SECTION A
Essay
125 marks
Life is a long journey between human being and being humane.
WRITE IN
90 min
1,000–1,200 words
Reading the topic
The topic contrasts a biological fact, being born human, with a moral achievement, becoming humane. The examiner expects you to treat humaneness as something cultivated over a lifetime through empathy, restraint and service, not a trait we possess by default.
ThesisHumaneness is not inherited with the human form but earned through a lifelong practice of widening one's circle of concern, and societies must build institutions that make that journey easier.
Dimensions to cover
- 1Individual: compassion grows through deliberate choices, so the journey is measured by how a person treats those who can give nothing back
- 2Family and education: children learn humaneness by watching elders handle the weak, the old and the stranger, making homes and schools the first stage of the journey
- 3Society: caste, communal and gender prejudice show that a group can be fully human yet collectively inhumane, so social reform is part of the journey
- 4Governance: a welfare state that protects the destitute, disabled and prisoners turns private compassion into public duty
- 5Technology and economy: efficiency-driven systems can treat people as numbers, so humane design in algorithms and workplaces is a modern frontier of the journey
Counter-view
- One may argue that humans are naturally selfish and humaneness is a fragile veneer. The essay should concede the pull of self-interest but show, through moral transformations in history, that cultivation repeatedly overcomes it
Open and close
- Open: Open with Bishop Myriel handing Jean Valjean the silver candlesticks the police thought he had stolen, a single act that begins a hardened man's journey to becoming humane
- Close: Conclude that the journey never ends, since every generation and every person must re-earn humaneness, and that a just state can shorten but not replace that walk
Where marks usually go
- Writing only about kindness and charity without explaining the contrast between being human and being humane that the topic is built on
- Turning the essay into a list of welfare schemes, which drifts into a GS answer
- Treating humaneness as a fixed destination reached once, ignoring the word 'journey'
Examples that fit
- HistoryAshoka's remorse after the Kalinga war, recorded in Rock Edict XIII, shows a conqueror travelling from power to compassion and turning it into state policy of dhamma.Rock Edict XIII; Romila Thapar, Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas
- ThinkerViktor Frankl observed that even in Nazi camps some prisoners shared their last bread, proving humaneness is a choice available in the worst conditions.Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning (1946)
- CaseBaba Amte gave up a law practice to build Anandwan, a self-reliant community for people with leprosy, showing humaneness as sustained work rather than a moment of pity.Maharogi Sewa Samiti, Anandwan, Warora
- LiteratureBishop Myriel's forgiveness of Jean Valjean, who stole his silver, sets the convict on a path from bitterness to humanity in Victor Hugo's novel.Victor Hugo, Les Miserables (1862)