IASbaba's Think Learn and Perform 2017, UPSC
SYNOPSIS- IASbaba’s TLP 2017 [3rd March] – Day 35
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Q.1 What is legal might not be legitimate and vice versa. Substantiate by taking suitable examples.
Note: We have asked a similar question on Day 10 of TLP if you remember. It was like this. The same synopsis will suffice for this answer as well.
(3. Administration is based on legality and legitimacy both. Substantiate by taking suitable examples.)
You are all aspiring to be a civil servant where administration will be your duty. You need to understand the importance of legality and legitimacy.
Legal is something which is written in country’s law book i.e. written fixed law. The actions of state are taken according to this law of the land.
Legitimacy on the other hand is the law of the society. Social acceptability is what makes something legitimate whether it is legal or not or.
Now with such diversity in India, every society is different and so are its laws despite the fact that same legality is applicable everywhere.
So in order to administer a area it’s important for you to know the local values of that place so that you can relate to the local public and make them understand your actions for their welfare.
Some examples to differentiate between legality and legitimacy –
Child marriage in India is illegal and it has been for a long time but in Rajasthan it is legitimate and still people get their children married.
In a different scenario, Live in relationships are legal as long as both the partners are of legal age. But it is still not legitimate in society and people still frown at it.
A recent example is that of Jallikattu which many of you have mentioned. Although it has been made illegal, it is legitimate in the society. In order to keep the harmony, sometimes you need to think about the values of the people and then take an action.
Also it is to be kept in mind that whatever is legitimate in society may not be according to the constitutional values then at times an administrator has to take a strict action for example, untouchability in India was legitimate for centuries but a strong law was passed making it illegal and an unconstitutional activity, slowly the norms of society are changing and cases of untouchability are decreasing.
So for fair and proper administration, a person has to walk on a razor tin boundary between legitimacy and legality.
(Note: You can to include many more examples on similar lines.)
Q.2) Why a career in civil services is not considered as a job but as a service? Discuss.
(Answer given below is indicative in nature. You should think on those lines. Your own examples and writing style will make your answer unique.)
Introduction:
- In Your introduction, you should first discuss about the difference between a job and a service (in brief).
- Also, discuss the historical perspective of setting a civil service and the need of it (in brief).
Body:
- Mention the demands/ expectation of society, government, system from a civil servant. (Mostly, in terms of ethical needs, performance, motives etc.)
- Also, discuss How it is different from other Jobs. (with suitable example)
Conclusion:
You should club all your points and conclude it by saying that because of those mentioned reasons civil services are rightly considered to be a Service not a job.
Best Answer: thevagabond85
Job, from job seekers perspective, is primarily meant for fulfilling one’s need(through wages) and in the process also benefitting the job provider. The later need not be her primary aim. Service, on the other hand, requires putting interest of her community over her personal needs. Thus, It often requires sacrifices of varied form – family lives, holidays etc. Some examples of person involved in service include Baba Amte, Mother Theresa, and thousands of Jawans serving in hostile conditions.
Technically civil services career is nothing but a ‘government job’. A civil servant comes to office, discharges duties, receives renumeration in turn. However, government itself means service through power. It is ‘for the people’. From consumer i.e. public perspective, office of civil servant is seen as office of hope. Be it for PDS ration card, provision of health and education or benefits under new scheme, the office is last hope for the intended recipients. Civil servants hold high power for running administration. But the office requires qualities like compassion, unbiaseness, uprightness. Such qualities are hard to maintain unless one is truly driven by feelings to serve her fellow beings. A career in Civil Service unlike other ‘job’ doesn’t require commitment from usual 9-6 , it’s much more than that. A disaster or an epidemic in the district might require him to give up his sleep.
In a job usually there is a pressure from above to increase employee’s productivity by lure in form of increase in renumeration. A career progress in civil service though linked to performance largely follows predicted graph. As such, a lot depend upon oneself for bringing in innovation and improving the quality of her service
Q.3) Ethical standards of public administration can’t be enforced through law. Comment.
?Introduction:
Mention the Ethical Standards which are expected in Public Administration i.e Integrity, non-partisanship etc.
Body:
- Discuss the issues related to legal framework which makes it ineffective in enforcing Ethical Standards.
