Master Answer WritingSign in

UPSC 2022 GS-II · 15 marks · 250 words

'While the national political parties in India favour centralisation, the regional parties are in favour of State autonomy.' 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”.

  • Centralising record: Art 356's misuse decades, one-party planning era, GST design, centrally-sponsored schemes' conditionality
  • Autonomy record: Rajamannar Committee (DMK), Anandpur Sahib Resolution, current fiscal-share protests of southern states
  • Complication for the top band: national parties discover states' rights in opposition; regional parties centralise within their states
  • Frame: federalism as bargaining (Riker); Bommai as the shared norm both sides invoke

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