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Practice UPSC New previous year questions on Anantam IAS: 0 Prelims MCQs and 596 Mains Q&A with answer keys, explanations and topic-wise links.
Prelims MCQs 0
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Mains Q&A 596
You are a probationary IAS officer posted as Assistant Collector. Your Collector, a senior officer, instructs you to draft a transfer order for the local Sub-Registrar (a state-cadre officer) within 24 hours, citing ‘administrative reasons’. You discover the Sub-Registrar had refused a Sarpanch’s request to backdate a sale-deed three days earlier. The Sarpanch is the brother of the District Collector’s college-batchmate. The transfer would send the Sub-Registrar to a remote tehsil 380 km away, separating him from a child receiving cancer treatment in the district hospital. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
You are the Block Development Officer in a panchayat-dominated district. A local MLA’s nominee has been pre-selected by the panchayat to receive a ₹2.6 crore PMAY-G housing-aggregation contract, although the panchayat’s resolution is procedurally clean. The technical sub-engineer flags that the nominee firm has no prior experience and has previously failed to deliver in two adjoining blocks. The MLA’s PA visits you and politely says the file ‘will move smoothly’ if you sign. The Zila Parishad CEO is on leave. Beneficiaries are waiting for their first instalment to begin construction before monsoon. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
You are the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. Your Department of Expenditure has approved ₹740 crore for an apprenticeship-stipend programme. The Cabinet sub-committee on jobs wants the entire amount disbursed in 12 months. Your data shows only 1.4 lakh genuine new apprenticeships were generated in the previous year; absorbing ₹740 crore would require either inflating beneficiary numbers or relaxing the validation matrix on NAPS (National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme). The PMO’s appraisal cell is asking weekly. The minister wants a ‘success’ narrative before the next session. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
You are the Director of a Government Engineering College. The State Higher Education Department has allocated ₹5 crore for a new Centre of Excellence on Artificial Intelligence. Your governing council, by majority vote, has approved a partnership with a private cloud-services firm whose founder is a non-resident alumnus of the college and donates ₹1 crore annually. You discover that two council members hold non-disclosed advisory positions in the same firm. The Centre’s budget will lock the college into a 5-year cloud contract. The faculty union has objected. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
You are the District Election Officer (the DM) in a constituency holding a Lok Sabha by-election. The Election Commission has issued the Model Code of Conduct. The local ruling-party MP, who is contesting again, requests urgent release of ₹47 crore from the District Mineral Foundation for ‘pre-monsoon repair’ of school roofs. Technically, MCC permits ongoing-scheme expenditure. The CEO of DMFT says the file is procedurally clean. The Returning Officer is uneasy because pamphlets advertising the repair list have appeared bearing the MP’s photograph. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
You are the Director of a Central PSU’s R&D centre. A foreign trade delegation, accompanied by your administrative Ministry’s Joint Secretary, is visiting a sensitive prototype lab. During the demonstration, the visiting senior diplomat photographs a circuit-board you know contains a non-public design feature funded by DRDO. The visiting team’s protocol officer asks you to permit the photograph as a ‘goodwill gesture’ to advance an MoU. The DRDO liaison is not present. The JS gives an oral nod. The MoU could secure a ₹2,800 crore export order. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
You are an Under-Secretary in a Ministry. A senior journalist files an RTI seeking the file noting on a controversial policy decision two years old. The file contains a Minister’s hand-written ‘I disagree’ note that was later over-written by the Secretary. The CPIO consults you; she is inclined to deny under Section 8(1)(i) — Cabinet papers and deliberations. You note that the decision is past, no Cabinet status applies, and a similar disclosure was made in another Ministry last year. Your Section Officer says ‘precedent is risky’. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
You are the PIO of a Public University. A student-led RTI seeks the personal-leave record of a Vice Chancellor whose attendance has been allegedly irregular. The data is in the establishment file; releasing it requires touching personal-information clauses under Section 8(1)(j). The VC asks you informally not to share. The CIC’s recent rulings favour disclosure where larger public interest is shown. Media is following the story. The Chancellor’s office has asked for a status update. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
You are the Vice Chancellor of a Central University in a remote north-eastern state. A junior faculty member shows you peer-reviewed evidence that the Dean of Research has been quietly approving in-house grants without external review, including ₹2.1 crore to her own husband’s start-up incubated on campus. The Dean is also the President of the local university teachers’ association and politically well-connected. The faculty’s complaint is verbal; she fears reprisal. The next Executive Council meets in 21 days; UGC’s annual audit is in 60 days. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
You are the Director of a State Drug Procurement Corporation. A shortage of paediatric anti-cancer chemotherapy drugs has reduced supply to 60 per cent of demand for the next three months. A foreign-pharma representative offers a ‘compassionate’ free supply for one quarter — on condition that you place a confidential MoU signalling future preferred-supplier status. The State Public Health Director, two paediatric oncologists and a parent-advocacy group are split. The drug-controller has cleared the imported batch. The Cabinet meets in 10 days to discuss budget reallocation. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
You are the SP of a district. The senior-most political party in the state alliance has its convention here next week. The state IGP has informally instructed you to ‘visibly slow down’ an ongoing investigation into a financial fraud allegedly involving the party’s local treasurer, until the convention concludes. The investigation is at the charge-sheet stage and a Special Court has fixed a hearing in 9 days. A junior IO involved is willing to ‘hold the file’. The complainant is a small-investor collective whose savings of ₹17 crore are at stake. What course of action would you take? Justify with the values involved.
What does Stoic philosophy — particularly the dichotomy of control and the discipline of assent — offer to a civil servant facing repeated punitive transfers?
‘Work culture is the most decisive of all determinants of public-service ethics, because it operates daily and invisibly.’ Discuss with reference to the 2nd ARC’s recommendations on civil-service reform.
Examine the role of the Central Vigilance Commission and the Lokpal in combating systemic corruption. Why has the Whistle Blowers Protection Act 2014 remained operationally inert?
‘Quality of public-service delivery is the most visible ethics test of the State.’ Examine with reference to citizen-centric reforms — Sevottam, RTPS Acts and CPGRAMS.
Examine the contribution of Swami Vivekananda’s ‘Practical Vedanta’ to the ethical conduct of a civil servant. What does ‘work is worship’ demand of a public office today?
Discuss Rabindranath Tagore’s notions of ‘jana-gana-mana’ universalism and the critique of narrow nationalism. How are these relevant to a civil servant designing inclusive urban citizenship for migrant workers?
Examine Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s idea of ‘constitutional morality’ and ‘fraternity’ as ethical foundations for the civil services. How should an officer apply them while implementing the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act?
Discuss Sri Aurobindo’s idea of ‘integral perfection’ and ‘divine life’ as ethical aspirations for public servants. Distinguish his approach from Gandhi’s, with a contemporary application.