(Download) UPSC IAS Mains Exam 2024 - English Compulsory

(Download) CS (MAIN) EXAM:2024 English Compulsory

Exam Name: CS (MAIN) EXAM:2024 English Compulsory
Marks: 250
Time Allowed : Three Hours

Year : 2024

1. Write an essay in about 600 words on any one of the following topics : 100 

(a) Paper books  are more attractive than their electronic formats.
(b) Ethics  in sports.
(c) War as a policy instrument for nations today.
(d) There is no place like home.

2. Read the passage given below carefully and write your answers to the questions that follow in clear, correct and concise language : 15x5=75 

British rule in India was a relationship of  economic and political domination between an imperial power and its colony. It was based on conquest, consolidated after several wars and followed economic policies designed to serve British interests. Both the parties knew it was unequal, exploitative and based on force. As such it raised moral questions and needed justification. Their self-respect, sense of morality and morale required the British to convince themselves that they were right to rule over India. In order to ensure  its orderly  and continued existence and secure the co-operation and support of the Indians without whom they simply could not run the country, they also needed to convince their subjects that British rule was in their 'real' interest. It was, of course, possible for them to justify it to themselves in one way and to their subjects in another. However, they knew that such a strategy was open to the charge of inconsistency, even hypocrisy, and inherently precarious.

In order to achieve the dual objective of justifying their rule to themselves and their subjects in a single and consistent language, the British needed to show that they had something  to give  to  the  Indians  which  the  latter  badly  needed,  were  unable  to acquire unaided and was so precious as to compensate for whatever economic and political price they were required to pay. The logic of justification  required a perfect match between  British gifts and Indian needs,  the British  strength  and the Indian deficiency. Following the fashion of the time the British wrapped their gifts in the' language  of  civilisation,  which  had  latterly  replaced Christianity. as the  unifying principle in Europe, taken over its .universalist and proselytising  mission  and built  : up an ambiguous and uneasy relationship  with it. Although modem civilisation was a co-operative European product, the British role iri its creation and dissemination was considerable. They were one of the first toindustrialise themselves, more or less to recast their religion, ways of life and thought and major political,  economic and other institutions in the light of the dominant liberal culture and to roam all over the world. as if possessed by its inherently restless and universal spirit. They claimed to 'represent'  or 'embody'   it to a greater degree than  any  other  country  and  saw themselves  as its transcendentally  or historically. accredited  'vehicle'.

Since their civilisation had in their view attained the highest possible level of human existence  and cultivated capacities  which  all men  qua men ought to develop, they had no doubt that it was universally  desirable. All societies  had a common  destiny and destination, namely  to become civilised in the British way and were to achieve this destiny by the same route. Hence the more 'advanced' among them, that is, those whose journey  had brought  them  closer  to the  uni_versal destination,  provided  the models for and had the moral duty to guide those who had not yet started, became stuck,  were  proceeding  in  a wrong  direction  or  at  an  extremely  slow  pace.  The British could not show that they represented  the highest level of civilisation without so defining  it that  it broadly  corresponded  to their  own ways  of life and thought. Like all ideological  systems  they abstracted,  reified  and absolutised  the distinctive features of their ways of life arid thought and presented them as a universal norm for evaluating all societies, including their own. Their facts became values for others, an illicit  logical  move  lying  at  the  heart  of  every  ideology.  Other  societies  were therefore always deficient  whereas the British was necessarily  more or less perfect.

The British argued that they had brought to India the unique and most precious  gift of civilisation.  Since this civilisation  was deemed to be universally  desirable,  India. obviously needed it. All they had to do was show that India lacked it and was unable to acquire  it unaided.  Unlike  some of the other British  colonies  India had a well- developed   literati   tradition, a   long   history   of   civic   life   and   considerable philosophical,  artistic, scientific and other achievements.  Since these were supposed. to be some of the indices  of civilisation,  obviously  it could not be contemptuously dismissed  as uncivilised.  Some British writers  and leaders  did so dismiss  it; most, however, acknowledged  its great achievements,  but contended  that they were all in the past and did not redeem  its contemporary  degeneration.  Its social structure  and practices   were  oppressive,   unjust   and  sometimes   inhuman;   its  religions   were incomprehensible,   replete   with  meaningless   rituals,  polytheist,   lacking• a  single authoritative text, and not really religions in the 'proper'  sense of the term; its modes. of thought  were  'mystical  and mythological'   and largely  irrational;  and its people were   emotional,   excitable,   undisciplined,   unambitious,   lacking   in  self-control, unreliable  and  very  like  women  and  children.  The  British  view  of  India  did,  of course, change over time, largely as a result of their increased knowledge  of its past and  the  changes   in  their   conceptions   of  themselves   and  the  yardsticks   they employed. Throughout  their rule, however,  they continued  to think of it as neither wholly uncivilised nor fully civilised but 'semi-civilised'   or 'only half-civilised',  and of the Indians as a moderately  talented people who needed to be disciplined,  guided and trained inthe  ways  of civilisation. 

