Prologue
Finally, UPSC has uploaded a sample paper for GS4 (Ethics) for mains exam:
They gave total six sample questions:
- Three questions on theory /definition/Essay type
- Three case studies (basically extension of what you’ve faced under Decision making MCQ questions in Prelim CSAT paper II)
Candidates may please note that the sample questions below are indicative but not exhaustive. The range and depth of questions that would be asked may differ.
Three Questions on Theory/Definition/Essay
1. Ethical human conduct
What do you understand by ‘Ethical Human Conduct’? In what way is it important to be ethical along with being professionally competent?
2. Definitions
What do you understand by the following terms? Point out their specific relevance in public service;
- Intellectual integrity
- Empathy
- Perseverance
- Spirit of service
- Commitment
Indicate two more attributes which you consider very important for public servants. Justify your answer.
3. Inspiration
Which great Indian personality has inspired you the most as a role model and how have you been able to benefit in your own life by such an inspiration?
Three Case studies
Case study#1: sexual harassment
You have been working with your team for almost a year. One of your subordinates Mr. A is very effective and hard working, he takes responsibility and gets things done. However, you have heard that Mr. A makes loose comments about women. Mrs X who is working under A, comes to you, she is visibly disturbed. She tells you that Mr. A has been making undue advances towards her and has even asked her to go out for dinner with him. She wants to give a written complaint seeking action against Mr. A. wha twould you do and why ?
Case Study#2: Cheater friend
You have grown up with X, who has been your best friend since childhood. You have shared your joysand sorrows and have been each other`s confidante. Both of you are in your final year graduation and writing your final exams. In the exam you notice that your friend is copying and cheating a lot. What would you do and why?
Case Study#3: Bogus Sarkari hospital
You are posted as the Medical Superintendent of a District level Govt. Hospital which caters to the need of poor patients from surrounding rural areas along with the local people from the district town.
As such the hospital has very good infrastructure and adequate equipment to cater to this need. It also receives sufficient funds to meet the recurring expenditure. Inspire of this there have been repeated complaints particularly from the patients which include the following
- Very poor maintenance and un-hygienic conditions in hospital premises.
- The hospital staff frequently demanding bribes from the patients for the services rendered.
- The negligent attitude of the Doctors resulting in times of casualties.
- Siphoning of a substantial stock of medicine by the staff and selling it out.
- Strong nexus between the senior Doctors of the hospital and the owners of local private nursing homes and testing labs as a result of which the patients are strongly misled and dissuaded from availing the hospital facilities and rather compelled to purchase costly medicines from market and get medical tests and even operations done from private medical houses.
- There also exist a notorious employee union which puts undue pressure and resents any reformative step by the administration.
Ponder over the situation and suggest effective ways to tackle each of the above mentioned problem.
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i think we shud take up each ques..and put our views..to get comprehensive coverage to diff aspects..
Regarding case study 2, it is interesting that upsc want us to take stand on such dicey situation. As mentioned by Prakk, that its not about the right and wrong however to justify your answer based on ethics.
Catch here is:- you are trying to justifying the answer you could never do in practical life, However one need to understand the situation and try to solve it holistically rather than quickly jumping to answer which could not resolve your basic root problem(here coping) and rather make it more complex and tedious. For example, we need to find out the basic root cause of the problem (Here coping), once you got to know it one can try to solve it in no of ways to achieve it. One go for copying because of 1. study not done 2. do not want to study but want to pass exam 3. difficulty in remembering the big formula or definition 4. habit of doing it
5. pressure of last year passing with hook and crook etc…….
So here I am trying to understand the problem as above.
As per case study, he is your childhood friend and now in final year of graduation, if may indicate that such coping incidence has never been happened before since you both know each other very well. Being your friend you have two option to tackle this situation.
1. Inform invigilator
– Consequences- 1. He may be given warning
2. He may be debarred from the exam
– In both sitiation your relationship would be at the toss. And it will not solve the problem of coping (There is no guarantee that he will quite coping in future).. Also in this situation you did not even give a chance to listen him or put his case to you.
