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Today we are come with Argumentative Questions, which are very important for competitive examinations. These all Descriptive Questions helpful in Civil services Main Exams as also for SBI, IBPS Bank PO, RBI Officers Exam.
Below given Argumentative Questions are regularly asked in Interviews and GD Discussions.
Let’s start reading Argumentative Essay/Questions with For and Against both views of important topics.
Corporate Scams
“Various corporate scams have highlighted the necessity for enacting or amending suitable laws to protect the interests of investors and share- holders.” Give arguments For and Against this view.
Corporate bungling in Satyam Computers triggered a debate in the corporate circles as well in the government. The attempted move was aimed at benefiting two promoters of Maytas by more than ₹ 7,000 crore, by proposing to buy their shareholding in Maytas Infrastructure in a slip-shod manner, without any transparency.
The most startling issue was that the proposal was only to buy the stake of the promoters and not that of the company as a whole. This was an overt move to transfer the investors’ money from Satyam Computers to two promoters of Maytas, who happen to be the sons of the CMD of Satyam Computers, without following any prescribed procedure under the Companies Act, highlighting the need for amending the statutes to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.
Arguments For the View:
(a) The Companies Act was legislated several decades ago when the trade and industry were in a nascent stage in the country. At that stage several contingencies, which are obvious now, could not be anticipated. Hence, with the changing times, the legislation must also be amended suitably.
(b) Fraudulent moves by the corporate houses have been experienced even in the past. It is a matter of concern, as the lacuna in law has been identified by the law breakers very well. With a view to obviate such moves in future, it is necessary to plug the loopholes by enacting a new piece of legislation.
(c) It is the responsibility of the government to protect the rights of the small investors. The government must come out with a new set of legislation or amend the Companies Law suitably. Such a move would also restore the confidence of the investors in the markets.
(d) By virtue of their shareholding, the promoters are at the helm of affairs of the companies promoted by them and are actively involved in the decision-making process. Unless there are certain safeguards, such decisions aimed at benefiting the promoters would continue to take place.
Arguments Against the View
(a) The case of Satyam Computers is an isolated one and cannot be treated as a routine affair. It would be inappropriate to enact another piece of legislation just because of a mischievous move by one company. The possibility of similar moves by other companies in future, which are otherwise covered by the existing laws, is remote.
(b) The existing legal framework is sufficient to tackle frauds. The need is to execute the existing legal framework efficiently, rather than creating new set of laws and rules.
(c) SEBI has been set up by the government to safeguard the interests of the investors and to ensure that no company enters in to any unethical practice. There appears to be no need to have new set of laws to tackle such problems in future.
(d) Deregulation of the economy is one of the objectives of the new economic policy. Under such a scenario, it would be wrong to enact new laws to regulate the economy further.
[Argumentative Essay Topics and Questions with Explanation]Contradictions in Society
“Indian society is full of various contradictions.” Give arguments For and Against this view.
Most of the societies in the world have unique features and characteristics. The societies in the South Asian countries are agrarian in nature. With plethora of languages spoken and religions practised in India, it becomes a unique case of unity in diversity.
Every such society becomes difficult to tackle administratively. Indian society has had its own problem from time to time. Economically as well as socially, the Indian society has wide variations. There are various divides, including rural-urban divide, rich and poor divide and the class divide. This is why many people believe that the Indian society is full of contradictions.
Arguments For the View
(a) India has almost 250 million people living below the poverty line, which in absolute terms is the largest number of such people in any country. But at the same time, the number of the billionaires in the country is also on the rise. This is a great contradiction for any society.
(b) India is considered to be a tolerant society. Indian history is
replete with the instances that would vouch for this fact. But at the same time, we do experience the ghastly instances riots, blasts and communal clashes every now and then. This is a glaring example of social contradictions.
(c) While majority of the Indian population lives in the rural areas, constituting almost 60 per cent of the work force, the incomes in the rural areas have been the slowest to rise during the era of rapid economic growth. This contradiction has made the large rural majority suffer despite the high growth rate.
Arguments Against the View
(a) All the societies in the world, including the most developed ones, have had certain contradictions and the contradictions in Indian society are the extension of this global phenomenon. There is nothing unique in the Indian society.
