SYNOPSIS- IASbaba’s TLP 2017 [23rd Feb] – Day 28

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1. Was the revolt of 1857 really an effort towards independence? Critically analyse.

The question directly asks whether the revolt was an effort towards independence or not. Here you can rationally take sides.

Whether it was a war of independence or not, can be understood by analyzing the causes of the revolt and the ends that it seeks.

We have already discussed the causes of Revolt of 1857 before –

Social – interference of British in religious matters by introducing new acts like banning of Sati, Child marriage etc. Middle class intelligentsia supported these actions.

Political – many States were occupied by policies like ‘Doctrine of Lapse’ and ‘Subsidiary Alliance’ and rulers wanted to get their lost authority and land back.

Army reasons – Soldiers were sent overseas which was against their religion.

They refused to use new Enfield rifle cartridges which were greased by cow and pork fat.

• Now the aim of the revolt was to bring back the status quo. And protect the personal rule and area. So the aim was not national interest but personal interests.
• Also there was no participation of the masses as people couldn’t relate themselves with the revolt.
• Modern Educated class supported the British and distanced themselves from the revolt.
• It did not have a pan India impact. Also the idea of ‘India’ as a nation was not developed.
• It was not organized and all the rulers were fighting independently.

Many historians have called it a war of independence as it was the first culminated effort to oust the British from India (Whatever be the reason). It had shaken the roots of the British empire and led to widespread changes in their policies and governance.

(Note: Do mention the reason why some historians have called it a war of independence. Don’t just write points but follow a proper sequence to make your points and stand clear.)

Best Answer: Avinash Kumar Singh

Revolt of 1857, can be seen in the light of arguments given by two different school of thought, that is, nationalist school of thought and apologistic school of thought:
Arguments given by nationalist school:

1. Termed the revolt as a true nationalist movement and the first war of indian independence.
2. They argued that the revolt, united India more or less under a single ruler-Bahadur Shah Jafar.
3. It was a true assertion of national identity of whole India.
4. Bal gangadhar tilak and Savarkar bolongs to this school.

Arguments given by apologistic school:

1. they Argue that the till that time India didn’t have a true nationalist Identity, and princely states had their own separate identity and parochial interest in the revolt.
2. Revolt was spontaneous, and everyone had their own vested interests.
3. Education class and middle stayed away, south India Did not participated.
4. Movement did not have a uniform ideology and goal.
5. The sepoys were fighting for their caste and religion, the chiefs for their kingdoms. The landed elite for their estates, masses for their conversion and Muslims wanted to restore the old glorious order. As a result, once the movement was suppressed, there were no attempt to reunite as there were no common goal.

Therefore, only after this revolt the act of good governance in India 1858 was passed and the company rule ended. However, Some South Indian historians have opposed the use of the term First War of Independence by the Government to describe the 1857 revolt. These historians insist that several other anti-British uprisings in South India, such as the Vellore Mutiny in 1806 had preceded the 1857 revolt, and should be called the First War of Indian independence.

2. Mass mobilisation through political institutions derives inspiration from the freedom struggle. Elucidate.

Introduction:

Write a brief introduction.

Body:

1. Mass mobilizations as seen today have been inspired by the struggles initiated during the freedom struggle.
2. Farmer’s movements of today which demand for various benefits like loan waiver, electricity, subsidy and minimum price have been inspired by Gandhiji’s Khaira and Champaran Satyagraha.
3. Women’s movements of today were inspired by the participation of women in the Non-cooperation and Quit India movements and still continue with same demands of abolition of alcohol, inflation etc.
4. The Dalit movements of contemporary India have mostly been organized on the line of movements spearheaded by Dr.B.R.Ambedkar.
5. Mass mobilizations like those witnesses during the NCM and CDM are rare today but nonetheless, have drawn inspiration from them and are arranged on local and regional levels.
6. Political institutions in the past provided the strategy and leadership to the masses for struggle, contemporary India has wide spectrum of political parties following different ideologies, as such the scale of mass mobilizations have also undergone significant differentiation.
7. The India against corruption movement witnessed recently followed the strategy and ideas that were preached by the founding fathers of our country but the leadership was apolitical, even though it turned into a political party in later stages.

Conclusion:

Write a brief conclusion.

Best answer: PBN

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3. Why participation of the masses was considered essential for India’s freedom? Substantiate.

