Suppose you are an officer in-charge of implementing a social service scheme to provide support to old and destitute women. An old and illiterate woman comes to you to avail the benefits of the scheme. However, she has no documents to show that she fulfils the eligibility criteria. But after meeting her and listening to her you feel that she certainly needs support. Your enquiries also show that she is really destitute and living in a pitiable condition. You are in a dilemma as to what to do. Putting her under the scheme without necessary documents would clearly be violation of rules. But denying her the support would be cruel and inhuman.1) Can you think of a rational way to resolve this dilemma?2) Give your reasons for it. You are an honest and responsible civil servant. You often observe the following:1) There is a general perception that adhering to ethical conduct one may face difficulties to oneself and cause problems for the family, whereas unfair practices may help to reach the career goals.
What the examiner wants
Resolve the dilemma of including a genuinely destitute woman who lacks required documents.
Demand-wise check
- 1Stakeholders: woman, officer, scheme integrity, taxpayers≈50 words
- 2Ethical issues: rule-following vs compassion; letter vs spirit of law≈50 words
- 3(a) Rational way: verify through local inquiry and witnesses, help obtain documents, use alternative proofs, interim support≈50 words
- 4(b) Reasons: scheme's purpose, Article 21 dignity, compassion with accountability≈50 words
Open in about 30 words and close in about 30.
Answer plan
Where marks usually go
- Breaking rules without documenting the reasoning
- Denying help purely on rules
Draw this
- Flowchart: verify → help documentation → interim support
Value addition
- LawSection 7 of the Aadhaar Act requires alternate means of identification if Aadhaar is not available.Aadhaar Act, 2016
- PolicyGovernment allowed self-attestation of documents in place of gazetted officer attestation (2014-15).DARPG
Mapped topper copies
Reviewed public-source references related to this PYQ. Same-syllabus references are labelled separately.
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 31 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Aakash Garg · AIR 5 · Page 39 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Aakash Garg · AIR 5 · Page 31 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Aakash Garg · AIR 5 · Page 33 ↗Same syllabus reference
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