not present their own front but when writing an academic essay, I think it’s best to lead with the first person.
Finally, even the examiners know that writing a strong 1000–1200-word piece by hand in 1.5 hours that is sufficiently argumentative and delightfully imaginative is fiendishly difficult. They will definitely cut you some slack as long as your approach is right. Make the most of this window, and good luck!

(The author is AIR 17 in UPSC Civil Services 2020 and is a researcher at the World Bank)
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Essay Strategy for UPSC Mains
- Categories General Studies
- Published 16th Jun, 2021
In UPSC Mains examination , the essay paper plays a very vital role. This paper carries a total of 250 marks. Initially, the candidates were asked to write only 1 essay in 3 hours till 2013, but after the change in UPSC syllabus , the challenge is now of writing 2 essays in 3 hours on diverse topics. The topics may range from administration, polity and international relations, federalism or decentralization, Indian Society, media and society, education, women and gender, science and technology and quote base abstract topics. However list given can face variation and some new topics too can be added in the existing list.
If we scan the UPSC syllabus , then for Paper 1, UPSC mentions, "Candidates will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay to arrange their ideas in orderly fashion, and to write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression". Such open ended and amorphous explanation leaves scope for lot of subjectivity and interpretation. Different experts suggest different strategies and suggestions to tackle essay paper. Amid such existing uncertainty,
Previous Year Questions
Scanning the previous year papers you will come across multiple of topics that has been asked previously in UPSC Exam . These topics do not repeat further but through these topics you can have an assessment of the paper and these topics can be practiced to have a good grip on essay paper . There are two sections in essay paper - Section A and Section B each of which has four topics of essays. Out of these, candidates can select one topic from each section to write an essay. Candidates can select the topic of their choice from a choice of four topics. The UPSC Essay Paper is for a total of 250 marks with one essay for 125 marks.
Books and References For Essay Writing
For general reading -.
- My experiment with truth - M.K Gandhi
- India after independence - Bipin Chandra
- Discovery of India - J.L Nehru
- Getting India back on track - by Ratan Tata
For detailed reading -
- Democracy in India NCERTe
- Social Problems in India - Ram Ahuja
- Women in Indian Society - Neera Desai and Usha Thakkar ( NBT Publication)
- The Hindu ( editorial articles)
- Kurukshetra
Strategy of Essay Writing
An essay is defined as an organized collection of YOUR IDEAS nicely written and professionally presented. In other words, the essay must be well structured and presented in a way that the readers find it easy to follow and it must look tidy and not present any obstacles to the reader. It must have a clear readable interesting style. But above all, it must consist of your ideas about the issue in question.
Developing the skill to write a good essay needs preparation, which precedes the examination phase. Writing holds the key to an effective essay: it forms the core for conveying ideas from your mind to paper. Language skill is not developed overnight. It demands effort and perseverance. Your command over a language is determined by your desire to master it. The general essay paper plays a crucial role in compensating for the lack of high scores in GS and optional papers . Many of us commit the mistake of gathering facts and information on the probable topics at the eleventh hour of preparation, thinking that we can produce a good piece of work in the examination hall. What we have to understand is that arranging gathered ideas using an appropriate language is going to be a tedious job, especially when you have the pressure of time limit.
So start working on improving your writing skills right from the beginning of your preparation. Enhance your skills by developing an interest in learning more vocabulary, acquiring a wider information base, and having a passion for reading. The whole essay should be organically linked from one paragraph to another So that the examiner could feel the continuity and orderly flow and arrangement of your ideas. the unification among the paragraphs can be done through transitional words and phrases.
The best answer to how to write the essay for UPSC can be very well formulated from the guidelines mentioned below. Let’s have a look at them:
- The essay is not merely a test of your factual knowledge. It is a test of your creativity, inventive spirit, and capacity for the generation of new ideas.
- The choice of words and the proper statement is important.
- For that make a list of the alternative words for the words you use often.
- Note down powerful sentences, paragraphs, and quotations whenever you find them.
- Keep close to the subject matter. Whatever you write it must be totally relevant to the subject matter.
- The introductory note should be around 5 to 7 percent of the length of the essay, the body around 86 to 90 percent, and the concluding remark again around 5 to 7 percent.
- To obtain good marks remember the abc of essay which stands for a - for accuracy; b - for brevity and c - for creativity.
- Don't take extreme views. Your essay should reflect your balance of judgment, holistic approach, and an analytical bend of mind
- Select the topic wisely- A topic about which you are too passionate or feel strongly about. In this case, you may tend to get excited and fail to write a balanced essay. This can work against you.
- After selecting the topic judiciously, you should not start writing straight away. It is advisable to think for some time and collect your thoughts. Write in pencil the points you want to write as doing so you can write your points in the correct sequence.
- Once you have the rough points in hand, you can start writing the essay. While writing, you must adhere to a good structure.
ABC of UPSC Essay Writing
A - Accuracy, appropriateness, attentiveness to your reader, avoidance of ambiguity. B - Brevity or conciseness, brightness or buoyancy. C - Correctness ( of usage and grammar), clarity, consistency, concreteness.
In the course of UPSC preparation , you become a master of longitude of information. The essay paper requires you to filter, arrange, organize, and even innovate ideas out of that information, and, at the same time, not diverging from the selected topic. It’s not the dearth of content but the lack of organizational skill that holds many students back.
However, this can easily be mastered with regular practice, expert evaluation, and working on the mistakes. Once this is done, the UPSC essay paper would become the most rewarding part of the paper, taking you beyond 'the' line.
An essay should have logical flow of movement. It should not be abrupt and blunt. Essay is not only about filling the pages but it’s an art of articulation. Hence, all paragraphs should be connected to each other. Quotes should be there in proper place and it should not be there only for the sake of quoting. After reading the first para, readers should be interested to scan the second. Introduction should contain opening remarks and conclusion should connect all the dots.
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Apurva Pandey, Rank 39 UPSC CSE 2017: HIGHEST MARKS IN ESSAY (175)-ESSAY STRATEGY (IASbaba’s ILP Student)
- May 17, 2018
IASbaba's Toppers

ESSAY STRATEGY-APURVA PANDEY RANK 39

Hello everyone ,
Ever since UPSC declared marks for CSE Mains 2017, I have been flooded with requests to write a strategy on the essay. But honestly, I never really had a mechanical strategy for the essay. During my mock tests, essay was that one paper where the examiner appeared satisfied and so I sort of shifted my focus to GS and optional.
That said, I do have a few pointers that I think worked for me and I will be more than happy to share it with you all. I will also try to answer some FAQs regarding essay preparation.
1) Where do I get the content for my essay?
I never studied separately for the essay. I used whatever I had studied for GS and optional. But then again, I was lucky to have PSIR for my optional and from there, I often picked up concepts, thinkers, ideologies etc. to make my point. However, one must be careful to not use one’s knowledge of their optional to such an extent that the essay stops being general. If reading your essay is becoming extra work for the examiner, then that might not be good news for your marks.
2) Do I need to use very flowery language?
Every essay strategy I read during my preparation suggested using simple English and rightly so. Sometimes, in our quest to put our vocabulary to use, we end up inserting complicated words forcefully in our sentences. Not only does it make the sentence difficult to understand, but also gives it an awkward sound when read.
But that does not mean that we stop getting creative with language. Using metaphors, similes, idioms etc breaks the monotony and makes our essay look attractive. Here again, usage must not appear forced. This comes with a careful reading of good texts and of course, practice.
3) Should I write in simple paragraphs or subheadings?
I don’t think it really matters. I wrote with subheadings in one of my mock tests and got good feedback. But in the final exam, I wrote in simple paragraphs which worked out perfectly fine for me.