2. Let him do the copy in that paper in final exam
– In this case you can talk to him and understand problem. based on his reply you can definitely help him from various way. by helping in study, giving tips to memorize formula and even at last you can threaten him to break relation and infirm the invigilator next time.
case 1 – undue advances……at least here hope most will concur on the action…
mine would be …
call A to discuss (natural justice…giving opportunity)
if he agrees, then warn and inform HR and ask him to be shifted out to another team (as team spirit would be affected after a person had raised complaint against another team mate)
if he doesnt agree, caution A about making loose comments about women and assure X that if this persists then she can give a written complaint to the internal complaints committee( as mandated by prevention of sexual harassment at workplace act, 2013)
case 2 – copying in exams
dilemma btw personal relations and unfair advantage to an individual
this is a toughie …… dont do anything during the exams….dont want to disturb others writing and waste their time too (as this would involve thorough checking of all students)…but post exam you have to talk to your friend….u have to drop hints to the invigilator too…but it wont stop there….invigilator would be behind you to know who had done it….of course you can counsel ur fnd and help in next exam…
this is a catch 22 situation….i dont know and if anyone has a good answer it would be good to share..
in case 1- offence like such a grivious nature can not be spared..received the complain of women and constitute a board for enquiry. Subsequently act as per the findings of enquiry board.
Mrunal Bhai please post your invaluable comments on the sample questions and a possible strategy to prepare for the paper on the basis of this sample paper …. If possible … what would you suggest .. how can we tackle the questions and how would you attempt such questions …. Thanks again in advance for your time and efforts bhai !!
case 1 Sexual Harassment – Being a superior in a team and considering Mr. A an asset to the group (given his qualities of getting things done, hard working and effective!.)I will first check for the authenticity of what I have heard about Mr. A . But this being a very sensitive issue I would act according to the situation that comes clear after a little eavesdropping. Mr. A might be a two faced person. Only after finding the correctness about the matter would I call Mr. A for a one to one chit chat in which repercussions and consequences will be discussed over a coffee. Having known about the reality i would circulate a moral code of conduct and work ethics notice ASAP without disclosing any names. I will assure that things like this wont be tolerated and we are very vigil about any thing going haywire. I will also assure Mrs. X that she should give the written complaint against Mr. A if he continues the behavior and tell her about her whistle blowing powers.
________________________________________________________________________
Case – 2 – Cheater friend –
A friend in need is a friend indeed.. As they say but blindfolding seeing your best friend going towards a pothole would rather be mean. Since my best friend is my confidante i probably be knowing the reason of his abruptly changing behavior. Final year is the most crucial time of a person’s academic life on which the future social and personal life rests. I will make sure that i signal my friend that this IS ENOUGH TO GET THROUGH and is not going to help as the invigilator is constantly monitoring him/ her and if caught this will ruin his/her career. I will make sure that this doesn’t get repeated and I’ll also be helping my friend for the upcoming papers. Well this was a hard nut to crack. a decision with more grey than black and white ..Between the mind and the heart
________________________________________________________________________
Case – 3 – Bogus Sarkari Hospital –
“With great power comes great responsibility” – Spiderman
Being a Medical superintendent of a sarkari hospital bestows a huge responsibility to not only ensure the delivery of medical services who need them the most but also at the earliest disposal.
Conducting a dialogue with the fellow doctors and union about the consistency of negligence and undue advantages being sucked out are going to be dealt harshly.
To change the attitude of the doctors, pep up talks will be held.
Being the Medical superintendent I will engage myself in regular inspections and ensure cleanliness of the premises.
A register of lot of drugs and number of working instruments will be audited on a regular basis to check any malpractices.
I believe these actions on a regular basis will surely curb the nexus’s intentions a bit if not completely suppress them.
