Essay is basically the act of ‘trying out… or an act of attempting to accomplish something. It is also an analytic or interpretive literary composition. Essays, therefore, essentially reveal the personality of the writer besides giving his/her viewpoints on a specific subject matter. Essays help us express ourselves, our thoughts, our ideas and our perceptions about things we are associated with or about things we are impacted with or wish to have an impact on. Essays not only provide the required space and tool, they also let us leisurely saunter along. Tweeting or emailing cannot achieve this. This answers why we should write essays. We should write because we cannot always speak out minds coherently.
There is no fixed length of an essay. It could be written in just about 100 words or even in several thousand words. Generally speaking, essays are not very long. But they need not be too small either. On an average, an essay in one thousand words should be adequate. A range of 1,000 to 1,500 is generally accepted as ideal for competitive exams and that is the length of the majority of the essays in this book.
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| Contents | 40. Uniform Civil Code Pgs—177 |
| Author’s Note Pgs—7 | 41. Reservation Pgs—181 |
| 1. India Pgs—The Land and its People Pgs—13 | 42. How the Constitution has Worked Pgs—184 |
| 2. The President of India Pgs—Pranab Mukherjee Pgs—17 | 43. Health Services in India Pgs—189 |
| 3. Prime Minister of India Pgs—Narendra Modi Pgs—20 | 44. Status of Higher Education in India Pgs—192 |
| 4. Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi Pgs—30 | 45. Pseudo Secularism Pgs—196 |
| 5. Nelson Mandela Pgs—33 | 46. The Supreme Court of India Pgs—200 |
| 6. Subhash Chandra Bose Pgs—37 | 47. The High Court Pgs—204 |
| 7. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Pgs—41 | 48. Indian Languages Pgs—208 |
| 8. Lal Bahadur Shastri Pgs—45 | 49. Women Empowerment Pgs—212 |
| 9. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Pgs—49 | 50. Inter-State Relations Pgs—217 |
| 10. Atal Bihari Vajpayee Pgs—57 | 51. The Public Services Pgs—221 |
| 11. Chhatrapati Shivaji Pgs—63 | 52. The State of Jammu and Kashmir Pgs—226 |
| 12. Jhansi Ki Rani Pgs—68 | 53. The Malaise of Non-Governance Pgs—231 |
| 13. Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan Pgs—72 | 54. Importance of English in India Pgs—238 |
| 14. Ashoka the Great Pgs—79 | 55. Practising Democracy in India Pgs—242 |
| 15. Festivals and Festivities in India Pgs—84 | 56. Fundamental Rights Pgs—246 |
| 16. Durga Puja Pgs—88 | 57. Fundamental Duties Pgs—250 |
| 17. Holi Pgs—91 | 58. Central Bureau of Investigation Pgs—253 |
| 18. Id-ul-Fitr Pgs—95 | 59. Globalisation Pgs—257 |
| 19. Diwali Pgs—98 | 60. The Crumbling Institution of Marriage Pgs—261 |
| 20. Chhath Festival Pgs—102 | 61. How Should We Treat Our Elders? Pgs—266 |
| 21. Christmas Pgs—105 | 62. Tenants and Landlords Pgs—270 |
| 22. Republic Day Pgs—108 | 63. Obscenity for Obscenity’s Sake Pgs—273 |
| 23. Independence Day Pgs—111 | 64. Growing Population and Thinning Families Pgs—277 |
| 24. Teachers’ Day Pgs—115 | 65. Euthanasia Pgs—Mercy Killing Pgs—280 |
| 25. Visit to a Monument Pgs—119 | 66. Illiteracy Pgs—The Malaise that Afflicts India Pgs—285 |
| 26. Visit to a Hill Station Pgs—122 | 67. History of the Origin of Indian Literature Pgs—289 |
| 27. Visit to a Museum Pgs—127 | 68. Diabetes Pgs—A Sure Killer Pgs—294 |
| 28. Visit to a Book Fair Pgs—131 | 69. The Indian National Flag Pgs—298 |
| 29. My Banker Pgs—135 | 70. Poverty Alleviation Pgs—302 |
| 30. Electronic Media Pgs—The News Channels Pgs—139 | 71. Bharat Ratna Pgs—The Highest Civilian Award Pgs—306 |
| 31. Internet Pgs—Way of Life Pgs—143 | 72. Human Rights Pgs—310 |
| 32. Newspaper Pgs—146 | 73. Sexual Harassment Pgs—314 |
| 33. Population Explosion Pgs—150 | 74. Science Scenario in India Pgs—318 |
| 34. Terrorism Pgs—153 | 75. A Growing Environmental Challenge Pgs—322 |
| 35. Poverty Pgs—157 | 76. Interlinking of Rivers Pgs—325 |
| 36. Corruption Pgs—161 | 77. Pesticides in Food Pgs—The Silent Killers Pgs—329 |
| 37. Pollution Pgs—165 | 78. Trends in Higher Education Pgs—333 |
| 38. Global Warming Pgs—169 | 79. Digital Evidence and Cyber Crime Pgs—337 |
| 39. Internal Security Pgs—173 | 80. Human Reproduction Pgs—341 |
N.C. Sinha, MA in English Literature, writes regular columns on various current topics for several National Dailies. He has translated many books from Hindi into English. Currently he is running a institute to provide training for Bank Competitive Exams where he teaches communication skills. This is his first book on English teaching.He can be contacted at nimaisinha50@gmail.com
