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NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra points in the form of background information.
General Studies – 1
Topic: Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
Difficulty level: Tough
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
A copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a Parker pen, a Gandhi ‘topi’ (cap) and a ‘tulsi mala’ are some of personal effects of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai that will make their way to the Museum of Prime Ministers set to be inaugurated a few weeks later.
Key Demand of the question:
To understand and highlight the follow up challenge of demographic dividend i.e. high old-age dependency ratio and suggest steps to account for it in policymaking.
Directive word:
Elaborate – Give a detailed account as to how and why it occurred, or what is the context. You must be defining key terms wherever appropriate and substantiate with relevant associated facts.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Give a brief about Morarji Desai and his contribution to India’s freedom struggle.
Body:
Write about the achievements of Morarji Desai in post independent India – battling emergency, stabilising after emergency and undoing its wrong, providing alternative to congress, Against Inequality etc.
Next, write about his efforts as a peace activist – efforts to initiate peace between, Pakistan and India, restoring friendly relations with China and Pakistan and vowed to avoid armed conflict.
Conclusion:
Conclude by summarising his contributions.
Introduction
Morarji Desai was the 4th Prime Minister (1977-79) and the first non-Congress Prime Minister of India. The 125th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai is being observed in 2021. A ‘Museum for PMs’ project by Culture Ministry is being built at the Teen Murti house, New Delhi which houses artefacts used by former PMs.
Body
Contributions of Morarji Desai towards post independent India
- Before the independence of India, he became Bombay’s Home Minister and later was elected as Chief Minister of Bombay State in 1952.
- Considered as a tough leader, Desai was also known for pioneering beliefs and enforcing strict discipline and authority and thus possessed a radical mindset.
- Although a staunch Gandhian, Desai was socially conservative, pro-business, and in favour of free enterprise reforms, as opposed to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s socialistic policies.
- In a petition filed by veteran socialist leader Raj Narain, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was convicted in June 1975 of wrongfully using government machinery for election work and corruption, Desai joined Jaya Prakash Narayan and Raj Narain in organising mass protests throughout the country calling for her resignation.
- In a show of intolerance towards any sort of opposition, Indira Gandhi declared Emergency and had all the opposition leaders including Desai arrested.
- Morarji Desai finally came into office as the Prime Minister when Jaiprakash Narayan picked him as the man most likely to keep the coalition united.
- Controversial trials of prominent Congress leaders, including Indira Gandhi over Emergency-era abuses worsened the fortunes of his administration.
- His government undid many amendments made to the constitution during emergency and made it difficult for any future government to impose national emergency.
- According to him, unless the poor and the under privileged living in villages and towns enjoy a decent standard of life, the talk of socialism will not have much meaning.
- He gave concrete expression to his anxiety by enacting progressive legislation to ameliorate the hardships of peasants and tenants.
- Sardar Patel deputed him to conduct meetings of farmers in Kaira district which finally led to the establishment of the AMUL Cooperative movement.
- During his rule, he withdrew intervention in Public Distribution System and rationing shops were literally lost due to cheap sugar and oil available in the market.
Peace activism
- Desai worked to improve relations with neighbour and arch-rival Pakistan and restored normal relations with China, for the first time since the 1962 war.
- He communicated with Zia-ul-Haq and established friendly relations and diplomatic relations were also re-established with China.
- Since India’s first nuclear test in 1974, Desai kept India’s nuclear reactors stating “they will never be used for atomic bombs, and I will see to it if I can help it”.
- In 1977, the Carter administration sold India, heavy water and uranium for its nuclear reactors but required American on-site inspection of nuclear materials.
- Desai declined, seeing the American stance as contradictory, in light of its own nuclear arsenal.
- He closed down much of the R&AW, and reduced its budget and operations.
Conclusion
A stubborn man with a stern demeanour, a man who stuck to his ideas and principles regardless of the situation and a man of obstinacy and discipline that lived almost a century. This is how history remembers Morarji Desai. The Bhagavad Gita, a Parker pen, a Gandhi ‘topi’ and a ‘tulsi mala’, some of personal effects of the former Prime Minister will be sent to the upcoming PMs museum.
