Mains Practice Questions

Q. What do you understand by cognitive dissonance? Give some instances where a civil servant may experience cognitive dissonance. (250 words)

Q. Define and differentiate between the following terms:- (150 words)

(a)Sympathy

(b)Empathy

(c)Compassion

Q. Discuss how ‘Right to Information’ has helped in furthering the goals of democracy and impediments still remaining in its implementation. (250 words)

Q. Which are the institutions in India that promote ethical accountability in public service and what are the challenges in ensuring it? (250 words)

Q. What do you understand by emotional intelligence? Substantiate its significance in civil services. (150 words)

Q. Differentiate between the following terms:  

1.Meta ethics and normative ethics.

2.Deontology and consequentialism

(250 words)

Q. Examine the relevance of ‘honesty’ and ‘courage of conviction’ in the context of civil service.

Q. Which are the seven essential principles of public service that serve as guide for civil servants. (150 words)

Q. What do you understand by ethical egoism and how does it impact ethics? (150 words)

Q. Non-violence, in its active sense, includes truth and fearlessness. Discuss. (150 words)

Q. Gandhi believed that even for attaining noble objectives, men have to only adopt good means. Examine. (150 words)

Q.What do you understand by environmental ethics and what is its significance? (150 words)

Q. What do you understand by ethics and what are its determinants? How is ethics different from values? (250 words)

Q. Ethics is nothing else than reverence for life. Comment. (150 words)

Q. Which woman reformer in your opinion has played a significant role in disrupting social evils and has been a shining beacon of hope? (150 words)

Q. Corruption in India has revealed extreme poverty in thought leading to erosion of basic human values. Comment. (250 words)

Q.Can public ethics diverge from private ethics for a civil servant? Analyse with relevant examples.(150 words)

Q. The school and home are important agents through which the child is able to systematically know, learn, and develop the moral values. Examine. (250 words)

Q. What is the difference between attitude and aptitude? Among the two, which one do you think is more important for a civil servant. (150 words)

Q. What do each of the following quotations mean to you in the present context? (150 words)

(a) “In a gentle way, you can shake the world”- Mahatma Gandhi

(b) “ Hate the sin , Love the sinner”- Mahatma Gandhi

Q. We are at a time in our society when the grey area between right and wrong is increasing and individual decisions have never been more subjective. Comment. (150 words)

Q. Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind. Discuss with suitable examples. (150 words)

Q. The media does play a vital role in our democracy, and if we cannot depend on journalistic ethics, the nation's in trouble. Comment. (150 words)

Q. Constitutional morality encompasses not just the forms and procedures of the Constitution, but provides an enabling framework that allows a society the possibilities of self-renewal. Discuss (150 words)

Q. Ethical behaviour may be defined in terms of duties. Many philosophers have argued that certain core duties are imperatives, and as such will always apply, regardless of circumstances. Critically analyse (150 words)

Q. With the wide development of artificial intelligence, questions of machine ethics arise in many contexts. Discuss. (150 words)

Q: Gandhi’s conception of Poorna Swaraj or complete independence went beyond the removal of colonialism. Discuss. (150 words)

Q: Though growth of Nationalism is attributed to the Western influence but Swami Vivekananda’s nationalism is deeply rooted in Indian spirituality and morality. Discuss (250 words)