_______________________________________________________________________________
-Awaiting improvements, corrections and suggestions :)
On Sexual harassment case, please ponder over the vishakha guidelines through Art. 141 and the prohibition of sexual harassment of women at workplace bill, 2010. You can never try to mediate. Mediation can lead to some more very severe results, and you will indirectly or directly be responsible for the results. Just act as per the Guidelines.
On the cheater friend, you are going to do a double mistake, if you are going to signal your friend, instead of your friend, then you may be caught ( akal ke liye bhi nakal chahiye) and you may end up getting the punishment. On this, i think answer by IITian in the follow up comments was more rational, pragmatic and real. You can ponder over the maxims i has suggested, we can use to answer such questions.
On Bogus sarkari Hospital ( all the sarkari hospitals are bogus!) : Pep up talks must be followed by stern action in case of deviance from expected conduct. It is not so easy to take action against or get the Union on one’s side, we need to play like chanakya, if we really want to get their confidence, remember the safai karamchari, who are responsible for the cleanliness, may be the anchor of Union. We need to follow a “carrot and stick” policy.
Register, frequent visit, use of ICT, non-RTI based expose of your departmental information on boards, etc. are some mechanisms which can be helpful.
Personally, I fell in love with this paper. It isn’t bookish and there is no one correct answer! But what I don’t really understand is why there’s need to thrust upon aspirants a need to have an “Indian role model”. I don’t have as much a prolem with “role model” part as much as I have with an “Indian” role model. I think its easy to draw inspiration from different personalities but calling someone as your role model takes it to an altogether differnt level, and forcing someone to pick an Indian role model is a little jingoistic, I believe. Those people whose life has shaped me don’t necessarily need to be Indian. But given the constraints within which UPSC has cornered, would it be alright to mention different names and say how they have been inspirational in our lives in differnt fields or do we need to specifically stick to one name?
What do you think guys? Some cue on how to circumvent it would be much appreciated!
Thanksa lot mrunal Sir.Please provide answers to these questions and provide some study materials for these topics
Mam, if you’re tannu dua from DAV Centenery College then pls. mail me at poojadua1986@gmail.com I want to talk to you. Waiting for your response.
well to the copying question it seems the apt answer would be to inform the invigilator as your friends copying will mean that it is undue advantage used by your friend and INJUSTICE against those who have studied. You are assuming your friend is copying for passing but maybe he is copying for topping the exam. I hope it helps.
hiii!! i have started to prepare for upsc please help me
I would not anything during the exam as would just take cognizance of the fact that my best friend was cheating in the exam so the problem is much deeper than degradation of his morality. I would rather ponder over why he is cheating , what are the conditions that led him to choose foul means for passing the exam . After the exam I would prick his conscience by asking would he be ever able to take pride in the marks he obtains by cheating(i m using virtue ethics here),how would he feel if someone tops the exam by copying.
I would offer him all possible help in case he is facing difficulty in any subject or topic . By telling the invigilators in the examination may spoil the whole life a person which may be avoided if a pragmatic appraoch is adopted .Our aim should not be punitive but corrective.My friend would thus realise the true essence of life and would appreciate whatever marks he obtains with confidence.
The my centre point of arguement is copying is not only wrong because it leads others to be in a disadvantaged situation , but it is also wrong because it does no gain to you as you would urself be skeptic of your abilities in future despite scoring good marks.
@IITian this is vry gud and balanced answer…can u tell which book are u prefer for this subject(for basic)??
