UPSC Mains 2013 · GS IV · Q5(b) · 10 marks · 150 words

What is meant by ‘crisis of conscience’? Narrate one incident in your life when you were faced with such a crisis and how you resolved the same.

हिन्दी में

‘विवेक का संकट’ से क्या अभिप्राय है? अपने जीवन की एक घटना बताइए जब आपका ऐसे संकट से सामना हुआ और आपने उसका समाधान कैसे किया।

How a topper answered it

A R RajahAIR 7 · CSE 2025 · 171 wordsTheir whole copy

Opening · a definition

'Crisis of conscience' has been defined by Gandhi in his "Experiments with truth" as the thoughts and actions that go against the moral compass of man. I Incident from my life:

Body · points and prose

of 'Crisis of conscience'

  1. Dissonance with the inner voice
  2. Leads to dissatisfaction
  3. Affects mental health and peace
  4. Leads to dissatisfactory, unethical actions

I Incident from my life:

Time Period of Occurrence → Schooldays

Location of Occurrence → My School

Stakeholders → My Brother, School Administration and myself.

Incident → I was the school pupil leader. I was in charge of marking the late comers, who had to pay a fine of 100 Rs. My younger brother came late to school that day. He had fatigue due to long travel the previous day and woke up late. He pleaded with me to allow him to enter without paying fine.

II How I dealt

(1) My conscience pricked me, as I was a rule based personality.

(2) I advised my brother that excuses can be requested to the school administration.

(3) I further 'marked him' for late coming → to uphold my job sincerity and duty principle.

Close · a summary

Thus, Gandhi's 'moral compass' has to be pointing towards path of values.

6 more toppers’ answers to this question, part by part, and how they all approached it: open the question.

Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Main) Examination 2013, General Studies Paper IV, Q5(b). The paper on upsc.gov.in. Themes and links to toppers’ answers are by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.