UPPSC 2022 (Mains General Studies Paper-4)
UPPSC 2022 (Mains General Studies Paper-4)
Section – A
1. Differentiate between democractic attitude and bureaucratic attitude of public servants.
Ans. Bureaucratic Attitude – Bureaucratic attitude refers to the attitude possessed by the bureaucrats who roll out policies, schemes keeping in focus the targeted section and once the law or rule is brought out, there is no flexibility in terms of relaxation in norms to anyone. Bureaucratic attitude sometimes mars the spirit of Democracy because of red tape, inspector raj, and corruption. The attitude of public servants to strictly follow decision-making process according to the laid down rules and guidelines. Some basic attributes of this attitude involve objectivity, neutrality, secrecy, elite approach etc.
Democratic Attitude: Democratic Attitude refers to those attitudes possessed by civil servants who promote the participation of people in decision-making.
They promote the delegation of power or authority. In place of rule and regulation, there is more focus on compassion, tolerance and inclusiveness.
2. Explain the tole of persuation in relation to public protest with proper argument.
Ans. Persuasion is the process of changing one’s belief, attitude, or thought process towards some idea or reasoning. It ensures public participation with dialogue and so push for better governance.
government in active Picket signs, megaphones, and a lot of people shouting in unity is the most obvious benefit of protesting as is evident: it increases the visibility of a cause and raises awareness. As long as there have been causes to fight for, people have been coming together to do just that.
Protesting captures the attention of bystanders, politicians, and the media, attaching an issue to real people and consequently inviting persuasion and change. A protest, regardless of size, will almost always make at least one person see the cause with new eyes.
Non-violent civil disobedience of Gandhi jiisan example of persuasive protest which made a great impact on the government and people.
3. Define impartiality and discuss the role of impartiality in solving problems of weaker section.
Ans. Impartiality (also called evenhandedness or fair-mindedness) is a principle of justice holding that decisions should be based on objective criteria, rather than on the basis of bias, prejudice, or preferring the benefit to one person over another for improper reasons. This is the quality expected in a civil servant who has to take decisions under pressure.
In situations where the law tends to favor the rich and the powerful, it becomes equally if not more important to protect the rights of the weaker sections of society in the quest for justice. The weaker section includes the poor, beggars, orphans, senior citizens, persons with disabilities etc. Impartiality means understanding and addressing the sufferings of the marginalized section of society without fear and favour. Moreover, it is needed for citizen-friendly and pro-people administration for delivering social justice.
4. What do you understand by emotional intelligence? Discuss its dimension.
Ans. Emotional intelligence is the ability to control emotional impulses at least more so than those who are not emotionally intelligent, they have the selfawareness to know what they are feeling, and are able to think about and express those things, they have empathy for the feelings of others and insight into how others think, they can do things like delay gratification, they are optimistic and generally positive; they understand easily the dynamics of a given group and, most importantly, where they fit inside that group. There are four dimensions of EI.
Self-awareness: It includes emotional self-awareness, accurate selfassessment, self-guidance.
Self-Management: It includes Emotional self-control, Transparency, Adaptability, Achievement, Initiative, Optimism
Social Awareness: It includes Empathy, Organizational Awareness, Service Relationship Management: It includes Inspirational leadership, Influence, Developing Others, Change Catalyst, Conflict Management, Building Bonds, Teamwork, and Collaboration.
5. Describe the relevance of the following in the context of civil servants.
(a) Dedication
(b) Accountability
Ans. (a) Dedication: Dedication will carry a civil servant through a lack of motivation in the spirit of duty without expecting rewards. It is his ability to continue acting despite odds and challenges. Dedication to public service means a person should have inner motivation or passion for working in the larger public interest. It is the commitment with passion and the personal urge to do something without any external formal instrument to enforce that urge.
(b) Accountability: Public servants are accountable or responsible for their doings that concern the public at large. They have to answer for her every action that can be right or wrong.Being a democratic nation, the public servants are accountable to both the political sector and the public. As accountability is an important element of a good government therefore when accountability and answerability increase the trust of the public in of the government shall increase simultaneously. The principal concept accountability is; fairness, integrity, trust, and transparency.
