QUESTION 3(a)
GS4
10 marks
A mere compliance with law is not enough; a public servant also has to have a well-developed sensibility to ethical issues for effective discharge of duties. Do you agree? Explain with two examples: an act that is ethically right but not legally right, and an act that is legally right but not ethically right.
WRITE IN
7 min
150 words
What the examiner wants
Argue why ethical sensibility must go beyond legal compliance, with one example each of ethical-not-legal and legal-not-ethical acts.
Do you agree? ExplainAnswer exactly what the question asks.
Demand-wise check
- 1Why law is not enough: law is minimal, lags behind change, has gaps, and needs discretion and empathy in application≈30 words
- 2Ethically right, not legally right: e.g. an officer bending procedure to give relief in a disaster, or Gandhi's Salt Satyagraha≈30 words
- 3Legally right, not ethically right: e.g. evicting slum dwellers in winter without rehabilitation, or untouchability before 1950≈30 words
- 4Public servant: use conscience within constitutional values; report and fix bad laws≈30 words
Open in about 20 words and close in about 20.
Answer plan
StandLimits of lawTwo examples as askedConclusion
Where marks usually go
- Giving more or fewer than the two examples asked
- Examples not from public life
Draw this
- 2x2 grid: legal/illegal vs ethical/unethical with examples
Value addition
- CaseNavtej Singh Johar (2018) decriminalised consensual same-sex relations - showing a law once valid can be unethical.Supreme Court, 2018
- Report2nd ARC's 4th Report 'Ethics in Governance' (2007) called for a Code of Ethics beyond Conduct Rules.2nd ARC, 2007
Mapped topper copies
Reviewed public-source references related to this PYQ. Same-syllabus references are labelled separately.
- Vidushi Singh · AIR 13 · Page 5 ↗Reviewed PYQ reference
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 3 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Aakash Garg · AIR 5 · Page 7 ↗Same syllabus reference
- G Sanjana · AIR 55 · Page 3 ↗Same syllabus reference
Links open original public sources. MainsBuddy does not host these answer sheets.
Next: plan for one minute, write it in 7 minutes, then get it checked.