4)How do I choose my topic?
For me, comfort triumphs every other factor. I have always had a certain discomfort, more of a mental barrier for topics related to science, technology, economy etc. But with topics that have a socio-political background, I feel very much at ease, even when the topic is relatively unprepared and may require a certain brainstorming.
I personally feel that if we are comfortable with the topic, our expression has a more natural flow. I wrote the essay on women this time around, knowing full well how popular the topic was and how well prepared people must be. But I was not only comfortable but also very passionate about that topic, and everything I wrote came straight from the heart. I have a strong feeling that it is this very essay that helped me secure such high marks in essay. But more on that, later.
5)Do I really need to practice essay?
No matter how confident you are in your writing skills, practicing a few essays beforehand is never a bad idea. If you can get some feedback on it then even better. Even if you have good content and are good at expressing yourself, you might be making other mistakes like writing very long paragraphs, diverting from the topic, not putting in sufficient examples and so on. Therefore, please practice a few essays and get those reviewed.

Now a few pointers on the specific things I did that may have helped me score good marks:
1) Start solid: Somebody once told me that an examiner will probably read hundreds of essays on the same topic, and is likely to get bored after some time. As such, our beginning must be interesting so as to capture his/her imagination at the very outset. In a strategy article that she wrote, Mittali Sethi mam mentioned how she began her essay with a poem she had written herself. I did the same in my NAM essay. Wrote a couplet on the idea of standing for truth, and then began my essay by explaining NAM as India’s way of standing for truth.
Similarly, for my essay on “Fulfilment of new woman in India is a myth”, I started off with a story where I talked about Meena, the new age Indian woman, who is well educated, financially independent, working at a big corporate firm and married to the man of her choice. And then I began to expose the myth by explaining how Meena still takes care of household chores and the kids even when her work hours are same as her husband’s, how sexism still exists for her at workplace where she is asked to take care of the hospitality of important clients while her male peers get to engage with them business-wise, how she quit a previous higher paying job to escape sexual harrassment at workplace, how her family keeps telling her to quit so as to take better care of her children and so on. I hope you got the idea.
2) Having strong opinions: I am sure you can guess by now how opinionated my essay on women must have been. And I really think having strong opinions and being passionate about the topic helps. But your opinion must be supported by examples or facts. For instance, in my essay on women, I wrote that while a woman defence minister in Nirmala Sitharaman may reinstate the myth of the new Indian woman, we must not forget that women Parliamentarians in India have never crossed the 12% mark.
So while keeping balanced views might be the popular advice, I personally think that my strong opinions on certain things helped me score well. Of course, I was worried about this before the results because I really thought that this could work both ways. I played the gamble and was rewarded generously. 🙂
3) Positivity: Even when you are writing passionately and pointing out everything you think is wrong, you must end on a positive note. Again coming to the women essay, my last few paragraphs were about how things have drastically changed over the years, and while there might not be a fulfilled new Indian woman as of now, she is slowly but surely emerging.
4) Flow: If there is flow in our essay, it will keep the examiner engaged throughout. Abruptly jumping from one dimension of the essay to another must be avoided. For good flow in your essay, you can plan beforehand by devoting the initial half hour to deciding the structure and content of your essay. Also, practice helps.
5) Some important but oft-repeated points:
- Try to cover as many dimensions as possible. Mittali Sethi mam and Chandramohan Garg sir mention the SPECLIH technique( Social, Political, Economic, Cultural, Linguistic/Local, International, Humanistic dimensions) in their strategies. You can use it for more diverse content.
- Avoid writing very long paragraphs.
- Use examples, facts, data, current developments, anecdotes, anything and everything to substantiate your point. I did not use a lot of statistics because I could never learn it up, but examples I used liberally.
- Read the topic carefully and do not divert from it. For instance, the topic “Has NAM lost its relevance in a multipolar world?” does not require us to explain the entire history of NAM although you may talk about it a little in your introduction. If in your essay you are writing all that you know about NAM without delving on its relevance in a multipolar world, then you might not get good marks. Similarly, if you talk about the relevance of NAM but completely ignore the multipolar world-part of the topic, you are very much on your way to committing a blunder.
So read the topic very carefully, underline the keywords and ensure that you do not divert.
I always knew essay was a scoring subject, but never knew that it would so crucially influence my selection and rank. And so once again, I will ask you all to definitely practice a few essays before the final exam, no matter how good you are with it. Trust me, it will be highly rewarding. I will also suggest you go through Chandramohan Garg sir’s strategy which many have found helpful.
Best wishes,
Apurva Pandey
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Best Strategy For UPSC Essay Writing | How to write the Essay For UPSC | Essay Topics for UPSC | Career Launcher
In the scheme of the UPSC Mains examination, the essay paper plays a very important role. This paper carries a total of 250 marks. Initially, the candidates were asked to write only 1 essay in 3 hours till 2013, but after the change in syllabus, the challenge is now of writing 2 essays in 3 hours on diverse topics.
So, now you will have to write two essays each with a word count of 1000 - 1200. There are two sections - Section A and Section B each of which has four topics of essays. Out of these, candidates can select one topic from each section to write an essay. Candidates can select the topic of their choice from a choice of four topics. The UPSC Essay Paper is for a total of 250 marks with one essay for 125 marks.
In this article, we will discuss how to write the essay for UPSC including the genesis of essay, books, and references for essay writing and everything that a candidate must know about UPSC essay writing
Essay for UPSC - Highlights
- Number of essays to write - 2
- Time allotted - 3 hours
- Word Limit - 1000-1200 words
- Marks allotted- 125 each. Total Marks - 250
UPSC Essay Writing | Genesis of an essay
- An essay is defined as an organized collection of YOUR IDEAS nicely written and professionally presented.
- In other words, the essay must be well structured and presented in a way that the readers find it easy to follow and it must look tidy and not present any obstacles to the reader.
- It must have a clear readable interesting style. But above all, it must consist of your ideas about the issue in question.
- Developing the skill to write a good essay needs preparation, which precedes the examination phase.
- Writing holds the key to an effective essay: it forms the core for conveying ideas from your mind to paper.
- Language skill is not developed overnight. It demands effort and perseverance. Your command over a language is determined by your desire to master it.
- The general essay paper plays a crucial role in compensating for the lack of high scores in GS and optional papers.
- Many of us commit the mistake of gathering facts and information on the probable topics at the eleventh hour of preparation, thinking that we can produce a good piece of work in the examination hall.
- What we have to understand is that arranging gathered ideas using an appropriate language is going to be a tedious job, especially when you have the pressure of time limit
- So start working on improving your writing skills right from the beginning of your preparation. Enhance your skills by developing an interest in learning more vocabulary, acquiring a wider information base, and having a passion for reading.
- The whole essay should be organically linked from one paragraph to another So that the examiner could feel the continuity and orderly flow and arrangement of your ideas. the unification among the paragraphs can be done through transitional words and phrases
Guidelines to be followed for UPSC Essay Paper
The best answer to how to write the essay for UPSC can be very well formulated from the guidelines mentioned below. Let’s have a look at them:
- The essay is not merely a test of your factual knowledge. It is a test of your creativity, inventive spirit, and capacity for the generation of new ideas.
- The choice of words and the proper statement is important.
- For that make a list of the alternative words for the words you use often.
- Note down powerful sentences, paragraphs, and quotations whenever you find them.
- Keep close to the subject matter. Whatever you write it must be totally relevant to the subject matter.
- The introductory note should be around 5 to 7 percent of the length of the essay, the body around 86 to 90 percent, and the concluding remark again around 5 to 7 percent.
