Kush Motwani: GS4 answer copy

The questions

1. Q1(a)Public service requires not merely legal but also morally principled action. Public service requires the public servant to place loyalty to the constitution, laws, and ethical principles. Among the three, which do you think must acquire primacy while carrying out official functions? Why? Discuss.10 marks
2. Q1(b)What do you understand by "integrity-based civil disobedience"? Do you think a challenge to personal integrity can be a justifiable cause for responsible disobedience in civil services? Explain.10 marks
3. Q1(c)Do you think a corporate's social responsibility extends beyond one's immediate community to the international community? Why/Why not?
4. Q1(d)Do you think corporate businesses such as GAMA must consider international ethics while pursuing business interests? Why/why not? (c) Do you think a corporate's social responsibility extends beyond one's immediate community to the international community? Why/Why not? (d) Do you think the Defence sector companies marketing sensitive technologies must be regulated by their respective governments, or regulation may curtail their entrepreneurial and innovation energy? Discuss.20 marks
5. Q2(a)Recent research has shown that emotions significantly impact personal and professional lives. What are the primary emotions that negatively and positively impact workplace productivity? Explain with relevant examples.10 marks
6. Q2(b)Technical efficiency ensures resource utilization and social efficiency ensures fulfillment of social needs, what does ethical efficiency ensure? Do you think ethical efficiency is more important than technical and social efficiency? Why/Why not?10 marks
7. Q3(a)"Man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department." Gandhi. Do you think an individual's personal ethics impacts professional life or they both can be compartmentalized? Explain your position with relevant examples.10 marks
8. Q3(b)Goodness is the result of internal imperatives to do what is right, not sanctions from moral rules or rewards from expected consequences. Do you agree? Discuss.10 marks
9. Q4(a)"To tolerate is purely an act of the mind. That is the essence of virtue. To tolerate is a strength."10 marks
10. Q4(b)"It is our first duty to serve society, and after we have done that, we may attend wholly to the salvation of our souls."10 marks
11. Q4(c)"Periods of peace are the empty pages in the history books"10 marks
12. Q5(a)In the context of civil service, distinguish between moral and nonmoral values. Identify 5 basic moral values that can serve as foundational values for all services irrespective of the department. Give reasons why those values can be considered foundational.10 marks
13. Q5(b)Citizens' involvement in decision-making is critical to ethics in governance. Do you agree that effective civic engagement mechanisms can facilitate an ethics-driven administration? What do you think are the mechanisms that citizens can use for ensuring ethics in governance?10 marks
14. Q6(a)Social transformation programs such as "beti bachao and beti padhao" believes in using advice, counseling, and persuasion but sometimes a little force is also necessary for getting the desired response. Do you think it is a good idea to mix little force with persuasion by public administrators while implementing social schemes of transformation? Explain with relevant examples.10 marks
15. Q6(b)Ultimately foreign policy of every country hinges upon the strength which the nation possesses. Strength may be military or financial and may be also...moral. Do you think ethical strength without military or financial muscle will be respected in today's world? Explain your position.10 marks
16. Q7You are a young officer working with the Municipal Corporation of an industrial city. The city was known for manufacturing ball bearings and auto parts. Most manufacturing units were small-scale units with very little production process automation. The units relied on manual labor, which was in abundance due to the villages close by. As the number of manufacturing units grew, the demand for labor increased, bringing in a steady inflow of laborers into the city. This influx of people into the town led to a mushrooming of slums and encroachments on the sidewalks. Once in a while, the Corporation conducted drives to clear out the slums, but after a time, the slums came back. The illegal slums had become an urban nightmare. You were given the responsibility of clearing out the encroachments and slums with the help of Police authorities. As you started the drive, you realized that the people living by the sidewalks were vulnerable compared to the slum dwellers. Many sidewalk dwellers had recently come to the city after selling their properties in their villages. Now if you drive them out, they have no place to go. Your heart went out to them, and you felt that your departmental action was inhumane, but your official responsibilities demanded stern impartial action. You are desperate to find a way to help the sidewalk dwellers without compromising your official duties. (a) What value conflicts do you notice in the above situation? (b) Can an administrator compromise the value of impartiality for empathy? Discuss. (c) What are the options available in the above situation? (d) Suggest viable solutions for tackling illegal slums and encroachments in urban areas.20 marks
17. Q8A certain State government was running a welfare scheme for promoting safe motherhood among rural landless laborers' families. The scheme involves the transfer of funds to the beneficiaries to enable them to mitigate income loss due to maternal care responsibilities. Since its implementation, the scheme has done reasonably well on maternal health and economic indicators. You are the Director of the Department responsible for implementing and operating the scheme. Recently you have been receiving reports of welfare fraud being committed by families by producing fake bona fide. The families committed the fraud with the help of local officials responsible for scrutinizing the bonafide. You were concerned because the fraud was seriously undermining the scheme's efficiency. You called for a departmental meeting to discuss and find a solution to the problem. In the meeting, it was decided to merge several available government data sets such as Aadhar cards, voter ID cards, marriage certificates, birth certificates, bank details, and other personal assets. By merging all the data sets, the department would be able to develop the beneficiary's economic profile. And this will help the department scrutinize the documents and detect fraud. This was a comprehensive strategy, but it risked violating an individual's data privacy. As a Department head, you wanted to detect and prevent fraud, but at the same time, you were apprehensive about violating the Data privacy of the stakeholders. (a) What are the issues involved in the above case? (b) Do you think violating data privacy is justified to prevent welfare fraud? Why/ Why not? (c) What, according to you, can be the reasons for such welfare frauds happening in the country? (d) Are there any ways and means to prevent such fraud? Give your suggestions.20 marks