Topic: population and associated issues.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: New Indian Express
Why the question:
According to the World Health Organization, India’s elderly population will rise from its current 60 million to over 227 million by 2050.
Key Demand of the question:
To understand and highlight the follow up challenge of demographic dividend i.e. high old-age dependency ratio and suggest steps to account for it in policymaking.
Directive word:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you must debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You must give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
India’s demographic transition, characterized by a bulge in its youth population, which can be a window of opportunity to accelerate growth. However, a parallelly occurring phenomenon that requires equal attention is rapid ageing. Cite statistic to substantiate it.
Body:
In the first part, write about the various economic shifts associated with the elderly – With increasing age, persons increasingly have to move out labour force leading to loss of employment and income. This also entails reduction in their self-esteem and well-being. Lack of adequate financial resources make it more difficult to handle old age related issues and requirements.
Next, write about the various social shifts associated with the elderly – Physiological Problems:, Housing related Problems, Housing for the aged, Elderly care, Crime against Aged persons etc.
Next, in brief mention the various policy measures taken so far. Suggest measures to further improve them.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward to achieved SDG of “no one to be left behind”.
Introduction
India’s progress in improving the lives of its citizens can be seen in a single statistic, namely, the increase in life expectancy at birth. In 1950-55, life expectancy at birth in India was 36.6 years, whereas the average in the world was 46.8 years. By 2010-15, life expectancy in India had almost caught up with the global average: 67.5 years in India, compared with 70.5 years globally.
Body
Challenges to countries because of ageing
Economic challenges:
- Lack of Income & Poor financial status:
- Lower income or povertyhas been found to be associated with elder abuse. Low economic resources have been conceptualized as a contextual or situational stressor contributing to elder abuse.
- Due to steadily falling interest rates on bank deposits steadily most middle class elderly actually depend on elderly pension to sustain themselves.
- In India, 74 pc of the elderly men and 41 pc of the elderly women receive some personal income whereas 43 pc of the ageing population earn nothing at all. 22 pc of those ageing Indians getting a personal income receive less than INR 12,000 per annum – PFRDA report on Financial Security of India’s elderly, April 2017.
- Rise in the Health care costs:
- As older people stop working and their health care needs increase, governments could be overwhelmed by unprecedented costs.
- While there may be cause for optimism about population aging in some countries, the Pew survey reveals that residents of countries such as Japan, Italy, and Russia are the least confident about achieving an adequate standard of living in old age.
- Increase in the dependency ratio:
- If the retirement age remains fixed, and the life expectancy increases, there will be relatively more people claiming pension benefits and less people working and paying income taxes. The fear is that it will require high tax rates on the current, shrinking workforce.
Social challenges:
- Urban areas, Changing social systems and Elderly:
- With adults in formal jobs and children occupied by school activities no one is left at house to take care of elderly people. The bonds among neighbours are not as strong as in rural areas.
- Financial constraints don’t allow them to pursue creativities.
- Neglect from family members force many to prefer day care centres and old age homes than staying with children.
- Abuse of the elderly population:
- Abuse of the elderly is a growing international problem with several manifestations in different countries and cultures. It is a fundamental violation of human rights and leads to several health and emotional problems.
- The abuse can be classified as physical, sexual, psychological or financial.
- The ill-treatment is relatively more frequent among elderly women and those living in rural areas, according to the report.
- Isolation and loneliness among the elderly is rising:
- Nearly half the elderly felt sad and neglected, 36 per cent felt they were a burden to the family.
- The emotional harm that may emerge from verbal or emotional abuse encompasses torture, sorrow, fear, perverse emotional discomfort, loss of personal pride or sovereignty.
- Declining moral value system:
- At the socio-cultural level, a representation of an older person as weak and dependent, lack of funds to pay for care, elderly people who need assistance but live alone, and destruction of bonds between the generations of a family are possible factors in elder abuse.
- Caste and Elderly:
- Due to financial issues: The lower caste elderly due to financial issues have to keep on working for livelihood even at old age. Although difficult but it keeps them active, maintains sense of self-worth and garners respect from family.
- While for the upper caste elderlies, good jobs become less available and they hesitate to take menial jobs.
- It renders them jobless so a feeling of ‘worthlessness’ and frustration arises.