- To obtain good marks remember the abc of essay which stands for a - for accuracy; b - for brevity and c - for creativity.
- Don't take extreme views. Your essay should reflect your balance of judgment, holistic approach, and an analytical bend of mind
- Select the topic wisely -A topic about which you are too passionate or feel strongly about. In this case, you may tend to get excited and fail to write a balanced essay. This can work against you.
- After selecting the topic judiciously, you should not start writing straight away. It is advisable to think for some time and collect your thoughts. Write in pencil the points you want to write as doing so you can write your points in the correct sequence.
- Once you have the rough points in hand, you can start writing the essay. While writing, you must adhere to a good structure.
Structure of a Good UPSC Essay
- The introductory paragraph should have clear indications about what you are going to write in the essay - begin your essay with a quote w.r.t the context
- Set out your main idea clearly
- You may use relevant quotes to reinforce your arguments. But never try to alter the quotes of great personalities.
- Make it clear how you are going to address the questions, where you are going and why
- The examiner normally gives credit to new perspectives and fresh analysis.
- Make it clear how the main ideas relate to each other
- Take the examinee through your answer in a logical, progressive way
- Organized groups of related information in paragraphs
- You may show your inferences in the concluding paragraph.
Introducing the ABC of UPSC Essay Writing
In the course of UPSC preparation, you become a master of longitude of information. The essay paper requires you to filter, arrange, organize, and even innovate ideas out of that information, and, at the same time, not diverging from the selected topic. It’s not the dearth of content but the lack of organizational skill that holds many students back.
However, this can easily be mastered with regular practice, expert evaluation, and working on the mistakes. Once this is done, the UPSC essay would become the most rewarding part of the paper, taking you beyond 'the' line
Books and References For Making UPSC Essay Writing Easy
For general reading -
- My experiment with truth - M.K Gandhi
- India after independence - Bipin Chandra
- Discovery of India - J.L Nehru
- Getting India back on track - by Ratan Tata
- For detailed reading -
- Democracy in India NCERTe
- Social Problems in India - Ram Ahuja
- Women in Indian Society - Neera Desai and Usha
- Thakkar ( NBT Publication)
- The Hindu ( editorial articles)
- Kurukshetra
Previous Year Essay topics for UPSC
So, this is a brief introduction and guideline on how to write the essay for UPSC exam. Career Launcher brings comprehensive UPSC preparation courses wherein you will also get one to one mentorship and guidance for UPSC preparation. Join us on our telegram channel in order to keep yourself updated on the new courses. Get the information about all our course deliverables here .If you need more information, get in touch with our course counselors.
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UPSC Essay Writing Strategy
Out of 9 papers of UPSC Mains, the essay paper is one of those comprising of 250 marks. In the essay paper, you will have to write two bases of word count 1000-1200, and each essay Writing is for 125 marks. Writing essays in the UPSC exam as a tricky thing so you need to read many articles related to the IAS mains examination to have clarity on the topics being asked in UPSC civil services examination.
Understanding essay writing for UPSC:
Essay writing for UPSC Mains and GS 4 Ethics is the best paper to score more marks with fewer efforts. Marks in the essay can vary from the lowest 80 to highest 160+ which can single handily determine your rank and cadre. Aspirants are ‘expected to keep their thoughts closely to the UPSC driven subject and arrange their ideas accordingly. It further states that credit will be given for effective and coherent expression’ in essay writing.
3 Key principles in essay writing for UPSC CSE:
- Keep it close : One must stick to the topic as close as possible without any deviations.
For example, in the environment-related topic, one can write-consumerism promoted by capitalism is one of the main drivers of resource exploitation. But need not deviate from the topic by dwelling on the capitalism vs socialism debate in order to promote the wise use of resources.
- Concise is the mantra: keep your essay as precise as possible with fewer words.
For example, one can write India is a bowl of salad with an intermingling of religions, races, castes, etc. But imagine if the same sentence is written like “India is a beautiful country. It has people belonging to many religions, races, castes, etc. It is called a bowl of salad. It is because people of all these religions, races, castes intermingle and live together peacefully. I am leaving it to your judgment about what should be the ideal sentence.
- Coherent: Coherence is required of all forms of writing, including answer writing, but in the UPSC CSE essay, one must be extra careful to check that all individual sentences in the essay are making sense. Also, paragraphs as a whole must convey a clear and well thought out exposition on the theme of the essay.
For example, if one is discussing environment-economics relations in a para, one should stick to it instead of clubbing it with politics or any other issue.
READ Essay Marks Booster Modules COURSE (Mains 2020 & 2021) TO GET THE BEST ESSAY WRITING TIPS
3 golden steps while writing the essay for the upsc civil services examination: .
Understanding the essay pattern for UPSC CSE: Underline all the keywords mentioned in the essay and try to figure out the central theme. Link the central theme with keywords and elaborate on it.
For eg: Neglect of primary health care and education in India are reasons for its backwardness
Key words= primary health care, education
Central theme= backwardness
In this essay writing, simply throwing facts, reports about health and education is not enough but one has to link how these are related to the backwardness of India.
- Brainstorming:
Note down all the points that you can think of, related to the topic of the paper. One can take 15-20 minutes for a brainstorm on a single topic.
One can practice brainstorming for various topics before the exam itself.
- Outlining:
After brainstorming, arrange the ideas in the proper order to finalize the structure and content of the essay. Keep in mind a well-structured essay brings incoherence, order, and more marks.
3 parts of the structure of the essay for UPSC CSE:
- Introduction:
The introduction is the first impression on an essay and as popularly said: “the first impression is the best impression”. So, the introduction must be very attractive to arouse the examiner’s interest in your essay. One to one and a half page can be dedicated to the introduction.
Different types of introduction:
- Start by defining the terms in an essay – more suitable for GS but not for the essay. But you can prefer it if you lack ideas for other types of the intro because it is better to pluck low-hanging fruits first.
- Start with a brief explanation of the topic itself – you should clearly explain what you are going to discuss in the rest of the essay. You can add personal experiences, quotes, facts, reports, etc here. But make it comprehensive.
- Start with an anecdote- you can begin with an interesting story based on real-life or your own development according to the topic. This type of introduction can fetch you more marks, but storytelling is an art and not everyone can do so. You will have to practice anecdotes for various topics before the exam.
- Body of the essay:
One can write an essay along different dimensions by following the PESTLE analysis- Politics, Economics, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental.
For example, any general essay writing can be answered following this method like
“Destiny of a nation is shaped in its classrooms”- you can write about the influence of education on different fields of a nation.
or can also write by following the family tree method- that includes individual, family, society, nation, and international. For example,
“Best for an individual is not necessarily best for the society” can be elaborately explained following the above method.
Writing in small paragraphs is easier to read thereby making it more interesting to read. Each paragraph can be dedicated to each dimension. Paragraphs should be interlinked to bring incoherence and continuity in reading. You can make use of connecting statements at the end of the para or the beginning of the para.
Subheadings & Rough Drafts: We can be a little innovative in our subheadings. Instead of bland subheadings such as ‘Benefits of Nuclear Energy,’ we can use “Nuclear Energy: Promise or Peril?’ Similarly, for the essay on Social Media, instead of writing ‘Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media’, I wrote “Social Media: A Double-Edged Sword”
You can use logical arguments backed by reports, indices, facts, quotes to support your stand. Sprinkle constitution related articles here and there. You can also use the ethical and moral principles of GS 4 as per the topic.
- Conclusion:
A good conclusion is as important as a good introduction. The conclusion can be a summary of your entire essay in different words. You can conclude with a positive course of action or suggestions. You can use popular anecdotes like SABKA SATH SABKA VIKAS, NEW INDIA, etc to make it stronger and appealing. Do not forget to link a conclusion to the introduction. It brings a complete view of the essay to the examiner at the end.
