Essay
(Candidates will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay to arrange their ideas in orderly fashion and to write concisely)
Introduction and strategy
• Total Marks: 250 marks
• Time duration: 3 hours
• The number of essays which are asked in paper is eight out of which candidates are to write on any two topics within 3 hours. Each essay requires about 1000 words (about 10-12 pages).
• Candidates are required to be in discipline of word limits while writing essay..
• There are some common topics like Heath, Education, Poverty, and Development Issues, Women, Technology, Democracy, Economy, Ethics, Social Issues etc. which could be prove beneficial if you prepare it before examination. Such topics are covered even when you prepare for GS papers.
So just “ Tap into your potential and overcome any obstacle standing between you and what you truly desire.”
UPSC CSE Mains 2022 essay paper Analysis
Mains 2022 essay paper has been more conventional.
'The best time to fix your roof is while the sun is shining' is from the family of quotations and proverbs. The youngsters would have thought about their childhood, getting good ideas from it and must have penned down.
Many students would have thought on the lines of -- use of best case studies for economic excellence, talking about efficient use of resources, beating scarcity, interdependence, sustainability, etc. -- while preparing for the exam in detail.
Another topic was about a quote by Narayan Murthy, founder of Infosys, 'A ship is safest at the harbor, but that is not where it is supposed to be.' This is about entrepreneurship, taking risks, overcoming challenges and students have been contemplating these topics as well during preparation.
The quotation by an ancient Greek Philosopher Heraclitus, 'No man ever steps in the same river twice' is about nothing being permanent. The idea here is to discuss that change is the only constant and the challenges which come with changes. This was also an expected topic.
Another essay topic - 'History is the advance of science or romanticism.' Romanticism is like being a tourist, visiting places and being superficial, not getting in depth about it, whereas, science is an art, a collective effort. Science triumphs over romance as it is about catching the material reality, the bull by a horn. Science has been prevailing.
'Smile is the best device, is often the device that hides ambiguities.' In this topic, we can dissect smiles, the variety of smile, and its purpose, what is the social decorum of it which can make your smile infectious.
Essays asked in CSE 2022 Mains
Section A
1. Forests are the best case studies for economic excellence
2. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world
History is a series of victories won by the scientific man over the romantic man
. A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ship is for
Section B
5. The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining
6. You cannot step twice in the same river
7. A smile is the chosen vehicle for all ambiguities
8. Just because you have a choice, it does not mean that any of them has to be right.