Master Answer WritingSign in

UPSC 2019 GS-II · 10 marks · 150 words

What can France learn from the Indian Constitution’s approach to secularism?

What “Examine” demands

investigate the issue closely — how it arose, how it works, what it achieves and where it falls short — looking at both sides.

The characteristic failure: description of what the thing is, with no probing of how well it works.

What a top answer must contain

These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.

  • French laïcité: strict separation, religion privatised, 1905 law, 2004 headscarf ban, 2010 face-veil ban
  • Indian model: principled distance — the state may intervene to reform (Art 25(2)(b) temple entry), and funds minority institutions (Arts 29-30)
  • Rajeev Bhargava's 'principled distance' as the theoretical anchor
  • What France could take: accommodation of religious symbols (Sikh turbans), group rights alongside individual rights
  • Honest counter: India's model brings its own problems — selective reform, state entanglement with religious endowments

The band thresholds and the pre-scored sample answers behind this standard stay private — they are the calibration your copy is placed against.

Now write it, and find out what you actually scored

Attempt this question — typed or photographed — and it is marked against the standard above in under a minute: six parameter scores, a blunt verdict, and the points you missed. 50 free credits on signup, no card.

Write this answerSee a marked copy first

More from UPSC GS-II