The essay paper has more than enough time. So, you can revise your paper after you finish to correct any spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.
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Essay Paper UPSC 2021 (Mains): Question Paper and Analysis
Last updated on January 8, 2022 by Alex Andrews George

UPSC conducted the Essay Paper , as part of the Civil Services Main Exam 2021 on 07-01-2022.
There were 8 Essay topics, out of which candidates were asked to write on two topics in 3 hours.
Candidates were supposed to answer about 1000 words for each essay (about 10-12 pages).
Table of Contents
Essay Paper UPSC 2021 Instructions
- Total Marks: 250 marks, Time duration: 3 hours.
- The essay must be written in the medium authorized in the admission certificate which must be stated clearly on the cover of this question-cum-answer (QCA) booklet in the space provided.
- No marks will be given for answers written in the medium other than the authorized one.
- Word limit, as specified, should be adhered to.
- Any page or portion of the page left blank, must be struck off clearly.
Essay Question Paper – UPSC Civil Services Main Exam (Written) 2021
Write two essays, choosing one topic from each of the following Sections A and B, in about 1000-1200 words each:
1. The process of self-discovery has now been technologically outsourced.
2. Your perception of me is a reflection of you; my reaction to you is an awareness of me.

3. Philosophy of wantlessness is Utopian, while materialism is a chimera.
4. The real is rational and the rational is real.
5. Hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
6. What is research, but a blind date with knowledge!
7. History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce.
8. There are better practices to “best practices”.
Most of the essays topics this year were philosophical and open to the interpretation of the candidates. However, considering the philosophical base of the questions, most candidates found the questions tricky. It was not easy to write 1000 words on each topic within the time constraints.
UPSC has ensured that the essay topics were much different from the GS questions.
A philosophical theme is clearly evident in most of the essay topics in Section A as well as Section B. This was the case in 2020 as well. However, this year it became much more prominent. It is a clue about what UPSC expects from the essay paper.
Rather than asking candidates to write on topics most aspirants are familiar or trained with, UPSC is now evaluating the essay writing skills of aspirants by providing them with abstract or philosophical topics.
The reason for such a shift in the pattern should be the change in the focus of the Commission.
All the 8 topics presented this year will test spontaneous thinking, comprehension, writing skills, and time-management of aspirants.
Repeated questions from previous years
The importance of the previous year UPSC questions cannot be stressed more.
Just like prelims, in mains too many questions came directly repeated from previous year question papers. Also, there were themes you often see in many essay books.
One such question was Hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
Thinkers, Philosophers, and their Quotes
Let’s analyse the source of some of the question topics.
Your perception of me is a reflection of you; my reaction to you is an awareness of me.
This essay topic was a quote going rounds on the internet. The quote is attributed to “Coach Bobbi” [Bobbi Chegwyn] on Facebook.
Philosophy of wantlessness is Utopian, while materialism is a chimera.
This essay topic was connected with J.K. Mehta’s Theory of Wantlessness!
This has also connections with Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy.
The real is rational and the rational is real.
This is a quote by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel .
As per Hegel, something can be real, yet it may not exist. Also, something may not be real, it may still exist. For Hegel, reality does not mean existence.
Among philosophers, Hegel is one whose thought is extremely difficult to understand. Often to understand Hegel’s thoughts, we need to grasp his ideas, not in isolation but together with his dialogue with other philosophers, in particular, Aristotle and Kant.
The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
“The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Is the Hand That Rules the World” is a poem by William Ross Wallace that praises motherhood as the preeminent force for change in the world. The poem was first published in 1865 under the title “ What Rules the World “.
What is research, but a blind date with knowledge!
This is a quote by Will Harvey . Will Harvey (born 1967) is an American software developer and Silicon Valley entrepreneur.
History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce.
It was Karl Marx who said that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce.
First, it’s a tragedy because it shouldn’t have happened. Then it’s a farce (joke) because we didn’t learn from our mistakes the first time around. This is Marx’s version of dark humour.
What should aspirants preparing for next year do for an essay paper?
First of all, you should take the essay paper seriously.
Unless properly trained, it is not easy to write 10-12 pages on an abstract or philosophical topic.
You need to polish your comprehension and analytical skills.
Read different kinds of essays – particularly philosophical essays.
Give stress to the thoughts of philosophers like Immanuel Kant, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Friedrich Niche, Karl Marx etc. Start writing essays on famous quotes.
Also, be prepared to write essays touching other areas like society, polity, economy, or technology. UPSC is known for surprises.
Remember that there is nothing like a constant trend with respect to UPSC questions.
What you get by analysing the previous year question papers are clues. And only those are what you need from UPSC questions!

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About Alex Andrews George
Alex Andrews George is a mentor, author, and social entrepreneur. Alex is the founder of ClearIAS and one of the expert Civil Service Exam Trainers in India.
He is the author of many best-seller books like 'Important Judgments that transformed India' and 'Important Acts that transformed India'.
A trusted mentor and pioneer in online training , Alex's guidance, strategies, study-materials, and mock-exams have helped many aspirants to become IAS, IPS, and IFS officers.
Reader Interactions
January 8, 2022 at 11:36 am
Upsc has chosen right path to evaluate person.one person read, listen ,rember and write in exam.He qualify exam.He is just like computer.worthy less people selected by upsc every year.They are not thinker.so our country is intellectually insolvent.civil services requires thinker to. progess country and welfare of common man.These types of question evaluate intellectual for the welfare of human being.
January 9, 2022 at 1:44 pm
You are putting the quality of a leader and a literate society in such a person who just has to follow his supremes.He/She must be a good analyst. That’s it!!!
June 13, 2022 at 12:41 pm
in the bureaucracy – there is no space for logical thinking.
once you clear the exams and get appointed – you have to follow the “protocol’ or “procedures” – its difficult to be analytical and innovative – bcos the system demands obedience and adherence to the protocol. If you follow the protocol – and even if lot of people are severely affected – you wont be taken to task. But if you are innovative – and even if ONE person gets affected – you will be punished.
January 8, 2022 at 4:02 pm
Yeah!I’ve passed upsc .

January 25, 2022 at 2:21 pm
I have written Essay on three topics..how may I share?
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Taritla Prateek Rao
"Knowledge - Is - Religion"
The Essay paper in UPSC CSE is marked out of 250, equal weightage to other GS and Optional papers. The catch lies in the disproportionately high marks that can be secured in this paper even at the average score - in relation to other papers. GS papers would average around 95-100, given 2020 marks observed among toppers. Essay averaged around 115-120. This 15-20 mark gain can actually make or break a selection or choice of service.
My Strategy
I relied on writing practice essays at home and getting it checked by mentors and peers for the first 3 attempts. I got scores of 130, 105 and 124 in my previous 3 attempts. This year I joined the essay test series at Vision IAS, and found the feedback, lectures and strategy to my liking, ended up getting a 147 in CSE 2020
Although I did follow strategy of Vision IAS, I also finalized some basics at my end, basis my own experience writing essay over the years. They are as follows -
Introduction, Body, Conclusion - as the basic format
10 pages per essay - 110-120 words per page
1-2 page introduction and body linkage, 7-8 page of Body with 5-6 ideas, 1/2 - 1 page of pre conclusion and 1 page of conclusion
5-10 minutes to choose both topics - basis topic clarity and understanding, knowledge, anecdotes and quotes (in that order)
20-25 mins to brain storm the topic and make rough notes
1 hour of writing one essay
Brainstorm individually - do not spend first one hour choosing the topics and brainstorming both. Brainstorming second essay after writing first will do two things
Sense of completion of one essay - will give confidence
Rest to hands and mind after writing for 1 hour
Ideas from first essay will be out of your mind, you will not repeat the same ideas and come up with fresh ones since now some space in your mind has been freed and dumped on paper
Every idea in 1-2 paragraphs
Every paragraph 3-4 lines maximum.