18. Q8(d)Ways and means to prevent such fraud.
19. Q9You are posted in the Department of Mines, and one of your roles is to help your Department Head negotiate mining leases with private contractors. Recently, the state government demarcated a new mining zone and planned to invite bids for the mining blocs. You were instructed to oversee the bidding process and speed up the contract negotiations. As planned, the tenders were released, bids came in, and tenders were allocated as per the norms. All this happened at a breakneck speed. You wondered, why the hurry? But it was not your place to think and question; you quietly went about your work. As the contractors were about to start operations, you had to instruct them on environmental concerns to watch out for. And to do that, you read the environmental impact assessment report submitted by a consulting firm hired by the department. To your surprise, the report was shoddy and looked cooked up. You got suspicious and raised the issue with your Head, who politely instructed you to do what you were told, and he reminded you that the Department had revenue targets and was under pressure from the Ministry. After the meeting, you, on your own accord, did some digging and found out that the report was fraudulent and the mining activity that was about to start would lead to a massive environmental disaster which the State could not afford. (a) What are the issues and value violations you notice in the above case? (b) What are the options available to you? (c) Discuss the advantage and disadvantages of each option and identify your chosen course of action. (d) Do you think that environmental considerations are sometimes overrated at the cost of development?20 marks
20. Q10Promoting National interest and gaining influence and power in the International arena are the two basic mantras of every country's external policy. Since the last decade, country ABC has aggressively pursued power and expanded its business interests overseas. One of the businesses ABC was interested in developing was Defence equipment and Satellite technology. It was seeking markets for its space and defense products. The country encouraged its defense equipment manufacturing companies to find new markets and explore manufacturing collaborations with other countries. GAMA, one of the major defense equipment manufacturers, had recently struck a massive multi-billion dollar deal involving sensitive technology transfer and equipment with a country XYZ ruled by Military Junta. It was good business. As the business details became public, much criticism came GAMA's way because XYZ was an international pariah because of its poor human rights record. Further, the Junta indulged in a silent genocide of a minority ethnic community. There was a lot of uproar because the deal involved transferring sensitive technology that could be misused in the wrong hands. In short, it was good business but with questionable clients. Meanwhile, the government of ABC kept silent about the GAMA business deal, and other governments interpreted the silence as a subtle way of building relations with a nation that was an international pariah. (a) What are the ethical issues involved in the above case?20 marks
21. Q11Mr. Sharma was the All India Sales Head of a pharmaceutical company with a turnover of 400 crores. The company's main markets were small towns and tier 2 cities. Further, the company did a sizeable amount of business with state government hospitals and health centers. Mr. Sharma had given a lot of freedom to field sales agents to strike deals and negotiate prices with clients. This strategy worked well for the company. Recently Mr. Sharma received word that three company employees were selling products to government hospitals and health centers at a higher price than they were selling to other private hospitals and health centers. The employees were with the company for over five years and were good performers. A few sales staff informally raised the issue of the three getting relatively higher commissions because of their