SECTION A
Essay
125 marks
Lending hands to someone is better than giving a dole.
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The topic contrasts a helping hand, which builds capacity and dignity, with a dole, which offers relief but may create dependence. The examiner expects an essay on dignity, self-reliance and empowerment, while recognising that some relief is essential and that welfare design decides whether help empowers or diminishes.
ThesisHelp that builds capability preserves dignity and lasts longer than charity, though relief remains necessary as the first step for those who cannot yet stand.
Dimensions to cover
- 1Individual dignity: being helped to earn respects a person's agency, while repeated handouts can wound self-respect
- 2Economy: skills, credit and market access create lasting incomes, unlike transfers that stop when funds stop
- 3Welfare state: work-based schemes combine support with dignity, offering a middle path
- 4Emergencies: in disasters or illness, immediate relief must come first, so the dole has its place
- 5Social capital: collective self-help builds community strength beyond individual gains
- 6Politics: freebies offered for votes can crowd out investment in capabilities
Counter-view
- Some argue direct cash transfers empower the poor to choose, and evidence shows they do not breed laziness. The essay should agree that well-designed transfers can be a hand, not a dole, since the difference lies in purpose and design
Open and close
- Open: Open with two widows in the same village, one given monthly rations by a trust, the other given a sewing machine and training, and follow them ten years later
- Close: End by arguing that the best help gives people the means to help themselves and, eventually, others
Where marks usually go
- Condemning all welfare as dole, which ignores emergencies and social justice
- Writing only on freebie politics, drifting into a GS answer
- Ignoring dignity, the moral core of the topic
Examples that fit
- ThinkerMaimonides ranked the highest form of charity as helping someone become self-sufficient through a loan, partnership or job.Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Gifts to the Poor
- CaseMuhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for microcredit enabling the poor to start enterprises.Nobel Prize official website, 2006
- CaseSEWA, founded by Ela Bhatt in 1972, organised self-employed women for credit and bargaining power, help through collective strength.Self Employed Women's Association
- CaseMGNREGA, enacted in 2005, guarantees wage work rather than handouts, combining support with dignity.Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005
- ThinkerBanerjee and Duflo show that small, well-designed support can help the poor escape poverty traps.Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, Poor Economics (2011)