Q3 · UPSC Civil Services Mains 2020 · Essay · 125 marks · 1 min read

← Q2 Q4 →

Ships do not sink because of water around them, ships sink because of water that gets into them.

Topic: Philosophical and ethical quotes. Syllabus: Philosophical and ethical quotes Same official PYQ from year-wise 2020 and Philosophical and ethical quotes.

Essay map

Opening scene

Anecdote

A fishing boat in a swell. The boy blames the sea. The father points to a seam they did not tar. Ships do not sink because of water around them; they sink because of water that gets in. The topic is the seam.

Keep this in every paragraph

One stand

  • Outer water: markets, opposition, a pandemic, a neighbour. Inner water: compromise of the hull — hypocrisy, a captured regulator, a mind that forwards anything. Write the seam.

Use once, in a scene — do not dump names

Quotes to earn

  • Nautical image

    Ships sink from water within — treat as the given line, not a fake citation.

  • Gandhi

    Be the change — the inner leak as the first seam.

Turn each heading into a full paragraph in the hall

Heading map

What the line is asking

  • Water around: adversity, criticism, global shocks — not automatically fatal.
  • Water within: the leak you permitted.
  • A nautical image — do not fake an admiral.

Self

  • A habit, a secret, a rage. Integrity is tar.

Organisations

  • A university, a party, a newsroom: one compromised editor is a seam.
  • Peg: NPAs, a collapsed bridge — water that was already in the books.

Republic

  • Constitution as hull. Communal poison, a captured statistic, a lie in the House: inlets.
  • CAG, a free press, a commission: pumps. Use them or drown in a calm sea.

World

  • A state with a strong army and a rotten currency. Inner water.

The counter

Some seas are mines (invasion, a virus). A perfect hull still needs lifeboats. The line does not blame the drowned for the cyclone. It blames the owner who skipped the tar in June. Also: a leak can come from above — a law that opens the seam.

Drop one peg where it fits — not a data dump

Value addition

  • CAG / regulator Pumps — use them or drown in calm weather.
  • Art. 19 / 32 Speech and remedies as how a republic finds a leak.
  • NPAs / procurement Water already in the books — a seam named too late.

Last 8–10 lines in the exam

Last paragraph

  • Close: tar the seam you can reach. Expand — this is only the map.

Quick related

Students also ask

  • Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

    Next question on this syllabus topic (2020 · Q4). View answer →

  • Is this the full essay?

    No. It is a map. One paragraph must refuse blaming victims of a cyclone.

  • Tone?

    Dry. Not a motivational poster about ‘inner strength’ only.

PYQ trend

When UPSC asked this

Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.

  1. 2020 · Q1 · Essay · 125 marks

    Life is a long journey between human being and being humane.

    View answer →

  2. 2020 · Q2 · Essay · 125 marks

    Mindful manifesto is the catalyst to a tranquil self.

    View answer →

  3. 2020 · Q4 · Essay · 125 marks

    Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

    View answer →

  4. 2020 · Q5 · Essay · 125 marks

    Culture is what we are, civilization is what we have.

    View answer →

  5. 2020 · Q6 · Essay · 125 marks

    There can be no social justice without economic prosperity but economic prosperity without social justice is meaningless.

    View answer →

  6. 2020 · Q7 · Essay · 125 marks

    Patriarchy is the least noticed yet the most significant structure of social inequality.

    View answer →

  7. 2020 · Q8 · Essay · 125 marks

    Technology as the silent factor in international relations.

    View answer →

  8. 2019 · Q1 · Essay · 125 marks

    Wisdom finds truth.

    View answer →

More from this topic

Toppers' copies

Toppers' copies for this question will be uploaded soon.