(below given paras are not answer itself. Just a suggestive read from where you can draw your points)
- “The legal system of a country determines considerably the efficacy of the ethical concerns in governance system. A neatly formulated law, with a clear stress on the norms of fair conduct and honesty, is likely to distinguish chaff from grain in the ethical universe. Conversely, nebulous laws, with confusing definition of corruption and its explanations, will only promote corruption for it would not be able to instill the fear of God or fear of law among those violating the laws of the land and mores of the society. Besides, an efficient and effective judiciary with fast-track justice system will prove a roadblock to immorality in public affairs. Conversely, a slow-moving judiciary, with a concern for letter rather than the spirit of the law, will dither and delay and even help the perpetrators of crimes by giving them leeway through prolonged trials and benefits of doubt.”
- “Likewise, the anti-corruption machinery of the government, with its tangled web of complex procedures, unintendedly grants relief to the accused who are indirectly assisted by dilatory and knotty procedures. In India, there is hardly any effective anti- corruption institution. The Lok Pal is yet to be established, Lok Ayuktas are feeble and toothless agencies, while the state vigilance bodies are low-key actors. The consequences are too obvious to warrant any explanation.”
- “Every country has certain legal framework with provisions to cover various unethical and corrupt practices such as the breath of official trust and duties, abuse of power, misappropriation, and extortion, corrupt practices, acceptance of undue advantage and abuse of officials influence. The key problem is, therefore, not corruption, but weak enforcement. Without effective enforcement mechanisms, legal and administrative provisions on ethics and corruption are in themselves ineffective. Weak enforcement capacity may be blamed partly on the fact that several documents, which makes access to them difficult, especially where enforcement officers lack experience.”
- Suggest steps/ ways by which Law can be made more effective.
- Public service conditions, particularly human resource policies, directly influence conduct. To make it more ethical, proper care should be taken while designing Human resources guidelines.
- Strong civil societies: Government oversight and external mechanisms for accountability are not adequate for combating corruption and other unethical behavior unless they are supplemented by strong civic institutions, which are able to question government decisions and official actions to ensure that they abide by the rule of law and ethical standards in the public service.
- Motivation: Carrot and Stick policy etc.
Also, Read:
http://www.wsap.edu.pl/pub/publikacje/Ethics%20in%20Public%20Administration%20-%20eng..pdf
Best Answer: Brar MS
Public administration aims to provide effective and efficient public services which require ethical standards embibed in public servants
Ethical standards like honesty, truthfulness can be embibed in public servants by law enforcement like prevention of corruption act. threat of jail term will change defiant behaviour for the threat of punishment.
But, the corrupt officials may try to find loopholes to evade law enforcement agencies to go back to unethical behaviour
Thus, long term absorption of ethical standard may not be enforced by law. Ehthical standard of compassion , empathy, respect etc have to come from within and cannot be thrusted
The best way to improve ethical standard is to hire ethical civil servant, conduct training, seminars, social influence spearheaded by the leader, field trips to make official realise the impact of their unethical standard on general public would go long way in enforcing ethical standard rather than fear of punishment.
4. The latest figures on GDP defy the doubts created around demonetization. Do you agree. Critically examine.
According to official statistics, demonetisation hardly dented economic momentum. India’s GDP growth slowed only marginally to 7% y-o-y in Q4 from 7.4% in Q3, above expectations (6%).
The IMF had predicted that India would grow at around 6% in the half-year after demonetization and most independent economists had opined that GDP growth would be between 6% and 7% for the third quarter. Well known intellectuals from Harvard and Oxford, who have been at key positions in the Indian economic system, had said the GDP would go down by 2%, some others said it would go down by 4%. The fact that it was declared to be 7% took everyone by surprise.
Body:
Highlight your opinion on the statement provided in the question.
Also, since the question asks critically examine – provide both aspects, why the latest GDP figures defy the doubts created around demonetization and why the latest figures appear too inconsistent.
Provide data and statistics of growth performance of different sectors – how private consumption, fixed investment and industrial output growth all accelerated; how real estate and service sector were hit after demonetization.
