UPSC Civil Services Main 2023 English Compulsory Question Paper PDF

Q1. Write an essay in about 600 words on any one of the following topics :

(a) OTT and the future of Multiplexes

(b) Global warming in an unequal world

(c) Social media and the marketing of the self

(d) Happiness is a state of mind

Q2. Read carefully the passage given below and write your answers to the questions that follow in clear, correct and concise language :

(1) It must be emphasised that rights have corresponding duties as well as obligations. The two are correlated. Rights and duties of citizens are two sides of the same coin. The relationship between them is two fold. Firstly, society functions on the principles of reciprocity. My rights involve a duty, on the part of others to respect my rights and also a duty on my part to respect the similar rights of others. Society works on the principle of, “he who takes gives and he who gives takes”. Indeed, my right is a part and parcel of the good of other members of society and, therefore, the degree of my enjoyment of a particular right has to be conceived in terms of the similar claims of other citizens. My right is integrally related to the rights of my fellow human beings. The one cannot exist without the other. A society in which people care less for their own duties and more for their rights, sooner or later, disintegrates. In their frantic effort for the vindication of their own rights at the expense of fellow human beings, society will be reduced to the status of a jungle in which ultimately the law of might will prevail. In order that everyone enjoys his or her rights it is necessary that we recognise our obligations towards others. We cannot say that we shall be free while others will be bound with their obligations. Such a position is quite untenable and inhuman.

(2) Secondly, the logic of rights and duties also implies that if we have certain claims against the state, it is also our responsibility to contribute something towards its enrichment by doing a socially useful work. The state creates those conditions in which we can realise ourselves. In return for this, it is our duty to take advantage of these conditions and give our best to it. The best way in which we can contribute to the social stock is by following duties towards our nation, in recognising our social responsibilities and unscrupulously respecting the similar rights of others. One does not contribute only by being a son of a prime minister or a poet but by being oneself. I may not succeed in my life, but if I have given sufficient indications of sincere efforts to make such contribution, as I am capable of, my job is done. It is a duty of every one of us that we must develop our personality so as to be able to contribute our best to society. A citizen should make available valuable judgement