LA EXCELLENCE - IAS MENTORSHIP PROGRAM TEST – 18
DATE: 20-NOV-2016
SECTION A
1)a) “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success.” Albert Schweitzer. Comment. [10 marks, 150 words]
b) “Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”Issac Asimov. Comment. [10 marks, 150 words]
c) “If you have control over yourself, you have no desire to control others”, Comment. [10 marks, 150 words]
d) “The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.” Aristotle, Comment. [10 marks, 150 words]
2)a) When do you call an action an ethical action? Can an action be ethical being illegal? [ 10 marks, 150 words]
b) Should Ethics be studied as an academic discipline? Explain the need to do so in the contemporary world. [10 marks, 150 words]
3)a) Are there human values which are universally relevant? List them. Explain why they are universally valid. [10 marks, 150 words]
b) What is emotional intelligence? How will it help in ethical conduct? [10 marks, 150 words]
4) a) Which great Indian personality influenced you most? What did you learn from him? [10 marks, 150 words]
b)‘Appearing to be honest may not be the same thing as being honest.’ Do think so? How do you want to appear honest to others? [10 marks, 150 words]
5) ‘A nation may not pursue its self-interest when it insists on certain ideals.’ Do you agree with it? How should India pursue its self-interest? [15 marks, 200 words]
6) What factors influence attitudes towards women? How can they be changed to create safer environment for woman in public places? [15 marks, 200 words]
SECTION B
7)You are the CEO of a private company. You want to show that you are keen on following government program, Swacha Bharat. You seek the advice of Public Relations Officer (PRO). He advises you to organize cleaning program on the campus itself and also call politicians of the ruling party and the media to demonstrate the company’s commitment to the program. But when you said “the campus is already clean and the sweepers are going a good job,” he advised, “We will litter the campus before the clean up program.” [ 20 marks, 250 words]
a)Do you follow the advice of PRO? Explain.
b)How will you effectively demonstrate your support to the program?
8)You are posted as SP to a district. Within a week of your posting, you get an invitation to attend a wedding from a local politician, who is planning a grand wedding for his daughter. Many influential people are expected to attend the wedding. You inquire about the politician from your staff. They tell you that he is involved in many criminal activities including drug trafficking.
a)Will you attend that wedding as it is only a social function? [20 marks, 250 words]
b)You get to know that a minister from your district is attending the wedding. Will you provide security to him? In that case, will you attend the wedding as part of your job?
9)You are working as DM in a district. You learnt from SP a khap council in a village in the district got a dalit girl raped on the charge that her brother eloped with an upper caste boy.SP says he came to know that from his sources and the media did not know this. He says that the dalit family fled the village. He also says there is potential for caste violence if this event comes to the limelight. So he advises you ‘If we try to punish khap council, many will get to know and there will be lot of law and order problem. So let us keep quiet.’ [20 marks, 250 words]
a)Discuss what is wrong in what khap council did.
b)Will you go by SP’s advice? Explain.
c)Will you request the media that they should not report this event in the interests of law and order situation?
10)A friend of yours joins IRS recently. He gets to know many irregularities in his office. He finds many of his subordinates are corrupt. He also got the impression even his superiors are involved in the corruption. He discusses this with his colleagues who tell him, “There is nothing wrong in taking money as long as we are not breaking rules and we are taking money only for quick disposal of the cases. This money only increases the efficiency of our department.”
[20 marks, 250 words]
a)Your friend is confused and came to seek your advice regarding what should be his attitude towards corruption. What will you tell him?
b)Should not government itself introduce financial incentives for speedy disposal of cases?
c)What incentive systems can be effective for bureaucracy working in a public service?
11)Alcoholism is linked with domestic violence. It also leads to wasting of money and reducing productivity. So some demand stringent punishment against it – for example imprison family members if they can’t explain how there is a bottle of alcohol in their house. Those who did not report consumption of alcohol are as guilty as those consuming alcohol! Whereas others argue prohibition only encourages black market and contributes to criminality.
a)What is your view on this matter?
b)State loses income by going for prohibition. Should this also be an argument against prohibition?
c)It is argued the prohibition is against fundamental rights of a citizen. Do you support this argument? [ 20 marks, 250 words]
12)Uber is disrupting transport sector. Many auto drivers and taxi drivers are adversely affected. Car sales too will be affected. Some also say it is leading to huge monopoly which will not be good in the long run. [ 20marks , 250 words]
a)Do you agree with the above arguments against Uber?
b)Considering that recently some Uber drivers were convicted on the charge of raping their passengers, should Uber be banned?
c)Do you think technology should not be allowed to be so disruptive?
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