Mains Practice Questions

Q. Discuss the role of probity in public administration and evaluate its impact on the functioning of public institutions. (150 words)

Q. Explain the different types of attitudes and how they influence our thoughts and behavior. (150 words)

Case study

Recently, the Digi Bank-Biocoin loan fraud case was in the news for loan fraud and irregularities in loans provided to the Biocoin Group by Digi Bank, where Teesha Verma was the CEO and Managing Director. Verma and her family allegedly received kickbacks in exchange for granting loans to the Biocoin group, many of which became non-performing assets (NPAs) and caused a loss of 1,730 crores to the bank. Furthermore, Teesha Verma's husband was in the head position in Biocoin company, and the loan indirectly benefitted him, as he siphoned off all the funds to his Swiss bank accounts. The Enforcement Director is called upon to carry out the further investigation, further you as the senior officer leading the case and there has been political pressure to hush up the matter so that Teesha and her Husband don’t get involved in the case.

As a senior enforcement director officer what would you do in this situation? Also Suggest actions that could have been taken to prevent and address these ethical violations.

Case Study

Recently, in a tragic incident occurred in west Delhi where a 20-year-old woman was found naked and dead. She had been dragged beneath a car for 12 kilometers. According to reports, the occupants of the car, which included the son of a ruling party president, were aware that the woman was trapped under the car but chose to keep driving in order to avoid getting caught. Additionally, there is reported pressure on the police by the ruling party to resolve the case quickly and protect the accused.

As a IPS officer you were given responsibility to handle the case, what would you do in this scenario?

Q. What is the meaning of key ethical terms such as 'right', 'wrong', 'love', and 'compassion'? How do these terms relate to our understanding of morality and ethical principles? (150 words)

Q. Identify five ethical traits on which one can plot the performance of a civil servant and justify their inclusion in the matrix. (150 words)

Case study

An Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer is posted in a host country as the Ambassador of India. The officer is tasked with representing India's interests and promoting bilateral relations between the two countries. However, the host country has a poor human rights record and the government has been accused of committing atrocities against ethnic and religious minorities.

The IFS officer has been approached by representatives of these minorities, who have requested assistance and support from the Indian government. They have also provided evidence of human rights abuses to the officer. However, the officer has been advised by the Ministry of External Affairs to not interfere in the internal affairs of the host country and to maintain good relations with the host government.

If you were in the position of IFS officer, what would you do in this situation?

Q. Discuss the role of rational thinking in resolving ethical dilemmas in the field of education. (150 words)

Q. What are the ethical considerations surrounding the use of technology in warfare and armed conflicts, and how can they be addressed? (150 words)

Case Study

As a civil servant, you have been appointed as the District Collector of your district. One day, you receive a complaint from a local NGO stating that a government-run school in a remote village in your district is not providing students with proper facilities and infrastructure. The NGO has also provided you with photos and videos as evidence of the poor conditions at the school.

Upon investigation, you find that the allegations made by the NGO are true and the schools in your district are indeed in a poor state. You also find out that they lack basic facilities such as clean drinking water, proper classrooms, and proper sanitation facilities etc.

You are faced with a dilemma - on one hand, you want to take immediate action and improve the conditions of schools in your district to provide the students with a better learning environment. On the other hand, you are aware that the process of improving the school's facilities will take time and money, and you are not sure if the funds allocated for the district will be sufficient to cover the costs.

As a district collector what would you do in this situation?

Q. What are the ethical considerations in public policy making and how do they impact the well-being of citizens? (150 words)

Q. How do organizations and institutions address ethical challenges, such as corruption and discrimination? (150 words)

Case Study

In a horrific incident which sparked outrage in your district, a 17-year-old girl, on her way to school with her younger sister, was attacked with an acid-like substance by two men on a motorcycle near her home. She sustained severe injuries on her face, neck and eyes, currently she is being treated at the Hospital. She comes from a very humble family and her family looked up to her for alleviating them from poverty.

Further, the incident has once again brought back to focus the heinous crime of acid attacks and the easy availability of corrosive substances, therefore, people are anguished and have started protesting and demanding the death penalty for the culprits.

As a district magistrate, what would you do to resolve the situation? What steps would you take to stop easy availability of hazardous substances?

Q. An ethical workplace culture ensures the success of the firm and improves employee job satisfaction. Elucidate. How can ethical culture be introduced into a company? (150 words)

Q. Discuss some parallels between Buddhism and modern ideas on emotional intelligence. (150 words)

Case Study

Your friend Ritwik hails from a village whose surrounding areas were submerged due to floods during the monsoon last year. Government assisted the affected people by giving them cash doles to purchase household goods, seeds to replant crop and cash to compensate for loss of standing crop. Ritwik had his house site on high ground and suffered no loss of personal effects. Luckily, his agricultural land being relatively far away from the flooded river escaped the ravages of the flood. Normally, government machinery is unable to thoroughly assess the damage suffered by each individual family. As a result, people take advantage by making extravagant and often fictitious claims. Ritwik has made false claims like others in the village.