(a)   Enumerate  the agenda  of the British rule  in India.
(b)   Comment on the role of the British in spreading the idea of modern civilization.
(c)   Explain the statement  " ..... their civilization,  in their view attained the highest possible  level of human  existence  ....."
(d)   What made the British think that they gave India a precious gift of civilization?
(e)   According to the passage, the British changed their views about India over a period of time. Why ?

3. Make a precis of the following passage in about one-third of its length. Do not give or suggest  a title to it. The precis  should be written  in your own words: 75

The  mad  rat race  among  nations  over the  globe  for development  jeopardised  the health of man itself. Progress in agriculture and industry is taken a general criterion of development  of any country. This  craze resulted  into  unlimited  exploitation  of every bit of natural resource.  The splendid plentifulness  of nature  is a heritage that should be conserved  for future generations  and riot be spoiled.

Such activities  of man had  adverse  effect on all forms  of living  organisms  in the biosphere. The earth planet alongwith the atmosphere  (air, land, water) that sustains life is called the biosphere. Biosphere extends into about 7 km of the earth surface itself  'downward into the oceanto depths of about 10-67 km and vertically into the air to about 10 km, where life is found to exist.

Unlimited  exploitation  of nature  by man disturbed  the delicate  ecological  balance between   living   and  non-living   component   of  the  biosphere.   The  unfavorable conditions  created by man himse]f threatened  the survival not only of man himself but' also other living  organisms.  The number  of the species  likely to become rare,threatened,  endangered  or near  extinction  in the  Red  Data  Book  of the IUCN  is increasing  with time. It is very' common to find warnings  at public  places, reading as "Air unfit for breathing",  "Water unfit for drinking", "Do not eat fish caught here" and so on.

India today  is one of the first ten industrialised  countries  of the world.  Today we have  a  good  industrial  infrastructure   in  core  industries   like  metals,  chemicals, fertilisers, petroleum,  food etc. What has come out of these?  Pesticides, detergents, plastics,  solvents, fuels, paints, dyes, food additives etc. are some examples. Due to progress  in' atomic  energy, there  has  also been  an increase  in radioactivity  in the biosphere.  Besides these,  there  are a number  of industrial  effluents  and emissions particularly  poisonous  gases in the atmosphere.  Mining  activities  also added to this problem  particularly  as solid waste.

Thus, pollution  is a necessary  evil of all development.  Due to lack of development of  a culture  of pollution  control,  there  has resulted  a heavy  backlog  of gaseous,liquid and solid pollution  in our country. It is to be cleaned. Thus pollution  control in our country is a recent environmental  concern. Not only in India, but in developed Western  World also, pollution  is a scare-word.  Pollution  is a man-made  problem, mainly  of effluent countries.  The developed  countries  have been  in a mad race  to exploit every bit of natural  resource  to convert them  into goods  for their  comfort, and  to  export  them  to  needy  developing  world.  In  doing  so,  the  industrialised countries dump lot of materials in their environment which becomes polluted. In one way pollution  has been  in fact "exported"  to developing  countries.

What is pollution?  Pollution  is an undesirable  change in the physical,  chemical or biological  characteristics  of air, water and soil that may harmfully  affect the life or create  a potential  health  hazard  of any living organism. Pollution  is thus direct  or indirect  change  in  any  component  of the  biosphere  that  is  harmful  to  the  living component(s),   and   in  particular   undesirable   for  man,   affecting   adversely   the industrial  progress,  cultural and natural  assets or general  environment.

What are pollutants?  Any substance which causes pollution  is called a pollutant. A pollutant may thus include any chemical or geochemical  (dust, sediment, grit etc.) substance, biotic component  or its product, or physical factor (heat) that is released intentionally  by man  into  the environment  in  such a concentration  that may .have adverse  harmful  or unpleasant  effects. A  pollutant  has  also been  defined  as "any solid, liquid or gaseous substance  present in such concentration  as may. be or tend to be injurious to the environment".  Pollutants  are the residues  of things we make, use and throwaway.  There are many sources of such pollutants. •The lakes and rivers are polluted  by wastes  from chemical  and other factories,  and the air by gases of automobile  exhausts,  industries,  thermal power plants  etc.

