Insights UPSC Mains Test Series - 2016

(General Studies Paper - 4)

Date​: 25 October 2016 ​Test - 20​ ​Duration​: 1.30 Hours

Marks​: 150
Questions​: 7

Answer questions in NOT MORE than the word limit specified for each in the parenthesis.
Content of the answer is more important than its length.

1. You are working as District Collector in a remote and poorest district of your state. You
are a graduate from country’s top engineering college and you have fresh, novel ideas to
use your academic knowledge to address poverty in your district. Soon after taking
in-charge of your district, you travel entire district to understand its physical and human
potential. Your travels reveal that the district’s topography provides immense potential
to generate huge amount of energy from both wind and solar sources. Coincidentally, as
part of your engineering project you had won award for creating unique technology (for
which patent is pending) to generate solar energy at far cheaper price than any current
technology available in the market. You realize that providing cheap energy to every
household could act as catalyst in eradicating poverty in the long run. As of now the
district has no industries as no company is willing to invest because of poor
infrastructure. You send a report to the government requesting funds to set-up large
wind and solar energy generation units across district using your technology. However,
you do not get any positive response from the government. Some of your close friends
suggest that your idea could be a business opportunity to earn lots of money. They advise
you to quit your current job and establish a private company to pursue this business.

(a) What are the various options available to you? Evaluate their merits and demerits.
Giving reasons, suggest which option out of these you would choose in the end.
(b) In your opinion, how can you make government take notice of talent like yours and
use it to bring development? Discuss. (200 Words, 20 Marks)

2. Being a straightforward and courageous police officer, you are on a mission to end illegal
sand mining in your district. In one of your biggest raids, your team captures hundreds
of heavy vehicles involved in illegal sand transportation. On the same night you get a call
from a powerful politician who is very close to the chief minister. He virtually controls
entire district administration and any action against him is bound to invite punishment
of transfer. He initially talks to you with respect requesting you to let go of raided
vehicles as they belong to one of his companies. When you politely reject his request, he
 starts abusing you and threatens you saying there would be severe consequences for you
in future. Without furthering the discussion, you tell him again that it’s your part of duty
and he should mind his language while talking to a civil servant. This further enrages
him. Abusing you further, he tells you that you would get transfer orders tomorrow itself.
You have the habit of recording every call you get, and in this case also you have recorded
the entire conversation.

You have following options:

(a) Let go vehicles this time and for time being concentrate on other people involved in
illegal sand mining
(b) Send recorded conversation to all media houses requesting its immediate publication
(c) Ignore politician’s threats and focus on your work
(d) Register a complaint against politician for obstructing your duty and threatening you,
and wait for justice to prevail
(e) Bring this matter to the notice of chief minister and seek his support to carry on your
work

Also suggest any other option with good justifications. (250 Words, 25 Marks)

3. One of your subordinates, who is working as inspector, is a corrupt officer and is hand in
glove with criminals. Many stern warnings by you to him have not reformed his
behaviour. His strong political connections have emboldened him to defy rules of the
department. One day he suddenly commits suicide without leaving any note behind. The
media, fed with wrong information claims that the officer was under depression due to
unfair treatment by his superiors, including you, in the department. Many reports falsely
claim that he was an honest officer and killed himself due to work pressure. Some
reports even allege that he was murdered by vested interests within the department.
Under immense pressure, higher authorities ask you to investigate reasons behind his
suicide and submit report to the government within a month. During investigation, you
are coerced by your superiors and ministers to conclude in the report, whatever may be
your actual findings, that the officer committed suicide due to personal problems and
was an honest officer. Superiors urge you that any negative conclusion would bring bad
name to both the department and the government.

What options are available for you? Evaluate their merits and demerits. Also suggest any
other option with good justifications. (200 Words, 20 marks)

4. Aravind is working as a doctor in a corporate hospital. He is happily married to a doctor

who also works at the same hospital. Aravind is living with his widower father who is
suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Due to their hectic schedule, he had employed a
caretaker to look after his father. However, one day by accident he witnesses caretaker
 treating his father carelessly and abusing him verbally for not eating food. As the disease
gets worse, Aravind’s wife who used to look nurse him whenever she had time, is now
wants her father in law to be shifted to a well known NGO which takes care of old people
suffering from serious diseases. Since marriage, Aravind believes that he has not been
able to enjoy time with his wife and children due to his father’s illness. In the light of
abuse by caretaker and his own busy life, he now sees merit in sending his father to a
center where he will be taken care by well trained professionals. He thinks that he and
his wife could visit his father once in a week on regular basis and spend quality time with
his family for remainder of the week at his home.

(a) Should Aravind send his father to old age center? Justify.
(b) If you were Arvind, what options you would have explored in his situation? Evaluate
their merits and demerits. (200 Words, 20 Marks)

5. Ranganath, a Dalit from a remote village, has faced severe hardships throughout his life.
He has faced discrimination due to his caste and skin colour at various places by variety
of people. He somehow has managed to complete his graduation using government
scholarships. These days he is preparing for civil services exam. This exam preparation is
making him aware of social realities and his new realizations are provoking him to take
extreme steps to stop discriminations by any means. Earlier he wanted to bring change
only through peaceful means by becoming an IAS officer. However, increasing atrocities
against lower caste people and women have enraged him. He thinks that a bureaucrat
can not change the system due to politics. He is now cynical about judiciary too. He feels
that oppressed people can get justice only through mass revolution whether peaceful or
violent.
(a) What other options Ranganath has to bring change in the society? Evaluate their
merits and demerits.
(b) Do you think Ranganath is justified in thinking that means to change the system
doesn’t matter as long as they result in positive change? Justify. (250 Words, 25
Marks)

6. After getting selected as an IAS officer and working as administrator at various capacities
in the initial years of service, later you have worked in the department of Information
Technology (IT) for more than fifteen years thanks to your excellent academic record in
the field of IT. This unique experience has made you most sought after person to seek
opinion and guidance on formulating IT related policies in the country. The state for
which you have worked has had given you freehand to take important decisions in the
department. You are well aware of certain sensitive plans of the government too. Lately,
you have been offered a top managerial post in one of world’s top IT companies with an
enviable pay package. After spending many years in the government, now you want to
get experience and exposure in private sector. After joining this company, CEO and the
 top brass who are interested to invest big in a state where you worked for the
government, want to know about all details such as policy environment, potential places
to invest, important connections which can speed up investment etc. Meanwhile, you are
being called back by top leaders in the government to continue to work for the
government. Your friends and wife suggest you that working for government is a better
option considering goodwill you command in echelons of power.

(a) Does revealing information to CEO amount to unethical conduct on your part?
Justify.
(b) Considering bright future in both private company and government, which one you
would consider? Justify. (200 Words, 20 marks)

7. You are the head of a private educational institution. You are providing quality education
at very affordable fees to talented students from both poor and rich families. Your
institution has consistently delivered good results both in academic and competitive
exams. Thanks to these results, the demand for admissions into your institution is ever
increasing. Due to huge demand you are now facing financial difficulties to build good
infrastructure and recruit quality teachers. Due to low fees and obligation to meet
objectives under the Right to Education act (RTE), trust members of your institution are
pressuring you to increase capitation fees to generate more revenue. They fear that
institution might lose its reputation if they do not recruit more and more qualified
teachers to meet increasing demand. Some members also suggest you to cut admissions
made under RTE to admit more students under management quota.

(a) In this situation what dilemmas are you facing? How can you overcome them?
(b) It can be argued that as long as you provide quality education, increasing fees is
ethical and justified. Do you agree? Substantiate. (200 Words, 20 Marks)