AIR 6 · CSE 2015 · GS4 · 56 pages

ASHISH TIWARI: GS4 answer copy

20 answers by ASHISH TIWARI, as written in the test. Each question opens a page with how other toppers answered it.

The questions

  1. Q1(a)In this age of information and consumerism, the image of women portrayed by mass media greatly influences our social attitude towards them. Critically evaluate.10 marks
  2. Q1(b)What is social accountability? How can it act as a more effective mechanism than the conventional methods of extracting accountability? What steps can a civil servant take to improve the effectiveness of social accountability in India?10 marks
  3. Q2(a)Biometric attendance, punctuality and cleanliness provide only a good start towards the improvement of work culture. A lot more is required to improve the work culture of the Indian bureaucracy and make it more responsive and citizen centric. Comment.10 marks
  4. Q2(b)Of all government activities, public procurement is amongst the one most vulnerable to fraud and corruption. Explain with examples. Further, what steps would you suggest to maintain probity in public procurement.10 marks
  5. Q3The District Magistrate should inform about his experience to higher authorities and take the moral responsibility by tendering his resignation as he has not only failed to streamline the public service delivery in the district but also because of him two extremists are free. Suggest any other possible option(s). Evaluate all of them and suggest the best course of action, giving your reasons for it.20 marks
  6. Q3(a)"Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is". Explain. Further examine the role of religion in formation of political attitude in the Indian context.10 marks
  7. Q3(b)"Emotion can lead to our worst decisions or our best ones: The difference is emotional intelligence." In light of the given statement, illustrate how emotional intelligence is critical in decision making. How can it help a civil servant in taking prudent decisions?10 marks
  8. Q4(a)"Anyone who doesn't take truth seriously in small matters cannot be trusted in large ones either."- Albert Einstein. Bring out what this statement means to you in the present context.10 marks
  9. Q4(b)Recent incidents of moral policing is symptomatic of the growing intolerance in Indian society. Analyse with examples. Suggest some measures to address this issue.10 marks
  10. Q5(a)What do you understand by the term 'Conflict of Interest' in the context of public service? What are the norms prescribed for Civil Services in India to deal with this issue?10 marks
  11. Q5(b)Although most public organizations have a code of conduct for their employees, its impact has been less than satisfactory in combating the misuse of office by public servants. Explain. Provide some suggestions to make the code of conduct a more comprehensive tool in dealing with corruption in public offices.10 marks
  12. Q6Citizen charter has recently emerged as an innovative tool for reinforcing citizen centric governance. Explain the statement and analyse the various constraints faced during the implementation of the citizen charter in the Indian administrative system.10 marks
  13. Q7An efficient service delivery is the key to winning the public trusts in government. What are the challenges being faced in efficient delivery of public services? Suggest some measures to improve the delivery of public services.10 marks
  14. Q8Explain the importance of diligence as a value for a civil servant. How can it be inculcated among civil servants?10 marks
  15. Q9You are posted in a district as a public servant responsible for looking into the matters of violation of Right to Education Act. You came across a case in which a poor farmer had beaten his daughter for not going to take her fifth class annual exams. Eventually, he tied her up with his motorbike and took her to the examination hall. Corporal punishment to the children by parents or teachers is a punishable offence with three month jail term. When you enquired about it the poor farmer explained that he had done so for ensuring a better future for her daughter as he does not want his children to live in poverty in which he is living. He also says that his economic condition is poor and if he is taken to jail his children will face severe hardships. (a) What are the options available to you? (b) Evaluate each of these options and choose the option which you would adopt, giving reasons.20 marks
  16. Q10You retired as a finance manager from a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU). After retirement you are offered a job in a private company as its finance head and you have accepted it. The company has a procurement contract with the PSU which you worked for. Now that contract is up for renewal through competitive bidding. You have been asked to lead the team responsible for bidding of this contract. While working in the PSU, you had an opportunity to work on areas relating to financial accounting, procurement, contracts and bids. You are concerned that you might breach the confidentiality if you accept the assignment in the present company. You also suspect that your knowledge and experience of working in the PSU were seen as good reasons for appointing you to the position in the present company. The loss of such a major contract would have a significant effect on the financial performance of Company. Evaluate the merits and demerits of each of the options given below and finally suggest what course of action you would like to take, providing adequate reasons. i. Do not accept the assignment as it will lead to breach of confidentiality. ii. Do not lead the team but guide them from outside. iii. Accept to lead the team and use your expertise in bidding for the contract. iv. Resign from the job. Suggest any other possible option(s). Evaluate all of them and suggest the best course of action, giving your reasons for it.20 marks
