GS Paper I 2019 · Q10
10 marks · 150 words Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism X-Ray · Core #61What 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.
It asks 2 things — 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 all religions: Article 25 guarantees religious practice, yet the State may regulate and reform it.
Cover
- Courts deciding faith: the 'essential religious practices' test makes judges sort core belief from custom, inviting the charge of intrusion.
- Custom versus rights: instant triple talaq set aside (22 August 2017, Article 14) and made void and punishable by the 2019 Act.
- Temple entry: the Sabarimala ruling (2018) set women's equality against a shrine's custom.
- Public-order curbs: limits on loudspeakers, processions, firecrackers and jallikattu, defended on health and animal welfare.
- Perceived selectivity: State control of Hindu temples, uneven personal laws, the open Uniform Civil Code (Article 44); Shah Bano (1985) showed fast polarisation.
- Not all is secularism: commercialisation, migration and identity politics also erode practices.
- Way forward: community-led reform, consultation before restriction, proportionate limits tested against constitutional morality.
Close with · Article 51A(f) asks citizens to preserve India's composite culture; secularism honours that duty by restraining only what harms public order, health or dignity.
Add value (verified)
- The Supreme Court, by a majority judgment of 22 August 2017, set aside instant triple talaq as violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 - Press Information Bureau factsheet ↗“Supreme Court, in a majority judgment rendered on 22nd August, 2017, set aside the practice of divorce by pronouncing instant Triple Talaq as violative of Article 14”
- The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 declares instant triple talaq void and illegal and provides imprisonment of up to three years and a fine for the husband.The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 - Press Information Bureau factsheet ↗“declares the instant divorce granted by pronouncement of talaq three times as void and illegal”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2019, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 16 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 218words · Minimalist IAS
Indian secularism keeps a principled distance from all religions: Article 25 guarantees religious practice, yet the State may regulate and reform it. Friction arises when regulation reads as hostility.
Challenges in the name of secularism
- Courts deciding faith: the 'essential religious practices' test makes judges sort belief from custom, inviting charges of intrusion.
- Custom versus rights: on 22 August 2017 the Supreme Court set aside instant triple talaq as violative of Article 14; the 2019 Act made it void and punishable.
- Temple entry: the Sabarimala ruling (2018) set women's equality against a shrine's custom and divided devotees.
- Public-order curbs: limits on loudspeakers, processions, firecrackers and jallikattu feel like cultural attacks, though defended on health and animal welfare.
- Perceived selectivity: State control of Hindu temples, uneven personal laws and the open Uniform Civil Code question (Article 44) feed charges of double standards, as the Shah Bano case (1985) showed.
| Practice | Ground for State action |
|---|---|
| Instant triple talaq | Equality (Article 14) |
| Sabarimala entry bar | Women's equal access |
| Jallikattu | Animal welfare |
Not all is secularism's doing
- Commercialisation, migration and identity politics also erode local practices.
Way forward
- Community-led reform, consultation before restriction, proportionate limits tested against constitutional morality.
Article 51A(f) asks citizens to preserve India's composite culture; secularism honours that duty by restraining only what harms public order, health or dignity.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 16 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
