IASCLUB Synopsis : 25 September 2019

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1.Discuss the causes of gender based violence. Do you agree that it remains biggest impediment to the advancement of women in India?            (GS Paper-1, Social Issues) (250 words)

Structure of the Answer 

·         Introduction: Define gender violence

·         Write about the causes of gender violence

·         Discuss aspects of women development that get affected by gender violence

·         Conclusion

Reference- NCERT

 Model Answer:


Causes of Gender based violence

Socio-Cultural factors:

  • The patriarchal notions of ownership over women’s bodies, sexuality, labor, reproductive rights, mobility and level of autonomy encourage violence against women.
  • Dogmatic religious beliefs with deep-rooted ideas of male superiority are also used to legitimize control over women.

Economic factors:

  • Poverty, lack of education and livelihood opportunities, and inadequate access to basic services like shelter, food, water can increase exposure to gender violence, including forced prostitution or survival sex.

Legal-Administrative factors:

  • Inadequate legal framework, State’s inability to enforce laws, unequal access to justice, gender bias in legal institutions and mechanisms, slow justice system result in culture of impunity for violence and abuse .

Individual factors:

  • Threat/fear of stigma, isolation and social exclusion and exposure to further violence at the hands of the perpetrator, the community or the authorities, including arrest, detention, ill-treatment and punishment force women to suffer silently.

Gender violence is one of the biggest hurdles in women’s advancement due to following factors:

  • It seriously affects all aspects of women’s health- physical, sexual and reproductive, mental and behavioural health, thus prevents them from realizing their full potential.
  • Violence and threat of violence affects women’s ability to participate actively, and as equals, in many forms of social and political relationships.
  • Workplace harassment and domestic violence has an impact on women’s participation in workforce and their economic empowerment.
  • Sexual harassment limits the educational opportunities and achievements of girls.

Thus, half of our human capital will not be able to realize its true potential till gender violence is curbed in all its forms. The underlying causes must be addressed though adequate legal framework and its strict enforcement, building institutional capability, along with gender sensitization campaigns to change attitudes towards women.

2.US President Trump announced to withdraw from United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. What are the objectives and purpose of UN arms trade treaty?  (GS Paper-2, International Relations) (250 words)

Structure of the Answer

 ·         Introduction: Write down the context of the statement

·         Then discuss the UN Arms Trade Treaty and its purpose

·         Conclude with highlighting the objectives of UN Arms Trade Treaty

Reference-Current Affairs

Model Answer:

US President Donald Trump rejected the United Nations’ 2013 Arms Trade Treaty aimed at regulating the global arms trade. Trump announced to “unsign” the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), describing it as a misguided document and an intrusion on US sovereignty.

Arms Trade Treaty

  • The 2013 Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) came into effect in December 2014 after over 65 countries of the world signed it on June 3, 2013.
  • The treaty was discussed at the global conference from in July 2012 in New York, however, no agreement was reached at that time. Finally, on April 2, 2013, the Arms Trade Treaty was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.
  • The treaty seeks to regulate the flow of weapons into conflicted zones. It requires member countries to keep records of international transfers of weapons and to prohibit cross-border shipments that can be used in human rights violations or attacks on civilians.
  • So far, while 130 countries have originally signed the treaty, only 101 ratified and joined it.
  • The world’s largest arms traders including the United States, China and Russia have not joined the treaty.
  • The Arms Trade Treaty covers light weapons, attack helicopters, battle tanks, missile launchers, warships, missiles, armoured combat vehicles, small arms and large-calibre artillery systems.
  • India has not signed the treaty.

Objective of Arms Trade Treaty

  • Arms Trade Treaty is required for controlling the unrestrained flow of the arms as well as ammunition.
  • The aim of this Arms Trade Treaty is to set the standards for the purpose of cross-border transfers of weapons ranging from attack helicopters to tanks.
  • The treaty creates requirements for all the countries to review the cross-border contracts in order to make sure that these weapons would not be used for the illegal purposes such as organised crimes, human rights abuses, violation of humanitarian law as well as terrorism.