Every line as simple and short as possible
2-3 Paragraphs per page
Introduce your idea/hypothesis
Additional statement to explain
Example or Data to substantiate the argument
Concluding remark and link to next idea
Stick to the demand of the topic - do not write everything you know about the topic. If you have less material - rather choose another topic, or explain less ideas with more depth.
Write with flow and logic - the introduction, body and conclusion should be one single entity, not various ingredients lying separate. Try to complete every argument in the body. If there are 10 areas that you come up with while brainstorming, stick to 5-6 and do not try to shove all ideas into the essay. It may end up looking like an apple, a dosa and a pasta kept in one plate - non coherent and non aesthetic. Instead, choose few arguments and complete them logically.
Have a set of 20-25 topics prepared in one-pagers - this can be done from GS knowledge
Basic knowledge
Anecdotes
Personalities
Schemes, Govt. initiaties etc
Books
Broad anecdotes that can be used in various topics (Will explain later)
Set of quotes that can be extensively used
Use headings for ideas, conclusion and pre-conclusion
Keep a track of time while writing - do not give 1.5 hours to one essay and 45 minutes to other
Summarize your ideas and give a sense of completion before conclusion in a 'pre-conclusion'
Give a futuristic and hopeful conclusion
Check out essays written in Yojana, Kurukshetra magazine - they will give a good sense on how to approach a topic
Check out copies of previous essay toppers - pick some traits on your own wisdom
Force fit anecdotes or quotes
Leave an essay unfinished. Even if you have written 5 pages and are short on time, complete with a short conclusion
Start a new idea in the conclusion
Focus too much on data and facts -focus on flow, connectivity and cohesiveness
Use too many inks in essay
Use flowcharts, unless absolutely necessary (Max 1 diagram or flowchart)
Only criticize or only eulogize the topic - write both sides, even if the percentage may not be the same (Eg:- 65% criticism and 35% pros and benefits)
My checked copies from 2020
Essay strategy session at shankar ias - kindly refer to the session presentation attached .


[Download] UPSC Mains-2020 Essay Paper, Including Topicwise last 28 YEARS Essay Question Papers (1993-2020) with booklist, strategy!
Upsc mains-2020’s essay paper compared to the past papers..
- UPSC Essay Preparation/Strategy/Booklist?
UPSC-CSM20-Essay: Section-A
Upsc-csm20-essay: section-b.
1 India: Democracy, administration, Society, culture
1.1 India Since Independence
1.2 Federalism, Decentralization
1.3 Administration
1.4 Judiciary
1.5 Poverty, Social Justice
1.6 Indian Society, Culture and Values
1.7 Media, TV & Cinema
2 Economy, Development
2.1 Growth vs Development
2.2 Environment vs Development
2.4 Sectors of Economy
3 Education
3.1 Values in Education
3.2 Scheme implementation
3.3 Higher education
4 Quote based, Philosophy, Ethics
4.1 Character, Honesty, Ethics
4.2 Knowledge
4.3 Compassion
4.4 Truth and reality
4.5 Youth, Discipline
4.6 Towards excellence
5 Women empowerment
5.1 @National Politics
5.2 @World / Quote type
5.3 Empowerment overall
5.4 Compared to men
6 International issues, Internal Security
6.1 Globalization
6.2 International Org./ Bilateral
6.3 Security
7 Science-Technology
7.1 Science and Religion
7.2 Science and Education
7.3 Computer and internet
7.4 Sci-Tech: others
- On Jan-08-2021, UPSC Conducted Civil Services Mains Exam (CSM-2020)’s Essay Paper (Because of the Corona lockdown, the exam cycle is running late).
![essay strategy upsc [Download] UPSC Mains-2020 Essay Paper, Including Topicwise last 28 YEARS Essay Question Papers (1993-2020)](https://mrunal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/UPSC-CSM2020-Essay.jpg)
- New aspirants need to take care not to get brainwashed by one sided analysis of coaching-classes that “ just because so many philosophical topics are asked so you should blindly take philosophy as an optional subject And automatically you will get a ticket to IAS selection! ” – As per the latest annual report of UPSC uploaded on their website, the number of UPSC selection from Philosophy was 53 candidates among 1056 candidates selected in 2017 i.e. 7% (btw, It seems UPSC uploads the annual reports with a lot of delay so as to avoid controversies about selections)
What to do for Essay Preparation/Strategy/Booklist?
- In the market there are lot of readymade books available for the essay. However, as far as the Civil Service exam is concerned they’re not very useful.
- you have to manually gather the content and cultivate the skill for essay writing. Common resources include:
- Last 3 years Yojana and Kurukshetra magazines: They are available in English, Hindi and other Vernacular languages. They can be downloaded for free from their official website: http://yojana.gov.in/Recent_archive_2018.asp (Tip: Replace the year in URL, when you want to access previous years). There is no need to read each and every article, at least go through the preface / Editor’s Note in the beginning of each PDF.
- Last 3-5 years economic surveys available for free at https://indiabudget.gov.in/bspeecha.asp No need to read entire PDFs, just the introductions and conclusions of each chapter.
- IGNOU MPS-003 module. Available for free at https://egyankosh.ac.in
- NCERT textbooks, especially those related to Sociology, Political Science and World History.
- Newspaper Columns: English (TheHindu or IndianExpress), Hindi (JanSatta). In the vernacular language newspapers (e.g. Divya-Bhaskar Gujarati etc)= the quality of the column is not worthy of civil service exam essays.
- Ethics (GS Paper 4) related preparation would also come handy here.