(b) No society in the world is absolutely equitable. Even the most developed societies like the US have their own contradictions and divides. The erstwhile communist countries also could not achieve completely equitable societies. Disparities and contradictions are the law of nature and cannot be avoided in any modern society.
(c) The government has taken several steps to reduce the contradictions in Indian society. Several mega schemes to uplift the people of the backward classes and backward areas to bring them at par with the mainstream population are also being implemented.
[Read Argumentative Essay Topics and Questions with Explanation]Discrimination in Indian Society
“India is not a true democracy but a discriminating society where a few privileged are given preferential treatment in all walks of life and the common man is ignored.” Give arguments For and Against this view.
India is basically a traditional society where most of the population is still rural-based and values its old heritage, culture and traditions. After independence, the framers of Indian Constitution wanted to transform the Indian society into a modern and liberal one by incorporating the best possible provisions, like the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles. Aim was to bestow all the liberties on the Indian citizens to make sure that the principle of equality was ensured in the society.
Further, under the Directive Principles, the State is required to adopt such policies as may result in setting up an equitable society. Under the Directive Principles, the State is also required to take such necessary steps as may be required to uplift the poorer and the under-privileged sections of the society.
These measures are used as supplements to the politico-legal provisions under the Constitution, with the objective of achieving social and democratic equality among all the citizens of the country. But the actual practice of democracy in the last over five decades has made many feel that rather than being a democracy, India is like an Aristocracy where some privileged categories are given preferential treatment over the common man.
Arguments For the View
(a) Although the Constitution of India provides for equality before law, yet as per actual practice there are certain categories in the society which have emerged as privileged classes and are given preferential treatment in all spheres of life. Hence, despite the constitutional provisions the equality has not yet been achieved in Indian society.
(b) As per the estimates of government of India, about 25 per cent of the population in the country lives below poverty line. Democracy has no meaning for such poor people who are mainly concerned about basic needs like food, clothing and shelter. The democratic rights and privileges are left only for some privileged ones to enjoy.
(c) Political bosses have emerged as a privileged class in Indian society which is using the democracy to grind their own axe. While the common man votes the politician to power, it is the latter category which enjoys the power to the utmost. Lack of accountability, rampant corruption in high places and other social advantages make the politicians a privileged lot in the society.
(d) In addition to the politicians, highly placed government officials also form a privileged class in the society which enjoys all the facilities but little responsibility and accountability. Be it official functions, free passes, rest houses, discretionary quotas or financial benefits from the government, this class of Indian citizens score much above the common man in all these matters and many others.
Arguments Against the View
(a) India is the largest democracy of the world in terms of the number of electorates and has performed well in the past. It is also one of the most matured democracies in the developing world. It would be wrong to call it an Aristocracy.
(b) Democratic set up in the country has been ensured through one of the most comprehensive and written Constitutions. For the last more than five decades, the Constitution of India has delivered very well.
(c) Fundamental Rights are the cornerstones of Indian Constitution and provide for equality before law as well as equal opportunity for employment under the State. The Constitution does not provide for any privileged classes in Indian society.
(d) India is a welfare State and under the Directive Principles of State Policy, the government has taken several measures after independence, which are aimed at the welfare of the underprivileged and socially backward sections of population. Overall public policy, poverty alleviation programmes, reservation policy, direct taxation policy, cross subsidization, etc. are some of the examples of the government policy aimed at benefiting the poorer and the down-trodden in India.
[Read Argumentative Essay Topics and Questions with Explanation]Elementary Education vs Higher Education
“Instead of wasting the resources in educating all up to the elementary level, the country should aim at providing higher and technical education to those who have the right aptitude, as there would be no gains by educating millions of people only up to the elementary level.” Give arguments For and Against this view.
One of the areas in which the performance of India has been below expectations is literacy. Even after more than five decades of economic planning in the post independence era, about 35 per cent of the total population in India is still illiterate. The performance in the field of female literacy, in particular, has been dismal, with over 45 per cent of them still being unable to read and write. But at the same time, India has the distinction of having the largest scientific manpower in the world.
