Important Essay

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The Essay topics which were asked in  exam :

1. Is India need bold capital investment?

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2. Gold Related Scheme

What is gold monetisation scheme?

It is a scheme that facilitates the depositors of gold to earn interest on their metal accounts. Once the gold is deposited in metal account, it will start earning interest on the same.

How it generally works?

When a customer brings in gold to the counter of specified agency or bank, the purity of gold is determined and exact quantity of gold is credited in the metal account. Customers may be asked to complete KYC (know-your-customer) process. The deposited gold will be lent by banks to jewellers at an interest rate little higher than the interest paid to customer.

How is the interest rate calculated?

Both principal and interest to be paid to the depositors of gold, will be ‘valued’ in gold. For example if a customer deposits 100 gm of gold and gets one per cent interest, then, on maturity he has a credit of 101 gram.

The interest rate is decided by the banks concerned.

What is the tenure?

The tenure of gold deposits is likely to be for a minimum of one year. The minimum quantity of deposits is pegged at 30 gram to encourage even small deposits. The gold can be in any form, bullion or jewellery.

How the redemption takes place?

Customer will have the choice to take cash or gold on redemption, but the preference has to be stated at the time of deposit.


Two significant schemes were proposed in this respect. The first is the Gold Monetisation Scheme, which would enable depositors, such as households and jewelers, to open metal deposits with banks and place their gold holdings in them. You can also borrow money using these accounts.

The other initiative, a new Sovereign Gold Bond, would enable investors to trade in gold without having to buy it physically. In addition, the introduction of a domestically-made Indian Gold Coin, bearing an Ashoka Chakra was also announced. This could reduce the need for importing gold coins.

Policies working and what their intended benefits are:

1) Gold deposit scheme: Although the Budget document does not talk about these at length, they are expected to work similarly to bank accounts. People periodically deposit money in their accounts and receive interest from the bank. The bank uses these deposits to make loans to others and receives interest in return. The difference between the interest paid and received is the bank’s income. Similarly, under the scheme, households and jewelers will be able to place their gold holdings in a metal deposit with a bank. The bank will pay interest for this. It will lend this gold to jewelers who require gold for their daily working and receive interest in return. The difference between the two interests will be the bank’s income. You can withdraw your gold if you wish to in times of need.

Advantages of the scheme. The scheme has two-pronged benefits. First, it will reduce the dependence on imported gold. India is the world’s largest consumer of gold but has to import about 97% of its annual gold demand. This is a drain on its forex reserves, and is a key reason why the rupee value falls. On the other hand, there is 20,000 tons of gold that is unproductively stashed away in household lockers, according to the Finance Minister. The scheme intends to circulate this stashed gold in the economy by pulling it out of domestic safes and lending it to those who need it. This will save the country billions of dollars of gold imports annually. Second, stocks of gold jewelry represent enormous personal wealth. However, this wealth is only notional because it doesn’t contribute to growth. It can neither be spent nor invested. The gold deposit scheme can attract deposits worth Rs 1 lakh crore, according to an Economic Times report quoting SBI research. This gold will be converted into cash in the form of interest. Gold owners can then use it for spending and banks for productive lending. Imagine how much growth an extra trillion rupees can generate for the country. Another media report suggest that this scheme can add 2% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – a measure of the economy.

2) Sovereign Gold Bond: The gold bond will work just like a regular coupon bearing bond that the government issues to borrow money for various purposes. The government receives money from investors, who invest in the bond, and pays a fixed periodic interest known as coupon on it. On maturity, it returns the money to the investors. Similarly, in a gold bond, investors, such as households, will be able to lend money to the government by investing in a bond whose price will be based on the price of a fixed quantity of gold. On this, they will periodically receive a coupon (1.5-2% according to estimates). On maturity or sale of the bond, the bond holder will receive an amount equal to the value of the underlying amount of gold as on that date. Therefore, they will get the same return as buying gold bars or coins and selling them later, when their price increases.

