Customs and traditions suppress reason leading to obscurantism. Do you agree?
Approach · directive: “do you agree”
What it asks · Take a balanced position: where customs harden into blind belief and harm, where they carry social wisdom, and how reason and reform can coexist with tradition.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- Take a position: do customs and traditions suppress reason and lead to obscurantism
- Justify it: where custom has suppressed reason, where tradition carries reason, and how reform and the Constitution reconcile them
Open with · Customs give continuity and identity but harden into dogma when placed beyond question; I agree only in part, since reason has also grown within Indian tradition and reformed it.
Cover
- Where custom suppressed reason: sati, untouchability, child marriage and witch-hunting, defended as tradition; questioning treated as sacrilege.
- Living superstition: after Narendra Dabholkar's murder, Maharashtra's 2013 law against human sacrifice, Aghori practices and black magic.
- Reason within tradition: Aryabhata, the Charaka and Sushruta Samhitas, the Nyaya school; sacred groves as ecological wisdom.
- Reform from within: Ram Mohan Roy and sati abolition (1829), Vidyasagar and widow remarriage (1856), Phule, Periyar, Ambedkar.
- Constitutional test: Articles 17, 25 and 51A(h); Shayara Bano and Sabarimala cases.
- Way forward: scientific temper in schooling, reform led by communities, enforcement of anti-superstition laws through dialogue.
Close with · Article 51A(h) pairs inquiry with reform: tradition survives where it can bear questioning and gives way where it cannot.
Add value (verified)
- Article 51A(h), part of the Fundamental Duties inserted in 1976, makes it a duty of every citizen to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2024), Article 51A(h) — Legislative Department ↗“(h) to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”
- Article 17 abolishes untouchability and forbids its practice in any form.The Constitution of India — Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice ↗““Untouchability” is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden.”
- Article 25 subjects freedom of religion to public order, morality and health.The Constitution of India — Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice ↗“Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2020, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 16 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 304words · Minimalist IAS
Customs give a community continuity and identity, but once placed beyond question they harden into dogma. I agree only in part: custom has at times silenced reason in India, yet reason has also grown within tradition and reformed it from inside.
Where custom suppresses reason
- Harmful practices: sati, untouchability, child marriage and witch-hunting were defended as tradition against evidence and humanity.
- Questioning as sacrilege: such practices lasted because doubting them was treated as impiety, which is the essence of obscurantism.
- Living superstition: after the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, Maharashtra enacted its 2013 law against human sacrifice, Aghori practices and black magic.
Where tradition carries reason
- Intellectual heritage: Aryabhata's astronomy, the Charaka and Sushruta Samhitas in medicine and the Nyaya school of logic grew within tradition.
- Embedded wisdom: sacred groves, rooted in nature worship, shelter rare species; community norms long sustained tanks and commons.
- Reform from within: Jotirao Phule, Periyar and B.R. Ambedkar attacked caste orthodoxy with argument, not contempt for culture.
| Custom | Reform | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Sati | Abolished after Ram Mohan Roy's campaign | 1829 |
| Bar on widow remarriage | Law urged by Vidyasagar | 1856 |
| Untouchability | Article 17 | 1950 |
| Black magic, human sacrifice | Maharashtra law | 2013 |
The constitutional test
- Article 17 abolishes untouchability and forbids its practice in any form; Article 25 makes religious freedom subject to public order, morality and health.
- Article 51A(h) asks every citizen to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.
- Courts: the Supreme Court tested custom against these values in Shayara Bano on instant triple talaq and in the Sabarimala temple-entry case.
Way forward
- Reason through dialogue: scientific temper in schooling, reform led by communities themselves, and steady enforcement of anti-superstition laws.
The Constitution settles the question: Article 51A(h) pairs inquiry with reform, so tradition survives where it can bear questioning and gives way where it cannot.
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.