The country also has the largest number of graduates, as well as software professionals. It is mainly this section of the educated and technically and professionally qualified manpower which has contributed towards rapid economic growth of Indian economy in the recent years. With a view to improve its record in the field of literacy, the country launched an ambitious campaign called “Sarv Siksha Abhiyan”, which aims at providing at least elementary education (8th Standard) to all.
Emphasis are also on checking the drop outs from the primary and elementary schools. But many feel that such a campaign is a national waste and the country should concentrate only on providing technical and professional education to those who have the required aptitude and the intellect.
Arguments For the View
(a) Majority of the children to be covered in the campaign to universalize elementary education would be those who would leave studies after 8th standard. Such limited education would neither be of any use to the individual nor to the country.
(b) A person with 8th pass qualification has no technical or employable skills and would remain an unskilled worker. It would be appropriate to concentrate on improving the vocational as well as technical education so that the students have some employable skills.
(c) India is a developing economy and the economic resources are limited. Available resources must be utilized optimally in such a manner as to have the maximum benefit for the economy. Hence, it would be better to improve the higher education, particularly the technical and professional education.
(d) Higher education has been the strength of Indian economy in the recent past. Rather than wasting resources on elementary education, India must consolidate its gains in this regard, lest the other developing countries like China and South Korea overtake it.
Arguments Against the View
(a) Most of the developed countries in the world have literacy rate of over 90 per cent. Most of the developing countries also have better literacy rate than India. It is thus imperative that the literacy rate is pushed up to near 90 per cent level in India also.
(b) India is the largest democracy in the world and the Indian Constitution has enshrined several novel features like the Fundamental Right, Fundamental Duties and the Directive Principles of the State Policy. These provisions would be fruitful only when the Indian citizens are able to understand them. This would come only with at least elementary education.
(c)?No society can be considered socially developed if 35 per cent of its population cannot read or write. For proper growth of Indian society, it is important that all its citizens have education at least up to the elementary level.
(d) Elementary education lays the foundation for good higher, technical and professional education. Hence, without undermining the importance of higher education, good elementary education is a must.
[Read Argumentative Essay Topics and Questions with Explanation]Evolving Indian Society
“Even after over seven decades of independence, India is still an evolving society.” Give arguments For and Against this view.
India, by nature is a very complex society. The period after independence has been eventful and country has seen several phases of growth. While the initial phase was that of rebuilding and rehabilitation, the subsequent times were marked by the quest of the country for rapid growth with social justice.
The benchmarks for socioeconomic development were laid down by the government keeping in view the provisions in the Directive Principles of the State Policy provided for in the Constitution. At the same time, there are certain things which have not changed much.
The attitudes of the people towards life have hardly undergone any change over the years. There has been some change in the politico-social governance, but only for the worse and the delivery system of the government agencies still leaves much to be desired. Many people believe that even after over 61 years of independence, Indian society is still in the process of evolution.
Arguments For the View
(a) The Indian society is still grappling with social problems like Dowry, which is a serious problem in many parts of the country even today. Crimes against the women are on the rise. Caste system is prevalent and has been in practice with impunity in various parts of rural India. The Indian society is still evolving.
(b) In the urban areas, new and western ethos and values are creeping in to our social system. The modern and affluent belonging to the new generation in metropolitan cities have turned into change agents for the traditional Indian society in transition. The confluence of the tradition and modernization is resulting in evolution of a new society.
(c) New India is young and vibrant. The expectations are high and hopes are skyrocketing. New socio-economic orders are in the pipeline. The process of evolution is still not over and the Indian society can rightly be called a society in evolution.
Arguments Against the View
(a) We live in a dynamic situation where nothing is static. All the societies of the world are experiencing some change or the other, economically or socially. Being a part of the global society, the changes in the Indian society do not make it different from rest of the world.
(b) Indian political system has by and large stabilized and no changes in the political system can be effected which would alter the basic structure of the Constitution. Indian legislative and social framework is also stabilized. It would thus be wrong to say that the Indian society is still in the process of being evolved.
