Q7 · UPSC Civil Services Mains 2023 · Essay · 125 marks · 2 min read

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A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.

Topic: Philosophical and ethical quotes. Syllabus: Philosophical and ethical quotes Same official PYQ from year-wise 2023 and Philosophical and ethical quotes.

Essay map

Opening scene

Anecdote

  • A flood camp: packets arrive with a banner. A woman asks why her house was allowed on the drain line, why the warning came late. The packets are kindness. Her question is justice. A society that had more of the second would need fewer of the first.

Keep this in every paragraph

One stand

Charity soothes; it can also freeze a hierarchy (the giver, the given). Justice rewrites the file so the packet is less often needed. Write both, and do not sneer at the volunteer while the file is still cruel.

Use once, in a scene — do not dump names

Quotes to earn

  • Ambedkar

    Rights, not gifts — social democracy so dignity is not a donation.

  • Rawls

    A just basic structure — use once, then return to the camp.

Turn each heading into a full paragraph in the hall

Heading map

What the line is asking

  • Justice: rights, fair procedure, a floor, a remedy.
  • Charity: voluntary giving, langar, CSR, a relief camp.
  • Stake: more justice, less need for charity — not a war on kindness.

Self

  • Tipping a waiter vs a living wage. Private virtue vs public design.

Welfare and law

  • Peg: MGNREGA, NFSA, RTE — entitlements that try to make hunger less of a favour.
  • Article 21, DPSPs: the republic’s intended design. Gaps remain; name them.

Caste and dignity

  • Ambedkar: a right is not a gift from the upper house of the heart.
  • Temple food as charity can coexist with a barred well — justice is the well.

Markets

  • CSR photographs vs tax, unions, a safe factory. Philanthropy after extraction is a thin music.

World

  • Aid vs fair trade, climate loss-and-damage vs a cheque with a flag.

The counter

After a quake, charity is duty this week. A cold ‘wait for the scheme’ is cruelty. Justice is slow furniture; charity is a blanket. Keep the blanket; build the house. Also: a state that abolishes kindness in the name of ‘rights only’ can become a machine.

Drop one peg where it fits — not a data dump

Value addition

  • NFSA / MGNREGA Entitlement as an attempt to make food and work less of a favour.
  • Art. 21 / DPSPs Life with dignity and the directive design of a welfare republic.
  • CSR vs tax A photograph of giving after a gap in the wage — name the order.

Last 8–10 lines in the exam

Last paragraph

  • Close: raise the floor so fewer must queue for a packet with a logo. Expand — this is only the map.

Quick related

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  1. 2020 · Q6 · Essay · 125 marks

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

    View answer →

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