Ethics case studies for UPSC GS4, decided with the reasoning shown

The short answer

Ten practice cases in the GS4 style, each worked the way a KarmaLens reading works: the deciding fact, one course of action, the values at stake, and the first step. The structure carries straight into an exam answer.

How a reading maps to a GS4 answer

• The deciding fact → the facts and the ethical issues
• The options, each with its cost → the options available, with their merits and demerits
• The call → your course of action
• The lenses → the values at stake
• The first step → the immediate action

The eight lenses, in GS4 words

The GS4 syllabus names the values a civil servant is tested on. The Gita's eight lenses line up with them:

• Duty (svadharma) → dedication to public service
• Truth (satya) → integrity and transparency
• Non-harm (ahimsa) → empathy and compassion towards the weaker sections
• Detachment (nishkama karma) → impartiality and non-partisanship
• Clean intent (shaucha) → probity
• Restraint (sanyama) → emotional intelligence
• Welfare of all (lokasangraha) → public interest
• Discernment (viveka) → objectivity

Two verses an answer can quote:

6.9 is impartiality in one line; 3.20 holds up Janaka, a king who reached perfection through his work.

Ten case studies, decided

1. The cousin's tender

You are the district officer awarding a school-meal contract. Your cousin's firm is the lowest bidder, and nobody on the committee knows you are related.

• Deciding fact: the relationship is undeclared.
• The call: declare it in writing and step away from this file.
• The lenses: Truth (disclosure counts only before anyone asks); Detachment (you cannot judge him fairly either way); Welfare of all (children's meals depend on a process people trust).
• First step: a note to your senior today, with your recusal recorded on the file.

2. The call from above

As sub-divisional magistrate, you have served notice on an illegal building that blocks a storm drain and floods a colony each monsoon. A minister's office asks you to go slow: the owner is a supporter.

• Deciding fact: the notice is lawful and its period is over.
• The call: proceed as the law and the notice require, and put the call on record.
• The lenses: Duty (to the law and the colony); Truth (unrecorded calls are how pressure works); Restraint (nothing here needs a public fight).
• First step: a file note of the call, and the next legal step scheduled.

3. Relief for 60% of families

You head flood relief in a block. The supplies cover about 60% of families, and local leaders want their own villages served first.

• Deciding fact: which households have lost both shelter and food stock.
• The call: distribute by need, worst-hit first, from a list anyone can check.
• The lenses: Non-harm (the weakest first); Welfare of all (one rule for every village); Truth (the criteria published before the trucks leave).
• First step: put the criteria and the list up at the panchayat office and online, today.

4. The wedding gift

A contractor whose bill is pending on your desk sends an expensive gift for your daughter's wedding.

• Deciding fact: his file is with you now.
• The call: return the gift with a polite note, and report it.
• The lenses: Clean intent (a gift timed to a pending bill works like a payment); Truth (a quiet return leaves no record); Duty (the conduct rules you serve by).
• First step: return it within the day and inform your superior in writing.

5. The muster rolls

Inspecting a rural jobs scheme, you find muster rolls carrying the names of people who never worked. The approvals trace to your own superior.

• Deciding fact: you hold copies of the records.
• The call: report it through the vigilance channel, with the evidence, and protect the records.
• The lenses: Truth (false names on a public roll); Welfare of all (those wages belong to the poorest workers); Duty (owed to the scheme before the hierarchy).
• First step: get certified copies, then file with the vigilance officer.

6. The RTI that embarrasses

An RTI application asks for figures showing that your department badly missed its targets. Your superior suggests delaying the reply.

• Deciding fact: none of the Act's exemptions covers this information.
• The call: supply it within the 30 days the law allows, with a note on the reasons and the plan to recover.
• The lenses: Truth (delay is hiding by another name); Duty (the law sets the deadline); Welfare of all (public trust grows when bad numbers are shared honestly).
• First step: record in writing that no exemption applies, and send the reply on time.

7. The factory and the wells

A new factory has brought 2,000 jobs to your district. Villagers say its effluent is spoiling their wells. You are the District Collector.

• Deciding fact: what independent water tests show.
• The call: test within the week; if the tests confirm it, stop the discharge until it is treated, with the plant's jobs kept in view.
• The lenses: Non-harm (the villagers' water); Discernment (facts before sides); Welfare of all (it counts the jobs and the wells).
• First step: order joint sampling of the wells, with the villagers' representatives present.

8. The clerk's mistake

A diligent clerk's error has cost the department a penalty. Your superior wants someone suspended, to show action.

• Deciding fact: the error came through a gap in the process that anyone could have hit.
• The call: close the gap, record the clerk's error honestly, and decline a punishment made for show.
• The lenses: Truth (the error is named); Non-harm (a penalty that fits the fault); Clean intent (accountability for learning, never for display).
• First step: a note to your superior that separates the error from the gap, with the fix attached.

9. The doctored video

As Superintendent of Police, you learn that a doctored video is spreading in your district and stirring tension between two communities.

• Deciding fact: the video is verifiably edited.
• The call: publish the verified facts fast, through official channels and local leaders, and act under the law against those spreading it knowingly.
• The lenses: Truth (at speed); Welfare of all (peace between neighbours); Restraint (no show of force that feeds the rumour).
• First step: a fact-check statement within the hour, with the original footage if it exists.

10. The friend's file

An old friend's building permission is stuck in your office, and he asks you to speed it up.

• Deciding fact: his file is complete and simply waiting its turn.
• The call: keep it in the queue, and if the queue is slow, fix it for everyone.
• The lenses: Detachment (a friend gets what a stranger gets); Duty (the rules of the office); Welfare of all (everyone else waiting).
• First step: tell him plainly today, then find out why the queue is slow.

Real dilemmas, decided the same way

People bring the same shape from their own jobs. One found an employer overbilling a client. The call: "Speak. The job that costs you this silence isn't a job — it's a lease on your conscience." (see the card). More in real ethical dilemmas, decided.

Decide yours

Every aspirant carries one case that is on no paper: one more attempt, or a job now? Write yours. KarmaLens asks for the one fact that decides it, makes one clear call with the Gita behind it, and gives you the first step. More on that choice: government job or private job?

More: ethical dilemmas, explained · the trolley problem, decided