Advantage of the scheme: The benefit of this scheme is that it will remove the need to import gold for investment purposes. At present, when people buy gold as an investment, it has to be imported from outside. This leads to an outflow of forex and increases India’s current account deficit – the amount India owes to the world in foreign currency. With the introduction of the bond, the entire transaction will take place in cash, removing the need for buying imported gold.

3. Is progress possible without peace?

Mankind has been making large scale advancements in all fields of life and we revel in the idea that we have progressed a lot. We boast of our achievements in the field of technology and science; we claim to have made human life safer and healthier — there have been advancements made in the field of medicine and surgery.


Large scale industrialization has transformed the face of economies; there are billionaires — newer and still newer and younger faces in the line are showing up everyday.

Militarily, the more sophisticated and more deadly your stock of armaments, the stronger and more powerful would you be and of course, less vulnerable. Nations are going in for a hot race to equip themselves with the deadliest of weapons.

The sudden spurt in computerization has completely changed the face of the world. What was not and could not be thought of a quarter of a century ago is now anybody’s game. Every office, every circle, even every home is fitted with the latest computer devices No doubt all this has given to common daily life so much of convenience and comfort.

Hybrid crops in the field of agriculture, recent and even more recent researches in the field of agriculture and horticulture, are giving to farmers something of that variety and value which perhaps their forefathers never ever could dream of.

Urbanization is calling the shots and the rural population is getting more and more city minded — there is more money and more enjoyments that constantly keep on calling the man from the villages to the towns. That is, at least, the scenario in our country — India.

So with all this we have begun to call ourselves as fast ‘progressing’.

No doubt not only in our own country but worldwide, life has become more comfortable, and more congenial. But why do people still run to seek relief to the ‘Ashrams’, to meditation centers; seek ‘Gurus’ to guide them. What ails them; what puzzles them; what disturbs them that inspire of their coffers all full of the yellow metal — gold — they still seek something that ever eludes them. This is a paradox of life that demands an in-depth study.

‘Man does not live by bread alone’ — even though that bread be iced with the entire creamy layer. There still remains something wanting, something that keeps him tossing in his otherwise cozy bed. The mind is still not at rest; it still is not at peace. The more one has, the more he wants and desires are the devil that plays foul with the mind.

The mind is the centre of all thought and action. The motor nerves and the sensory nerves keep on laving their seek do not permit it to be at rest. Even the richest in wealth are unable to enjoy the full fruits of their wealth. They go round consulting the psychiatrist, the counselors, even sometimes even the astrologers.

in Chaddha has to have a private ward reserved for him in a nursing home and would be carried in a wheel chair as and when he arrives in India. Satnam Shah, the recent discovery in field of espionage and drug smuggling has to be kept for a constant medical check up.

We hear a Youngman of a big business — house shooting himself down with his own revolver. America is one of the richest nations of the world and Americans are the most in number craving for peace at a ‘meditation centre’ in India or taking refuge for mental peace in some ‘ashram’ established by an Indian ‘Yogi’ in their own country.

What use is then all this progress? — Is that what we call progress? A ploughman furrowing his fields in the inhospitable fields and sweating out all his life; eating a few breads with a piece of onion and salt as his lunch and drinking a jug of water thereafter, may have just a hovel like thatched hut as his house, but feels at rest and gets a sound sleep at night.

Progress, thus lies not in all one’s acquisitions, in all one’s wealth; in all one’s possessions. Physical well being does form a very important part of man’s life, and Physical comforts and fulfillment of physical needs is a necessity. But that alone is not what the be-all is and end-all of life.

Progress without peace is hardly a Progress; this progress is like going up a step on the ‘adder and sliding back two in the process. All progress is vain if there is no contentment.

Body, mind and soul — this is the complete being and all these three need to be nourished, nurtured and normalised — that society, that nation, alone can claim the real fruits and pleasures of progress which combines and correlates all these three — one to the other. Contentment is the seed of all peace and peace is the path to progress.

4. Will china’s downturn help India?

1. Link 1 

5. Climate catastrophe are due to man’s wild construction.

1. Wikipedia

2. Link 2

3. Encyclopedia

4. Climate change