- Housing:
- Lack of space: Living with a large number of household members other than a spouse is associated with an increased risk of abuse, especially financial abuse.
- Unsuitable accommodation: The housing available to a majority of the senior citizens may be found inappropriate and unsuitable to their requirement.
- Elderly Women Issues:
- They face life time of gender-based discrimination. The gendered nature of ageing is such that universally, women tend to live longer than men.
- In the advanced age of 80 years and above, widowhood dominates the status of women with 71 per cent of women and only 29 per cent of men having lost their spouse.
- Social mores inhibit women from re-marrying, resulting in an increased likelihood of women ending up alone.
Measures needed
- A minimum universal monthly pension of Rs. 2,000 for the elderly is quite doable for a $2 trillion economy like India.
- Housing for the aged, particularly the aged poor, must be a priority and be made a subset of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
- Assisted living facilities for indigent elderly, particularly those with age-related issues like dementia, needs policy focus.
- Finance ministry can give more tax breaks, or at least removing tax on deposit interest for seniors.
- Micro-pension is a personal retirement savings plan, in which People save a small part of their income individually during their working life that is invested collectively to generate periodical returns.
- When people retire their accumulated capital is paid out in monthly amounts.
- Such a scheme would balance between economic viability and generation of adequate returns for the participants
- Government for its part can offer a degree of financial flexibility to the low-income communities for low or no minimum contribution requirements in order to encourage membership to such micro pension schemes.
- In order to facilitate frequent deposits by the low- income groups, convenient door-to-door deposit collection can be organised by the government.
Conclusion
The elderly are the fastest growing, underutilized resource that humanity has to address many other problems. Re-integration of the elderly into communities may save humanity from mindlessly changing into a technology driven ‘Industry 4.0’ which futurists are projecting: an economy of robots producing things for each other. Healthy elderly citizens can share their wealth of knowledge with younger generations, help with child care, and volunteer or hold jobs in their communities.
General Studies – 2
Topic: Development processes and the development industry —the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.
Difficulty level: Easy
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The cooperative movement in India has regained focus after the Union Government recently created a Ministry of Cooperation to provide a separate administrative legal and policy framework for streamlining the cooperatives.
Key Demand of the question:
To examine the challenges faced by Cooperatives in India and suggest measures.
Directive word:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must investigate the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Give a brief about history cooperatives in India.
Body:
First mention various success stories and benefits associated with cooperatives. Amul, IFFCO etc.
Next, mention different problems associated with cooperatives – institutional financial lacunae, policy hurdles, administrative issues, sources of credit, capital equipment, and state-of-the-art technology for producers.
Next, suggest steps for overcoming the above.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward
Introduction
A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled. The need for profitability is balanced by the needs of the members and the wider interest of the community.
Body
Background
- India is an agricultural country and laid the foundation of World’s biggest cooperative movement in the world.
- For instance, Amul deals with 16 million milk producers, 1,85,903 dairy cooperatives; 222 district cooperative milk unions; marketed by 28 state marketing federations.
- Amul is an example of what 36 lakh women dairy farmers can achieve if they work together with transparency
- There are over 8 lakh cooperatives of all shapes and sizes across sectors in India.
- The Union government of India in July 2021 created a new Ministry of Cooperation for strengthening cooperative movement.
- It was created for realizing the vision of ‘Sahakar se Samriddhi’ (Prosperity through Cooperation) and to give a new push to the cooperative movement.
Challenges faced by Cooperatives currently:
- Government control on cooperatives has increased, violating a core cooperative principle of political neutrality. This reflects a collective failure of the political class..
- Cooperatives have become avenues for regulatory arbitrage, circumventing lending and anti-money laundering regulations.
- The Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) has become an instrument of inspection and domination, one which imposes uniform by-laws, and amends them when individual societies do not fall in line.
- The rural-urban dichotomy in the regulatory treatment of cooperatives is specious and outdated.
- In India, adopting a multi-agency approach, especially after bank nationalisation, has affected the efficiency of both commercial and cooperative banks.
- Lack of genuine cooperation between the states and the centre wrt Cooperatives and centralization of power.
- There should be a focus on women cooperatives because they are less than three per cent of the 8 lakh cooperatives in the country.
- People are not well informed about the objectives of the Movement, rules and regulations of co-operative institutions.