2020’s Essay Paper in linear/sequential format
(write any one essay in 1000-1200 words, 125 marks)
- 1) Life is a long journey between human being and being humane. (मनुष्य होने और मानव बनने के बीच का लम्बा सफर ही जीवन है)
- 2) Mindful manifesto is the catalyst to a tranquil self (विचारपरक संकल्प स्वयं के शांतचित्त रहने का उत्प्रेरक है )
- 3) Ships don’t sink because of water around them ships sink because of water that gets into them (जहाज अपने चारों तरफ के पानी के वजह से नहीं डूबा करते, जहाज पानी के अंदर समां जाने की वजह से डूबता हैं )
- 4) Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication (सरलता चरम परिष्करण है )
- 5) Culture is what we are, civilization is what we have (जो हम है, वह संस्कार; जो हमारे पास है, वह सभ्यता )
- 6) There can be no social justice without economic prosperity but economic prosperity without social justice is meaningless (बिना आर्थिक समृद्धि के सामाजिक न्याय नहीं हो सकता, किन्तु बिना सामाजिक न्याय के आर्थिक समृद्धि निरर्थक है )
- 7) Patriarchy is the least noticed yet the most significant structure of social inequality (पितृ-सत्ता की व्यवस्था नजर मैं बहुत काम आने के बावजूद सामाजिक विषमता की सबसे प्रभावी संरचना है)
- 8) Technology as the silent factor in international relations (अंतर्राष्ट्रीय संबंधों मैं मौन करक के रूप मैं प्रौद्योगिकी)
Topic wise Essays of last 28 years (1993-2020)
- Is the Colonial mentality hindering India’s Success? -2013
- In the context of Gandhiji’s views on the matter, explore, on an evolutionary scale, the terms ‘Swadhinata’, ‘Swaraj’ and ‘Dharmarajya’. Critically comment on their contemporary relevance to Indian democracy -2012
- Dreams which should not let India sleep. -2015
- Why should we be proud of being Indians? -2000
- Whither Indian democracy? -1995
- How far has democracy in India delivered the goods? -2003
- What we have not learnt during fifty years of independence. -1997
- What have we gained from our democratic set-up? -2001
- My vision of India in 2001 a.d. -1993
- Impact of the new economic measures on fiscal ties between the union and states in India. -2017
- Water disputes between States in federal India. -2016
- Cooperative federalism : Myth or reality. -2016
- Creation of smaller states and the consequent administrative, economic and developmental implication -2011
- Evaluation of panchayati raj system in India from the point of view of eradication of power to people. -2007
- Water resources should be under the control of the central government. -2004
- The language problem in India: its past, present and prospects. -1998
- How should a civil servant conduct himself? -2003
- Politics without ethics is a disaster. -1995
- The VIP cult is a bane of Indian democracy -1996
- Need for transparency in public administration -1996
- The country’s need for a better disaster management system. -2000
- Politics, bureaucracy and business – fatal triangle. -1994
- We may brave human laws but cannot resist natural laws. -2017
- Justice must reach the poor -2005
- Judicial activism and Indian democracy. -2004
- Judicial activism. -1997
- There can be no social justice without economic prosperity but economic prosperity without social justice is meaningless (बिना आर्थिक समृद्धि के सामाजिक न्याय नहीं हो सकता, किन्तु बिना सामाजिक न्याय के आर्थिक समृद्धि निरर्थक है ) -2020
- Neglect of primary health care and education in India are reasons for its backwardness. -2019
- The focus of health care is increasingly getting skewed towards the ‘haves’ of our society. -2009
- Food security for sustainable national development -2005
- Reservation, politics and empowerment. -1999
- Culture is what we are, civilization is what we have (जो हम है, वह संस्कार; जो हमारे पास है, वह सभ्यता ) -2020
- Indian culture today: a myth or a reality? -2000
- Modernism and our traditional socio-ethical values. -2000
- The composite culture of India. -1998
- The Indian society at the crossroads. -1994
- From traditional Indian philanthropy to the gates-buffet model-a natural progression or a paradigm shift? -2010
- New cults and godmen: a threat to traditional religion -1996
- Biased media is a real threat to Indian democracy. -2019
- Responsibility of media in a democracy. -2002
- Role of media in good governance -2008
- Does Indian cinema shape our popular culture or merely reflect it? -2011
- How has satellite television brought about cultural change in Indian mindsets? -2007
- Is sting operation an invasion on privacy? -2014
- Mass media and cultural invasion. -1999
- The misinterpretation and misuse of freedom in India. -1998
- Poverty anywhere is a threat to prosperity everywhere. -2018
- Digital economy: A leveller or a source of economic inequality. -2016
- Innovation is the key determinant of economic growth and social welfare. -2016
- Near jobless growth in India: An anomaly or an outcome of economic reforms. -2016
- Crisis faced in India – moral or economic. -2015
- Was it the policy paralysis or the paralysis of implementation which slowed the growth of our country? -2014
- GDP (Gross Domestic Product) along with GDH (Gross Domestic Happiness) would be the right indices for judging the wellbeing of a country-2013
- Can capitalism bring inclusive growth? -2015
- Resource management in the Indian context. -1999
- Economic growth without distributive justice is bound to breed violence. -1993
- Alternative technologies for a climate change resilient India. -2018
- Should a moratorium be imposed on all fresh mining in tribal areas of the country? -2010
- Urbanisation and its hazards -2008
- Protection of ecology and environment is essential for sustained economic development. -2006
- Urbanization is a blessing in disguise. -1997
- Ecological considerations need not hamper development. -1993
- Globalization would finish small-scale industries in India. -2006
- Multinational corporations – saviours or saboteurs -1994
- Special economic zone: boon or bane -2008
- Is the criticism that the ‘Public-Private-Partnership’ (PPP) model for development is more of a bane than a boon in the Indian context, justified ?-2012
- Farming has lost the ability to be a source of subsistence for majority of farmers in India. -2017
- BPO boom in India. -2007
- Tourism: Can this be the next big thing for India? -2014
- Are our traditional handicrafts doomed to a slow death? -2009
- Destiny of a nation is shaped in its classrooms. -2017
- Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make a man more clever devil-2015
- Independent thinking should be encouraged right form the childhood. -2007
- Are the standardized tests good measure of academic ability or progress? -2014
- Irrelevance of the classroom. -2001
- Is the growing level of competition good for the youth? -2014
- Literacy is growing very fast, but there is no corresponding growth in education. -1996
- Is an egalitarian society possible by educating the masses ? -2008
- What is real education? -2005
- “Education for all” campaign in India: myth or reality. -2006
- Restructuring of Indian education system. -1995
- Privatization of higher education in India. -2002
- Credit – based higher education system – status, opportunities and challenges -2011
- Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication (सरलता चरम परिष्करण है ) -2020
- Ships don’t sink because of water around them ships sink because of water that gets into them (जहाज अपने चारों तरफ के पानी के वजह से नहीं डूबा करते, जहाज पानी के अंदर समां जाने की वजह से डूबता हैं ) -2020
- Life is a long journey between human being and being humane. (मनुष्य होने और मानव बनने के बीच का लम्बा सफर ही जीवन है)-2020
- Values are not what humanity is, but what humanity ought to be -2019
- Best for an individual is not necessarily best for the society -2019
- Courage to accept and dedication to improve are two keys to success -2019
- Wisdom finds truth -2019
- A people that values its privileges above its principles loses both. -2018
- Customary morality cannot be a guide to modem file. -2018
- Need brings greed, if greed increases it spoils breed. -2016
- Character of an institution is reflected in its leader. -2015
- With greater power comes greater responsibility. -2014
- Words are sharper than the two-edged sword. -2014
- Attitude makes, habit makes character and character makes a man. -2007
- He would reigns within himself and folds his passions and desires and fears is more than a king. -1993
- Mindful manifesto is the catalyst to a tranquil self (विचारपरक संकल्प स्वयं के शांतचित्त रहने का उत्प्रेरक है )-2020
- ‘The past’ is a permanent dimension of human consciousness and values. -2018
- A good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. -2018
- There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. -2003
- Disinterested intellectual curiosity is the lifeblood of civilisation. -1995
- Joy is the simplest form of gratitude. -2017
- Compassion is the basic of all morality of the world -1993
- Lending hands to someone is better than giving a dole. -2015
- Be the change you want to see in others (Gandhi)-2013
- Reality does not conform to the ideal, but confirms it. -2018
- Truth is lived, not taught -1996
- When money speaks, the truth is silent. -1995
- Search for truth can only be a spiritual problem. -2002
- Discipline means success, anarchy means ruin -2008
- Youth is a blunder, manhood a struggle, old age a regret -1994
- If youth knew, if age could. -2002
- Youth culture today. -1999
- Fifty Golds in Olympics: Can this be a reality for India? -2014
- Quick but steady wins the race. -2015
- Useless life is an early death. -1994
- Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds. -1995
- The paths of glory lead but to the grave. -2002
- The pursuit of excellence. -2001
