GS Paper I 2019 · Q10
10 marks · 150 words Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularismWhat are the challenges to our cultural practices in the name of secularism ?
Approach · directive: “what are the challenges”
What it asks · Identify how State action, court tests and politics, all invoking secularism, restrict or reshape religious and cultural practices, and how to reconcile the two.
The question has 2 parts — answer each
- Identify the challenges to cultural practices raised in the name of secularism: judicial tests, State reform, public-order curbs, misreading and perceived selectivity
- Distinguish what is wrongly blamed on secularism and indicate how the two can be reconciled
Open with · Indian secularism keeps a principled distance from religion, so Article 25's guarantee of religious practice sits alongside State power to regulate and reform.
Cover
- Legal tests: the ‘essential religious practices’ doctrine makes courts decide what is core to a faith, drawing the charge of judicial intrusion into belief.
- State reform versus autonomy: equality and dignity claims led to rulings on triple talaq (2017) and Sabarimala (2018), setting community custom against individual rights.
- Public-sphere limits: curbs on loudspeakers, processions, firecrackers and animal-related events are seen as attacks on culture, though defended on public order, health and animal welfare.
- Misreading secularism: treating it as anti-religion, or as a licence to police one community's practices, breeds resentment and majority–minority mistrust.
- Perceived selectivity: State control of Hindu temples, uneven treatment of personal laws and the unfinished Uniform Civil Code debate (Article 44) fuel polarisation.
- Other pressures: commercialisation, westernisation, migration and identity politics also dilute local practices; these should not be blamed on secularism alone.
- Reconciling both: principled distance, community-led reform, consultation and proportionate restrictions tested against constitutional morality.
Close with · Secularism should restrict only what harms public order, health or dignity, while respecting cultural life; change lasts when it comes with community consent.
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2019, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 228 words (UPSC limit 150) · Minimalist IAS
Indian secularism keeps a principled distance from religion: Article 25 guarantees religious practice, yet the State may regulate and reform it. Challenges arise when that power is used, or perceived, as hostility to cultural life.
Challenges in the name of secularism
- Judicial tests: the 'essential religious practices' doctrine makes courts decide what is core to a faith, inviting the charge of judicial intrusion into belief.
- Reform versus autonomy: rulings on triple talaq (2017) and Sabarimala (2018) set community custom against individual equality and dignity, and communities read them as outside interference.
- Public-order curbs: limits on loudspeakers, processions, firecrackers and animal-related events such as jallikattu are felt as attacks on culture, though defended on public order, health and animal welfare.
- Misreading secularism: treating it as anti-religion, or as a licence to police one community's practices, breeds resentment and majority-minority mistrust.
- Perceived selectivity: State control of Hindu temples, uneven treatment of personal laws and the unfinished Uniform Civil Code debate (Article 44) fuel a sense of double standards.
Not all is secularism's doing
- Commercialisation, westernisation, migration and identity politics also dilute local practices and should not be laid at secularism's door.
Reconciling the two
- Principled distance, community-led reform, consultation before restriction, and proportionality tested against constitutional morality.
Secularism should restrict only what harms public order, health or dignity while respecting cultural life; change endures when it comes with community consent.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.