6. “Administration is a moral act and administrator is a moral agent.” Explicate this statement.
Ans. Ordway Tead was the one who had said that Administration is a moral act and the administrator is a moral agent.
The administration has been introduced for implementing different policies of the government for the welfare of the people in the country. The role of administration involves the process of coordinating, directing, and controllinga system for achieving certain results.
The administrators are needed to coordinate the activities with transparency in their methods and work and accountability of the work entrusted with them. In his role as an administrator, he as a representative of the state is a moral agent. His task is to work in the interest of people or citizens. Therefore, his actions are expected to be moral actions for the sole purpose of state and public interest. He works only as an agent, a moral agent.
7. Do you accept that public institutions are successful in preservation of the rights of people ?
Ans. There are a large number of institutions devoted to the preservation of the rights of people. Some of them include the Constitution, the Judiciary, human rights organizations, the United Nations etc among national and international institutions. While international bodies may not have been very successful in preventing the rights of people all over the world because of the lack of teeth, the national institutions have been successful to a great extent. The success of these institutions also depends to a large extent on the existence of a vibrant democracy. The democratic credentials of many nations are questionable. In vibrant democracies like India and the US, these institutions have played a significant role in bringing justice to people and preservation of their rights.
8. What do you understand by ‘voice of conscience? How does it help in performing the duty of civil servants ?
Ans. Voice of conscience is the intrinsic intuitive capacity to discriminate between right and wrong. “Inner Voice” is important especially in democracy as it has various participants such as citizens, NGOs, corporates to be administered
by the politicians who are elected by them only.
Civil servants deal with many public needs, problems, etc, and work for the welfare. But Sometimes they come across public dilemmas and conflicts of interests in which they have to choose the right one. He has to use his own consciousness or awareness that is called his conscience for the welfare of the larger public interest or for the welfare of society without compromising national interest. Thus they use conscience to show their compassion, empathy and love towards weaker, poor and vulnerable sections of society especially SC/ST/Women/Children/Elderly/ Disabled persons, etc.
9. What are the circumstances which create suspicion about an officer’s integrity ?
Ans. Most of the citizens who approach a civil servant are poor, resource less, and supplicants. Their relationship with the civil servant is one of dependence and this makes it of paramount importance for civil servants to observe the highest standards of moral conduct in their actions and behaviour. Deviation from normal standards of lack of integrity takes various shapes in the form of corruption, patronage (based on communalism, sectarianism, nepotism and favouritism) and undue influence. Bribery, nepotism, misuse of power or influence, black marketing profiteering and similar other practices are not all that is meant by corruption. In fact, anyone wasting public money lacks integrity. In general terms, a civil servant who makes the deliberate and intentional/exploitation of one’s position, status or ,resources directly or indirectly, for personal aggrandisement whether it be in terms of material gain or enhancement of power, prestige or influence beyond what is legitimate or sanctioned by commonly accepted norms to the detriment of the interests of other persons or the community as a whole creates suspicion about his integrity.
10. Differentiate between
(a) Code of ethics and cose of conduct
(b) Tolerance and compassion
Ans. (a) A code of ethics is broader, providing a set of principles that affect employee mindset and decision-making. A code of conduct offers principles defining the ethics of a business, but it also contains specific rules for employee actions and behavior. The primary difference between code of ethics and a code of conduct is that code of ethics is a set of principles that influence the judgement while a code of conduct is a set of guidelines that influence employee’s actions
(b) Compassion is understanding or empathy for the suffering of others. Tolerance is respect, acceptance, and appreciation for those whose opinions, practices, race religion, nationality etc. are different from one’s own. These two qualities are very important for a civil servant in a multicultural country like ours.
> Section – B
11. How aptitude is different from interest? “If one has the interest to become civil servant but does not have aptitude for it then will he/she be successful as a civil servant”? Discuss. (200 Words) 12 marks
Ans. An aptitude is a special potential in a certain field of performance. It indicates a special ability, acquired or innate, to learn or develop knowledge of a skill in some specific area. It involves the prediction of the probability of success
of a person with training in a certain type of work/job/vocation. The aptitude of an individual is the result of both inherent and environmental factors.