(c) Change is the law of nature and under no circumstances, the change can be blunted or blocked. The routine change process cannot be described as the process of evolution.
[Read Argumentative Essay Topics and Questions with Explanation]Media and Society
“Media in India has not been responsible enough towards the society.” Give arguments For and Against the view.
Last about two decades have witnessed very high exposure of the Indian masses to the media, both print and electronic. Today, every household has access to newspapers, magazines, television etc. With its reach and effectiveness, the media has been eying the highest viewership in various categories by using imagination and professional acumen.
But this has also encouraged the media to remain in the race for increased viewership. Many people in the country feel that in its efforts to capture more and more advertisements the media at times loses focus and indulges in irresponsible behaviour and conduct by being a bit reckless at times.
Arguments For the View
(a) During the last few years, the media in the country has been after the increase in the viewership which has resulted in irresponsible reporting many a times.
(b) With a view to get increased viewership, the media does not hesitate to transmit or telecast interviews of dacoits, terrorists and criminals. This practice is part of irresponsible behaviour of the media and must come to an end.
(c) One of the bane of Indian media is that the western culture is being glorified at the cost of traditional Indian culture.
(d) There are many instances when the irresponsible reporting by the media has created several problems in the Indian society. Violating all norms, religious communities are named while reporting on the riots and many a times news is reported without confirmation. This must be stopped immediately.
Arguments Against the View
(a) By and large the media has been highly responsible and mature. There are stray incidents of irresponsible reporting but such a thing can happen in any stream of life.
(b) There are several incidents when the Indian media has shown absolute maturity and restraint. The reporting by various television channels during the Kargil war and even during the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks has been highly responsible.
(c) Print media has a very long history in India and most of the leading newspapers have been established since more than a century. It would be wrong to expect the print media to report irresponsibly. The electronic media has also been catering to the need of the society to explore the truth in the best possible manner.
(d) All the media persons are also part of the Indian society and it would be wrong to presume that the media persons are trying to mislead the society, including themselves. With responsible people of the society being part of the media, it is hard to believe that they act in an irresponsible manner.
[Read Argumentative Essay Topics and Questions with Explanation]Society and Politics
“In India, the social factors and politics have got precariously mingled.” Give arguments For and Against this view.
India is the largest democracy in the world in terms of the number of its voters. In most of the democratic countries, many factors which are of national and international importance come to the fore during the elections and the political parties seek votes from the electorate on the basis of their ideas and stand on various such issues.
There are healthy debates and the people decide about the party or the candidate to be voted on the basis of such debates and ideologies. Unfortunately, in India, though democracy has matured considerably, yet the basis on which the elections are fought have nothing to do with issues or ideologies.
Arguments For the View
(a) Though the Indian Constitution bars the caste system, yet even after more than six decades of independence caste considerations remain among of the most important considerations in the society, creating serious social problems.
(b) There are several so-called ‘secular’ and ‘non-secular’ political parties in the country. But every party, at the time of selecting its candidates gives due consideration to the caste composition of voters in every constituency. In other words, caste continues to play an important role in selection of candidates as well as the perceived character of political parties.
(c) The serious mingling of the politics with caste has created a serious social problem and has also resulted in persistence of caste-based divide in the society.
Arguments Against the View
(a) Group politics is witnessed by the countries all over the world and even in the developed democracies there are several pressure groups that influence the policy formulation by the government on many issues. There is nothing wrong in the practice of mingling the politics with caste system prevailing in India.
(b) Indian democracy is a matured one and its voting patterns have been accepted by the world observers as among the most progressive ones. Indian electorate has shown immense maturity and people are not unduly influenced by the caste politics played by the political parties.
(c) Every party has its own ideology and functions in pursuance of the mandate of its established ideology. The parties would continue to pursue their ideologies so long as their supporters approve of these. If the policies are unreasonable, the voters would reject the party concerned and such party would reorient its ideology. After all, it is the voter who determines the ideologies and is supreme in a democratic set up like ours.
[Read Argumentative Essay Topics and Questions with Explanation]Terrorism and Economy
“Terrorism may affect the Indian economy more than any other economic problem in the coming years.” Give arguments For and Against this view.
