UPSC Mains 2017 GS Paper 4 Q3: model answer
Young people with ethical conduct are not willing to come forward to join active politics. Suggest steps to motivate them to come forward.
What the question wants
Suggest steps to encourage young people of good character to enter active politics.
How to structure it
Why they stay away, then steps.
- Barriers
- Steps: party, system, society, individual
How to think it through
Barriers: money power, criminalisation, dynastic parties, no inner-party democracy, insecurity of income, negative image, violence, age limits. Steps: state funding (Indrajit Gupta Committee 1998), inner-party elections, transparent tickets, youth wings, fellowships (LAMP fellowship), lower candidate age (25 to 21 debate), electoral bonds struck down 2024 (ADR v UoI), local body entry route, civic education, role models (young sarpanches like Chhavi Rajawat), social media for low-cost campaigns.
Model answer
In 2010, Chhavi Rajawat, an MBA who had worked in corporate jobs, became sarpanch of Soda village in Rajasthan. She brought water, roads and toilets to the village. Stories like hers are inspiring because they are rare.
Most ethical young people still see politics as a closed, dirty game.
Why they stay away
- Money power: elections cost more than most can afford.
- Criminalisation and fear of violence.
- Dynastic parties with little room for outsiders.
- No inner-party democracy in ticket selection.
- A negative public image of politicians.
Steps to motivate them
- State funding of elections, as the Indrajit Gupta Committee (1998) suggested, to cut the role of money.
- Transparent party funding; the Supreme Court struck down electoral bonds in February 2024.
- Inner-party elections and open criteria for tickets.
- Local bodies as a starting point: panchayats and wards are where young people can prove themselves.
- Fellowships like the LAMP programme that place youth with MPs.
- Civic education and mock parliaments in colleges.
- Role models celebrated in media.
Politics will not become clean by itself; it will become clean when clean people choose to enter it.
Draw: A ladder: panchayat → assembly → parliament, with support steps at each rung.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
Chhavi Rajawat, Soda village 2010, money power, criminalisation, dynasty, inner-party democracy, Indrajit Gupta Committee 1998, electoral bonds struck down Feb 2024, LAMP fellowship, panchayats, civic education.
Where most answers lose marks
- Giving only moral advice to youth, without system reforms.
Related Mains PYQs
- Owing to paucity of time, a university professor generates a Ph.D. evaluation report using Artificial Intelligence and submits it with some modifications.… UPSC 2026 · GS-IV
- Discuss how national security can be balanced with concerns of human rights. UPSC 2026 · GS-IV
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had cautioned that employing civil disobedience within a constitutional democracy equates to endorsing ‘anarchy’. How should modern democracies… UPSC 2026 · GS-IV
- Shakespeare in Henry IV says, “The arms are fair when the intent of bearing them is just”. What ethical implications does this… UPSC 2026 · GS-IV
Fresh examples from current affairs
Supreme Court: no prior approval under Section 17A needed to probe a bribe demand
In a judgment of 16 October 2026, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices S.V.N. Bhatti and N.V. Anjaria held that investigating a bribe demand by a public servant does not need prior approval under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Asking for a bribe, the court said, is not part of discharging official duties.
UPSC angle: Prelims: Sections 7, 7A, 17A and 19 of the PC Act. · Mains GS-II/GS-IV: honest officers versus accountability.
19 Oct 2026Learn the concept
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.
Want every PYQ in one place? See the Battle IAS PYQ Book.