As a close friend of Ritwik, what do you think about his action? Is it a right thing to do? what would be your appropriate response to Ritwik’s conduct?

Q. “A person's moral principles are the consequence of several factors”. In the light of this statement discuss the role of mass media and social media on the formation of moral ideals. (150 Words)

Q. What is Cultural relativism? What are the problems which cultural relativism presents to morality? (150 Words)

Case Study

Recently, a 19-year-old Dalit man who was part of catering service was attacked after he accidentally touched the food on the plate of an upper caste person at a wedding function. The matter was resolved after other people present there intervened and the victim returned home. However, the accused and his aides later went to the victim’s residence and beat him up. When other members of the family tried to intervene, they were also beaten up. Further, the accused also damaged a motorcycle parked on the premises of the house. Despite this, police did not make any arrest and took the matter lightly. Due to inaction of police in making any arrest, the situation is further deteriorating and clashes broke out between two opposite groups of upper and lower caste.

(a) As an IPS officer, how would you resolve this issue and what would be your course of action?

(b) How could you prevent re-occurrence of such incidents in your district?

Q. Recently, many private businesses are facing ethical dilemma to lay off their employees. What do you think about this? Discuss. (150 words) 

Q. Discuss the role of ‘moral conscience’ in promoting ethical behavior. (150 words) 

Case Study

With the latest trend of layoffs by big-tech companies across the globe due to various reasons like continuation of Russia-Ukraine war, fall in consumer demand and slowing economic growth. Considering this global situation, there is an Indian Ed-tech company which is also suffering from slowing of demand, capital crunch etc. Therefore, the company needs to take a slew of measures to navigate through this rough phase of recession.

Manish is working as Human Resource (HR) head in this company and there is pressure from investors to fire a major chunk of the workforce.

Further, he was informed by management that dismissing employees is essential for the company's existence and instructed him to inform the employees of this decision as soon as possible.

Q. With the ethical dilemmas in mind, what should Manish do in this scenario?

Q. Outline briefly the views of any two modern public administration thinkers on the ethical ideas for civil servants. (150 words)

Q. What are the ingredients of corporate governance? What is their rationale. (150 words)

Case Study

A woman and her male partner were living together in a live-in relationship. She faced physical and mental harassment by her partner for some years under the pretense of marriage by her spouse. This relationship continued for some time until one day police recovered a bag with a dead body nearby a river. After conducting a preliminary inquiry, the police discovered that her live-in partner had murdered her. Earlier, the woman's family had protested against her live-in relationship status and after this incident, there have been huge protests in the state against live-in relationships and people who are living with their live in partners are being threatened by various peer groups, religious groups etc. have come together and demanded from the state government to bring a law to ban live-in relationships in the whole state, claiming that the live-in relationships are against Indian culture.

As senior police officer in your area how would you handle the situation and what steps would you take to resolve the issue?

Q. What are the moral lessons one can learn from Gandhi and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose? Elucidate (150 words)

Q. “Corruption is a moral degradation of character of public servant as well as of the defects of government systems and procedures “. Examine (150 words)

Case Study

Dr. Ankur Sharma is a surgeon. He comes from a well-educated family. Rahul, his little son, is 7 years old and is showing some troubling behaviour patterns. Rahul has been taking pleasure in hurting and torturing creatures for the last two years. It all started when he would pick up some insects such as cockroaches and worms and take delight in cutting them to pieces with a blade. The family keeps some pets including rabbits and some days ago Mr. Sharma detected the boy vivisecting a rabbit in a lonely corner of their garden. By the time Mr. Sharma intervened it was all over, and young Rahul was almost relishing the sight of his bloody hand. Mr. Sharma, of course, scolded the kid but they are worried about the gruesome incidents likely to happen from this kind of perverse behaviour.

What actions should the parents take? Select from the following options:

1. They should ignore the incidents as childish pranks.

2. They should explain to Rahul the need to behave kindly towards animals and to avoid violence in all forms.

3. They should take Rahul to a psychiatrist for counselling and treatment.

4. They should not let Rahul out of sight when he is alone.

Q. Discuss aspects of Hindu ethics which are relevant to modern administration. Give examples to justify your answer. (150 words)

Q. What duties do government employees have in terms of ethics that are generally accepted? (150 Words)