inflated deals. And this was creating a sense of unease among the sales staff. A cursory review of the account of the three showed that, in many instances, the government hospitals were paying more than other private institutions. Under procurement rules, the government is supposed to pay a fair price, one that other cost-conscious customers pay. In inquiry, Mr. Sharma found that the three were not alone; government purchases department officials were helping them scam the Department. Mr. Sharma realized that his sales staff and some corrupt government staff had been defrauding the state exchequer for quite some time. Mr. Sharma immediately reported it to his CEO, and the two discussed how to deal with the sales staff and whether to inform the government about the scam and the involvement of their staff. The issue was informing the government means that there was every possibility that they might be blacklisted, thereby losing a lot of business. Mr. Sharma and CEO were caught in a dilemma regarding how to proceed with the case. (a) What are the ethical and business issues involved in the case? (b) What are the options available to Mr. Sharma and the CEO? (c) Do you think the organizational culture of giving freedom to the sales force led to the issue or was the individual's corrupt nature that led to the problem? Discuss. (d) What ethics mechanisms and steps can the company create and implement to prevent unethical behavior, as mentioned in the case?20 marks
22. Q11(case study)department officials were helping them scam the Department. Mr. Sharma realized that his sales staff and some corrupt government staff had been defrauding the state exchequer for quite some time. Mr. Sharma immediately reported it to his CEO; and the two discussed how to deal with the sales staff and whether to inform the government about the scam and the involvement of their staff. The issue was informing the government means that there was every possibility that they might be blacklisted, thereby losing a lot of business. Mr. Sharma and CEO were caught in a dilemma regarding how to proceed with the case. (a) What are the ethical and business issues involved in the case? (b) What are the options available to Mr. Sharma and the CEO? (c) Do you think the organizational culture of giving freedom to the sales force led to the issue or was the individual's corrupt nature that led to the problem? Discuss. (d) What ethics mechanisms and steps can the company create and implement to prevent unethical behavior, as mentioned in the case?20 marks
23. Q1212. सिंह गढ़ मुख्य रूप से एक ग्रामीण जिला है जहाँ एक उपभोक्ता वस्तु विनिर्माण संयंत्र को छोड़कर न्यूनतम एवं अपेक्षाकृत महत्त्वहीन औद्योगिक क्रियाकलाप है, जो रोजगार का प्राथमिक स्रोत है। यहाँ स्वास्थ्य, साक्षरता आदि जैसे विकास संकेतक राष्ट्रीय औसत से काफी नीचे थे। यहाँ विकासात्मक मुद्दों के साथ-साथ, एक और गंभीर चिंता बाल विवाह में हो रही धीमी वृद्धि थी। कानूनी प्रतिबंधों के बावजूद, बाल विवाह बेरोकटोक बढ़ता जा रहा था। सामाजिक कार्य में स्नातकोत्तर रश्मि, जो कम उम्र में विवाह से बच गई, ने बाल विवाह पीड़ितों को बचाने और पुनर्वास के लिए एक गैर सरकारी संगठन शुरू किया। पिछले पाँच वर्षों में उसने कई युवा लड़कियों को बाल विवाह का शिकार होने से बचाया। उसकी कार्यशैली सरल थी। उसने गाँवों में मुखबिरों का एक नेटवर्क विकसित किया था जो उसे सूचनाएँ देता था और सत्यापन करने के बाद, स्थानीय कानून प्रवर्तन कर्मियों की मदद से रश्मि बाल विवाह को होने से रोक देती थी। रश्मि ने सराहनीय काम किया, लेकिन इस दौरान उसने कुछ दुश्मन भी बना लिए। स्थानीय नेता विशेषकर महिलाएँ और युवा लड़कियों के बीच उसकी लोकप्रियता से नाराज थे। अपनी गतिविधियों का विस्तार करने के लिए, रश्मि ने जिले की एकमात्र औद्योगिक इकाई के प्रबंधन से संपर्क किया। उसने सफलतापूर्वक कंपनी को अपनी गतिविधियों और एनजीओ में योगदान देने के लिए राजी कर लिया। कंपनी ने उसे बाल विवाह के बारे में जागरूकता बढ़ाने के लिए श्रमिकों के लिए कार्यशालाएँ आयोजित करने हेतु अपनी सुविधाओं तक पहुँच भी दी। उसने कंपनी परिसर में अपनी कार्यशालाएँ और अभियान शुरू किया। यद्यपि प्रारंभिक प्रतिक्रिया ठंडी और कभी-कभी पूरी तरह से उदासीन थी। लेकिन वह डटी रही। कुछ महीनों के बाद, एक दिन कंपनी यूनियन के सदस्यों