  17. Q11You are the district officer responsible for implementing the government schemes in the district. One of the schemes is to provide financial assistance to poor students completing their Class XII so that they can join college comfortably. But, due to unexpectedly good results there arises a shortage of funds for the scheme. However, the funds are available in another scheme of housing which are unutilized, but need approval from senior officials and may take more than a month and by that time the admissions will be over. Given below are few options that you can take: 1. Send the request for funds diversion and pursue the case with the senior officials to get it done quickly. 2. Promise to deliver the rewards next month as you cannot do anything now. 3. Prepare some fictitious names that need a house & transfer the funds from housing scheme to this scheme considering the urgency of case and future of children. Suggest any other possible option(s). Evaluate all of them and suggest the best course of action, giving your reasons for it.20 marks
  18. Q12A District Magistrate, posted in a district affected by left wing extremism, was abducted by the extremists while he was on a routine inspection tour to assess the progress of the development work in one of the villages. After abduction, extremists demanded the release of two of their leaders who are accused of involvement in the violent attack on the police convoy few months back. After few days of continued negotiations, the centre and state governments agreed to accept the demands of extremists in return for release of the District Magistrate. During the time when District Magistrate was held captive, he was treated well by the extremists and many extremists and even locals came to visit him in order to point out the problems in the service delivery, excesses of the police and paramilitary forces in a very convincing manner. After being released, the District Magistrate comes to you to seek advice on how to deal with the issues, which arose out of his abduction. Some of the suggestions are as follows: 1. The District Magistrate should file a criminal case against the extremists for his abduction and help the security forces in whatever way he can to catch the culprits and also request for a transfer. 2. The District Magistrate should take up a review of status of developmental work in that region while leading the audit himself; but at the same time work on new innovative strategies so that locals can be made free from the control of extremists, treating the incidence as a wakeup call.
  19. Q13Developing countries are often very vulnerable to exploitation by multinational corporations. They support industrialization but lack of infrastructure is a major limiting factor. Further, without suitable laws and regulations, developing nations are ill prepared for such endeavours. In their efforts to attract business, these nations often overlook the health and safety violations by the corporations doing business within their borders. Drawn by low-cost labour, new markets, and lower operation costs, corporations have little incentive to address environmental and human risks once they are entrenched. In this situation there is imminent threat of disaster. Discuss some feasible strategies to balance economic development and safety and security of people at large in developing countries with special emphasis on India.20 marks
  20. Q14You are a middle ranked MCD employee, overseeing an anti-encroachment drive in New Delhi in order to broaden a very busy road. Many illegal constructions on the road have been demolished. It was all happening without much protest but when the bulldozer reached near an illegal religious construction, some people belonging to that particular community came out and formed a human chain to stop the demolition. At the same time some people from another religious group came out insisting the immediate demolition of the site. Both groups were about to clash violently. You handled the situation quite well, by pacifying the crowd and calling in enough police force, which was prepared in advance to deal with such a situation, nonetheless, the above incident raises the following serious questions: (a) What kind of Psycho-emotional and attitudinal factors give birth to this religious competitiveness? (b) What is the use of emotional intelligence if such a situation arises? Discuss. (c) How can religion be used as a uniting force instead of a dividing one? Answer the above questions from an ethical perspective.20 marks

The answers

Question 1(a) · 10 marks · 203 words written

In this age of information and consumerism, the image of women portrayed by mass media greatly influences our social attitude towards them. Critically evaluate.

Opening

In this age of access to information and cut-throat competition between various groups, women are being used for effective awareness campaign and at the same time being commodified. for example → Recently a campaign was started by vogue foundation, regarding "my voice, my choice", which was highlighting the women freedom and empowerment, it invited mixed response, whereby some lauded it for powerful message it carried but some criticized it for wrong purpose. Almost all advertisements involve & depict women as a

Campaigner which has effect on our social attitude towards women by way of-

Body · points

(1) women's inherent weaknesses in form of a patriarchal society are being weakened. for ex. - women are present almost everywhere, on a packet of noodle to a government campaign, thus sensitivity is being generated.

(2) their depiction as commodity is inculcating a wrong feeling in younger generation, whereby they are being seen as an object and it causes frustration arousal in youth, leading to increasing violence against woman.

(3) women are being used as official campaigners in various bodies such as UN environment agency, where Kareena Kapoor is a brand ambassador, this brings a deep impact by inculcating feminist values such as love, care, companion in our minds.

Close · no separate close

None written.