Ethics 2016
Section A
1. (a) Explain how ethics contributes to social and
human well-being. (150 words) 10 marks
(b) Why should impartiality and non-partisanship be
considered as foundational values in public services, especially in the present
day socio-political context? Illustrate your answer with examples. (150 words)
10
2. (a) What do you understand by the terms
‘governance’, ‘good governance’ and ‘ethical governance’? (150 words) 10
(b) Discuss Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of seven sins.
(150 words) 10
3. (a) Analyse John rawls’s concept of social
justice in the Indian Context. (150 word) 10
(b) Discuss the Public Services Code as recommended
by the 2nd Administrative Refroms Commission. (150 words) 10 marks
4. (a) “Corruption causes misuse of government
treasury, administrative inefficiency and obstruction in the path of national
development.” Discuss Kautilya’s views. (150 words) 10 marks.
(b) How could social influence and persuasion
contribute to the success of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan? (150 words) 10 marks.
5. Law and ethics are considered to be the two tools
for controlling human conduct so as to make it conducive to civilized social
existence.
(a) Discuss how they achieve this objective.
(b) Giving examples, show how the two differ in
their approaches. (150 words) 10 marks.
6. Our attitudes towards life, work, other people
and society are generally shaped unconsciously by the family and the social
surroundings in which we grow up. Some of these unconsciously acquired
attitudes and values are often undesirable in the citizens of a modern
democratic and egalitarian society.
(a) Discuss such undesirable values prevalent in today’s
educated Indians
(b) How can such undesirable attitudes be changed
and socioethical values considered necessary in public services be cultivated
in the aspiring and serving civil servants? (150 words) 10 marks.
7. Anger is a harmful negative emotion. It is
injurious to both personal life and work life.
(a) Discuss how it leads to negative emotions and
undesirable behaviors.
(b) How can hit be managed and controlled? (150
words) 10 marks
8. “Max Webar said that it is not wise to apply to
public administration the sort of moral and ethical norms we apply to matters
of personal conscience. It is important to realize that the state bureaucracy
might possess its own independent bureaucratic morality.” Critically analyse
this statement. (150 words) 10 marks.
Section B
9. A fresh engineering graduate gets a job in a
prestigious chemical industry. She likes the work. The salary is also good.
However, after a few months she accidentally discovers that a highly toxic
waste is being secretly discharged into a river nearby. This is causing health
problems to the villagers downstream who depend on the river for their water
needs. She is perturbed and mentions her concern to her colleagues who have
been with the company for longer periods. They advise her to keep quite as
anyone who mentions the topic is summarily dismissed. She cannot risk losing
her job as she is the sole bread-winner for her family and has to support her
ailing parents and siblings. At first, she thinks that if her seniors are
keeping quiet, why should she stick out her neck. But her conscience pricks her
to do something to save the river and the people who depend upon it. At heart
she feels that the advice of silence given by her friends is not correct though
she cannot give reasons for it. She thinks you are a wise person and seeks your
advice.
(a) What
arguments can you advance to show her that keeping quiet is not morally right?
(b) What
course of action would you advise her to adopt and why? (250 words) 20 marks
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10. Land needed for mining, dams and other
large-scale projects is acquired mostly from Adivasis, hill dwellers and rural
communities. The displaced persons are paid monetary compensation as per the
legal provisions. However, the payment is often tardy. In any case, hit cannot
sustain the displaced families for long. These people do not possess marketable
skills to engage in some other accusation. They end up as low paid migrant
laborers. Moreover, their development go to industries, industrialists and
urban communities whereas the costs are passed on to these poor helpless
people. This unjust distribution of costs and benefits is unethical.
Suppose you have been entrusted with the task of
drafting a better compensation-cum-rehabilitation policy for such displaced
persons, how would you approach the problem and what would be the main elements
of your suggested policy? (250 words) 20
marks.
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11. Suppose you are an officer in-charge of
implementing a social service scheme to provide support to old and destitute
women. An old and illiterate woman comes to you to avail the benefits of the
scheme. However, she has no documents to show that she fulfills the eligibility
criteria. But after meeting her and listening to her you feel that she
certainly needs support. Your enquirers also show that she is really destitute
and living in a pitiable condition. You are in a dilemma as to what to do.
Putting her under the scheme without necessary documents would clearly be
violation of rules. But denying her the support would be cruel and inhuman.
a) Can
you think of a rational way to resolve this dilemma?
b) Give
your reasons for it. (250 words) 20
marks.
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12. You are a young, aspiring and sincere employee
in a Government office working as an assistant to the director of your
department. Since you have joined recently, you need to lean and progress.
Luckily your superior is very kind and ready to train you for your job. He is a
very intelligent and well-informed person having knowledge of various
departments. In short, you respect your boss and are looking forward to lean a
lot from him. Since you have good tuning with the boss, he started depending on
you. One day due to ill health he invited you at his place for finishing some
urgent work. You reached his house and before you could ring the bell you heard
shouting noises. You waited for a while. After entering the house the boss
greeted you and explained the work. But you were constantly disturbed by the
crying of a woman. At last, you inquired with the boss but his answer did not
satisfy you. Next day, you were compelled to inquire further in the office and
found out that his behavior is very bad at home with his wife. He also beats up
bit wife. His wife is not well educated and is a simple woman in comparison to
her husband. you see that though your boss is a nice person in the office, he
is engaged in domestic violence at home.
In such a situation, you are left with the following
options. Analyse each option with its
consequences.
(a) Just
ignore thinking about it because it is their personal matter.
(b) Report
the case to the appropriate authority.
(c) Your
own innovative approach towards the situation. (250 words) 20 marks.
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13. ABC Ltd is a large transnational company having
diversified business activities with a huge shareholder base. The company is
continuously expanding the generating employment. The company, in its expansion
and diversification programme, decides to establish a new plant at Vikaspuri, an
area which is underdeveloped. The new plant is designed to use energy efficient
technology that will help the company to save production cost by 20%. The
company’s decision goes well with the Government policy of attracting
investment to develop such underdeveloped regions. The government has also
announced tax holiday for five years for the companies that invest in
underdeveloped areas. However, the new plant may bring chaos for the
inhabitants of Vikaspuri region, which is otherwise tranquil. The new plant may
result in increased cost of living, aliens migrating to the region, disturbing
the social and economic order. The company sensing the possible protest tried
to educate the people of Vikaspuri region and public in general that how its
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy would help overcome the likely
difficulties of the residents of Vikaspuri region. In spite of this the
protests begin and some of the residents decided to approach the judiciary as
their plea before the Government did not yield any result.
a) Identify
the issues involved in the case
b) What
can be suggested to satisfy the company’s goal and to address the residents’
concern? (300 words) 25 marks.
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14. Saraswati was a successful IT professional in
USA. Moved by the patriotic sense of doing something for the country she
returned to India. Together with some other like minded friends, she formed an
NGO to build a school for a poor rural community. The objective of the school
was to provide the best quality modern education at a nominal cost. She soon
discovered that she has to seek permission from a number of Government
agencies. The rules and procedures were quite confusing and cumbersome. What
frustrated her most was delays, callous attitude of officials and constant
demand for bribes. Her experience and the experience of many others like her
has deterred people from taking up social service projects. A measure of Government
control over voluntary social work is necessary. But it should not be exercised
in a coercive a corrupt manner.
What measures can you suggest to ensure that due
control is exercised but well meaning, honest NGO efforts are not thwarted? (300
words) 25 marks.
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