Essay practice: reform and the next generation
Every reform is written by one generation but lived under by the next.
Write an essay of 1000 to 1200 words. 125 marks.
This topic joins two ideas with but. In 2020 to 2026, 14% of essay topics took this form. Here are three real ones to practise on next:
| Topic | Paper |
|---|---|
| There can be no social justice without economic prosperity but economic prosperity without social justice is meaningless. | UPSC Mains 2020, Essay, Section B |
| Nearly all men can stand adversity, but to test the character, give him power. | UPSC Mains 2024, Essay, Section B |
| Contentment is natural wealth; luxury is artificial poverty. | UPSC Mains 2025, Essay, Section B |
Here the two ideas are: one generation writes a reform, and the next one lives under it. Both are plainly true. So your essay argues what follows from the gap between them.
Do not write a general essay on why reform matters. The topic does not ask that.
Before you write: four questions
- What are the two ideas? Write them as two separate sentences.
- Is the topic a complaint or an observation? Read as a complaint, your essay argues that the gap is a problem to fix. Read as an observation, it argues what the gap causes. Choose one.
- When does the gap help? Reformers who will not live under a reform have less to protect for themselves. That can make them bolder.
- When does it hurt? The same reformers face no consequences if they get it wrong.
Check your thinking
Which of these essays answers the topic?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: (B) An essay arguing that distance from the consequences makes reformers bolder and also less careful, and saying which effect wins and when.
The answer is (B). The topic joins two ideas, so the essay has to deal with both and then say where the balance falls. (A) answers a question about consulting young people, which the topic does not ask. (C) is a list. It describes reforms without arguing anything about the gap between who writes them and who lives under them. (D) takes one side only, and an essay that argues one half of a two-idea topic answers half the question.
You decide to read the topic as an observation rather than a complaint. What changes in your essay?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: (B) You stop arguing that the gap should be closed, and start arguing what the gap produces.
The answer is (B). Read as a complaint, the topic leads to an essay about closing the gap, usually by consulting the young or representing future generations. Read as an observation, it leads to an essay about what the gap causes. That essay has more to argue, because the gap can never be fully closed. (A) is wrong because the reading decides the thesis. (C) is wrong because an observation needs the same evidence. (D) is wrong because you can observe something and still judge it.
A suggested structure
One way to build it. Paragraphs 3 to 5 and paragraphs 6 to 7 argue opposite things on purpose.
| Paragraph | What it does |
|---|---|
| 1 | Open on one named reform and the year it started to matter, long after its authors left |
| 2 | State the thesis: the gap makes big reform possible, and it also makes reform careless |
| 3 | Where the gap produced boldness: a reform that gave its authors nothing |
| 4 | Why that boldness needed the gap. People protecting their own position do not write such reforms |
| 5 | The other side: a reform whose costs arrived after its authors had gone |
| 6 | The objection. Reforms that lasted into the next generation in good shape |
| 7 | What they had in common: a way to be corrected later |
| 8 | So build correction into the reform from the start |
| 9 | Close on what that would mean for one reform today |
Now plan it yourself
✍️ Your turn
Write your plan, not the essay. In 150 words or fewer: say whether you are reading the topic as a complaint or an observation, give your thesis in one sentence, then one line per paragraph saying what it argues. Mark the paragraph that handles the objection.
Compare with a model plan
Open this only after you have written your own.
A model plan for this topic
Read as. An observation. The gap cannot be closed, so the essay argues what it produces.
Thesis. The gap between who writes a reform and who lives under it makes bold reform possible and also makes it careless. The useful response is to build in a way to correct it.
- A reform passed by people who never saw it work. Give the year it was written and the year it started to matter.
- Thesis stated.
- Where the gap produced boldness: a reform that cost its authors politically and paid off a generation later.
- Why the gap was needed. People defending their own position rarely write a reform that removes it.
- The other side: costs that arrived after the authors had gone, with nobody left to answer for them.
- The objection. Some reforms lasted into the next generation in good shape.
- What they shared: a review clause, a sunset date, or a body with the power to revise. Someone planned for correction.
- So the harm comes from a reform that cannot be corrected. The gap makes that harm larger.
- Close on what a review clause would mean for one reform being debated today.
Why this plan works.
- It chooses a reading in the first line, which keeps the essay on track.
- It argues both halves: paragraphs 3 and 4 on the gain, paragraph 5 on the cost.
- The objection in paragraph 6 brings cases the thesis does not yet explain. Paragraph 7 explains them and moves the argument forward.
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.