UPSC Mains 2014 GS Paper 2 Q1: model answer
Starting from inventing the ‘basic structure’ doctrine, the judiciary has played a highly proactive role in ensuring that India develops into a thriving democracy. In light of the statement, evaluate the role played by judicial activism in achieving the ideals of democracy.
What the question wants
Evaluate how judicial activism, beginning with the basic structure doctrine, has helped Indian democracy.
How to structure it
Evaluate: contributions, then costs, then a verdict.
- Basic structure as start
- Contributions
- Concerns
- Verdict
How to think it through
Activism is like salt: the right amount makes democracy edible; too much and nobody can swallow it. Show both the good dishes (PIL, Vishaka, environment) and the over-salted ones (2G licences cancelled, the liquor ban near highways).
Model answer
When the Supreme Court took up a letter from Bihar's undertrial prisoners in Hussainara Khatoon (1979), over 40,000 people held for years without trial were released. Judicial activism had arrived.
Basic structure as the foundation
Kesavananda (1973) gave courts the power to protect democracy's core even from Parliament.
Contributions to democracy
- Rights expanded: Maneka Gandhi (1978) widened Article 21 to include dignity, livelihood, privacy and a clean environment.
- Access to justice: PIL let the poor approach courts through letters.
- Gaps filled: Vishaka guidelines (1997) on workplace harassment until a law came in 2013.
- Clean elections: candidates must disclose assets and criminal records (ADR, 2002); NOTA (2013).
- Accountability: coal block and 2G spectrum cancellations; police reforms (Prakash Singh, 2006).
- Federalism: S.R. Bommai (1994) checked misuse of Article 356.
Concerns
- Courts making policy (highway liquor ban, 2016) without expertise.
- Weakens separation of powers.
- Huge backlog while courts handle executive tasks.
- Orders often poorly implemented: police reform directions of 2006 remain largely on paper.
- Unelected judges are not accountable to voters for policy choices.
A middle path
The Court itself has stressed judicial restraint, for example in Divisional Manager, Aravali Golf Club (2008), warning judges not to run the government. Structured guidelines, time-bound orders and dialogue with the executive serve democracy better.
Verdict
Activism has deepened democracy when it protected rights and processes. It works best when it prompts the other branches to act, not when it replaces them.
Draw: Scale weighing 'rights, access, accountability' against 'overreach, backlog'.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
PIL, Hussainara Khatoon, Maneka Gandhi, Vishaka, ADR 2002, Bommai, Prakash Singh, judicial overreach.
Where most answers lose marks
- Treating activism as all good or all bad; 'evaluate' needs both sides.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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