Q2 · UPSC Civil Services Mains 2017 · Essay · 125 marks · 1 min read

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Impact of the new economic measures on fiscal ties between the union and states in India.

Topic: Philosophical and ethical quotes. Syllabus: Philosophical and ethical quotes Same official PYQ from year-wise 2017 and Philosophical and ethical quotes.

Essay map

Opening scene

Anecdote

A finance minister in a state capital waits for a GST compensation that was a promise. Delhi has a unified invoice. The state has a hospital ward. The topic is that new arithmetic of fiscal ties — not a tax-slogan poster.

Keep this in every paragraph

One stand

  • New economic measures: GST, a demonetisation shock, a cess, a FRBM. Fiscal ties: Article 280, a council, a borrowing cap. Write the bargain.

Use once, in a scene — do not dump names

Quotes to earn

  • Ambedkar

    A strong Centre — then the state that still runs the school.

Turn each heading into a full paragraph in the hall

Heading map

What the line is asking

  • New measures: the 2010s toolkit — GST as the big one.
  • Fiscal ties: who taxes, who spends, who waits.
  • Union and states: a contract, not a family WhatsApp.

GST / compensation

  • One market, many lost stamps. Compensation as the price of trust.
  • Cess that does not go into the divisible pool.

Grants / borrowing

  • Finance Commission vs a scheme with a matching grant that the poor state cannot match.
  • A borrowing cap that bites the state, not the Centre’s extra-budget.

Trust

  • GST Council as a federal table — or a lecture hall.

The counter

A chaotic octroi India was also a fiscal cruelty to trade. Unity of market is a public good. The fight is over voice and a predictable rupee, not over going back to a checkpost every 40 km.

Drop one peg where it fits — not a data dump

Value addition

  • Art. 280 / 246 Finance Commission; lists — the legal skeleton.
  • GST Council Federal table — or a lecture.
  • Compensation cess The promise that made GST politically possible.
  • FC grants The quieter file of Union–State money.

Last 8–10 lines in the exam

Last paragraph

  • Close: keep the market; restore the state’s chair. Expand — this is only the map.

Quick related

Students also ask

  • Destiny of a nation is shaped in its classrooms.

    Next question on this syllabus topic (2017 · Q3). View answer →

  • Is this the full essay?

    No. It is a map. In the exam, each heading becomes a paragraph with one Indian case.

  • Tone?

    Federal, cool. One GST file, one hospital. Not a party pamphlet.

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