UPSC Mains 2018 · GS IV · Q9 · 20 marks · 250 words · Case study

It is a State where prohibition is in force. You are recently appointed as the Superintendent of Police of a district notorious for illicit distillation of liquor. The illicit liquor leads to many deaths, reported and unreported, and causes a major problem for the district authorities. The approach till now had been to view it as a law and order problem and tackle it accordingly. Raids, arrests, police cases, criminal trials – all these had only limited impact. The problem remains as serious as ever. Your inspections show that the parts of the district where the distillation flourishes are economically, industrially and educationally backward. Agriculture is badly affected by poor irrigation facilities. Frequent clashes among communities gave boost to illicit distillation. No major initiatives had taken place in the past either from the government’s side or from social organizations to improve the lot of the people.

Which new approach will you adopt to bring the problem under control ?

हिन्दी में

यह एक राज्य है जिसमें शराबबंदी लागू है । अभी-अभी आपको इस राज्य के एक ऐसे जिले में पुलिस अधीक्षक नियुक्त किया गया है जो अवैध शराब बनाने के लिए कुख्यात है । अवैध शराब से बहुत मौतें हो जाती हैं, कुछ रिपोर्ट की जाती हैं और कुछ नहीं, जिससे जिला अधिकारियों को बड़ी समस्या होती है । अभी तक इसे क़ानून और व्यवस्था की समस्या के दृष्टिकोण से देखा जाता रहा है और उसी तरह इसका सामना किया जाता रहा है । छापे, गिरफ़्तारियाँ, पुलिस के मुक़दमे, आपराधिक मुक़दमे – इन सभी का केवल सीमित प्रभाव रहा है । समस्या हमेशा की तरह अभी भी गंभीर बनी हुई है । आपके निरीक्षणों से पता चलता है कि जिले के जिन क्षेत्रों में शराब बनाने का कार्य फल-फूल रहा है, वे आर्थिक, औद्योगिक तथा शैक्षणिक रूप से पिछड़े हैं । अपर्याप्त सिंचाई सुविधाओं का कृषि पर बुरा प्रभाव पड़ता है । विभिन्न समुदायों में बार-बार होने वाले टकराव अवैध शराब निर्माण को बढ़ावा देते हैं । अतीत में लोगों के हालात में सुधार लाने के लिए न तो सरकार के द्वारा और न ही सामाजिक संगठनों के द्वारा कोई महत्त्वपूर्ण पहलें की गई हैं ।

समस्या को नियंत्रित करने के लिए आप कौन-सा नया उपागम अपनाएँगे ?

Empathy and Compassion Social Influence and Persuasion

How a topper answered the closest question

Toppers wrote this one in a test series: “You are posted as the Superintendent of Police (SP) in a district of a state where alcohol prohibition has been imposed recently. The District Excise department has conducted many raids and seized liquor in large quantities, for which it has received state-wide public appreciation. A few months later reports surface in the media that in this district, hundreds of seized bottles of illicit liquor are missing from the government malkhanas or stores. As a result, the government is left red-faced. You are asked by the DM, who is the overall in-charge of the district excise setup, to investigate the matter. Upon investigation, you unearth a nexus of politicians and government officials who smuggled seized liquor and sold it through spurious means both inside and outside the state. In this context, evaluate these options: 1. Report your findings to the DM and seek instructions for further actions, stating clearly the criminal offences committed prima facie. 2. Charge all accused under legal provisions and let the law take its own course. 3. Being aware of the seriousness of the matter, discretely put the detailed investigation report in the public domain and expose the nexus. Also, suggest, without restricting yourself to the given options, the final course of action that you would prefer.”

Shubham KumarAIR 1 · CSE 2020 · 353 wordsTheir whole copy

Opening

The above case study pertains to the unholy nexus between politicians and government officials, which has many manifestations one being - smuggling of seized liquor for personal benefits

Body · points and prose

Diagram

- Stake holders - Politicians - Government officials - Society - Myself & DM - Dist. Excise Dept. - Government at large

(1). Option 1: Report the findings to DM and seek further actions, stating clearly the criminal offences committed prima facie.

Merit : As this work was given by District Magistrate ;and since he/she is also overall in-charge of the district excise setup, it make sense to report the findings first to the DM.

Demerit :- There may be nexus between DM and politicians. Also more deeper investigation may be required Seeking further actions from DM , when the criminal offence is established can affect further investigation.

SP has enough power to conduct an investigation independently . He/she is not bound by the order of a DM.

(2) Option 2 : charge all accused under legal provisions and let the law take its own course.

Merit :- It will ensure that noone can escape the justice. Demerit - Not informing DM , may not be a good step.

Also leaving everything on the law is like running away from my responsibility.

(3) Option 3 : Put detailed investigation in Public and expose the nexus.

Merit - since government is there to serve society, people needs to know. will bring transparency and reinforce accountability.

Demerit - Make hamper the image of government & administration in the eyes of people. May lead to media trial instead of free & fair trial. Further , the trust of public in administration will get eroded which is very difficult to build back & win the trust.

My course of Action :-

(1) Report to DM , as the work was assigned through him. (2) charging all the accused under legal provisions (3) Ensuring that any further requirement of the case is fulfilled (4) co-operation in legal proceedings

Close · a way forward

Further the system should be made 'robust'. Also I will inform SPs of other districts as well as there can be case of unholy nexus there also. This way I will able to uphold the 'rule of law' and provide justice to the case.

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

Toppers’ answers to other close questions

Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Main) Examination 2018, General Studies Paper IV, Q9. The paper on upsc.gov.in. Themes and links to toppers’ answers are by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.