Essay practice: the decisions nobody made
The most expensive decisions are the ones nobody made.
Write an essay of 1000 to 1200 words. 125 marks.
This topic is a plain claim. In 2020 to 2026, 68% of essay topics took this form. Two real topics make a similar claim, so practise on them next:
| Topic | Paper |
|---|---|
| The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing. | UPSC Mains 2024, Essay, Section B |
| Shelving hard decisions is the least ethical course. | UPSC Mains 2026, Essay, Section B |
A plain claim has no image or second half to work from. Fix what the words mean before you plan. Otherwise the essay drifts into government delays in general.
Before you write: four questions
Answer these on the paper. Then plan.
- What kind of cost does the topic mean? Money, time, trust or lost chances? Your answer shapes the whole essay.
- Who pays it? Name the people who bear the cost.
- How can not deciding be a decision? The claim depends on this. Say why you accept it, or why you do not.
- Name one case where doing nothing was right. Say what made it right. That case is your objection.
Check your thinking
You have five minutes of planning left. Which of these would make the strongest thesis for this topic?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: (B) Delay is costly when the cost falls on people who cannot wait, and cheap when it falls on those who can.
The answer is (B). It takes a position, says who bears the cost, and gives the essay a line to argue along: when delay is expensive and when it is cheap. (A) is a complaint. It could open almost any essay on governance. (C) declines to take a position, so the essay has no argument to make. (D) repeats the topic and adds nothing, so there is nothing left to argue for 1100 words.
Which of these is a real objection to the thesis in the last question, rather than another example that supports it?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: (B) A case where waiting produced a better decision than acting quickly would have.
The answer is (B). An objection is a case that could make your thesis false. A case where waiting gave a better result does that, because it shows delay can pay. (A) supports the thesis you already have. (C) is a hedge. It makes no claim you can test. (D) explains why delay happens, but says nothing about whether it is costly.
A suggested structure
This is one way to build the essay. It shows where each part goes.
| Paragraph | What it does |
|---|---|
| 1 | Open on one specific decision nobody made, and what it cost |
| 2 | State the thesis: the cost depends on who can afford to wait |
| 3 | A case where delay fell on people with no other choice |
| 4 | A case where delay fell on an institution that could absorb it |
| 5 | Why the difference comes down to power |
| 6 | The objection. A case where waiting was the right call |
| 7 | What those cases share: new information was arriving |
| 8 | So the test is whether the wait gathers information or only uses up time |
| 9 | Close on how decisions could be designed to pass that test |
Now plan it yourself
✍️ Your turn
Write your plan, not the essay. In 150 words or fewer: your thesis in one sentence, then one line for each paragraph saying what that paragraph argues. Mark which paragraph handles the objection.
Compare with a model plan
Open this only after you have written your own.
A model plan for this topic
Thesis. The cost of delay grows with how little the affected people can afford to wait. So ask who carries the cost while no decision is made.
- A village that waited eleven years for a decision on a bridge. Count what those years cost in travel time and missed school days.
- Thesis stated. The cost of not deciding is real, and some people carry far more of it than others.
- Where the cost falls on people with no alternative: informal workers waiting for rules that cover them, patients waiting for a drug approval.
- Where it falls on an institution that can absorb it: a ministry delays a reform and carries on as before.
- Delay moves the cost onto someone. It is rarely the person deciding.
- The objection. Some delays were right: a decision that waited for evidence, or a reform held back until there were staff to run it.
- What those cases share: the wait produced information the decision needed.
- So the test is what the wait produces. If it gathers evidence, it is part of deciding. If it only lets time pass, the cost keeps growing.
- Close on the village. Say what rule would have forced a decision in year one.
Why this plan works.
- It fixes the meaning of cost in paragraph 1, so the essay argues about something concrete.
- The objection in paragraph 6 could make the thesis false. Paragraph 7 finds what the exceptions share, and paragraph 8 turns that into a test.
- The conclusion returns to the opening and asks for a specific change.
Then write the essay
Write it to your plan and submit it for evaluation. You will get a comment on each of the five criteria and one change to make in your next essay.