no specific book… just wrote what i would actually do
By far, the most constructive and balanced answer. Thanks IITian => UPSCian :)
There are many dimensions of this problem. It reflects a dilemma between positive (what is) and normative (what should be)as well as a very beautiful case of personal relations pitted against rule of law and moral standards of the society. First of all my inaction in the classroom would be tantamount to not informing law enforcers (Police/DM/SDM) of the ongoing unfair practices in the society. Taking a cue from there my first action would be to tell the invigilator in a very semi-formal language that a lot of unfair means were being used in the classroom as per my observation, without hinting to any particular person. And I would request for a stricter supervision on the part of the invigilator. It serves two purposes. One, it alerts the invigilator regarding his/her duties. And secondly, it might give a signal to my friend acting upon which he can decide not to cheat any further.Rest is his choice. Law, law enforcer and the probable victim all are alerted in one act. It goes well with the philosophy of ‘whistle blowing’ and ‘caveat actor’. This action is based on my observation of reactions of the two great batsmen , Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulakar, to an appeal. Lara would always walk out, if he thinks he is out, without waiting for the umpires decision whereas Sachin always waits for the umpires decision. Both are right in their own way. In this situation, Sachin’s behavior of relying on the umpire’s decision works as a cue for me. Law is supreme and Let the law enforcer decide. If a benefit of doubt goes in favor of my friend, I will allow the same as it is out of my control. After all, my work is to write in the examination hall and not to keep a vigil on the examinees. The best I could do was alerting the invigilator which i fairly did.
Now the real work begins at home. Attitude transformation is a complex and a fairly long process. Knowing the reasons of cheating from my friend and telling him why was that a wrong option would be the first step. Second, I would suggest him what other options were available to him. He could have opted for a leave from the controller of the examination and appeared in a supplementary. He could have talked to the Placement Coordinator as to the consequences of leaving one paper on the placement prospects and asking his favor to communicate his problem to the prospective recruiters to maximize his opportunities despite his being one paper short.Thirdly, he could have talked to his friends to help him clear this paper by helping him in his studies in that period crisis.
I am particularly stressing choices here because choices make or break people. Your choices corrupt you or make you strong and morally upright in the face of an adversity. So it is of the utmost importance to know the whole gamut of choices available to one to avoid choosing a wrong option just because it the most visible, obvious, evident or known option to the person. It is all about immediate attitude or mental cleansing. Moral and ethical cleansing will be a long term goal with the help of a more more comprehensive spiritual, social and and philosophical program.
I think it is the most appropriate answer….appreciable!!
Nice answer buddy…. A realist approach
@ DCA and Vikrant….
Thanks guys
@abhishek u seems to be a serious candidate and since pub is ur optional i would like u to share ur strategy i wake of recent killer questions by UPSC … like the questions it asked on public policy by quoting Vickers, wildvasky and bla bla .. i m in btech 4 year IIT varanasi …. i have read all standard books of pub ad … made notes …but still not feeling confident of my prepration …… i am planning to read full ARC II .. do you think its advisable… is there any specific strategy / precaution / for reading ARC II … since i m in IV year i have lot of free time and i am easily able to devote 8 hours per day for my prep …. i hope u wud guide me …
IITian……..
Really don’t know if I am serious candidate or not but yes i try to write logically reasonable answers.
And why do u think Sachin does not remind umpire of his duties ??? Of course he does….just imagine a power play when more than stipulated fielders are outside the inner circle, Sachin has every right to tell umpire about the situation.But yes, he cannot resist Umpires decision if he or his team mate is declared LBW by the umpire , or the opponent team gets a benefit out of umpires ignorance for that matter. Anyway, its really not about what Sachin can do. No two situations are alike in real life. Situations only give you a broader paradigm which you can adopt in millions and millions of permutations and combinations. As I said, I just took a cue from the behavior of the two great players who have never been questioned for the same.
For the strategy, i think you should refrain from reading too much from too many books. Start observing things and making your own opinions. Use good words while answering questions. You don’t need to read full ARC. Read important parts especially those related to Ethics. Observation is important.
By the way…VT, Lanka, Undercurrent of rivalry between Birla ans Visvesvarya
hostels, Relations between people outside Hyderabad gate and those inside it can all serve as a great object of observation….. ;-)
Be voracious……go for everything. Wo kareena bolti hai na Limca ke ad me ‘thodi pyaas badhao’ hehehe waise hi…..