Introduction:

Write a short introduction.

Body:

The freedom struggle went through various stages before it reached the mass mobilization stage which was later realized to be very important for sustaining the momentum, the popularity/ primacy of mass mobilizations was for the following reasons:

1. Legitimacy: initial protests and demands of the congress leaders were brushed aside by the British, saying that it represented the demands of miniscule minority and hence as not legitimate. Mass movements gave legitimacy to the movements as more people meant the demands were collective.
2. Resisting oppression and brutality: the British were very brutal in suppressing the protesters, they were beaten, jailed and even transported to remote island prisons, mass mobilizations not only made the demands louder but also made it difficult to jail so many people which was a logistical nightmare for the British.
3. Leadership and succession: the British were very quick in imprisoning and transporting the leaders of the agitations to break the backbone of agitations, but the mass mobilizations provided quick succession and even leaderless agitations in many places, the Quit India movement is called as the Leaderless movement as all the prominent leaders had been arrested the night before.
4. Integration of local demands into larger demands: mass mobilizations provided a connecting thread for the people from different geographic regions to not only join the national struggle but also to seamlessly integrate their local demands into the national demands. E.g. during the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) the people of Bihar which is a landlocked state demanded the abolition of Chaukidari tax, and the students of Assam agitated against the Cunningham Circular.

Conclusion:

Write a brief conclusion.

Best answer: V Kumar

Mass based freedom movements evolved during freedom struggle and became very essential part of it. From Swadeshi to Home league, Non-cooperation to civil disobedience, Individual satyagrah to Quit India movement all focused to mass participation because

1) Difficult to oppress: Britishers were very oppressive and brutal. They could put leader immaterially behind bars and even send them in isolation as they raised voice. Many leaders from the Swadeshi movement send to kala pani to end their political activities.

2) Force Government to listen Demand: Mass participation increases influence and creates fear in mind of Britishers. Our leader were getting strength from people and their participation. People pressure were make Britisher blend in Champaran and kheda satyagrah.

3) Sustenance even on Leaders arrested: Mass based movement could be continued even when our main leaders were arrested. Quit India movement was such movement when most of our leaders were put behind the bar but movement sustained.

4) Legitimacy of demand: Mass participation made demand of leaders as demand of people and demand of country. This compelled Britishers to blend and bargain with Indian leaders though they tries various strategies to break unity of masses such as communal award and separate electorate.

Mass based movement was not limited to our freedom struggle but It is as important now as was then. From Anti Corruption movement to different trade union strikes try to influence masses to listen demand of concern people by government.

4. Technology has changed the way we communicate. This change is further aided by the competition among service providers who innovate and invent newer and cheaper ways to communicate. Comment.

Introduction:

You are supposed to provide a brief background on how the advent of technology has changed the way of interaction and communication (especially highlighting on technology advancement in last decade).

In the past few decades, a technical change took place due to the changing conditions and requirements of information processing with the need to communicate and collaborate in our global economy.

Now provide examples of some of the global companies and service providers, how the competition between giant companies such as Google, Facebook, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, Android led the integration of different technologies to improve communication.

Provide some of the innovations and inventions in the field of communication technology and also include some contemporary programmes and schemes by different service providers in India (Ex. Reliance 4G, whatsapp, telegram) that has provided newer and cheaper ways to communicate. Some of the key technologies to drive the future of telecom industry would be WiMax, LTE, 3G, 4G, and network backhaul technologies.

Best answer: sunny

Telecommunication has changed the way we communicate. From letters, which took days to reach its intended target, we have come to face chat. This change is due to the competition among the service provider companies who constantly innovate and provide newer products to their customers.

The advantages of such competition is:

1. Cheaper products and the best service: Due to multiple available options, the customer gets the cheapest and the product possible. Ex: Reliance launched its own network that provides free internet to the customers.
2. Enhanced connectivity: The companies are penetrating into the rural markets to garner more customers, thus the goal of digital India is being pursued.
3. Better economic opportunities:

– Better service means that companies that operate on digital platform can efficiently sell their products on the internet. The E-commerce boom coinciding with the digital boom is an example.

– Industries like IT and tower construction get more opportunities thus more employment in these sectors and demographic dividend is realised.

