Madhav Agarwal: 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. 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
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. Q4(a)Explain the meaning of the following quotations and discuss their contemporary relevance. "To tolerate is purely an act of the mind. That is the essence of virtue. To tolerate is a strength."10 marks
8. 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." (15010 marks
9. Q4(c)"Periods of peace are the empty pages in the history books"10 marks
10. 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
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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
14. Q77. आप एक औद्योगिक शहर के नगर निगम में कार्यरत एक युवा अधिकारी हैं। यह शहर बॉल बेयरिंग और ऑटो पार्ट्स के निर्माण के लिए जाना जाता है। अधिकांश विनिर्माण इकाइयाँ छोटे पैमाने की इकाइयाँ हैं। जिनमें उत्पादन की स्वचालित इकाइयाँ कम हैं। अधिकांश इकाइयाँ शारीरिक श्रम पर निर्भर हैं, जो निकट के गाँवों के कारण प्रचुर मात्रा में उपलब्ध है। जैसे-जैसे विनिर्माण इकाइयों की संख्या में वृद्धि हुई, श्रम की मांग बढ़ती गई, जिससे शहर में मजदूरों की संख्या लगातार बढ़ती गई। शहर में इस बड़ी संख्या में लोगों के आगमन के कारण फुटपाथों पर गंदी बस्तियों (झुग्गियों) और अतिक्रमणों में अल्प अवधि में तेजी से वृद्धि हुई। बीच-बीच में निगम ने गंदी बस्तियों को हटाने के लिए अभियान चलाया, लेकिन कुछ समय बाद गंदी बस्तियाँ फिर से स्थापित हो जाती थीं। यह अवैध गंदी बस्तियाँ शहरी दुस्वप्न बन गई थीं। आपको पुलिस अधिकारियों की मदद से अतिक्रमण और गंदी बस्तियों को हटाने की जिम्मेदारी दी गई। जैसे ही आपने अभियान शुरू किया, आपको एहसास हुआ कि फुटपाथ पर रहने वाले लोग मलिन बस्तियों (slum) में रहने वालों की तुलना में अधिक दयनीय स्थिति में हैं। कई फुटपाथवासी हाल ही में अपने गाँवों में अपनी संपत्ति बेचकर शहर आए हैं। अब यदि आप उन्हें बाहर निकालेंगे तो उनके पास जाने के लिए कोई जगह नहीं होगी। आपका हृदय उनके लिए दुखी है, और आपको लगा कि आपकी विभागीय कार्रवाई अमानवीय है, लेकिन आपकी आधिकारिक जिम्मेदारियाँ कड़ी निष्पक्ष कार्रवाई की मांग करती हैं। आप अपने आधिकारिक कर्तव्यों से समझौता किए बिना फुटपाथ पर रहने वालों की मदद करने का तरीका खोजने के लिए आतुर हैं। (a) उपरोक्त स्थिति में आपको कौन-से मूल्य संबंधी टकराव/संघर्ष नजर आते हैं? (b) क्या कोई प्रशासक समानुभूति के मूल्य के लिए निष्पक्षता के मूल्य से समझौता कर सकता है? चर्चा कीजिए। (c) उपरोक्त स्थिति में कौन-से विकल्प उपलब्ध हैं? (d) शहरी क्षेत्रों में अवैध मलिन बस्तियों और अतिक्रमण से निपटने के लिए व्यवहार्य समाधान सुझाएँ। (250 शब्दों में उत्तर दीजिए) 20 अंक20 marks
15. 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 being committed 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
16. 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 of Mines 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
17. 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
18. Q10(b)Do you think corporate businesses such as GAMA must consider international ethics while pursuing business interests? Why/why not?
19. Q10(c)Do you think a corporate's social responsibility extends beyond one's immediate community to the international community? Why/Why not?
20. Q10(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
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. Q12Singh Garh is a primarily rural district with minimal relatively insignificant industrial activity, except for one consumer goods manufacturing plant, which was the primary source of employment. Development indicators such as health, literacy, etc., were much below the national average. Along with developmental issues, another grave concern was the slow rise in child marriages. Despite the legal sanctions, child marriage continued to rise unabated. 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