ने उसे कंपनी में प्रवेश करने से रोक दिया और उसके साथ हिंसा करने की धमकी दी। रश्मि ने प्रबंधन से बात की, जिन्होंने उसका समर्थन किया और उसकी सुरक्षा सुनिश्चित की। प्रबंधन ने रश्मि और उसके एनजीओ का समर्थन करते हुए एक सर्कुलर (परिपत्र) जारी किया। प्रबंधन को आश्चर्य हुआ, सर्कुलर के एक सप्ताह बाद, यूनियन ने अचानक हड़ताल का आह्वान किया और एनजीओ की गतिविधियों जारी रहने पर काम बंद रखने की धमकी दी। कार्यकर्ताओं का मानना था कि रश्मि का अभियान महिलाओं के दिमाग को भ्रष्ट कर रहा है और उनकी परंपराओं का अनादर कर रहा है। आक्रामक प्रतिक्रिया को देखते हुए कंपनी प्रबंधन ने एनजीओ की गतिविधियों को रोककर श्रमिकों को शांत करने की कोशिश की। रश्मि ने समुदाय के प्रति अपनी सामाजिक जिम्मेदारी पर प्रकाश डालकर प्रबंधन को समझाने की कोशिश की। लेकिन प्रबंधन ने दो टूक जवाब दिया कि हर सामाजिक समस्या उनकी नैतिक जिम्मेदारी नहीं है। रश्मि प्रबंधन के फैसले से निराश थी और सोच रही थी कि कंपनी को अपने अभियानों में कैसे शामिल किया जाए। (a) उपरोक्त मामले में कौन-कौन से मुद्दे शामिल हैं? (b) आपको क्या लगता है कि रश्मि को क्या करना चाहिए? क्या रश्मि के लिए स्थानीय प्रशासन को शामिल करना अच्छा विचार होगा? कार्यान्वयन योग्य कार्यवाही का सुझाव दीजिए। (c) क्या आपको लगता है कि कंपनियों को उस क्षेत्र की सामाजिक समस्याओं के लिए भी जिम्मेदारी स्वीकार करनी चाहिए जहाँ वे अपना कार्य करती हैं? अगर हाँ तो क्यों, अगर नहीं तो क्यों नहीं? (d) श्रमिक संघ की इतनी आक्रामक प्रतिक्रिया के क्या कारण हो सकते हैं? आपके अनुसार रश्मि को कर्मचारी संघ को कैसे संभालना चाहिए? (250 शब्दों में उत्तर दीजिए) 20 अंक20 marks
24. Q12(null)Rashmi, a social work postgraduate who escaped an early marriage, started an NGO for rescuing and rehabilitating child marriage victims. In the last five years, she saved a lot of young girls from becoming victims of child marriage. Her modus Operandi was simple. She had developed a network of informants in villages who relayed information to her, and after verifying, Rashmi with help from local law enforcement personnel, prevented the marriage from happening. Rashmi did commendable work, but she made some enemies in the process. The local leaders resented her popularity with women and young girls in particular. To expand her activities, Rashmi contacted the management of the only industrial unit in the district. She successfully persuaded the company to contribute to her activities and the NGO. The company even gave her access to their facilities to conduct workshops for workers to raise awareness about the issue of child marriage. As she started her workshops and campaign on the company premises, the initial response was lukewarm and, at times, complete indifference. But she persevered. After a couple of months, one day, the company union members stopped her from entering the company and even threatened her with violence. Rashmi spoke with the management, who supported her and ensured her safety. The management issued a circular supporting Rashmi and her NGO. To management's surprise, after a week of the circular, the Union called for a flash strike and threatened to continue the work stoppage if the NGO activities continued. The workers believed that Rashmi's campaign was corrupting the women's minds and disrespecting their traditions. The company's management seeing the aggressive reaction sought to assuage the workers by stopping the NGO activities. Rashmi tried to persuade the management by highlighting their social responsibility to the community. But the management was curt in replying that every social problem is not their moral responsibility. Rashmi was disappointed with the management's decision and wondered how best to involve the company in her campaigns. (a) What are the issues involved in the above case? (b) What do you think Rashmi should do? Would it be a good idea for Rashmi to involve local administration? Suggest an implementable course of action. (c) Do you think companies should also accept responsibility for the social problems of the region where they operate? Why/why not? (d) What could be the reasons for such an aggressive reaction from the workers union? How do you think Rashmi should handle the workers union?20 marks

The answers