Questions
Q1. Civil servants often face a crisis of conscience when fulfilling their official duties. In your opinion, what are the reasons for such a crisis? How can they be resolved? (150 words) 10 marks
Q2. Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it". Do you agree? Explain with the help of examples where (i) lessons were learnt from history and (ii) lessons from history were neglected. (150 words) 10 marks
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Model Solutions
Q1. Civil servants often face a crisis of conscience when fulfilling their official duties. In your opinion, what are the reasons for such a crisis? How can they be resolved? (150 words) 10 marks
Model Structure
Introduction:
- Crisis of conscience is a situation when an individual loses the ability to determine right and wrong. Such a situation arises when an individual makes a decision against one’s beliefs and values.
Main Body:
- As a civil servant, many situations arise when an individual's moral judgment comes in conflict with organizational values and laws. Some of the examples include:
- Procedural Integrity v/s Social Justice: Person satisfying all the requirements of the scheme, but does not have proper documents to prove it.
- Organizational Duty v/s Inner Voice: Order passed to use violent methods to end peaceful protest, but conscience not allowing it.
- Various reasons are responsible for such conflicts like:
- Laws, rules and regulations are coming in conflict with individual values leading to the situation of Crisis of Conscience. Personal values differ from organizational ethos.
- Ethical dilemma where two desirable values are in conflict. For example: objectivity vs. compassion.
- Rigid laws without any mechanism to deal with exceptional circumstances. Orders are made without considering the ground realities.
- Personal v/s public interest: For example, allocation of land to the minister's family for getting desired posting.
- Weak moral values in decision makers. This leads to decision making based on some prejudice, personal interests, and corrupt motives.
- Mechanism to resolve such conflicts:
- Public welfare should be the priority in every circumstance.
- High values together with practicality: Just holding high values does not help in achieving results, practical realities should also be considered.
- For example, a Judge making a decision regarding the death penalty should decide on the basis of law, not on his personal hatred towards such a penalty.
- Strong value system is required both at personal and organizational level.
- At an organizational level, code of ethics is required and it needs to be strictly followed.
- Decisions should be made considering all the angles in mind, thinking in a single direction does not help.
- Laws and orders need to be passed considering the ground realities.
- Code of conduct is required to deal with exceptional circumstances.
Conclusion:
- Although undesirable, such a crisis of conscience is inevitable for a civil servant. In such situations, Gandhi's advice to act in a manner which is justified by his conscience as conscience is the highest court, according to him.
Q2. Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it". Do you agree? Explain with the help of examples where (i) lessons were learnt from history and (ii) lessons from history were neglected. (150 words) 10 marks
Model Structure
Introduction:
- The quote signifies the importance of learning from history.
- History provides a key to manage the present problems by understanding similar problems faced in the past, adopting successful historical approaches, while taking care to avoid the mistakes of the past.
Main body:
- Incidents when lessons were learnt from history:
- During the framing of the Indian Constitution, lessons learned from the experience of various countries.
- In countries such as the US and UK, electoral rights had been given to women, native tribes, or former slaves, only incrementally as a result of various social movements, including war and violence.
- Success of the Gandhian strategy of non-violence/satyagraha for Indian struggle has been replicated by various African and Asian nations.
- For example, Nelson Mandela’s struggle against apartheid.
- The historical experience of national emergency in 1975 provided a check against future authoritarianism and judicial capitulation.
- The system of PILs and judicial activism flowed from it.
- During the framing of the Indian Constitution, lessons learned from the experience of various countries.
- Incidents when lessons of history were neglected:
- Climate change is said to have played a critical role in the end of old civilizations such as Sindhu-Saraswati, Mesopotamia and Egypt.
- But today, the Climate Change issue is not being given sufficient attention by the world despite increasing frequency of adverse weather events.
- The management of the recent Covid-19 pandemic, apparently ignored important historical lessons from the experience of the Spanish Flu of 1918.
- The experience of a bloody partition and need for national fraternity seem to be lost as we see continuing incidents of mob violence and riots on matters ranging across religion, caste, region etc.
- Climate change is said to have played a critical role in the end of old civilizations such as Sindhu-Saraswati, Mesopotamia and Egypt.
Conclusion:
- Therefore, as it is clear from the above examples, we have two choices: either learn from history and change the present for the betterment or neglect the mistakes of the past and be doomed to repeat the history.