Essay

Section A125 marks

1. 1Oxymorons reflect the ironies of life.
2. 2A grateful mind is very beautiful.
3. 3A thorn is a changed bud.
4. 4When two elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled.

Section B125 marks

1. 1Nature is the symbol of the spirit.
2. 2A well-educated mind will always have more questions than answers.
3. 3Shelving hard decisions is the least ethical course.
4. 4A good leader is one who follows the followers.

Section A125 marks

1. 1Truth knows no colour.
2. 2The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.
3. 3Thought finds a world and creates one also.
4. 4Best lessons are learnt through bitter experiences.

Section B125 marks

1. 1Muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone.
2. 2The years teach much which the days never know.
3. 3It is best to see life as a journey, not as a destination.
4. 4Contentment is natural wealth; luxury is artificial poverty.

Section A125 marks

1. 1Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow them.
2. 2The empires of the future will be the empires of the mind.
3. 3There is no path to happiness, happiness is the path.
4. 4The doubter is a true man of science.

Section B125 marks

1. 1Social media is triggering 'Fear of Missing Out' amongst the youth, precipitating depression and loneliness.
2. 2Nearly all men can stand adversity, but to test the character, give him power.
3. 3All ideas having large consequences are always simple.
4. 4The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing.

Section A125 marks

1. 1Thinking is like a game, it does not begin unless there is an opposite team.
2. 2Visionary decision-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic.
3. 3Not all who wander are lost.
4. 4Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane.

Section B125 marks

1. 1Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands: two equally harmful disciplines.
2. 2Mathematics is the music of reason.
3. 3A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.
4. 4Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

Section A125 marks

1. 1Forests are the best case studies for economic excellence.
2. 2Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.
3. 3History is a series of victories won by the scientific man over the romantic man.
4. 4A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ship is for.

Section B125 marks

1. 1The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.
2. 2You cannot step twice in the same river.
3. 3A smile is the chosen vehicle for all ambiguities.
4. 4Just because you have a choice, it does not mean that any of them has to be right.

Section A125 marks

1. 1The process of self-discovery has now been technologically outsourced.
2. 2Your perception of me is a reflection of you; my reaction to you is an awareness of me.
3. 3Philosophy of wantlessness is Utopian, while materialism is a chimera.
4. 4The real is rational and the rational is real.

Section B125 marks

1. 1Hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
2. 2What is research, but a blind date with knowledge!
3. 3History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce.
4. 4There are better practices to 'best practices'.

Section A125 marks

1. 1Life is a long journey between human being and being humane.
2. 2Mindful manifesto is the catalyst to a tranquil self.
3. 3Ships do not sink because of water around them, ships sink because of water that gets into them.
4. 4Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Section B125 marks

1. 1Culture is what we are, civilization is what we have.
2. 2There can be no social justice without economic prosperity but economic prosperity without social justice is meaningless.
3. 3Patriarchy is the least noticed yet the most significant structure of social inequality.
4. 4Technology as the silent factor in international relations.

Section A125 marks

1. 1Wisdom finds truth.
2. 2Values are not what humanity is, but what humanity ought to be.
3. 3Best for an individual is not necessarily best for the society.
4. 4Courage to accept and dedication to improve are two keys to success.

Section B125 marks

1. 1South Asian societies are woven not around the state, but around their plural cultures and plural identities.
2. 2Neglect of primary health care and education in India are reasons for its backwardness.
3. 3Biased media is a real threat to Indian democracy.
4. 4Rise of Artificial Intelligence: the threat of jobless future or better job opportunities through reskilling and upskilling.

Section A125 marks

1. 1Alternative technologies for a climate change resilient India.
2. 2A good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
3. 3Poverty anywhere is a threat to prosperity everywhere.
4. 4Management of Indian border disputes: a complex task.

Section B125 marks

1. 1Customary morality cannot be a guide to modern life.
2. 2'The past' is a permanent dimension of human consciousness and values.
3. 3A people that values its privileges above its principles loses both.
4. 4Reality does not conform to the ideal, but confirms it.

Section A125 marks

1. 1Farming has lost the ability to be a source of subsistence for majority of farmers in India.
2. 2Impact of the new economic measures on fiscal ties between the union and states in India.
3. 3Destiny of a nation is shaped in its classrooms.
4. 4Has the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) lost its relevance in a multipolar world?

Section B125 marks

1. 1Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.
2. 2Fulfilment of 'new woman' in India is a myth.
3. 3We may brave human laws but cannot resist natural laws.
4. 4'Social media' is inherently a selfish medium.