Every now and then there are instances where the stock market indices get affected by the events in the world which are either social, political or diplomatic in nature. Similarly, the performance of the economies also gets influenced by various events which are not related to economics. Politics is one such factor.
Elections, political changes and uncertainties, wars, international relations, global non-economic events etc. are some of the events that influence the performance of the economies across the world. In the recent years, a spurt in terrorist attacks and activities in the world has turned out to be an important factor that influences the economic prospects of the economies.
Arguments For the View
(a) Terrorism poses threat to the human life and if continued for long, has the potential of driving the economic activity away from a country or a region, thereby affecting its growth.
(b) A lot of terrorist outfits are operating in the country these days. Every now and then there is an act of terrorism which directly hits the trade and business in the local area. Not only innocents lose their lives but the trading community and businessmen area are also forced to shift their business or industry to some other place.
(c) Metropolitan cities are the centres of economic growth in India. All high growth potential sectors are also located in these areas. The terrorists are purposely targeting the cities and growth centres to retard the process of growth.
Arguments For the View
(a) Non-economic factors influence the economies only marginally. It would be wrong to say that the terrorism, which is a non-economic factor, would actually influence the economy materially.
(b) After 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2003, the US economy was only temporarily de-railed. But the current sub-prime crisis, which is purely an economic issue is likely to influence not only the US economy but also the other economies of the entire world. Only the economic factors have long term effect on the economies.
(c) Terrorist attacks are localized in a particular place or area, while the growth of the economy encompasses the economic activities in all sectors/sub-sectors of the economy. The terrorist attacks cannot influence the performance of any economy on a long term basis.
[Read Argumentative Essay Topics and Questions with Explanation]Unemployment vs Growth Rate
“Rather than aiming at increasing the growth rate, the government must specifically aim at reducing the unemployment level in the country.” Give arguments For and Against this view.
Though unemployment has been one of the major socio-economic problems in the country since long, yet during the past about a decade unemployment has been increasing rather rapidly. It is ironical that while the average annual growth rate of the economy during the last one decade has been close to 5% in FY20, there has not been any corresponding reduction in the unemployment rate and its incidence has in fact increased.
Even in case of those who are employed in the rural and urban areas, there is a wide gap in the wages earned by them for the same job. In successive Budgets and Plans, the policy makers talk of high growth rate, but no specific and effective schemes have been unveiled for reducing the scourge of unemployment. Many feel that it is high time that the government comes out with a specific scheme for substantially reducing the incidence of unemployment in India.
Arguments For the View
(a) During the past about 15 years the average annual growth rate has been high at more than 6.5 per cent. But that notwithstanding, the incidence of poverty in the country has not reduced proportionately, and even today the percentage of people living below poverty line is about 25 per cent. It implies that while the income levels have gone up, only the well to do people have largely been benefited. This trend can only be reversed if more employment more opportunities are generated, particularly in the rural areas.
(b) India is endowed with a large number of trained and skilled human resources and most of the developed countries are scarce in this regard. The country must take advantage of this situation by utilizing its human resources to the optimum. This would not only provide opportunity to most of the labour force to contribute to the nation-building, but would also remove economic disparities and poverty.
(c) The surge in IT and Telecom sector has resulted in a ‘digital divide’ in India, between the urban and educated people, on the one hand, and the rural and the illiterates, on the other. The only way to bridge this gap is to generate more employment opportunities, particularly in the rural areas.
(d) India cannot achieve hyper growth rate on sustainable basis without providing fruitful employment opportunities to its unemployed. Hence, rather than concentrating on high growth rate, more employment generation must be targeted.
Arguments Against the View
(a) It is well-known that as a result of trickle down effect, high growth rate automatically takes care of all the problems of the economy, including that of unemployment.
(b) Labour intensive methods of production are generally less productive. That is why even more populous country like China has followed the capital intensive technologies for mass production. The resultant benefit of industrialization is more employment opportunities in future.
(c) While following the policy of achieving high growth rate of the economy, the country is also taking care of the needs of those who desperately need employment to meet both ends. The recent Employment Guarantee Schemes are an example.