@abhishek .. by following sachin’s approach we shud let the invigilator decide .. sachin doesnt reminds the empires of their duties … by the way ur balanced approach is appreciable..
for attitude transformation the best way is to prick his conscience,there may be three reasons for him showing such behaviour
1. he considers cheating as unfair but cant control himself thus indulging in unfair practices due to greed of higher marks thus his beliefs and behaviour are themselves contradictory and in this situation loose invigilation act as a trigger for his greed dispositions to dominate over his beliefs. In such situations i would ask him to invigilators to be strict in a way as abhishek has said
2. but if his beliefs and behaviours are reinforcing each other attitude transformation cannot be done by creating hostile situation for expression of behaviour. In this case our task should be to first challenge his beliefs and taking action as explained by me in above comment .. here i have modified my in response to a good dimension emphasised by abhishek…
very pragmatic and seems to be the best and well written solution
Hospital case
The situation clearly exemplifies the lack of motivation at lower rungs and serious degradation of moral and intellectual integrity of the doctors.
1. Regarding the poor maintenance and unhygienic condition in the hospital i would motivate the employees by making them feel important. I would call a meeting of all cleaning staff and deliver a short speech on the role of hygeinic conditions in a hospital and make them aware that they are a crucial part of this hospital and their job has a bearing on the society as a whole. Now that the employees appreciate their roles , I would supervise their work through personal visit and tell them ,”I know you all work with diligence and thus I would make frequent visits to appreciate your work.”Thus rather than using the term supervision which would create negative vibes I would say that my purpose of visit would be to appreciate their good work. Thus I would create an emotional stimulus in the employees to take their job seriously.Even after this some employees are showing negligence I would warn them and ask them to learn from their fellow mates.
Its good that u adopted a solution which has a ‘motivation’ factor. Nice. It would just be an icing on the cake if u could mention one or two writers/theorists related to ‘motivation’. Anyone slightly related to your ‘appreciation’ method would do good. Maslow is fair enough. And there is one more thinker who has talked about recognition as a factor of Motivation (i dont remember the name though). You can mention him also.
And then just mention human relations approach fleetingly. Just like Sprinkling pepper
on the soup which is already quite hot. In do chijo ko padhkar examiner ko lagega ki bhai tu padha likha hai aur sochta hai padhne likhne ke bad. Thats it.
DO YOU THINK IT WOULD BE WISE TO NAME THINKERS IN ETHICS PAPER… AFTER ALL ITS A GS PAPER … IN MY OPINION WE SHOULD USE THEM BUT NOT NAME THEM ….naming thinkers would show specialist approach which one should refrain in gs papers….
u seems to have some link with BHU…..i m not really aware of the rivalry b/w the hostels … but heard that birla guys are known for some notorious deeds …
thnk u
CASE STUDY 2 : CORRUPT FRIEND
Here I am talking about natural particular justice, particular justice that has not yet been combined with
practical wisdom. Proper particular justice is appropriate desire appropriately informed and directed by proper
priorities. It is not enough to have right desires. One must have them for the right reasons.
Some people are hard to classify because, while they agree that justice is the right character trait to have,
and they consider themselves just, what justice is?. They might call a
disposition to grab whatever they legally can“justice”.
This is also my problem mr X is my friend since childhood and I find only in exam hall , my friend is not good .This is not correct because when I take any decision at same time without know anything, this is not JUSTICE .
You have successfully jargonized the issue=complicated an already complcated issue.
I call all to friends they give your valuable comment on social ETHICS issues.
Hi,
Came across this very beautiful article. Worth to read and factor for motivation to clean up society
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/3-ias-officers-who-walked-the-same-path-as-durga-shakti-have-suffered-worse/articleshow/21737028.cms?curpg=3
Case 1. Accept the complain of the lady, make proper investigation and if prima facie established then give warning to Mr A. to refrain from such activities in future and make it very clear to all that indiscipline and indecency will not be tolerated. Also will keep Mr A under observation.