Interest may be defined as a tendency to choose one activity in preference to another, or to seek out an activity or object. It implies preferences or likes and dislikes for specific activity or a group of specific activities such as lawyer, physician, engineer, musician, artist etc. Interest is generally manifested in the way one likes to spend one’s leisure time. Interest is a preference for a particular activity. The interest provides emotional pleasure. Interest can be extrinsic and intrinsic. If one has the interest to become a civil
servant but lacks aptitude, he/she can only be successful if he/she develops intrinsic interest.. Liking an activity without any reward is intrinsic.Liking or doing any activity for some reward or money implies extrinsic interest. If a person has an intrinsic interest in working as a civil servant, the person can be successful because he will be committed to the job with passion.
12. “Tolerance is supreme fundamental value.” Discuss this statement in context of civil servant.
Ans. Tolerance is is respect, acceptance, and appreciation of the rich diversity of our culture, our forms of expression and ways of being human. It is also accepting others when their opinions and beliefs are not in line with yours. It is fostered by knowledge, openness, communication, and freedom of thought, conscience, and belief. E.g. A policymaker while formulating policies for weaker sections of society must be tolerant enough to hold his/her own personal views for the welfare of all.
> The attribute of being tolerant is very important for civil servants for the following reasons:
> To protect the Constitutional principles of Fundamental Rights which form the basic structure of the Constitution.
> To uphold natural rights.
> To Prevent the tendency of intimidation, coercion, oppression, etc.
> In developing qualities like respect towards others, knowledge, openness, communication between diverse sections in society.
Weaker sections of society are SC/ST/OBC/Women/Minorities in the Indian context and currently, they are facing many problems such as untouchability, superstition, social stigma, sense of insecurity of life, property, customs, religion, language, etc. Tolerance and compassion are the two main human values in public services for safeguarding the interest of the weaker section of society.
Integrity, impartiality, non-partisanship, objectivity, and tolerance are the foundational values of civil service. Hence, it is essential to inculcate such values for the efficient and citizen-centric public delivery system.
13. What do you understand by social influence? How social influence and persuation can bring out behavioural change?
Ans. Social influence is the process by which an individual’s attitudes, beliefs or behavior are modified by the presence or action of others. Four areas of social influence are conformity, compliance and obedience, and minority influence. Social influence and persuasion are the keys to bring behavioral changes to solve social evils like caste system, patriarchy, climate change, and solid waste management. Using the social influence of celebrities and campaigns have been quite effective in persuading people to adopt any desired behaviour. For example United Nations takes the help of popular Hollywood actors to promote campaigns for climate change and gender equality.
Sometimes persuasion and social influence work better than coercion. Making celebrities ambassadors for various social schemes like Beti Padhao Beti Bachao is a manifestation of the same. The success of the initiatives like Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan- cleanliness drives and Ujjwala Yojana’s give it up a campaign can be attributed to persuasion.
Persuasion can bring change in the social attitude of people. For example, regular announcements to keep the station clean persuade people to change their behaviour. The Selfie campaign was a major success in promoting the Beti Padhao Beti Bachao scheme.
Persuasion and social influence provide incentive for good behaviour. For instance in income declaration schemes a window was open to declare black money with some fine and no legal action that incentivized people instead of penalizing them.
14. What are the basic requirements of compassion? What is the need of compassion towards weaker section in civil service ?
Ans. Compassion has long been regarded as a core part of our humanity. Compassion has been defined as consisting of the following five elements: 1) recognising suffering, 2) understanding the universality of suffering in human experience, 3) feeling moved by the person suffering and emotionally connecting with their distress, 4) tolerating uncomfortable feelings aroused (e.g., fear, distress) so that we remain open to and accepting of the person suffering, and 5) acting or being motivated to act to alleviate suffering.
It is one step ahead of empathy.