Renewed focus on cooperatives is need of the hour
- The RCS should stick to its original role of facilitator: : a friend, philosopher, and guide to cooperative societies.
- The regulation is to be based on the cooperative nature of organisations.
- The regulation and the supervision of cooperative banks should move to a new body from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for urban banks and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for rural banks.
- Lessons from the Netherlands, where cooperative banks owe their success to a segmented market, are pertinent.
- Commercial bank-cooperative sector linkages at various levels could alternatively provide better synergies.
Conclusion
Principle of the cooperative movement is to unite everyone, even while remaining anonymous. The cooperative movement has the capacity to solve people’s problems. However, there are irregularities in cooperatives and to check them there have to be rules and stricter implementation.
Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The Director-General, ICMR, said that there was no scientific evidence thus far to administer a booster vaccine dose to fully vaccinated people. The priority instead was to increase the percentage of people who are vaccinated with two doses.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the choice India has to make between whether to go for a booster dose or to increasing vaccine coverage in India and continue supplying vaccines globally.
Directive word:
Comment– here we must express our knowledge and understanding of the issue and form an overall opinion thereupon.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving context regarding spread of Omicron variant and uncertainty associated with it.
Body:
First, mention the need for going for a third booster dose in addition the first two. Highlight its pros and cons.
Next, mention the need to continue increasing vaccine coverage in India as well to ensure adequate supply of vaccines globally. Highlight its pros and cons.
Conclusion:
Conclude by commenting on the action that India must take.
Introduction
The novel coronavirus continues to undergo change in the genetic sequence of the virus (mutation). The new variant B 1.1. 529, which was designated as a ‘Variant of Concern’ by World Health Organisation has been assigned the name Omicron. Reported by public health officials of South Africa, the new variant has triggered a lot of concern worldwide over a probable resurgence of Covid infections.
Body
Policy Dichotomy
- So far in India, around 35% of eligible population is fully vaccinated and around 58% have taken at least one dose of vaccine against SARS-COV virus.
- Thus, the priority instead was to increase the percentage of people who are vaccinated with two doses.
- The Health Minister too said the priority was on fully vaccinating all adults than on booster shot immunisation though adequate vaccines were available.
- However, there has been a growing clamour from a few States for booster doses.
- The Government has reiterated that any decision on booster doses will be based solely on scientific recommendations.
- The Director-General, ICMR, said that there was no scientific evidence thus far to administer a booster vaccine doseto fully vaccinated people.
Rationale behind a booster dose
- The effectiveness of both vaccines (Covishield & Covaxin) against the Omicron variant is unknown.
- Although over 65 million people in the U.S. are unvaccinated, on October 21, a booster shot was approved for all above 65 years and certain categories of young adults. It was later expanded to include all adults.
- Many countries in Europe too have approved booster shots, having based their decision at least partially on vaccine effectiveness data.
- While this variant appears to be far more transmissible than the Delta variant, disease severity and the age groups most vulnerable to disease are not fully known.
Total vaccination is need of the hour vis-à-vis Booster dose
- Consistent finding with breakthrough infections is that these episodes are less in severity as compared to unvaccinated. That still confirms that immunity does exist in vaccinated individuals in India.
- The rapid global spread of the Omicron variant might also lead to increased vaccine uptake.
- While a sufficient supply of Covishield, which accounts for nearly 90% of vaccines administered, might be able to meet the demand, the priority should be to increase vaccine coverage and not boosters.
- This is particularly so as India will be under pressure to supply vaccines to the global South.
Way forward
- Despite these uncertainties, it might still be prudent to approve booster doses for people older than 60 years and young adults who are immunocompromised or have comorbidities.
- But administering booster doses cannot be at the cost of increased coverage of the first dose and full vaccination.
- Also, the need to begin immunising adolescents cannot be ignored.
- Scientific data has proven that masks can reduce Covid-19 transmission by 53 per cent. Thus, Masking is the need of the hour and there is no Alternative for vaccination.
- A parliamentary committee has recommended that the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines must be evaluated and the government conduct more research to examine the need for booster doses to contain the new strain.
General Studies – 3
Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment
5. Examine as to why Ecotones are considered areas of great environmental importance. (250 words)
Difficulty level: Easy
Reference: Insights on India
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 3 and mentioned as part of Mission-2022 Secure timetable.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the importance of ecotones.
