(Download) UPSC IAS Mains 2010 : English (Compulsory Paper)

ENGLISH (COMPULSORY)
Time Allowed : Three hours
Maximum Marks : 300

QUESTION PAPER SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS

1. Write an essay in about 300 words on any one of the following:

a. Increasing consumerism in the middle class in India are traditional forms of protest no longer effective?
b. The nuclear civil liability bill
c. To feed our increasing population , forest areas need to be cleared to increase land area available for cultivation. Do you agree?
d. Need to check politicization of sports bodies in India

2. Read the following passage carefully & based on it, answer the questions given below it in clear , correct & concise language.

According to the findings of recent government survey there are an estimated of 3.3 million registered NGOs working in the country – one for every 400 Indians . not only has the number of NGOs in India risen dramatically but so has their influence. In some of India’s flagship development efforts – the national rural employment guarantee act, the national rural health mission, the right to education or even the draft right to food act – NGOs have been at forefront both in formulating in these laws & policies & in implementing them. NGOs have helped voice the concerns of some of the India’s most vulnerable groups & focus the attention of the government on critical, social & development issues. They have also spearheaded efforts to expose corruption & maladministration in government bringing in much needed transparency.

But despite the growing influence of NGOs in India today, we know very little about them, their structure, activities, sources of funding & more importantly, how accountable they are to the people they represent. This is alarming given the crores of rupees in development aid that NGOs receive from the government & from donors every year. Ironically, though NGOs have been watchdogs of the government for many years there has been little regulation or monitoring of their own activities. Leading many to ask a very fundamental question : who watches the watchers?

Interestingly , although India has probably the world’s highest NGOs population , the debate on NGO accountability is still in its nascent stages. Across the world NGOs have been experimenting with different ways of addressing the issue of accountability ; Indian NGOs would do well by learning from these efforts . for example , NGOs in Kenya are legally required to comply with code of conduct for NGOs developed by the national council of NGOs a self regulatory body set up under the NGO coordination act in 1990. the code ensures that NGOs comply with basic ethical & governance standards. Similarly in Uganda, the NGO quality assurance mechanism (QuAM) certifies NGO against a set of quality standards designed to ensure NGO credibility. In chile, chile transparent has developed transparency standards for NGOs which require organizations to establish online information about their mission , vision, activities, staff, details of funding etc.

Questions:

a. What are India’s important development schemes?
b. How do NGOs help ‘vulnerable groups’ in India?
c. What do we know about structure , activities & sources of funding of NGOs in India?
d. Whom does authors describes as watchers? Why?
e. How do the NGOs in other nations deal with the issue of accountability?

3. Make a precise of the following passage in about 210 – 230 words .

Failure to write within the stipulated word limit may result in deduction of marks. The precise must be written on the separate precise sheets provided which must be then fastened securely inside the answer book.

In many respects sakuntala is comparable to the more idyllic comedies of Shakespeare, & kanva’s hermitage is surely not far from the forest of arden. The plot of the play, like many of the Shakespeare plot, depends much on happy chances & on the super-natural , which, of course, was quite acceptable to the audience for which kalidasa wrote. Its characters , even to the minor ones , are happily delineated individuals . kalidasa makes no pretence to realism, but his dialogue is fresh & vigorous . in fact the dialogue of the better Sanskrit plays generally seems based on vernacular, & is full of idiomatic expressions. Indian playgoers did not demand the conflict of feelings & emotions which is the chief substance of serious European drama , but kalidasa was quite capable of portraying such conflict effectively. His beauties & merits are tarnished by any translation, but few who can read him in the original would doubt that, both as poet & dramatist , he was one of the great men of the world.

