GS Paper IV 2023 · Q6 (Section A)
2 parts · 10 marks and 150 words each Moral thinkers & philosophers X-Ray · Core #25Q6(a) 10 marks · 150 words · answered on its own
What were the major teachings of Guru Nanak? Explain their relevance in the contemporary world.
Approach · directive: “what; explain”
What it asks · State Guru Nanak's major teachings and explain how they speak to the problems of today's world.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- State the major teachings of Guru Nanak
- Explain their relevance in the contemporary world
Open with · Baba Guru Nanak (1469–1539) rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship and austerities, and proposed a simple way to the Divine: remembering the Divine Name, living honestly and helping others.
Cover
- Teachings: one formless God and one humanity, with caste, creed and gender irrelevant to liberation.
- The three pillars (naam japna, kirat karni, vand chakna), langar and sangat at Kartarpur, and liberation through an active life of social commitment.
- A table maps teachings to today's ills: corruption, inequality, caste and gender bias.
- Interfaith harmony: the Kartarpur Corridor, opened in 2019 for his 550th birth anniversary.
- Ecology: the Japji verse calling air the teacher, water the father and earth the mother.
Close with · His hymn in which the sky is the platter and the sun and moon the lamps: all creation a place of worship, an ethic of equality and reverence that a divided world needs.
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2023, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 216words · Minimalist IAS
Baba Guru Nanak (1469–1539) rejected sacrifices, ritual baths, image worship and austerities, and proposed a simple way to the Divine: remembering the Divine Name, living honestly and helping others.
Major teachings of Guru Nanak
- One God, one humanity: the Absolute has no gender or form, and caste, creed or gender is irrelevant to liberation.
- Three pillars: naam japna, kirat karni and vand chakna: right belief and worship, honest living, and helping others.
- Langar and sangat: at Kartarpur his followers, irrespective of creed, caste or gender, ate together in the common kitchen and worshipped as one congregation.
- Engaged spirituality: liberation through an active life of social commitment, not inert bliss.
Their relevance in the contemporary world
| Teaching | Answers today's |
|---|---|
| Kirat karni | Corruption, rent-seeking |
| Vand chakna | Widening inequality |
| Langar, sangat | Caste and gender bias |
- Interfaith harmony: the Kartarpur Corridor, opened in 2019 for his 550th birth anniversary, ended decades in which Indian devotees could only view the shrine from a distance.
- Ecology: the Japji verse that calls air the teacher, water the father and earth the mother is an ethic for a warming world.
His hymn in which the sky is the platter and the sun and moon the lamps makes all creation a place of worship: an ethic of equality and reverence that a divided world needs.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
Q6(b) 10 marks · 150 words · answered on its own
Explain the term social capital. How does it enhance good governance?
Approach · directive: “explain; how does it enhance”
What it asks · Explain what social capital is and its forms, then show how it strengthens good governance, noting its limits.
It asks 2 things — answer each
- Explain the term social capital
- Explain how it enhances good governance
Open with · Social capital defined as the networks, trust and norms of reciprocity that let people cooperate; Robert Putnam's argument that strong, prosperous societies rest on community relationships and mutual trust.
Cover
- A table explains its three forms, bonding, bridging and linking, with examples.
- Accountability: active gram sabhas and social audits.
- Co-managed commons: Elinor Ostrom's Nobel-winning findings (2009); Joint Forest Management since Odisha's 1988 resolution.
- Delivery and lower cost: Kerala's Kudumbashree with neighbourhood groups at its base; voluntary compliance cuts enforcement.
- Caution: bonding ties can entrench caste and patronage; bridging ties need inclusion and transparency.
Close with · Good governance is co-produced: a state that invests in trust, through gram sabhas, self-help groups and honest service, needs less coercion and delivers more.
Add value (verified)
- Putnam's Making Democracy Work (1993) and Bowling Alone (2000) argued that strong and prosperous societies rest on community relationships and mutual trust, which he called social capital.Robert D. Putnam — Encyclopaedia Britannica ↗“In his most influential books— Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (1993), coauthored with Robert Leonardi and Raffaella Nanetti, and Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000)—Putnam argued that strong and prosperous societies rest upon community relationships and mutual trust, what he called “ social capital .””
- Nobel Prize press release (12 October 2009): Elinor Ostrom challenged the view that common property is poorly managed and must be either regulated centrally or privatised; from studies of user-managed fish stocks, pastures, woods, lakes and groundwater basins she concluded that outcomes are, more often than not, better than standard theories predict.The Prize in Economic Sciences 2009 — Press release, NobelPrize.org ↗“Elinor Ostrom has challenged the conventional wisdom that common property is poorly managed and should be either regulated by central authorities or privatized. Based on numerous studies of user-managed fish stocks, pastures, woods, lakes, and groundwater basins, Ostrom concludes that the outcomes are, more often than not, better than predicted by standard theories.”
- Kerala's Kudumbashree was formed in the context of devolution to panchayats and the People's Plan Campaign; its women's community network has Neighbourhood Groups at its base.Kudumbashree — An Introduction, Kudumbashree State Poverty Eradication Mission, Government of Kerala ↗“Its formation was in the context of the devolution of powers to the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) in Keralam, and the Peoples’ Plan Campaign, which attempted to draw up the Ninth Plan of the local governments from below through the PRIs. Kudumbashree has a three-tier structure for its women community network, with Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs) at the lowest level”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2023, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 3 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer· 204words · Minimalist IAS
Social capital is the networks, trust and norms of reciprocity that let people cooperate for shared ends. Robert Putnam argued that strong and prosperous societies rest on community relationships and mutual trust (Making Democracy Work, 1993).
| Form | Ties | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Bonding | Within a group | Self-help group |
| Bridging | Across groups | Cooperative, civic club |
|---|---|---|
| Linking | People and institutions | Gram sabha, social audit |
How social capital enhances good governance
- Accountability: active gram sabhas and social audits keep officials answerable and plans rooted in local needs.
- Co-managed commons: Elinor Ostrom's Nobel-winning work (2009) showed that user associations often manage common resources better than standard theory predicts; India's Joint Forest Management, formal since Odisha's 1988 resolution, relies on village institutions to protect degraded forests.
- Delivery: Kerala's Kudumbashree grew out of devolution to panchayats and the People's Plan Campaign, with women's neighbourhood groups at its base.
- Lower cost of governing: where people trust the state, compliance is voluntary, as in vaccination drives, and enforcement and litigation fall.
- Caution: exclusive bonding ties can entrench caste and patronage, so the state must widen bridging ties through inclusion and transparency.
Good governance is co-produced: a state that invests in trust, through gram sabhas, self-help groups and honest service, needs less coercion and delivers more.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 3 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
