GENEAL STUDIES PAPER – 4
Total Marks: 250 marks, Time duration: 3 hours.
·
There are 12 questions
divided into two sections and printed both in ENGLISH and HINDI.
·
All questions are
compulsory.
·
The number of marks
carried by a question/part is printed against it.
·
Answers must be
written in the medium authorized in the admission certificate which must be
stated clearly on the cover of this question-cum-answer (QCA) booklet in the
space provided.
·
No marks will be given
for answers written in the medium other than authorized one.
·
Keep the word limit
indicated in the questions in mind.
·
Any page or portion of
the page left blank, must be struck off clearly.
Section A
Q1.
(a) What are
the basic principles of public life? Illustrate any three with suitable examples. (150 words) (10 marks)
(b) What do you
understand by the term ‘public servant’? Reflect on the expected role of public
servant. (150 words) (10
marks)
Q2.
(a) Effective
utilization of public finds is crucial to meet development goals. Critically
examine the reasons for under- utilization and mis- utilization of public funds
and their implications. (150
words) (10 marks)
(b)
“Non-performance of duty by a public servant is a form of corruption”. Do you
agree with this view? Justify your answer (150 words) (10 marks)
Q3.
(a) What is
meant by the term ‘constitutional morality’? How does one uphold constitutional
morality? (150 words) (10
marks)
(b) What is
meant by ‘crisis of conscience’? How does it manifest in the public
domain? (150 words) (10
marks)
Q4.
(a) Explain the
basic principles of citizens’ charter movement and bring out its
importance. (150 words)
(10 marks)
(b) There is a
view that the official secrets act is an obstacle to the implementation of
Rights to Information act. Do you agree with the view? Discuss (150 words) (10 marks)
Q5.
(a) What do you
understand by probity in governance? Based on your understanding of the term,
suggest measures for ensuring probity in government. (150 words) (10 marks)
(b) “Emotional
Intelligence is the ability to make your emotions work for you instead of
against you.” Do you agree with this view? Discuss. (150 words) (10 marks)
Q6. What do
each of the following quotations mean to you?
(a) “An
unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates (150 words) (10 marks)
(b) “A man is
but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” –
M.K.Gandhi (150 words)
(10 marks)
(c) “Where
there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When
there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is
harmony in the home, there is order in the nation. When there is order in the
nation, there is peace in the world.” – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (150 words) (10 marks)
SECTION B: Case studies
Q7. You are
the heading the rescue operations in a area affected by severe natural
calamity, thousands of people are rendered homeless and deprived of food,
drinking water and other basic amenities. Rescue work has been disrupted by
heavy rainfall and damaged to supply routes. The local people are seeding with
anger against the delayed limited rescue operations. When your team reaches the
affected area, the people there heckle and even assault some of the team
members. One of your team member is even severely injured. Faced with this
crisis some team member plead with you to call off the operations freeing
threats to their life.
In such trying
circumstances, what will be your response? Examine the qualities of a public
servant which will be required to manage the situations. (250 words) (20 marks)
Q8. Honesty
and uprightness are the hallmarks of a civil servants. Civil servants
possessing these qualities are considered as a back bone of any strong
organizations. In line of duty, they take various decisions, at time some
become bonafide mistakes. As long as such decisions, are not taken
intentionally and do not benefit personally, the officer cannot be said to be
guilty. Though such decisions may, at times, lead to unforeseen adverse
consequences in the long term.
In the recent
past, a few instances have surfaced where in civil servants has been implicated
for bonafide mistakes. They have often been prosecuted and even imprisoned.
These instances have greatly rattled the moral fiber of the civil servants.
How does this
trend affect the functioning of civil services? What measures can be taken to
ensure that honest civil servants are not implicated for bonafide mistakes on
their part? Justify your answer. (250 words) (20 marks)
Q9. An
apparel manufacturing company having large number of women employees was losing
sales due to various factors. The company hired a reputed marketing executive,
who increased the volume of sales within a short span of time. However, some
unconfirmed reports came up regarding his indulgence in sexual harassment at
the work place.
After
sometime a women employee launched a formal complaint to the management against
the marketing executive about sexually harassing her. Faced with the companies’
indifference, in not taking cognizance of her grievances, she lodged an FIR
with police.
Realizing
the sensitivity and gravity of the situation, the company called the women
employee to negotiate. In that she was offered a hefty sum of money to withdraw
the complaint and the FIR and also give in writing that the marketing executive
is not involved in the case.
Identify the
ethical issues involved in this case. What options are available to the women
employee? (250 words) (20 marks)
Q10. In a
modern democratic polity there is a concept of political executive and
permanent executive elected people’s representatives forms the political
executive and bureaucracy forms the permanent executive. Ministers frame policy
decisions and bureaucrats execute these. In the initial decades after
independence, relationship between the permanent executives and the political
executives were characterized by mutual understanding, respect, and
cooperation, without encroaching upon each other’s domain.
However, in the
subsequent decades the situation has changed. There are instances of the
political executive insisting upon the permanent executives to follow its
agenda. Respect for an appreciation of an upright bureaucrats has declined.
There is an increasing tendency among the political executive to get involved
in routine administrative matters such as transfers, posting etc. Under this
scenario, there is a definitive trend towards ‘politicization of bureaucracy’.
The raising materialism and acquisitiveness in social life has also adversely
impacted upon the ethical values of both the permanent executive and the
political executive.
What are the
consequences of this ‘politicization of bureaucracy? Discuss. (250 words)
(20 marks)
Q11. In one of
the districts of a frontier state, narcotics menace has been rampant. This has
results in money laundering, mushrooming of poppy farming, arms smuggling and
near stalling of education. The system is on the verge of collapse. The
situation has been further worsened by unconfirmed reports that local
politicians as well as some senior police officers are providing surreptitious
patronage to the drug mafia. At that point of time a woman police officer,
known for her skills in handling such situations is appointed as superintendent
of police to bring the situation to normalcy.
If you are the
same police officer, identify the various dimensions of the crisis. Based on
your understanding, suggest measures to deal with the crisis. (250 words) (20
marks)
Q12. In recent
times, there has been an increasing concern in India to develop effective civil
service ethics, code of conduct, transparency measures, ethics and integrity
systems and anti-corruption agencies. In view of this, there is need being felt
to focus on three specific areas, which are directly relevant to the problems
of internalizing integrity and ethics in the civil services. These are as
follows:
1. Anticipating
specific threats to ethical standards and integrity in the civil services,
2.
Strengthening the ethical competence of civil servant and
3. Developing
administrative processes and practices which promote ethical values and
integrity in civil services.
Suggest
institutional measures to address the above three issues. (250 words) (20
marks)