Some important links to improve your assessment –
https://thelogicalindian.com/story-feed/awareness/gdp-growth/
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-economy-gdp-idUSKBN1671DZ
http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Economy/India-s-GDP-growth-appears-too-good-to-be-true
Best answer 1: Arjun
- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bc20797d14b712c22fbef8e8aae3d76fa95188c20a16d890fe8a33604c6d4eb6.jpg
- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/805b332ea0f7da2977a3d0af8fecd659acbdf41796eb3dd27eb59b08f58e8cf5.jpg
Best answer 2: Axi Tak
- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a1fa37305be82355df8dbe58af50299bd84b2604e3712209e266b9bfdc2b19a8.jpg
- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f33c3e907a5c05075a1eac80bdf62be094d976f60e9aedfffd52369183f56905.jpg
5. The troika of Make in India, Skill India and Start Up India will go a long way in reaping the demographic dividend. Elucidate.
Introduction:
By 2020, the average age in India will be 29 years while in EU it would be 45 years, in Japan 48 years and in China 38 years. At the global level, there will be a shortage of 55 million workforce, while India would have a surplus of 47 million workforce. So, while the world is ageing India is becoming younger and more populous by the day. If this young workforce were to get skilled against industry certified standards then there is an opportunity to reap the demographic dividend. If this opportunity slips by, then it can lead to demographic disaster.
Body:
Neither the traditional industry nor modern agriculture can be expected to absorb the growing number of employables in the country. Alternatives have to be carefully thought of, diligently planned and systematically executed, in a mission mode. Make in India, Digital India, Skill India Mission, Start Up India etc – are all noble aims in the this direction.
The major objective behind the Make in India initiative is to focus on job creation and skill enhancement in 25 sectors of the economy. The initiative hopes to attract capital and technological investment in India and to create world class zero defect products. Mission is to manufacture in India and sell the products worldwide.
Key to reach above objectives is through Skill development and promotion of entrepreneurship that will lead to job creation.
The objective of Skill India include removal of disconnect between the demand for and supply of skilled manpower through vocational and technical training, skill up-gradation, building of new skills, Mapping of existing skills and their certification etc., while the objective of Start Up India Stand Up India is aimed at promoting innovation as a means to promote entrepreneurship that will lead to job creation. As per the latest NASSCOM Start-up Report 2015, start-ups created 65,000 new jobs in 2014 and by 2020, the number is expected to touch 2,50,000. The scheme will drive sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities. It encourages youth to become ‘job creators’ instead of being ‘job seekers’.
Conclusion:
The key to reaping the real benefits of demographic dividend lies in skilling the youth as per industry standards to fulfill skill gaps and make them employable and through the troika of national missions like Make in India, Skill India and Start Up India, it will go a long way in reaping the demographic dividend.
Best answer 1: Shobhit Jaiswal
Make in India, Skill India and Start Up India is a golden triangle to cater jobless growth in India, informal employment , unemployment in India, skill development and promotion of culture of innovation, entrepreneurship in India and reap the demographic dividend.
Make in India: In order to boost the manufacturing sector Make in India has been incorporated by the Government to attract investments from international markets and domestic manufacturing in India. Make in India aims in formalising the manufacturing sector and provide jobs for the masses who are largely suffering from agrarian distress.
Skill India: Skill India aims in providing vocational and job skills to the urban and rura population to make them skill ready for jobs. Skill mismatch has been the major reason for unemployment in India. Through Skill India masses can take up jobs which match their skills which will further benefit the manufacturing and services sector in India.
Stand Up India: It is an effort to foster the ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation in India. A successful entrepreneur is the generator of multiple other jobs and adds to the socio-economic growth trajectory of the country. Stand Up India also focuses to increase entrepreneurship among women and the vulnerable sections of the society.
Schemes mentioned above are a bright prospect that there is a political will to take up the development goals of the country. However the success of such schemes will only depend on how they are implemented and bottlenecks associated are targeted. Promoting education and improving healthcare should be the core areas for the government in order to make above schemes a success.
Best answer 2: Arjun
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- https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/894601f19cfa6dbb47eeafe2fd1dd8a64189222ed462d9864aaf145a7888b7c3.jpg
Best answer 3: Axi Tak