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must investigate the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin defining ecotone.
Body:
First, mention briefly how ecotones are formed. Mentioned about the edge effect.
Next, write about the importance of ecotones – providing an area for a large number of species, nesting, food provisions, greater genetic diversity, serve as bridges of “gene flow” and buffer-zone” protecting the neighbouring ecosystem from possible environmental damage
Conclusion:
Conclude by summarising the importance and how Ecotones provide a sensitive indicator of global change.
Introduction
The transition zone between two ecosystems is called an ecotone. It is an area that represents the boundary between two ecosystems. This area is of high environmental and scientific importance. Marshy land, grassland ecosystem are few examples of Ecotones.
Body
Significance of Ecotones
- Ecotones, in simple terms, are transitional lands, which is why they provide such valuable insights and information regarding the evolution of the topography.
- Ecotones are also very special when it comes to species diversity.
- The transitioning region boasts species richness and elaborate biodiversity.
- This is because they contain animal and plant species from both the adjacent ecosystems.
- This phenomenon is formally referred to as the edge effect.
- Ecotones act as biodiversity hotspots between two ecosystems.
- Because this region borders two well-defined ecosystems, it promotes gene flow from one community to another, thereby giving rise to interesting variations.
- As such, ecotones hold evolutionary significance for researchers.
- Ecotones are the biological analogues of buffer states. They act as buffer regions when catastrophic conditions strike and protect the adjacent ecosystem from any prospective dangers.
- For instance, if a tsunami hits a coast, it’s usually the mangrove vegetation that acts as the shock absorbers. It prevents a massive amount of danger from infiltrating the terrestrial region.
Conclusion
Moreover, such a region is also very susceptible to climate- and human-induced changes. These changes result in modifications related to the biodiversity, structure, and functioning of the thriving flora and fauna
Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Insights on India
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 3 and mentioned as part of Mission-2022 Secure timetable.
Key Demand of the question:
To analyse the importance of biosphere functions in sustainable development.
Directive word:
Analyse – When asked to analyse, you must examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin defining sustainable development.
Body:
First, mention briefly various functions of biosphere. Give various instances of depleting natural resources. Cite earth overshoot day to substantiate.
Next, bring out the impact of the same – The increase in human population levels and the harvesting of more of Earth’s natural resources has led to overexploitation. Human activities are causing major alterations to the patterns of energy flow and nutrient cycling through ecosystems, and these activities are eliminating populations and species.
Next, mention how the above can be incorporated to achieved sustainable development.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a way forward.
Introduction
Earth’s biosphere, its extraordinary and complex web of species and ecosystems on land and in the oceans, drives the life-sustaining cycles of water and other materials that enable all life on Earth to thrive. The Brundtland report defines Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Body
Biosphere functions and need to understand the same
- The biosphere plays an integral role to support the life of organisms and their mutual interactions.
- Earth’s ecosystems have played a central role in keeping our planet’s climate system unusually stable throughout the last 11,700 years
- It is a vital element in climate regulation. Namely, a change in the biosphere triggers a change in climate.
- All the mineral and animal nutrients necessary to uphold life are found in the Earth’s biosphere.
- Oxygen and nitrogen are produced in the biosphere which are responsible for virtually every biochemical process of organic matter production.
- The living components of the biosphere, also known as the biota, plays an integral role in providing us with the raw material we need to survive: food, fuel, and fiber.
- The natural cycles of decomposition and biological modification, which take place in the biosphere, help the planet earth to expel toxins and other components that could be harmful to life.
- Virtually all the substances used in the pharmaceutical industry today are derived from compounds that exist naturally in the terrestrial biosphere.
Threats to biosphere
- The atmospheric build-up of carbon dioxide causing global warming as per various reports such as IPCC 1.5 degree report.
- Pollution of fresh and salt waters, and of soil and air.
- Erosion and other effects of deforestation.
- Human economy, climate change, exponential human population growth, ecological overshoot, biotic impoverishment and the reduction of biodiversity, renewable resource depletion, energy allocation, and environmental refugees- affect each other and affect and are affected by the biosphere.
