Newsletter [12]: How You Can Solve this year's GS IV Paper
By Reading the Book “The Principles for Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude — A Complete Manual for GS Paper 4” by Piyush Kamal_EX-IRS
Hey Friends,
This analysis aims to show how you can rely upon this one book to attempt more than 80% of the questions asked in this year’s GS IV Paper.
But before diving into that, it is relevant to bring back your attention to this paper's critical requirements—>
UPSC is looking for candidates who have clarity on the topics of ethics and values. The GS IV paper intends to assess the ethical decision-making ability of a future bureaucrat.
Keeping this requirement in mind, you need to convince the UPSC examiner that you possess the aptitude to transform yourself into a responsible bureaucrat having all the requisite ethics and integrity.
Once you analyze the asked questions keeping these two points in mind, I am sure you will be able to craft answers that fulfill all the requirements.
Since there is no way to predict the UPSC's questions, expecting to find them in any of the books available in the market is as futile an attempt as expecting to find a Pearl on a beach.
Keeping this reality in mind will help you in having modest expectations from any book.
Nevertheless, if you are willing to treat my book “The Principles for Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude - A Complete Manual for GS Paper 4” as “handwritten personal notes,” you shouldn’t face any problem attempting maximum questions asked in the paper and scoring well.
You can rely on my book because it’s one of the most relevant and concise books on GS IV available in the market. It helps you develop a comprehensive and bureaucratic understanding of the ethical issues involved in making policy decisions.
Let’s look at this year's questions and corresponding page numbers from my book that can help you attempt them.
Q1. (a) Discuss the role of ethics and values in enhancing the following three major components of Comprehensive National Power (CNP) viz. human capital, soft power (culture and policies), and social harmony. (150 words) 10 Marks
This question on CNP, along with the next question on NEP, expects you to have a good understanding of the terms used. These two are perhaps the only questions to have current dimensions. If you have a decent idea about those terms, you can construct a convincing answer. You can incorporate all the three factors influencing ethical behavior and decision making {page number — 83-89} while dealing with the human capital, soft power, and social harmony part of the question.
Q1. (b) “Education is not an injunction; it is an effective and pervasive tool for all-round development of an individual and social transformation.” Examine the New Education Policy, 2020 (NEP, 2020) in light of the above statement. (150 words) 10 Marks
Education as a tool for all-round development of an individual and social transformation needs to be examined from NEP, 2020. Here you can incorporate and use the content on "Role of educational institutions in inculcating values" {page number—103-03} to elaborate your points. You can also complement this with Swami Vivekanand's view on education {page number—136-37}.
Q2. (a) ‘Hatred is destructive of a person’s wisdom and conscience that can poison a nation’s spirit.’ Do you agree with this view? Justify your answer. (150 words) 10 Marks.
Hatred as a topic is not explicitly given in the syllabus though it can fall under the topic of "Attitude." So it's important to build the term hatred from the topic of "Attitude" and link it to how it can impair a person's wisdom and conscience. The perspective used to discuss the contradictory standpoint {page number—35-36} and the case study discussed at {page number—44-45} can be used in the answer. Answering these sorts of questions demands you to come up with relevant examples from your day-to-day life.
Q2 (b)What are the main components of emotional intelligence (EI)? Can they be learned? Discuss. (150 words) 10 Marks
You can directly use the content of the chapter "Emotional Intelligence" {page number—63-69} to answer this question.
Q3. (a) What teachings of Buddha are most relevant today and why? Discuss. (150 words) 10 MarksQ3.
You can utilize the content of the chapter "Human Values" {page number—132-35} to answer this question. However, it would serve well to use your examples to emphasize the relevancy of Buddha's teachings in today's world.
Q3. (b) ‘The will to power exists, but it can be tamed and be guided by rationality and principles of moral duty.’ Examine this statement in the context of international relations. (150 words) 10 Marks
You can use the content of the chapter "Ethics in public administration" {page number—160-61} to answer this question. However, incorporating your own relevant examples will make it complete.
Q4. (a) Distinguish between laws and rules. Discuss the role of ethics in formulating them.(150 words) 10 Marks
You can use the content of {page numbers—77, 86, and 93} to answer this question.
Q4. (b) A positive attitude is considered to be an essential characteristic of a civil servant who is often required to function under extreme stress. What contributes to a positive attitude in a person? (150 words) 10 Marks
You can use the content of {page numbers—21, 22, & 67-69} to craft an answer for this question.
Q5. (a) What are the main factors responsible for gender inequality in India? Discuss the contribution of Savitribai Phule in this regard. (150 words) 10 Marks
Gender inequality as a topic is not explicit in the syllabus but is implicit in non-partisanship under Aptitude. I am sorry, I couldn't cover this topic in my book. But if your understanding of Indian social reformer is good, you can handle this question smartly.
Q5(b) The current internet expansion has instilled a different set of cultural values which are often in conflict with traditional values.’ Discuss. (150 words) 10 Marks
Though not explicitly dealt as a separate topic in my book, you can use the content of {page numbers—100-02} to craft an answer for this question.
Q6. What does each of the following quotations mean to you?
Q6. (a) “Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If not, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.” — Swami Vivekanand (150 words) 10 Marks
Q6. (b) “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” — Mahatma Gandhi (150 words) 10 Marks
Q6. (c) “A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true.”— Socrates (150 words) — 10 Marks
Please re-read the instructions shared in the above question. The UPSC examiner is looking for your interpretations of the quotations. The day you decide to become a bureaucrat, your intellectual capabilities become more receptive towards building bureaucratic perspectives. It would help if you learned to incorporate your experiences/viewpoints in your answers through the prism of that perspective.
Please keep in mind as a future bureaucrat; you are expected to always keep looking for better answers while approaching a problem from multiple possibilities. It's because of these possibilities you might stumble upon a solution that often lies outside the ambit of conventional thinking.
I have shared the techniques of handling these kinds of quotations in my book; you can always use that as a relevant guide to craft your own answers.
Case Studies
As far as attempting the case studies are concerned, you need to keep in mind that no willful action is possible without intention. Hence, it is important to decipher the intention behind the alternative options. While answering the questions related to case studies, you need to focus on workable solutions to difficult ethical problems.
And while dealing with ethical problems, it is more advisable to rely on the “possibility” system of thinking rather than the traditional binary system of being right or wrong.
You can better understand this by going through innumerable case studies solved at the end of each chapter in my book.
Friends, that’s it for now. Thanks for reading the analysis.
In case you want to have a better understanding of all the topics covered in the book, you can always complement your GS IV knowledge base with the content shared in my biweekly newsletters.
In case you missed my first eleven newsletters, you can read them here.
You can email at theprinciplesgs4@gmail.com
Let me know your thoughts or specific queries by shooting me an email.
I’ll make sure that you get a response within 24 hours.
See you on Monday [10:00 pm], where I’ll sharing quotes by world-renowned leaders while analyzing them from an ethical perspective.
Bye & take care!