SECTION B
Essay
125 marks
A people that values its privileges above its principles loses both.
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The topic warns that when a people or its elites cling to special advantages at the cost of principles like equality, justice and integrity, they end up losing the privileges too, because the system that sustained them loses legitimacy. The examiner expects application to citizens, elites and nations.
ThesisPrivileges last only as long as the principles that justify them, so a society that sacrifices integrity and equality to protect advantages ultimately loses both its moral standing and its advantages.
Dimensions to cover
- 1History: privileged classes that refused reform often triggered revolutions that swept away their privileges
- 2Polity: legislators' privileges exist to protect free debate, not to shield misconduct
- 3Bureaucracy and VIP culture: special treatment for officials erodes public trust in institutions
- 4Citizens: demanding subsidies and concessions while evading taxes and duties undermines the state that provides them
- 5International: a nation that abandons its principles for short-term gains loses its global credibility and influence
Counter-view
- Realists argue that privileges are secured by power, not principles, and that principled conduct can be naive. The essay should show that power without legitimacy is costly and unstable over time
Open and close
- Open: Open with the nobles of Versailles in 1789 refusing to share the tax burden, only to see their titles abolished within months
- Close: Close by arguing that principles are the foundation on which privileges stand, and that whoever undermines that foundation brings the structure down
Where marks usually go
- Treating 'privileges' only as parliamentary privileges and writing a narrow polity answer
- Missing the second half, 'loses both', and failing to show how privileges are lost
- Attributing the quote without being sure of its source
Examples that fit
- HistoryThe French aristocracy's refusal to give up tax exemptions contributed to the fiscal crisis that led to the Revolution of 1789, which abolished their privileges.Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856)
- CaseIn Sita Soren v. Union of India (2024), a seven-judge bench held that parliamentary privilege does not protect legislators who take bribes, overruling P.V. Narasimha Rao (1998).Sita Soren v. Union of India, Supreme Court (2024)
- CaseFrom 1 May 2017, the Union government banned red beacons on official vehicles, a symbolic step against VIP privilege.Ministry of Road Transport and Highways notification (2017)
- CaseIn 2005, Parliament expelled eleven MPs caught in a sting accepting money to ask questions, defending its principles over members' privileges; the Supreme Court upheld this in 2007.Raja Ram Pal v. Hon'ble Speaker, Lok Sabha (2007)