4. Better government outreach: Through better connectivity, government can expand its social net to hitherto un-accessable areas. Ex : The Jandhan Aadhar and mobile trinity is used for direct bank transfer of subsidies.

The Disadvantages of such competition is :

1. Creates oligopoly: Some companies fail in the competition and are taken over by more powerful companies, thus only few companies remain. These companies can create a cartel and harm the rights of the customer.
2. Security concerns: There has been concerns about security of information of the customer.
3. Lobbying: The rich companies lobby the politicians to further their interest at the expense of the customers.
4. Use of freebies to capture the market disrupts the overall growth of the sector. The companies with deep pockets can afford such freebies, but others tend to go down, thus valuable employment is lost.

Overall, if the competition is healthy the customer will surely benefit, but the checks have to in place to prevent any wrong doings, making the role of regulator like TRAI vitally important.

5. Discuss the debatable aspects of India’s environmental jurisprudence. Take suitable examples to substantiate your arguments

In recent years, there has been a sustained focus on the role played by the higher judiciary in devising and monitoring the implementation of measures for pollution control, conservation of forests and wildlife protection. Many of these judicial interventions have been triggered by the persistent incoherence in policy-making as well as the lack of capacity-building amongst the executive agencies. Devices such as Public Interest Litigation (PIL) have been prominently relied upon to tackle environmental problems.

However, in order to achieve the desired results, the judiciary often employs unconventional measures that go above and beyond traditionally accepted methods used by the courts. The result of this activism, however pure the intent may be, is a muddled body of case law that fails to set forth clearly articulated principles and ultimately results in disputes with other branches of government.  One should discuss about some of the below debatable aspects of India’s environmental jurisprudence:

• SC dicta on banning diesel cars in Delhi to reduce air pollution.
• SC also made jallikattu illegal to be conducted as a sport on the grounds that it hurts the rights of the animals which can be well justified but the supporters of jallikattu have argues that constitution allows them to protect the culture and SC’s ban is against their right to religion.
• In the case of joining extra peninsular river system to the peninsular river system, the SC asked the govt to undertake the project sooner in its 2012 judgment. But the said project is much sensitive which needs lots of assessments and data collections like EIA, feasibility, environmental, social and economic viability, impacts on wild life, public acceptability etc. Thus the SC may ask the govt to proceed the work faster and to reach a conclusion sooner keeping the public and environments at high stake but not to order it to take up a particular project or not, which leads to the encroachment into legislative space.
• Environmental public goods like clean air, drinking water, and reduced noise pollution have also been included in the ‘fundamental right to life’ under art 21. However, the conceptualisation of environmental protection as a series of public goods is not unproblematic. A public goods conceptualisation necessarily leads to certain conclusions. The Court is forced to weight environmental public goods against other public goods, such as industrial development, employment generation and so on. This trade-off between different public goods is necessary in each case and the outcomes may often be unfavourable for environmental protection.
• There were also instances where Environment Ministry had systematically undermined the National Green Tribunal, giving expert committees a free hand to grant forest clearances to private projects.

Best answer 1: Irock

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2. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d36c8c76e76ee2d870f736ca922111c8be013577067e66e960f9839e4bba9204.jpg

Best answer 2: Prasoon

India’s environmental jurisprudence is afflicted by a variety of issues, which has lead to a host of environmental problems in India. Its various debatable aspects are as follows:

1. Inordinate delays: The cases of environmental violations linger on for years and eventually result in paltry penalties not commensurate with the damage done. For eg The recent international program in NCR which degraded the Yamuna floodplain. Action taken was reactive and inadequate to restore the health of floodplain as well as to act as deterrent.
2. Inadequate institutional framework: National Green Tribunal is overburdened by the cases of varying nature and often suffers from lack of technical expertise in assessment of damage and compensation.
3. Poor implementation of awards : The final verdict is poorly implemented due to Poor coordination between states and he centre.
4. Blatant disregard for establishing protocols to deal with environmental hazards: as seen in case of recent oil spill near Chennai coast. This lead to poor containment and cleaning effort, leadind to damage to coastal ecology.
5. Poor legislative framework to safeguard environment : loopholes are exploited for eg majority of Hydropower projects in hills are less than 25MW to circumvent EIA regulations.

It is high time attention is paid to address and fine tune India’s environmental jurisprudence to ensure a sustainable development based on sound ecological principles