There were many other dramatist . sudraka , probably kalidasa’s approximate contemporary , has left only one play “the little clay cart” (Mricchakatika) . this is the most realistic of Indian dramas , unraveling a complicated story , rich in humor & pathos & crowded with action , of the love of a poor Brahman , charudatta, for the virtuous courtesan vasantasena; this story is interwoven with one of political intrigue, leading up to the overthrow of the wicked king palaka, & the play contains a vivid trial scene, after which the hero is saved from execution at the last moment. It is notable for its realistic depiction of city life , & for its host of minor characters, all of whom are drawn with skill & individuality. It has more than once been performed in translation on the European stage, &, to a western audience, is certainly the most easily appreciated of Indian plays.

Vishakadutta was the dramatist of politics. His only complete surviving play, “the ministers signet ring” (mudrarakshasa) deals with the schemes of the wily chanakya to foil the plots of rakshasa, the minister of the last of the nandas, & to place chandragupta maurya firmly on the throne. The plot is exceedingly complicated , but is worked out with great skill , & play is beautifully constructed to lead up, like “the little clay cart” , to a pathetic scene where one of the chief characters is saved from death by impalement at the last movement .

Second only to kalidasa in the esteem of the critics was bhavabhuti , who lived at kanyakubja in the early 8th c. three of his plays – malati & madhava , deeds of the great hero (mahaviracharita) & the later deeds of rama (uttararamacharita). The first is the love story with the pseudo-realistic background , full of incident of an exciting or horrific type, in which the heroine is more than one rescued from death , while the two latter plays tell the story of rama . by western standards as a dramatist bhavabhuti falls short of those we have mentioned earlier . his plots are weakly constructed & his characters lack individuality. His greatness rests on his deep understanding of sorrow; in his treatment of the pathetic & the terrible he perhaps excels kalidasa.

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4. (a) Rewrite the following sentences after making necessary corrections , if any:

1. I live half of a mile from here.
2. do you like music? I like.
3. do you like some more coffee
4. he worked like a waiter for two years.
5. like what does she look?
6. I know him since 1960.
7. I wasn’t use to drive big car.
8. he suggested me to try the main car park
9. I have never met so nice person
10. too many mathematics is taught in schools.

(b) Rewrite the following sentences inserting suitable article(s) , wherever necessary.

(i) My grandfather has hard life
(ii) She hit him in stomach
(iii) Queen had dinner with president
(iv) My friend is in hospital.

(c) Rewrite the following sentences inserting suitable prepositions in the blank spaces.

(i) I am angry ____ her ____ lying.
(ii) I was red ____ at his remarks
(iii) Could you explain this rule ____ me please?
(iv) People have always been kind ____ me.

(d) give the antonyms of the following adjectives.

(i) Common
(ii) Loyal
(iii) Formal
(iv) Mature
(v) Sensitive.

5. (a) Rewrite the following using passive structure.

(i) She gave her sister the car
(ii) I had already shown the suspect’s photograph to the policewomen
(iii) They believe him to be dangerous
(iv) They made him tell them everything
(v) They elected me president.

(b) Change the following sentence into indirect speech.

(i) He wrote in his letter , “ I saw poonam at the theater a couple of days ago”.
(ii) The forecast says , “it will rain tomorrow”
(iii) He said to me , “it would be nice if I could see you again”.
(iv) I said, “if I had any money I’d buy you a drink “
(v) The teacher said, “why don’t you work harder?”.

(c) Rewrite the following sentences , changing them into simple ones.

(i) I wonder who I should invite
(ii) Show him what he should do
(iii) She couldn’t decide whether she should answer his letter.
(iv) He dint know where he should park his car.
(v) Tell me why I should pay

(d) Add a question tag at the end of each of the following sentences. 5.

(i) Pooja can speak french
(ii) The meeting is at ten
(iii) You dint speak to mohan
(iv) She wouldn’t like a pet
(v) Harish gave you a cheque

(e) Rewrite the following sentences using ‘it’ in the beginning as a preparatory subject. 5

(i) To make mistakes is easy
(ii) To wait for people who were late made him angry
(iii) My ambition was to retire at thirty
(iv) Your task is to get across the river without being seen
(v) For you to ask Ramesh would be a big mistake.

(E-Book) UPSC MAINS English (Compulsory) Question Papers (2009-2020) PDF

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