- Greater political power alone will not improve women’s plight. -1997
- Women’s reservation bill would usher in empowerment for women in India. -2006
- The new emerging women power: the ground realities. -1995
- If women ruled the world -2005
- The hand that rocks the cradle -2005
- Patriarchy is the least noticed yet the most significant structure of social inequality (पितृ-सत्ता की व्यवस्था नजर मैं बहुत काम आने के बावजूद सामाजिक विषमता की सबसे प्रभावी संरचना है) -2020
- Fulfilment of ‘new woman’ in India is a myth. -2017
- If development is not engendered, it is endangered. -2016
- Whither women’s emancipation? -2004
- Empowerment alone cannot help our women. -2001
- Women empowerment: challenges and prospects. -1999
- Woman is god’s best creation. -1998
- Men have failed: let women take over. -1993
- Managing work and home – is the Indian working woman getting a fair deal ?-2012
- South Asian societies are woven not around the state, but around their plural cultures and plural identities. -2019
- Geography may remain the same ; history need not. -2010
- Modernisation and westernisation are not identical concepts. -1994
- ‘globalization’ vs. ‘nationalism’ -2009
- National identity and patriotism -2008
- Globalizations and its impact on Indian culture. -2004
- The masks of new imperialism. -2003
- As civilization advances culture declines. -2003
- The implications of globalization for India. -2000
- My vision of an ideal world order. -2001
- India’s contribution to world wisdom. -1998
- The world of the twenty-first century. -1998
- Preparedness of our society for India’s global leadership role. -2010
- Technology as the silent factor in international relations (अंतर्राष्ट्रीय संबंधों मैं मौन करक के रूप मैं प्रौद्योगिकी) -2020
- Has the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) lost its relevance in a multipolar world ? -2017
- Restructuring of UNO reflect present realities -1996
- The global order: political and economic -1993
- India’s role in promoting ASEAN co-operation. -2004
- Importance of Indo-US nuclear agreement -2006
- Management of Indian border dispute is a complex task. -2018
- In the Indian context , both human intelligence and technical intelligence are crucial in combating terrorism -2011
- Are we a ‘soft’ state ? -2009
- Good fences make good neighbours -2009
- Is autonomy the best answer to combat balkanization? -2007
- Terrorism and world peace -2005
- True religion cannot be misused. -1997
- Spirituality and scientific temper. -2003
- Science and Mysticism : Are they compatible ?-2012
- Modern technological education and human values. -2002
- Value-based science and education. -1999
- The march of science and the erosion of human values. -2001
- Rise of Artificial Intelligence: the threat of jobless future or better job opportunities through reskilling and upskilling. -2019
- ‘Social media’ is inherently a selfish medium. -2017
- Cyberspace and Internet : Blessing or curse to the human civilization in the long run -2016
- Increasing computerization would lead to the creation of a dehumanized society. -2006
- The cyberworld: its charms and challenges. -2000
- Computer: the harbinger of silent revolution. -1993
- Technology cannot replace manpower. -2015
- Science and technology is the panacea for the growth and security of the nation-2013
- The modern doctor and his patients. -1997
- The lure of space. -2004
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73 comments.
Thank you sir, Please also upload for other subject (GS 1, 2,3,4) It will be a great help
Thank you sir
UPSC solved essay papers
Essay paper download
Thank you sir please provide essay question paper PDF
Thank you so much sir
How to downloded
is essay upsc allowed written in nepali medium ?
Thank You Sir!!
Hii download kese karana he
Need to download
it is arranged nicely, Thank you sir
Where is the link plz help me
Sir,from where we can get model answers (for general idea )of this previous year asked essays. Thanks for sharing above information.
Pl. Send more info.
Great efforts
Sir plz share pvq questions
really amazing guide
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Daily Current Affairs MCQs for UPSC Prelims : 2nd March 2023
MCQ Practice (CA) - March 2nd 2023
Total Questions - 10
Marks for Each Correct Answer - 2 Marks
Negative Marks for Incorrect Answer - (-0.66) Marks
Considering the difficulty of the Questions, marks above 8 + are good.
Attempt Limit - 1
- It was enacted to regulate the acceptance and utilization of foreign contributions in India.
- Only NGOs and societies are required to register under the FCRA.
Choose the correct option:
Deselect Answer
- It is an independent body, which serves as a representative of private television news, current affairs and digital broadcasters.
- It is funded entirely by its members.
- Being a government/legal organization, its rulings are legally binding within the industry.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
- Under Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, any person who left the country and refused to face criminal prosecution can be declared as a Fugitive Economic Offenders
- The Main Objective of the Fugitive Economic offenders act is to confiscate all the assets of the Fugitive economic offenders
- Fugitive Economic offenders Act bars Economic Offenders from filing civil claims
Which of the statements given above are correct?
- Article 46- Promotion of educational and economic interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections
- Article 30- Right to conserve the distinct language, script or culture.
- Article 350 A- Instruction in Mother tongue at the primary stage
How many pairs are correctly matched?
- S- 400 is a surface- air missile system designed and developed by DRDO
- The S-400 air defense system is universal for destroying all types of aerodynamic targets and ballistic missiles with a launch range of up to 3,000 - 3,500 km.
Which of the above statements above is/are correct?
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UPSC EPFO Recruitment 2023 Apply Online: EPFO Recruitment 2023 Syllabus
UPSC EPFO (Union Public Service Commission Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation) is a competitive exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to recruit candidates for the post of Enforcement Officer/ Accounts Officer in the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). The EPFO is a statutory body under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India. The role of an Enforcement Officer/ Accounts Officer in the EPFO is to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
UPSC EPFO 2023 Recruitment Process
The recruitment process for the post of Enforcement Officer/ Accounts Officer in the EPFO consists of a written exam followed by an interview. The written exam is conducted by UPSC and comprises two papers – Paper I and Paper II. Paper I is an objective-type exam that tests candidates’ knowledge of General English, General Knowledge, and Quantitative Aptitude. Paper II is a descriptive-type exam that tests candidates’ knowledge of the EPF Act, 1952, and the schemes under it.
Candidates who qualify in the written exam are called for an interview, which is conducted by the EPFO. The interview tests candidates’ knowledge of the EPF Act, 1952, and their understanding of the job responsibilities of an Enforcement Officer/ Accounts Officer in the EPFO.
UPSC EPFO Recruitment 2023 Apply Online
Looking for a government job in the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)? Here’s some great news for you! The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has recently released a recruitment notification for a total of 577 vacancies, which includes 418 vacancies for Enforcement Officer (EO)/Accounts Officer (AO) and 159 vacancies for Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner (APFC) in EPFO.
As per the UPSC EPFO Recruitment 2023, 204 vacancies for EO/AO are unreserved, while 57 are reserved for SC, 28 for ST, 78 for OBC, and 51 for PWD candidates. Similarly, out of the 159 APFC vacancies, 68 are unreserved, while 25 are reserved for SC, 12 for ST, 38 for OBC, and 16 for PWD candidates.
UPSC EPFO Apply Online 2023
The application process for the UPSC EPFO Recruitment 2023 has already started from 25 February 2023, and the last date for submission of the application form is 17 March 2023. To apply, candidates must follow the steps outlined below and apply via upsconline.nic.in.
As part of the application process, candidates must complete a one-time registration process. Once registered, candidates can submit their applications by logging in with their allotted registration number and password. Once the application is submitted, candidates should print and save a hard copy for future reference.
So, hurry up and in 2023, UPSC EPFO apply online via the official website of UPSC, upsc.gov.in. Download the notification for further details.
UPSC EPFO Selection Process 2023
The selection process for UPSC EPFO 2023 involves two phases, which are outlined below:
Recruitment Test (RT): Pen and Paper-Based
- The UPSC EPFO Recruitment Test (RT) will be conducted in pen and paper-based format. Candidates who qualify for the recruitment test will be eligible for the interview round. The date and other details regarding the interview will be announced on the official website in due course. The final selection of a candidate will be based on the marks obtained in the Recruitment Test and Interview. Interview 2. Candidates who qualify for the recruitment test will be called for an interview. The interview will carry a weightage of 25% in the final selection process.