There has grown  up a serious  concern  all over the world  about the rivers  turning murky, fish rotting on sea shores, trees withering, cities choking with foul air, toxic chemicals   being   cycled   into  food  stuffs  and  disease   epidemics   appearing   so frequently. (697 words  approximately)

4.(a) Rewrite the following sentences after making necessary corrections. Do not make unnecessary changes in the original sentence : 1x10=10 

4.(a)(i) Little learning is dangerous thing.

4.(a)(ii) You are requested to kindly grant me leave ..

4.(a)(iii) Could you please advised me what I should do.

4.(a)(iv) I envied he his success.

4.(a)(v) If people feel good of coming to work, they will work better.

4.(a)(vi) How terribly sad?

4.(a)(vii) Spanish is more Widelyused outside of Europe.  (Add a question tag)

4.(a)(viii) He played the piano one night in the village hall.

4.(a) (ix) Many a men has succumbed to this temptation.

4.(a)(x) If she gets the right grades, she'd go to university.

4.(b) Supply the missing words : 1x5=5 

4.(b) Supply the missing  words: 

4.(b)(i) Don't  walk _________ the grass.

4.(b)(ii) I lived in Uttarakhand _________ five years.

4.(b) (iii)  He stood tall _________ all his friends in the college.

4.(b)(iv) The cat jumped _________ the well to escape  from the dog.

4.(b)(v) She walked _________ the forest to reach her village.

4.(c) Use the correct form of the verb given  in brackets :1x5=5
4.(c)(i) Two plus two _________ four. (make)
4.(c)(ii) We need rain, the garden  _________  so dry.  (be)
4.(c)(iii) She _________  with a baby  girl last week. (bless, passive voice)  .
4.(c)(iv) I just _________  even talking  to him. (bear)
4.(c)(v) _________ you just  shut up for a minute! (can)
 
4.(d) Write the antonyms  of the following: 1x5=5

4.(d)(i) Optimist
4.(d)(ii) Gali
4.(d)(iii) Zest
4.(d)(iv) Profit
4.(d)(v) Quick

5.(a) Rewrite the following sentences as directed without changing the meaning : 1x10=10 

5.(a)(i) The mangoes  are too cheap to be good. (Remove 'too')
5.(a)(ii) The French surrendered  Quebec  to the English  in  1759. (Change the Voice) 
5.(a)(iii) Mumbai  is richer  than most  other cities in India. (Use superlative degree)  
5.(a)(iv) What though we happen to be late?   (Change  to Assertive)
5.(a)(v) He betrayed  his  country, and this was  to his  eternal  disgrace.(Change to simple sentence)
5.(a)(vi) I spent two days in Cox's Bazar. It is one of the most attractive spots in Bangladesh. (Combine by using a phrase in opposition)
5.(a)(vii) The soldiers arrived. The mob dispersed. (Combine by using a Nominative Absolute Construction)
5.(a)(viii) Newton  discovered  that  the  force  of gravitation  made  apples  fall.(Sequences of Tenses)
5.(a)(ix) Rama said to Arjuna, 'Go  away'.(Use indirect  speech) 
5.(a)(x) Everyone  should do his duty. (Concord)

5.(b) Use the following words to make sentences that bring out their meaning clearly. Do not change the form of the words. (No marks will be given for vague and ambiguous sentences) : 1x555 

5.(b)(i) Speculate 
5.(b)(ii) Inquisitive 
5.(b)(iii) Forbearance 
5.(b)(iv) Nocturnal 
5.(b)(v) Ineffectually

5.(c) Choose the appropriate word to fill in the blanks : 1x5=5 

5.(c)(i) The terrorists made it known that tourists  would be . (target/targeted) 
S.(c)(ii) I'll  see you six.(round/around)
S.(c)(iii) How much would it cost to re-lay the lawns? It'll  cost (thousand/thousands)
S.(c)(iv)  She was forced to have her baby  . (adopted/adapted)
S.(c)(v) My responsibilities were to organise the campaign, co-ordinate the regional branches, for.volunteers,  and raise funds. (canvas/canvass)

5.(d) Use the following idioms / phrases in sentences of your own to bring out their meaning clearly : 1x5=5 

5.(d)(i) knock off
5.(d)(ii) bite off more  than one can chew'
5.(d)(iii) fair and square
5.(d)(iv) by the skin of your teeth
5.(d)(v) easier said than done

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