.Recently astronomers took the first ever image of a black hole located in a distant galaxy. What are black holes? Explain.                         (GS Paper-3, Science & Technology) (250 words)

Structure of the Answer

 ·         Introduction: Give details of recent discovery of black hole

·         Then write about black holes

·         Mention types of black hole

 Reference– Current Affairs

 Model Answer:

Astronomers took the first ever image of a black hole located in a distant galaxy. The image was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a network of eight linked telescopes. Until now, every image of a black hole has been an artist’s impression.

The image shows a supermassive black hole at the centre of Messier 87, a neighbouring galaxy to Milky Way. The black hole measures 40 billion km across and has been described by scientists as “a monster”.

The image shows the boundary between light and dark around a black hole, called the event horizon. This horizon is the point of no return where the gravity of the black hole becomes so extreme that things that enter can ever escape.
It is located more than 55 million light-years from Earth and is estimated to have a light-sucking core 6.5 billion times more the mass of the sun.
Black Holes:

  • Black holes are objects so dense that no matter and not even light can escape their gravity, and since nothing can travel faster than light, nothing can escape from inside a black hole, making them extraordinarily difficult to observe.
  • However, a black hole exerts the same force on something far away from it as any other object of the same mass would.
  • Black holes are of different sizes and are formed when very massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. Black holes can be small like an atom, or big like a large mountain.
  • A black hole’s horizon is the point of no return beyond which stars, planets, gas, dust and all forms of electromagnetic radiation get swallowed into oblivion.

 Types of Black holes:

  • There are basically three types of black holes: stellar, supermassive, and miniature black holes.
  • Stellar black holes are formed when a massive star collapses. Supermassive black holes are equivalent to billions of suns, and expected to exist in the centres of most galaxies, including Milky Way galaxy. Miniature black holes are assumed to have been formed shortly after the “Big Bang”, which is predicted to have started the universe 13.7 billion years ago.

4.Do you think homosexuality is legally and morally wrong? Explain your position with due justification.                                                                              (GS Paper-4, Ethics) (250 words)

Structure of the Answer

 ·         Briefly present your position on homosexuality

·         Then explain your position with the help of constitution and morality

·         Give examples to illustrate

·         Conclusion

Reference: Lexicon’s Ethics/ Current Affairs

Model Answer:

I believe homosexuality cannot be evaluated as morally wrong, as it is legally right in our own country after removal of section 377 of IPC. Homosexuality is regarded as immoral or illegal, primarily, on the ground that it is unnatural. However, there is no conclusive scientific evidence that homosexuality is unnatural. Moreover, something shall not become moral or legal because it is natural, for instance, inequality can be natural but that does not mean inequality is moral or legal.

‘Right to life’ can be regarded as the most fundamental right, and I believe one of the corollaries of it can be the ‘right not to be discriminated’ on the basis of sexual inclination or preference. Again, another corollary of right to life can be the right to adult and consensual sex. Rightness or wrongness shall not be determined on the basis of the sex of the partners but on the nature of their interaction. A consensual sex, whether between same sex or different, can be moral and any coercive sex, without consent, can be immoral, whether between same sex or different. Similarly, all sexual relation with children can be immoral. Some of the most barbaric sexual offences, like Nirbhaya, have been perpetrated by heterosexual people. On the contrary, many eminent people have accepted their homosexual nature openly and all of them are distinguished in their respective fields. Further, being in love can be a natural emotion and sex can be one of the expression of love, now if heterosexuals can express their love in this way then why should homosexuals be not allowed to express their love through the mode of sex.

Thus, there may not be any justification to evaluate homosexuality as immoral or unjust. I believe law is a concrete approximation of moral values, formulation of law shall beembedded in moral deliberations and thereby the ideal of ‘justice according to law and law according to justice’ can be realized.

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