Section A
Q1. 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 carefully the passage given below and write your answers to the questions that follow in clear, correct and concise language: 15 × 5 = 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 modern civilisation was a co-operative European product, the British role in its creation and dissemination was considerable. They were one of the first to industrialise 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'. PHKM-G-ENG \overline2
