UPSC Mains 2021 GS Paper 4 Q3a: model answer
What does each of the following quotations mean to you? (a) "Every work has got to pass through hundreds of difficulties before succeeding. Those that persevere will see the light, sooner or later." — Swami Vivekananda
What the question wants
Explain what Vivekananda's line on perseverance through hundreds of difficulties means to you.
How to structure it
Meaning, examples, me, officer.
- Meaning
- Examples
- Present
- Application
How to think it through
Every success passes through difficulty; perseverance. Examples: ISRO Chandrayaan-2 lander crash 2019 → Chandrayaan-3 landing 23 Aug 2023 (first near south pole); Dashrath Manjhi carved road through hill (22 years, 1960–82); Mary Kom; Kalam's SLV-3 failure 1979 then success 1980. Present: exam failures, startups. Officer: reforms take years.
Model answer
In September 2019, ISRO lost contact with Chandrayaan-2's lander moments before touchdown. On 23 August 2023, Chandrayaan-3 landed near the Moon's south pole, the first mission to do so. The four years between were Vivekananda's 'hundreds of difficulties'.
What it means
- Every worthwhile effort meets obstacles; difficulty is part of the road, not a sign of the wrong road.
- Those who persevere eventually succeed, 'sooner or later': the timing is uncertain, the direction is not.
Examples
- Dashrath Manjhi, a poor labourer in Bihar, spent about 22 years cutting a path through a hill with a hammer and chisel after his wife died for want of timely care.
- A.P.J. Abdul Kalam led the SLV-3 launch that failed in 1979; it succeeded in 1980.
In the present context
- Students facing repeated exam failures, and startups that fail several times before one works.
- Social reforms, from Swachh Bharat to girls' education, show results only after years.
What it means to me
- Treat setbacks as feedback, not verdicts.
For a public servant
- Reforms meet resistance, transfers and delays; persistence is what carries them across.
The light comes, but only to those still walking when it arrives.
Draw: A winding road with obstacles, ending in a sunrise labelled 'success'.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
Vivekananda, perseverance, Chandrayaan-2 2019, Chandrayaan-3 23 Aug 2023, Dashrath Manjhi, Kalam SLV-3 1979 and 1980, setbacks as feedback, reform takes time.
Where most answers lose marks
- Giving only motivational lines without real examples of perseverance.
Related Mains PYQs
- In what ways can an Indian Administrative Officer apply Gandhi’s notion of ‘trusteeship’ to ensure fairness in governance? UPSC 2026 · GS-IV
- 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
- Some moral philosophers argue that spending some of your resources—without significantly affecting your financial stability—to help other people who badly suffer is… UPSC 2026 · GS-IV
- Discuss how national security can be balanced with concerns of human rights. 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.