- An ever-increasing number of animal and plant species are being pushed towards extinction.
- Some, perhaps all, are close to tipping points that, if tipped, will result in irreversible change.
Impacts
- Human activities driving deforestation and degradation have already turned the Brazilian Amazon into a carbon source, and other tropical biomes may be moving toward a similar fate, compounded by the effects of higher temperatures and increased frequency of droughts on tree growth and mortality.
- Global warming also increases risks of wildfires in temperate and boreal forests, which could flip Northern hemisphere ecosystems from sink to source in coming decades.
- This has led to rising concerns that human activities risk triggering biosphere feedbacks that could set the planet on a trajectory away from Holocene conditions toward a much warmer state, with potentially catastrophic effects for societies and ecosystems
Way forward
- Sustainable developmentis one approach to keeping the biosphere healthy.
- This method attempts to increase local food production without increasing the amount of land taken.
- It involves natureconservation and environmental monitoring , and it advocates encouraging and training local communities to participate in maintaining the environment.
- The goal is to balance human needs with environmental needs, and proponents of this view maintain that economic growth depends on renewable resources, which in turn depends on permanent damage to the environment being kept at a minimum.
- Creating a sustainable biosphere requires a cohesive policy for reducing consumption and seeking nonmaterial means of satisfaction.
- Avoiding a climate catastrophe requires at least three global transformations, unprecedented in both magnitude and speed:
- a transformation of the energy system that cuts emissions by half each decade to reach net-zero by 2050;
- a transformation of the agriculture and forestry sectors from greenhouse gas sources to sinks within 30 years;
- a transformation of our relationship with nature to one that conserves, restores, and enhances its benefits for people and planet.
- A Biosphere stewardship—the pursuit of social-ecological sustainability, from local to global scale, that ensures the health and resilience of Earth’s life support systems—is an indispensable guiding principle and building block for the successful implementation of these transformations.
- The combination of local and indigenous knowledge with international technical and financial support is vital for enabling effective stewardship.
General Studies – 4
Topic: Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and the world to the concepts of morality;
7. Compare and contrast intrinsic and instrumental good. (150 Words)
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Reference: plato.stanford.edu
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 4 and part of ‘Philosophical Mondays’ in Mission-2022 Secure.
Key Demand of the question:
To compare between intrinsic good and instrumental good.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Among the aspects of “good” that philosophers discuss is whether a particular thing is valued because it is good in and of itself, or because it leads to some other “good.”
Body:
First, An intrinsic good is something that is good in and of itself, not because of something else that may result from it. In ethics, a “value” possesses intrinsic worth. Substantiate with examples.
Next, An instrumental good, on the other hand, is useful for attaining something else that is good. It is instrumental in that it that leads to another good, but it is not good is and of itself. Substantiate with examples.
Conclusion:
Give a concise summation of your views to conclude the answer.
Introduction
Values are elements of life that we hold as important or desirable. Intrinsic value is the value that an entity has in itself, for what it is, or as an end. Instrumental value on the other hand, is the value that something has as a means to a desired or valued end. Instrumental value is always derivative on the value of something else, and it is always conditional.
Body
Comparison
- In moral philosophy, instrumental and intrinsic valueare the distinction between what is a means to an end and what is as an end in itself.
- Examples for Intrinsic value are wisdom, pleasure, the, health, and friendship.
- Examples for instrumental values are money, going to school and making good grades, getting married, go on a trip.
- Things are deemed to have instrumental valueif they help one achieve a particular end; intrinsic values, by contrast, are understood to be desirable in and of themselves.
- A tool or appliance, such as a hammer or washing machine, has instrumental value because it helps you pound in a nail or cleans your clothes.
- Happiness and pleasure are typically considered to have intrinsic value insofar as asking why someone would want them makes little sense: they are desirable for their own sake irrespective of their possible instrumental value.
Similarities
- Both values give meaning and strength to a person’s character by occupying a central place in his life.
- Both values reflect one’s personal attitude and judgments, decisions and choices, behaviour and relationships.
Conclusion
Thus, values can be either intrinsic or instrumental. As Einstein once rightly remarked, “Try not to become a man of success but try to become a man of values”. Values influence our thoughts, feelings and actions. They guide us to do the right things. Values give direction and firmness to life.
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