IASbaba’s TLP – 2020 Phase 1 : UPSC Mains General Studies Questions[20th Feb,2020] – Day 99

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Hello Friends,

Welcome to IAS UPSC, TLP- 2020, Day 99. Questions are based on General Studies Paper 4, Ethics

Click on the links and then answer respective questions! 

1. Sunaina joined the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) and got awarded the prestigious Gold Medal for academic excellence during her training. Later she attended many training programmes related to taxation on Government budget. In her sixth year of service, she got admitted to a foreign university and also got departmental funding for pursuing higher education for two  years. Her career took a new shape and she started to feel even more confident. In her final two months of study, she started receiving job opportunities from global tax law firms who were ready to pay thirty times more than her current salary. Some firms proposed to even reimburse her tuition fee to the Government to take care of her bond obligations. She can stay in the same foreign country and lead a much better life. 

Should Sunaina leave the service and join any of the big law firms offering her a much higher package and luxurious lifestyle? If she does so, will it not be unethical to have taken advantage of the country and then abandon it for want of better pay and life? Critically analyse. What would be your decision in this scenario? Why? Substantiate. 

2. A global epidemic has broken out and the only solution in sight is a drug developed by a group of doctors and scientists. The problem, however, is that the drug is not yet tested. If the standard testing protocol is adhered to, it would take at least a month to get the final approval for human consumption. By that time, the epidemic would have taken millions of lives already. The only possible way to expedite trials is to test the drug directly on human beings. It effectively means replacing animals with humans for trial. Moreover, there would hardly be any volunteer for such trials. Meanwhile, there is an idea floating in the market. Why not choose the convicts of murders and rapes serving life imprisonment for the trials? Even if they die during the trials, it would hardly be a loss to the society and if they survive, their lives would be of some worth for the society after-all. 

What do you think? Should prisoners be forced to undergo the trial? Examine the pros and cons of this decision? If you were to make this decision, what would that be? Substantiate your choice.