UPSC EPFO Recruitment 2023 Syllabus
The EPFO recruitment 2023 syllabus broadly comprises the following topics:- i) General English- To evaluate candidate’s understanding of English language & workman like use of words. ii) Indian Freedom Struggle. iii) Current Events and Developmental Issues. iv) Indian Polity & Economy. v) General Accounting Principles. vi) Industrial Relations & Labour Laws. vii) General Science & knowledge of Computer applications. viii) General Mental Ability & Quantitative Aptitude. ix) Social Security in India.
UPSC EPFO 2023 Exam Preparation
Here are some tips to help you prepare for the UPSC EPFO exam:
- Understand the UPSC exam pattern: Understanding the exam pattern is essential to know the type of questions, the duration of the exam, and the marking scheme. This will help you plan your preparation accordingly.
- Study the syllabus: Go through the syllabus thoroughly and make a study plan. Divide your time equally between each subject and try to cover all topics.
- Practice previous year question papers: Practicing previous year question papers is one of the best ways to prepare for the exam. It will give you an idea of the type of questions asked in the exam, and you can also gauge your preparation level.
- Read newspapers and magazines: Keeping yourself updated with current affairs is essential for the UPSC EPFO exam. Read newspapers and magazines regularly to stay updated.
- Take mock tests: Taking mock tests will help you assess your preparation level and identify your strengths and weaknesses. It will also help you manage time effectively during the UPSC exam.
The UPSC EPFO exam is a highly competitive exam, and candidates need to prepare well to crack it. Understanding the exam pattern, studying the syllabus, practicing previous year question papers, keeping yourself updated with current affairs, and taking mock tests are some of the essential tips to prepare for the exam. With dedication, hard work, and a strategic study plan, candidates can crack the UPSC EPFO exam and land their dream job as an Enforcement Officer/ Accounts Officer in the EPFO.

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Syllabus & Strategy. UPSC Prelims Syllabus; GS Prelims Strategy; Prelims Analysis; Previous Years Papers. GS Paper-I (Year Wise) GS Paper-I (Subject Wise) CSAT. CSAT Strategy; ... Essay Strategy. Home; Essay Strategy; filter Hide Menu. Essay Writing for Civil Services Examination. 13 Aug 2018; More Links. Prelims Test Series 2022;
What UPSC says about the essay paper "Candidates may be required to write essays on multiple topics. They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay, to arrange their ideas in an orderly fashion, and to write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression."
Structure your essay properly. Have an introduction, body and a conclusion. In the body, you must write about both sides of view as illustrated below: Keep your language simple with short sentences and small paragraphs. Mention examples, government schemes and plans in your essay.
WEEKLY UPSC IAS ESSAY WRITING CHALLENGE Following are the topics on which our followers have written (and writing essays) every Sunday to hone their essay writing skills. The topics are chosen based on UPSC previous year topics. Writing one essay on each Sunday will help you get better marks in this paper. ESSAY STRATEGY by Topper - Rank 1 CSE 2017
How to Prepare for Essay in UPSC Civil Service Exam? Read many good essays and articles. This will give you a feel of what constitutes a well-written essay. Build a habit of reading newspaper editorials every day. Essay questions are many times asked from current affairs.
Topper's Strategy: How to prepare and score good in UPSC IAS Mains Essay Paper? 1. [Strategy-Essay Paper and Resources] Abhishesk Surana Rank 10 CSE 2017 [ Click Here] 2. [Strategy- How to Ace the Essay Paper in UPSC Mains? UPSC IAS RANK 292 Arushi shares how she managed 141 [ Click Here] Buy IAS Books Click here to Buy IAS Books →
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Essay Strategy In one way or the other your fate with UPSC is decided by the most unpredictable component of the syllabus i.e. the ESSAY. Ask your seniors, your peers or even your teachers and no one can come up with a concrete strategy to prepare for essays.
UPSC CSE 2021: AIR 17 Sarthak Agrawal's step-by-step strategy for essay paper Essay is the one paper for which you will find excellent advice all over the internet - mostly on university websites - so make sure to look at them instead of just relying on the typical UPSC resources, says Agrawal New Delhi I | Updated: December 6, 2021 12:04 IST
Essay Strategy for UPSC Mains. In UPSC Mains examination, the essay paper plays a very vital role. This paper carries a total of 250 marks. Initially, the candidates were asked to write only 1 essay in 3 hours till 2013, but after the change in UPSC syllabus, the challenge is now of writing 2 essays in 3 hours on diverse topics.
For good flow in your essay, you can plan beforehand by devoting the initial half hour to deciding the structure and content of your essay. Also, practice helps. 5) Some important but oft-repeated points: Try to cover as many dimensions as possible.
There are two sections - Section A and Section B each of which has four topics of essays. Out of these, candidates can select one topic from each section to write an essay. Candidates can select the topic of their choice from a choice of four topics. The UPSC Essay Paper is for a total of 250 marks with one essay for 125 marks.
Essay Writing Strategy for UPSC CSE 2022 Exam by UPSC Topper AIR 2 Jagrati Awasthi Let's Crack UPSC CSE 67K views 1 year ago Civil Services Exam | Top Scorer in Essay Paper | By Apurva...
UPSC Essay Writing Strategy. By Marketing. Share. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter LinkedIn Email. Out of 9 papers of UPSC Mains, the essay paper is one of those comprising of 250 marks. In the essay paper, you will have to write two bases of word count 1000-1200, and each essay Writing is for 125 marks. Writing essays in the UPSC exam as a ...
UPSC conducted the Essay Paper, as part of the Civil Services Main Exam 2021 on 07-01-2022. There were 8 Essay topics, out of which candidates were asked to write on two topics in 3 hours. Candidates were supposed to answer about 1000 words for each essay (about 10-12 pages). Essay Paper UPSC 2021 Instructions.
UPSC Essay Strategy of IAS Topper: T. Prateek Rao of 2021 Batch Essay Paper Comprise 250 marks in UPSC Mains Exam. Essay Writing is a gateway to your thought process. What you write on paper will tell the examiner how you think, how you argue and the way you put forth your viewpoint.
Although I did follow strategy of Vision IAS, I also finalized some basics at my end, basis my own experience writing essay over the years. They are as follows -. Introduction, Body, Conclusion - as the basic format. 10 pages per essay - 110-120 words per page. 1-2 page introduction and body linkage, 7-8 page of Body with 5-6 ideas, 1/2 - 1 ...
UPSC-CSM20-Essay: Section-B Topic wise Essays of last 28 years (1993-2020) 1 India: Democracy, administration, Society, culture 1.1 India Since Independence 1.2 Federalism, Decentralization 1.3 Administration 1.4 Judiciary 1.5 Poverty, Social Justice 1.6 Indian Society, Culture and Values 1.7 Media, TV & Cinema 2 Economy, Development
For Polity Course - Download Bookstawa App [ ANDROID ]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.loki.ylnopIn Indian Polity Course for UPSC on Booksta...
MCQ Practice (CA) - March 2nd 2023. Total Questions - 10. Marks for Each Correct Answer - 2 Marks. Negative Marks for Incorrect Answer - (-0.66) Marks. Considering the difficulty of the Questions, marks above 8 + are good.
The application process for the UPSC EPFO Recruitment 2023 has already started from 25 February 2023, and the last date for submission of the application form is 17 March 2023. To apply, candidates must follow the steps outlined below and apply via upsconline.nic.in. As part of the application process, candidates must complete a one-time ...