UPSC Mains 2024 · GS IV · Q11 · 20 marks · 250 words · Case study

With the summer heat being exceptionally severe this year, the district has been facing severe water shortage. The District Collector has been mobilizing his subordinate officials to conserve the remaining water reserves for preventing the district from plunging into acute drinking water crisis. Along with an awareness campaign for conserving water, strict measures have been taken for stopping the over-exploitation of ground-water. Vigilance teams have been deployed to tour the villages and find the farmers who are drawing water from deep borewells or from the river reservoir for irrigation. The farmers are agitated by such action. A delegation of farmers meets the District Collector with their issues and complains that while they are not being allowed to irrigate their crops, big industries located near the river are drawing huge amounts of water through deep borewells for their industrial processes. The farmers allege that their administration is anti-farmer and corrupt, being bribed by the industry. The district needs to placate the farmers as they are threatening to go on a prolonged protest. At the same time, the District Collector has to deal with the water crisis. The industry cannot be closed as this would result in a large number of workers being unemployed.

(a) Discuss all options available to the District Collector as a District Magistrate.
(b) What suitable actions can be taken in view of mutually compatible interests of the stakeholders ?
(c) What are the potential administrative and ethical dilemmas for the District Collector ?

हिन्दी में

इस वर्ष असाधारण रूप से भीषण गर्मी होने के कारण, जिले को पानी की घोर कमी का सामना करना पड़ रहा है। जिला कलेक्टर जिले को गंभीर पेयजल संकट से उबारने हेतु शेष जल भंडार को संरक्षित करने के लिए अपने अधीनस्थ अधिकारियों को सक्रिय कर रहे हैं। जल संरक्षण के लिए जागरूकता अभियान के साथ-साथ भू-जल के अत्यधिक दोहन को रोकने के लिए सख्त कदम उठाए गए हैं। गाँवों का दौरा करने हेतु सतर्कता दल तैनात किए गए हैं। सिंचाई के लिए गहरे बोरवेल अथवा नदी जलाशय से पानी खींचने वाले किसानों की शिनाख्त की जा रही है। ऐसी कार्रवाई से किसान आक्रोश में आ जाते हैं। किसानों का एक प्रतिनिधिमंडल अपने मुद्दों को लेकर जिला कलेक्टर से मिलता है और शिकायत करता है कि जहाँ उन्हें अपनी फसल की सिंचाई की अनुमति नहीं दी जा रही है, वहीं नदी के पास स्थित बड़े उद्योग अपनी औद्योगिक प्रक्रियाओं के लिए गहरे बोरवेल के माध्यम से भारी मात्रा में पानी खींच रहे हैं। किसानों का आरोप है कि उनका प्रशासन किसान विरोधी और भ्रष्ट है, जिसे उद्योग द्वारा रिश्वत दी जा रही है। जिलों को, किसानों को शांत करने की ज़रूरत है क्योंकि वे लंबे समय तक विरोध प्रदर्शन करने की धमकी दे रहे हैं। वहीं जिला कलेक्टर को जल संकट से निपटना भी होगा। उद्योग को बंद नहीं किया जा सकता क्योंकि इससे बड़ी संख्या में श्रमिक बेरोजगार हो जाएँगे।

(a) एक जिला मजिस्ट्रेट के रूप में जिला कलेक्टर के लिए उपलब्ध सभी विकल्पों पर चर्चा कीजिए।
(b) हितधारकों के परस्पर अनुकूल हितों को ध्यान में रखते हुए कौन-सी उचित कार्रवाइयाँ की जा सकती हैं ?
(c) जिला कलेक्टर के लिए संभावित प्रशासनिक और नैतिक दुविधाएँ क्या हैं ?

Ethical Dilemmas in Government Impartiality and Objectivity Environmental Ethics

How a topper answered the closest question

Toppers wrote this one in a test series: “You have recently been appointed as the District Collector of an impoverished district, which has been witnessing drought for the last couple of years. Corruption at lower levels of bureaucracy has further aggravated the situation. The district also faces the problem of diminishing resources of drinking water. Despite, the gravity of the problem, the response from the central and the state government is lackadaisical. Moreover, the media coverage of the problem is also dismal. To make matters worse, the younger members of the community are migrating in search of work to the urban areas without much success, leaving the elders, women, and children behind to fend for themselves. (a) As the District Collector what would be your priorities for solving the problem? (b) How would you tackle the situation? (c) What long term measures would you take to prevent the future recurrence of the problem?”

Namrata JainAIR 12 · CSE 2018 · 402 wordsTheir whole copy

Opening · a restatement

The situation above depicts the clear complacent behaviour of no clear measures taken by the government despite the concerns of the public.

Ans (a) Following would be the priorities to

solve the issue:

Body · points

(1) Immediate drought relief measures to be taken to ensure the safety, security of the lives of the public. This can also be done by innovative measures of engaging with other governments of the state, other multilateral institutions for help and relief.

(2) Declaration of drought by the government by providing them with the detailed report of the ground situation and distress. And convince them to release funds, resources and help to tackle the situation.

(3) Solving the corruption and taking action against corrupt officials to set a right precedent and media's role proactively should be ensured to solve the distress and prevent such situations in long term.

(4) Generating jobs, providing means, skills and ways by which the migration of youth can be stopped and tackling the situation.

(5) Long term - river linking projects, conservation of water (by both tradi-tional as well as modern) techniques and avoiding the cultivation of water intensive crops (rice, sugarcane) etc should be done.

(6) Awareness among the masses of the importance of conservation of water and means and ways to achieve the situation should be chalked out.

Ans (b) Tackle the situation by patience, immediate decision and dialogue with state as well as central government.

Following can be done:

approach ground level public and communities to solve the issue.
send the report to the government.
of the disastrous situations.
Appeal for the FAST declarance of the drought situations.
Immediate relief measures for those affected.

Ans. C Long term measures:

(1) Innovative ways to conserve water. → micro irrigation (tools) techniques

drip & sprinkler irrigation → traditional tanks and storage tanks to be built. → Awareness to conserve water. (2) → Informing about various schemes & measures by government: a) insurance scheme of PM Krishi Sinchai yojana; PM Fasal Bima Yojana. b) Help from the government. (3) → Various river linking projects to be chalked out.

→ Proactive involvement of media → Proactive involvement of masses and local level panchayats and community

Close · a summary

Thus, problem should be solved keeping in mind the short term concerns to immediately provide a necessary resource, water as well as long term beneficial projects to be taken up to solve the situation.

1 more topper’s answer 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 2024, General Studies Paper IV, Q11. The paper on upsc.gov.in. Themes and links to toppers’ answers are by UPSC Grade, not by UPSC.