Case2. Signal & warn my friend to stop cheating n still if he continues then inform the invigilator. Even if he is my friend its a fact that i would definitely not like somebody scoring higher marks than me by using foul means in the exam. Moreover if i keep mum just because he is my best friend it would be an injustice to the fellow students who have put hard and sincere effort for the exam n i equally ll be a part of the crime. Whatever may be the reason, but cheating is certainly not the way out. Added to this if he clears the exam by taking undue advantages he will not be doing justice to the job he would get on the basis of clearing the
exam. So here we have to compromise our personal interest in the best interest of a larger whole.
I loved the style of the paper.. I ws nt successful in my previous 3 attempts even in prelims but in my final attempt I ve cleared prelims with good margin… n now I m very happy that I wud get the oppoprtunity to write answers to such questions which really check ur grey matter… Thanks to UPSC for timely changing the syllabus… Best of luck to all of u.. i ve seen great answers posted … its gonna b a tough game out there from 1st Dec.. BEST OF LUCK !
By the way does anybody has an idea whether mains exams would b consecutively for 5 days.. or with holidays..
I loved the style of the paper.. I ws nt successful in my previous 3 attempts even in prelims but in my final attempt I ve cleared prelims with good margin… n now I m very happy that I wud get the oppoprtunity to write answers to such questions which really check ur grey matter… Thanks to UPSC for timely changing the syllabus… Best of luck to all of u.. i ve seen great answers posted … its gonna b a tough game out there from 1st Dec.. BEST OF LUCK !
By the way does anybody has an idea whether mains exams would b consecutively for 5 days.. or with holidays
@ Shweta Ghosh
Personal relations & Ethics stand in contradiction what needs to be addressed. I believe final year appearing graduate is grown up guy & Practically I am dead sure if u try to convince him not to cheat again anyway, he will make fun of u. You might say I am pessimistic. Childhood is the only best moulding period, with the passage of time it starts asking for hard kicks. Cheating harms several other carriers. He might cheat not to pass but to secure top position. Invigilator must be informed anyhow. If u talk about relationship again, I think there is no ethic in this. Tomorrow we as IAS will use to give excuses to land & sand mafia becuase they r friends & relationship.
Thanks…Mr. Mrunal….
Dec is not so far and the Mains are increasing aspirant’s heart beats. surely this paper is helpful for some far as it may help to navigate the mind plan of UPSC.sir, please if possible, kindly suggest some books/material for this paper..anticipating your help….
with reg…
Dear mrunal sir, kindly can u provide some study material for anthropology optional
I think answer to these case studies lies in the CSAT paper-II, last 6 to 8 questions about morality. If you remember the question and the options there are both easy (do nothing) and hard ways (take action). so, I like to put my views on CASE:2 – To start with i want to say “There is no right way to do a wrong thing.” ― Harold S. Kushner.
Confusion in this question has come because a friend is involved. Say for example, if you have found any other person cheating in the exam hall let in IAS main exam. Dont u think at that it is unfair for candidates like you and all others who have prepared hard for the examination. Here, two issues are involved 1) Authority to decide whether to spare the person involved in cheating and 2) Responsibility to inform a wrong activity. Come to authority, it is not in our authority to decide whether to allow cheating or not, may it be friend or any other person. Invigilator is the right person to take a stand on it. Now, responsibility – we all have moral responsibility to inform the wrong doing to the responsible person. So, we must inform to the invigilator. For your friend the best you can do is to plead to invigilator for him so that he will be let off by warning only.
are u from chandigarh??
No i am not from chandigarh, although i was in delhi for quite some time.
Hi All,
There is a certain methodology used to solve case studies, those who are not aware please find brief steps below. Hope it may provide some help to you all :)
1. Define/Identify issues/problems and then identify ‘Key/Main/Priority’ issue or problem that needs to be looked into immediately and prioritise.
2. Provide solution (Plan A) to ‘Key/Main/Priority’ issue/problem and then to others.
3. Provide steps for implementing Solution (Plan A)
4. Provide an ‘Alternate’ solution (that is plan B if A fails or not implementable due to cost/legal issues/moral issues etc…)
5. Solution to other issues or problems
6. Conclusion
I would be glad if someone can share better way or provide some inputs.
