By Anirudh Billa,
Polity Faculty & Answer writing expert
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In the previous article in this series, we looked into the fundamentals of how to structure an answer-introduction, introduction, body, and conclusion. This article will help you learn how to write an introduction, which will not only impress the examiner but also give a good start to your answers.
The introduction gives an indication of your flow of thoughts and creates an interest in the mind of the examiner. It can be categorised into fact-based, definition based, current affairs based and so on. We will discuss how to use different introduction categories for different questions.
1) Facts based introduction:
You need to provide information/data here. If possible, add a source to make data look more authentic (optional).
UPSC
To what extent, in your view, is Parliament able to ensure accountability of the executive in India? (UPSC 2021, 10 Marks)
For the above question, the fact-based introduction would be
a) In the 14th Lok Sabha, 60 per cent of the bills were referred to parliamentary committees, compared to 27 per cent in the 16th Lok Sabha.
b) In 2021–2021, more than 60 per cent of the budget was approved without debate.
With any of these two introductions, you can start the answer and show that parliamentary accountability has been reduced.
Example 2:
What are the salient features of the Jal Shakti Abhiyan launched by the Government of India for water conservation and water security? (UPSC 2020).
For the above question, the fact-based introduction would be
a) As per the WaterAid report, more than one billion people reside in water-scarce areas, and 75 per cent of households do not have access to tapped drinking water within premises, and 70 per cent of drinking water is contaminated.
2) Definition based introduction
You must write the exact definition or keywords for the concept asked in the question. It is much useful for questions on international relations, science and technology, new concepts in economy etc.
Example:
What exactly is cryptocurrency? How does it affect global society? Has it been affecting Indian society also? (Main 2021)
For the above question, a definition-based introduction would be
Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that allows transacting parties to remain anonymous. It is a digital payment system that doesn’t rely on banks to verify transactions.
3) Introduction based on current events
Here the data is from current events, which we can get from newspapers and authentic news channels. The main advantage of this kind of introduction is that the examiner will understand that you are aware of what is going on around you.
Example 1:
Mention the global occurrence of volcanic eruptions in 2021 and their impact on the regional environment. (Main 2021)
For the above question, a current affairs-based introduction would be
There were almost 70 confirmed eruptions at some point during 2021 from 74 different volcanoes. Thirty of those were new eruptions that started during the year. Examples-Taal Volcano (Philippines), Hunga Tonga (in the South Pacific) and so on.
Example: 2
The process of desertification does not have climatic boundaries. Justify with examples (Main 2020).
For the above question, the current affairs-based introduction would be
The theme of the COP-14, which India recently hosted, was ‘Restore Land, Sustain Future’ as desertification has become a threat to the planet. Desertification is the persistent degradation of land by climatic variations and human activities.
4) Fundamentals of the Constitution
This type of introduction will be useful where questions about Indian polity and the Constitution are asked.
Example
To what extent, in your view, is Parliament able to ensure accountability of the executive in India? (UPSC 2021)
For the above question, the introduction would be
Executive responsibility to Parliament, or what is often termed parliamentary control over the executive or the government, is based on i) the constitutional provision of collective responsibility of the council of Ministers to the popular house of Parliament and ii) Parliament’s control over the budget.
Thus, with the above examples, you would have got enough understanding about how to address any question asked in the exam. All these categorisations were done to make you understand easily and enable you to apply them as per the question asked.
A relevant type of introduction, such as the ones in the examples above, will undoubtedly give your answer an advantage over others who simply write similar introductions for the questions. Different introductions in your answer script will fetch additional marks.
The NCERT books, monthly magazines such as Yojana and Kurukshetra, as well as Rajya Sabha TV’s Big Picture programme and other newspapers, etc., will help you in the preparation.