Practice two fresh UPSC CSE Mains questions for 11 September 2026—one current-affairs based and one static—with answer upload, topper-style model answers and self-evaluation.
Daily Mains Answer Writing Practice – 11 September 2026
Attempt first. Upload your handwritten answer. Then compare it with the model answer.
“The expansion of BRICS has increased its geopolitical weight, but greater diversity also makes consensus-building more difficult.” Examine the opportunities and challenges before BRICS under India’s 2026 Chairship.
Official reference: PIB – BRICS: Evolution, Cooperation and India’s Leadership
Attempt the answer before checking the model
Model Answer
Introduction
BRICS has evolved from a small emerging-economy forum into an eleven-member grouping with major demographic, economic and political weight. Under India’s 2026 Chairship, this expansion creates an opportunity to strengthen the voice of the Global South, but it also makes common positions harder to negotiate.
Body
Opportunities created by expansion
- Greater representative weight: Wider membership gives BRICS stronger legitimacy in debates on IMF, World Bank, WTO and UN reform.
- Development finance: The New Development Bank can support infrastructure and sustainable-development needs that remain underfinanced.
- Economic cooperation: Members can deepen trade facilitation, local-currency settlement, digital payments and resilient supply chains.
- Global South platform: BRICS can articulate concerns on climate finance, food and energy security, technology access and development space.
- Strategic flexibility: For India, BRICS complements rather than replaces engagement with the G20, Quad and other multilateral forums.
Challenges to cohesion
- Members differ sharply on security alignments, regional rivalries and relations with the West.
- China’s economic weight may create concerns about institutional imbalance.
- Expansion risks widening the agenda faster than institutional capacity.
- Consensus-based decision-making can produce lowest-common-denominator outcomes.
India’s priorities
- Keep BRICS development-focused and solutions-oriented.
- Strengthen NDB effectiveness and practical economic cooperation.
- Promote institutional reform without turning BRICS into bloc politics.
Conclusion
BRICS will matter not because of its size alone, but because of its ability to convert diversity into workable cooperation. India’s challenge is to make expansion produce greater institutional effectiveness rather than merely greater geopolitical symbolism.
“Informal settlements are not merely a housing problem; they reflect the inability of urban institutions to align land, livelihoods and basic services.” Discuss in the context of India’s rapid urbanisation.
Attempt the answer before checking the model
Model Answer
Introduction
Informal settlements emerge when cities create employment faster than they create affordable, well-located housing and serviced land. They are therefore not simply concentrations of poverty; they reveal a structural mismatch between urban labour markets, land-use planning and municipal service provision.
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Why informal settlements persist
- Housing–income mismatch: Formal housing close to employment is often unaffordable for low-income workers.
- Rigid land markets: High land prices, slow approvals and restrictive planning reduce the supply of low-cost housing.
- Livelihood geography: Migrants often prefer insecure housing near work over distant formal housing with high commuting costs.
- Tenure insecurity: Lack of recognised tenure discourages both household investment and public-service extension.
- Weak municipalities: Limited finances and technical capacity constrain water, sanitation, drainage and waste services.
- Fragmented governance: Housing, transport, land and welfare are often handled by separate agencies with poor coordination.
What better urban policy requires
- Prioritise in-situ upgrading where feasible rather than routine displacement.
- Expand rental housing, dormitories and serviced plots for migrant and informal workers.
- Use tenure security short of full ownership where appropriate to enable service delivery.
- Integrate affordable housing with mass transit and employment centres.
- Strengthen property taxation, municipal finance and metropolitan planning.
- Make residents partners in upgrading and local service design.
Conclusion
Inclusive urbanisation requires cities to recognise that the poor are not temporary occupants but essential contributors to urban economies. Aligning housing with livelihoods, mobility and services is therefore central to building productive, liveable and socially just cities.
- Did I directly address the directive used in the question?
- Did I build an argument instead of merely listing facts?
- Did I cover multiple dimensions and limitations?
- Did I use relevant examples, institutions, data or keywords?
- Did I give a practical way forward where required?
- Did I end with a balanced conclusion and stay within the word limit?