Compassion means “to suffer together”. It is not just how a poor man’s family sleeps without eating food at night but the desire to help them come out of poverty (it is possible that you don’t work on that even after having desire. It would still be considered Compassion). It is about intention. Compassion is a better predictor of behaviour than empathyEmpathy means understanding another person’s pain/feeling. It can be for everyone higher or lower than you. But Compassion is targeted towards weaker beings.
Examples: Mother Teresa left her own country to serve the poor in Kolkata. Buddhism teaches the practice of Compassion, called karuna. Civil servants are the agents of change. Therefore, Compassion is ranked as one of the great virtues for civil servants, which has a bearing on the functioning of the administration and society. Compassion drives the civil servant to help people and ensure the welfare of people.
15. Crowd is a temporary group which immediately collect at one place in situation of accident or protest of demonstration. Probability of this crowd becoming violent is always possible. Many times this crowd creates unnecessary situation of violence. Through which persuation method the crowd may be controlled and satisfied? Explain.
Ans. Whenever a large number of people congregate for a specific purpose or otherwise, there is always the probability of some problem arising. Therefore, the essence of maintenance of sound public peace and order means good crowd control. Unattended crowds have the propensity of turning into mobs, the result of which may eventually be a riot.
The following methods may be used to control a violent crowd: Persuasive Appeals can be made to a crowd so that the crowd feels that the police is on its side. The technique of successful persuasion depends on the characteristics of the crowd being dealt with. People of different regions and communities within the same state may respond differently under a similar situation, their responses being governed by characteristics that are peculiar to the community or to the region. Therefore, first of all, a police officer must be aware of the local sentiments and the traits which can sway a crowd. Humorous and Witty Remarks at an early stage of crowd collection often breaks down the mob’s hostility.
Assistance of Persons of Acknowledged influence also helps. Help can be taken of a person of acknowledged influence to diffuse crowd tensions. In successful crowd control, much depends upon the emotional stability of the leader of the police and his ability to stay calm even under the gravest of circumstances, anger and insults.
16. “The Right to information Act is not only about citizen’s empowerment but it essentially redefines the the concept of accountability.” Discuss.
Ans. Transparency and accountability in administration are the sine qua non of participatory democracy. The free flow of information is essential for the health of a democratic society. The Right to Information Act became a pioneer tool to the citizens of India for promoting, protecting and defending their Right to know. It came as a march which broke the unrevealed silence. India being a huge democracy needs participation from every front to implement the objective of good governance and The Right to Information Act acts as
an index to measure the growth, development and governance of a country which helped the citizens to participate in any social, political or economical debate concerning the issues or interest of the country. As said by the Thomas Jefferson “Information is the currency of democracy,” For a society to develop into a developed democracy, freedom of information is must and curiosity should be instilled in the minds of citizen and this type of informed citizenry is only possible by broad access of information about government operations. Transparency and accountability are reciprocally supporting. Transparency involves ready access to reliable, comprehensive, timely, understandable, and internationally comparable information on government activities and accountability encapsulates three main elements; answerability- the need for justification of actions; enforcement- the sanction that could be imposed if the action is found to be unsatisfactory; and responsiveness – the ability of those held accountable to respond to the demands made. Transparency of information is essential for demanding accountability.
17. Explain with suitable examples the ethical issues in corporate governance .
Ans. Today, the issues of corporate governance, ethics, sustainable development and social and corporate responsibility are practically unavoidable. But how can management academics and practitioners think about these notions in a context of globalization and increasing international competition where firms have to compete with their rivals whilst simultaneously taking into account the numerous stakeholders that directly or indirectly influence the development of their activities?
Ethics has become an important component of corporate governance. Corporate governance decisions about engagement in corporate social responsibility are addressed as a corporate issue determined for the most part by strategic motives and somewhat less by altruism. However, it is the leaders of organisations who make the choices about strategic positioning, and how they direct people and resources can influence corporate objectives such as those concerning corporate social responsibility. Some examples:
1. Not only will businesses act ethically toward their clients, customers and employees, but also with regard to the community and the environment.
2. When a business exercises fairness, it applies the same standards for all employees regardless of rank.
3. A business cultivates trustworthiness with its clients, customers, and employees through honesty, transparency, and reliability.