Thanks!
well i feel that the 2nd case just would like to know whether you will favour someone or not. Consider a situation where your friend is in government servant and you as an Anti Corruption Bureau Head have received a complaint against him, what will you do? 1) Catch him red handed or 2) Inform him about the complaint. The answer to this question will clear the matter.
@Suraj By far the best reply that i have read in this forum. Having said that i believe that having a good emotional or social quotient is very important for an administrator. Following is my take:
There is no question of allowing copying to go on specially after seeing it happening. So the problem here would be how to stop it from happening then and there. First and strainght forward action is to directly report him . Implication : the copying could stop but your relationship with friend damaged.You are doing the right thing but it may not be the most intelligent thing to do (mind it , i m not giving a choice between right thing and intelligent thing ,all ia m saying is the intelligent most right thing to do) .
Second option could be, report that cheating is taking place and that you are getting disturbed ,to the invigilator without being specific . Implication : The invigilator gets alert and so does your friend. It might lead to either your friend getting caught , or him being failed due to his inability to copy anymore or him getting passed but still unable to copy after you reported (the idea is that what happens to him is not in your control). In all the cases you have lead to stopping of the copying.
This does not end your responsibility. You also need to confront your friend and counsel him to never repeat this in future. It is also your moral responsibility to see that you do not lie or hide the fact from your friend that it was you who reported and the reason for reporting and also bring him out of his unethical stand.
1.Ethics by F William – A textbook for ethics @ IIT Knp
2.ARC report on ethics
3.Ethics In Public Management (Phi learning)
4.Organisational Behaviour by Stephen Robbins
5.Restoring Values : Keys To Integrity, Ethical Behaviour And Good Governance by E Sreedharan
6.Building a World-Class Civil Service for Twenty-first Century India by S K Das OUP,India
7.The idea of justice by Amartya Sen
8.The Hindu
Friends ! most of these books can be read in 4-6 hrs time (except that by Robbins)and are cheap. If UPSC’s sample are any examples then this paper can be a game changer as clarity of language and exceptionally crystal thoughts would count for sure. Only one thing about this exam’s unpredictability, though said in a very different context, but I always find the words pumping my spirit, Sudin Apte said-“When the world gets flat, it gets flatter from all sides. It can’t be selectively flat”.
Also try a textbook on professional ethics and human values by R.S. Naagarajan New age international publishers (includes case studies)
ya suraj i have seen d that book .i think this book incomplete conclusion.
will try my best to go through this book dear. Thanks ! :)
Cheating friend-
in this case facilitating fair exam is the aim. My stand here is to attempt to prevent such things, and if could not be prevented i ll have to inform the invigilator regarding the fraud. At first i ll tell the invigilator that some malpractice is going on in the hall with out revealing the names(it alerts all students in the room. If i still notice that my friend or some one else is cheating i”ll have to inform it to the invigilator with names. And i ll apologize to my friend later explaining that malpractice can do injustice to genuine people.
I do it because what ever may be the size of fraud it hurts the genuine people either directly and indirectly. And personal affections should not allow malpractice. If i had known about his plans earlier i would have prevent him through many ways at my personal level. But at this level i could do no favour despite of he being my friend. It is the path that is as important as the goal, as said by Mahatma.
Sexual harassment-
today sexual assault is not only being considered as unethical, but also as illegal. In this case she got disturbed enough to make a written complaint. Any decisions of an administrator will have both precise and symbolic influences. So i ll ask him to come to my presence and ask him seek apologies from her. And i ll warn him that any repetition can attract serious action. His efficiency can not save him from official proceedings unless the victim herself forgives him.
