UPSC Mains 2021 GS1 Q11 — Freedom Struggle Moderates
To what extent did the Moderates prepare a base for the wider freedom movement ? Comment. (Answer in 250 words)
Question Decoded — examiner's intent
- Directive verbs
- To what extentComment
- Scope keywords
- Moderatesprepare a basewider freedom movement
- Implicit sub-parts
- Analysis of the specific methods (3Ps) used by Moderates to create political awareness.
- The role of economic critique (Drain Theory) in delegitimizing British rule for future generations.
- The institutional groundwork and constitutional precedents established for the Extremists and Gandhi.
- Limitations of the Moderates that necessitated the shift to a 'wider' mass-based movement.
- Common pitfalls
- Dismissing Moderates as 'failures' or 'beggars' without acknowledging their role as the foundation layers.
- Focusing too much on the Extremist-Moderate conflict rather than the 'base-building' aspect.
- Spending too many words listing names (Dadabhai Naoroji, Gokhale) instead of analyzing their structural contributions.
- Failing to link specific Moderate achievements to specific later movements (e.g., linking the 1892 Act to later constitutional demands).
- Dimensions required
- Economic-IdeologicalPolitical-InstitutionalSocial-MobilizationHistorical-Evolutionary
- Marks allocation hint
Allocate 50 words to the economic critique as the ideological bedrock. Use 100 words to discuss the institutional and political awareness created between 1885-1905. Reserve 75 words to analyze the 'extent' by discussing their limitations in mass mobilization, and use the final 25 words to conclude how they were the necessary precursors to the Gandhian era.
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