UPSC 2021 GS-I · 15 marks · 250 words

To what extent did the role of the Moderates prepare a base for the wider freedom movement? Comment.

What “Comment” demands

give a considered opinion on the specific proposition, supported by evidence — brevity is expected, evasion is not.

The characteristic failure: a general essay on the topic that never addresses the proposition itself.

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”.

Contributions: drain theory (Naoroji, R.C. Dutt) arming later economics of protest; constitutional method as political education; press-association infrastructure
The Congress platform itself as the base later radicalised
Limits: elite base, mendicancy critique, no mass contact — Extremists and Gandhi as both heirs and critics
'To what extent' answered with a graded verdict: indispensable foundation, insufficient method

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To what extent did the role of the Moderates prepare a base for the wider freedom movement? Comment.

What a top answer must contain

Now write it, and find out what you actually scored

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