Bogus sarkari hospital
all issues are well discussed by others earlier. But about the last issue i mean dealing with “notorious union” was not explained adequately, i feel.
every reform in social setting attracts some resistance by a few groups who benefit from existing procedures. And even from groups which find some serious problem in proposed reforms. So first of all the superintendent needs to know the causes behind such resistance. genuine reasons if any will have to be answered. And if he finds no genuine causes except annoyance then he could make attempts to make them perceive about the possible benefits of reforms both formally and informally. He can take the help of few genuine workers who can support the reforms to make the others compelled from within. If no improvement is seen he can warn them of possible punishments. And he still can go ahead with reforms despite of resistance at least on step by step basis expressing honesty and genuineness during entire process. As a last resort he may compromise upto some extent so that at least some good can be offered via reforms. If still resistance is offered he can go with official action.
Dear Ravi,
While I somewhat agree with your answers, simultaneously I feel you take too stern an action. In most cases the same are not accepted. What presents a Dilemma , rather confuses me more, is that UPSC does grants scores for both the diplomatic and undiluted honesty approach in the Prelims.
Tell me this if all what you say is right then Why doesn’t the IAS association stand with Mr.Khemka whereas it sides with Mrs.Nagpal. Isnt there a pinch of nuisance associated with such actions?
@ neena…. i will consider your suggestion. thank u…. :)
about Khemka and Durgashakti- IAS association had responded in UP. U and me are talking about them today because of their honest attempts. the media is backing them again because of such honesty. Sonia gandhi wrote a letter to Manmohan singh to not to allow any injustice to Durga Shakti. all this is just because of the Just nature of the honest officers. (Khemka could not be saved by sonia gandhi.even we cant expect. here the “cheating friend” issue is seen by her from another angle. she kept quite with out alerting the invigilator.)
I do agree with u… but the question says that ‘the friend who tries to cheat in exam was your best friend for a long time with whom u shared everything..’ in that case, you can’t simply criticize ‘the’ friend.It was our fault of not correcting him before… :)
:)
WE CAN’T JUDGE OUR CLOSE FRND WITH THAT SINGLE REASON, WE KNOW HIS CHARACTER UP TO NOW. THEIR MAY BE ANY SERIOUS REASON IN DOING SO……..
case study- you are posted as station house officer in rural police station. A person come to you and filed a FIR that his daughter(X),age-16 year, has been kidnapped by a boy(Y),age-19 year. you are investigation officer also of that particular case.you launch a search operation and after 4-5 days you find both of them. as investigation officer you are investigating the all scenario. you find following-
1. A girl was not kidnapped,she run away with Y with mutual consent.
2. Both are wanting to live together and want to marry.
3. boy(Y)is admitting that they intercourse with mutual consent and girl also approved it.
4. Boy(Y) is ignorant about the consequence of having intercourse with minor.(section 66-A of IPC.can be jailed up to 10 year.)
now girl’s father is offering you bribe and demanding that girl should be send with him not with Y or elsewhere like women care(Nari niketan).
on the other hand boy’s parents offering you bribe and requesting you that not to include section 66-A in the charge sheet because it leads to ruin all the life of BOY(Y).
girl also requesting you that please not to send me at my home because she is fearing that her parents will assault her. in particular case what would be you stand and why?
Seriously guys! UPSC me number laane ke liye apni antar-atma ko mat becho… Nobody of us is going to complain about the “friend”….
How will you justify if the friend is your girlfriend…?
Don’t fake guys…
Is case is different from corruption case, or a person cheating in IAS examination…!
Hahaha…. totally agree with you, this cheating friend case is getting serious.
but yaar, ek traffic police wala 100-50 Rs ke liye apni anter-atma bech deta hai, toh yeh toh fir bhi UPSC hai, we only have to write something in which we dont believe.
i think this cheating case is just a symbolic one, through this upsc wants to know what u will do in far more serious and critical situation when your near and dear one are involved, we can take an clue from the ex-railway minister bansal.
he must have turned an blind eye from the activities of his nephew, and suffered the burnt himself
Mrunal Sir,
I see the number of articles focused on UPSC have gone down tremendously,with the Mains coming up we would request you to please carry on writing Economics, Environment, IR etc. The current frequency of articles focused on preparation is too low according to the standards and appetite your great work has built.
Please consider this as a humble request.
Thanks,
Dulali
my humbe request too…