4. Both businesses and their employees are expected to show loyalty. Employees should be loyal to their co-workers, managers, and the company.
5. Businesses have responsibilities to their employees, their clients or customers, and, in some cases, to their board of directors.
18. What steps should be taken according to you to prevent corruption in society? Explain.
Ans. The government of India, in pursuance of its commitment to “Zero Tolerance Against Corruption,” has taken several measures to combat corruption. The following steps will bring down corruption.
(a) Disbursement of welfare benefits directly to the citizens under various schemes of the Government in a transparent manner through the Direct Benefit Transfer initiative.
(b) Implementation of E-tendering in public procurements.
(c) Introduction of e-Governance and simplification of procedure and systems.
(d) Introduction of Government procurement through the Government eMarketplace (GeM).
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), through various orders and circulars recommended adoption of Integrity Pact to all the organizations in major procurement activities and to ensure effective and expeditious investigation wherever any irregularity / misconduct is noticed.
The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 has been amended on 26.07.2018. It clearly criminalizes the act of giving bribe and will help check big ticket corruption by creating a vicarious liability in respect of senior management of commercial organizations.
The institution of Lokpal has been operationalised by appointment of Chairperson and Members. Lokpal is statutorily mandated to directly receive and process complaints as regards alleged offences against public servants under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
The All India Services (Disciplinary and Appeal) Rules and Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules have been amended to provide for specific timelines in the procedure related to disciplinary proceedings.
19. Explain the eightfold path given by Buddha for the purification of conduct.
Ans. The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right samadhi (‘meditative absorption or union’; alternatively, equanimous meditative awareness).
Right View: our actions have consequences, death is not the end, and our actions and beliefs have consequences after death. The Buddha followed and taught a successful path out of this world and the other world (heaven and underworld/hell).
Right Resolve or Intention: the giving up of home and adopting the life of a religious mendicant in order to follow the path; this concept aims at peaceful renunciation, into an environment of non-sensuality, non-ill-will (to loving kindness), away from cruelty (to compassion).
Right Speech: no lying, no rude speech, no telling one person what another says about him to cause discord or harm their relationship.
Right Conduct or Action: no killing or injuring, no taking what is not given, no sexual misconduct, no material desires.
Right Livelihood: no trading in weapons, living beings, meat, liquor, and poisons.
Right Effort: preventing the arising of unwholesome states, and generating wholesome states, the bojjhagā (Seven Factors of Awakening). This includes indriya-samvara, “guarding the sense-doors”, restraint of the sense faculties.
Right Mindfulness (Sampajañña): a quality that guards or watches over the mind; the stronger it becomes, the weaker unwholesome states of mind become.
Right samadhi (sampasadana): practicing four stages of dhyāna (“meditation”), which includes samadhi proper in the second stage, and reinforces the development of the bojjhagā, culminating into upekkha (equanimity) and mindfulness.
20. Sanjeev is an idealist. He believes that “truth is the greatest virtue and should never be compromised”. One day the witnessed a person running away from a mob equipped with sticks and stones. He watches him hiding in a particular spot. The mob asked Sanjeev whether he saw the thief? Sanjeev tells the truth pointing towards the spot, where he saw the person hiding. The mob gets hold of the person and beats him till death. In light of above circumstance, comment on the conduct of Sanjeev.
Ans. In this case, the idealism of Sanjeev is of no use. He holds that truth is the highest virtue and should never be compromised. However, it is also important to understand the context of truth. There are greater values than truth for “instance, such as saving someone’s life. Moreover, an empty ideal is of no use when a person allows the mob to take control where a correct legal approach is more appropriate. A truthful person should also take responsibility for the consequences of his action. His truthful action violated the law and caused death. The right approach for Sanjeev might have been to call the police and hand over the culprit to the police and let the law takes its course. There is a difference between speaking the truth and being responsible. If Sanjeev is a five-year-old who has been taught to speak truthfully, his action may not have been questioned because at this age moral development does not take place to the same level as in an adult. However, from the question, it can be guessed that Sanjeev is an adult who should be expected to behave with a sense of responsibility with a clear understanding of moral right and wrong.
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