(d) Employment opportunities can only be created by rapid growth of the industries and the services sectors. This is exactly what is being done, and the employment generation is going to follow soon.
[Read Argumentative Essay Topics and Questions with Explanation]Women Empowerment
“Over the past few years, India has done exceedingly well in the field of empowerment of women.” Give arguments For and Against this view.
Traditionally, women are socially backward and are not consulted during the process of important social and economic decision-making in the family. Such traditions are continuing even today. In addition, crime rate against the women is relatively high, they suffer from several social and religious disabilities and are generally considered to be dependent on their male spouses.
India is also no exception in this regard. The participation of the women in the economic activities is low and their percentage in the total representation in the government jobs is also low. Participation of the women in the political governance also needs improvement. But it is felt by many that despite the above handicaps, the country has done very well in the field of women empowerment during the past few years.
Arguments For the View
(a) Since independence, there has been a lot of improvement in the status of the women particularly in the urban and sub-urban areas.
(b) One of the outstanding strides in the field of women empowerment was achieved by the country through 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment when at least one-third of the seats in the Panchayati Raj Institutions and the Urban Local Bodies were reserved for the women.
(c) India is among a few countries of the world where women have held the post of Prime Minister as well as the President of the country.
(d) With improving socio-economic indicators like the female literacy, as well as increasing proportion of working women, the status of women has been on the increase since independence.
Arguments Against the View
(a) In the rural areas where most of the women population lives, a lot more needs to be done for the status of women to improve.
(b) There is an utter lack of political will to improve the status of the women. For the last more than a decade, the Women Reservation Bill has been hanging fire and many political parties have tried to scuttle or postpone it on one pretext or the other.
(c) Indicators like the maternal mortality rate, female literacy rate, adverse sex ratio in most States of the country reflect the low empowerment level.
(d) The increasing crimes against the women, particularly in the cities and towns, reveal the true picture of our achievements in this regard.
[Argumentative Essay Topics and Questions with Explanation]Private Banks and Social Sector Finance
“The responsibility of priority sector financing, which is with the public sector banks, should also be assigned to the private sector banks.” Give arguments For and Against this view.
Before the nationalization of the banks in the late sixties and early seventies, it was realized by the government that the bank finance was not available for the poorer sections of the society and only the industrialists or well to do businessmen were having access to the bank finances.
The banks were also shying away from funding smaller projects for the underprivileged sections of the Indian society. Main aim of the nationalization of the banks was to ensure that the ownership of the banks rested with the government and the government could control and direct the flow of credit towards the sectors urgently requiring financing. Now, after almost four decades of bank nationalization many feel that the responsibility of financing the priority sector should also be assigned to the private sector banks.
Arguments For the View
(a) Private Banks are also part of the Indian economic system and have equal responsibility towards the Indian society. They have to be partners in the process of rapid economic development, which can be done if the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) assigns the responsibility of social sector funding to them also.
(b) The quantum of fees and commissions being charged by the private sector banks are higher than those charged by the public sector banks. Hence, it is only reasonable that the category of the banks that earns more profits also shoulders the responsibility for social upliftment.
(c) By assigning the responsibility of priority sector lending to the private sector banks, the RBI shall create a situation of healthy competition in the banking sector, with fair amount of competition for lending to all sectors. This would also provide the public sector banks with level playing field.
Arguments Against the View
(a) The government is the owner of the public sector banks and is well within its right to ask its banks to lend in any manner to ensure fulfillment of its democratic responsibilities of equitable distribution of resources. It would be unreasonable to expect the private banks to follow the same line.
(b) Private investors carry out all the ventures with the aim of making profits. Forcing the private bank owners to lend to the less remunerative and more uncertain priority sector would be highly unreasonable.
(c) It would be wrong to ask the under-privileged and the poor to avail the services offered by the private sector banks at higher service charges. It would be better if this responsibility remains with the public sector banks.
Thank you for reading Argumentative Essay Topics and Questions. It will sure help you in Competitive Exams like UPSC/IAS, All Major Banking Exams. Above all Argumentative Topics with explanation is also helpful in interviews.
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Argumentative Essay Topics and Questions
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