MAINS SELF STUDY GUIDE: Insights Mock Test – 30 (GS-4)
TIMETABLE
NOTE: Those who want to write in notebook should treat this as a Real Exam and try to complete the paper within Three Hours. You can download PDF copy of the same HERE. The Timetable is HERE.
Insights Mains Offline Test Series 2015
GENERAL STUDIES – 4
Mock Test – 30
10 December 2015
Duration: 3 Hours
Answer ALL the questions in this section in NOT more than 150 words. Each question under this section carries 10 Marks.
- (a) Why all humans are not happy in this world? What makes you happy? Discuss with examples.
(b) Some argue that the ultimate purpose of human action is to cultivate the human mind or acquire knowledge. Do you agree? What does knowledge mean to you? Explain with examples.
- (a) Is it morally wrong if a beggar steals food from a shop that is making loss to feed a hungry baby? What are the criticisms made against utilitarian approach? Discuss.
(b) What do you understand by accountability in public life? Are political parties and civil servants truly accountable in India? Critically examine.
- (a) “Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion has no hold on the mind.” Do you agree? Explain with illustrations and justify your answer.
(b) “Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female – whenever she behaves as a human being she is said to imitate the male.” Explain the meaning and significance of this statement.
- (a) In your opinion, why everyone can not be another Mahatma Gandhi or Nelson Mandela? What distinguishes these great personalities from ordinary people? Explain.
(b) Every day, around you many unethical and illegal activities take place. Narrate any such incident you have witnessed and explain what action did you take at that time and why.
- (a) If an action of an individual is illegal but ethical, will you punish the individual provided you have power to punish? Justify.
(b) When you travel using public or private transportation, you trust the driver, co-passengers and take a ride to your destination. Are such trusts under threats in recent years? If yes, whom will you blame? Justify.
- Untouchability, manual scavenging and discrimination based on caste still exist in Indian society. In your opinion, how should a civil servant be sensitized about these problems and help him solve them? Explain.
- “The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” What kind of world do you think children are living today? Discuss.
- A state acts as a rational autonomous actor in pursuit of its own self-interest with a primary goal to maintain and ensure its own security—and thus its sovereignty and survival. Is it ethical for a state to amass resources, such as military, to wield power? Justify.
SECTION – B
In the following questions, carefully study the cases presented and then answer the questions that follow. Each question under this section carries 20 Marks.
- Krishna is working as Assistant Professor in a government first-degree college. He is married and has two small kids. He is handsome and very intelligent. He is more popular with girls. A fresher girl has fallen in love with him. She is the most beautiful girl in college and is more popular because of her dancing and singing skills. After noticing her behavior and subsequent overtures by her, Krishna tries to make her understand about her infatuation and its follies. He tries to convince her to study well and focus on her talents to excel in studies. The girl is smitten and is adamant. She convinces him that she would rather die than not love him and loved by him. Being a teacher, husband and a father, Krishna is in dilemma. He is convinced that the girl will commit suicide if he doesn’t reciprocate her love.
Analyze various options he has in this situation. If you were asked by Krishna to suggest a course of action for him, what will you suggest? (250 Words)
- Richa, who is 25 year old, is pursuing her PhD under the guidance of a sixty-year-old male professor. He is an acclaimed scholar and has published many books to his credit. His articles frequently appear in international journals and newspapers. Getting PhD under his guidance is assumed as guaranteed ticket to job or admission in any reputed foreign institution. He is also known to be tough with his students. His expectations from his students are high and extremely demanding. In the past many students could not meet his expectations and left their PhD in the middle. However, in recent months the professor has grown fond of Richa.
Richa’s friends who have noticed this behaviour in professor have advised her to use this opportunity to complete her thesis as fast as possible as time is running out for her to get admission to her dream college. Richa’s childhood dream is to get into a reputed Ivy League college, and this is her only opportunity to get there. The professor, who is single, starts to get emotionally attached with Richa more and more. Richa notices that the professor is expecting more than emotional attachment from her. The professor, to his credit, till now has behaved decently with her though.
Following are the hypothetical options for Richa. Analyse their merits and demerits.
- Richa should make use of professor’s weakness to get her PhD approved soon
- If professor advances physically on Richa, she should leave her course and file complaint against him with the police
- Richa should remain silent until she gets her PhD and then file police complaint against him if he physically abuses her
Is it wrong for professor to love his student who is of his daughter’s age? Justify.
(250 Words)
- You are working as a floor manager (clothes section) in a big multi brand retail store. One of the workers comes to you and complains that his coworker has placed spy camera in ladies changing room. You go in person and check the authenticity of the complaint. To your shock you find a spy pen with full of videos captured from dressing room. The person who had kept the pen happens to be your close friend and is a girl. Upon enquiry you find out that she had done this at the behest of manager of the retail outlet. The manager had lured her by promising her pay hike and promotion. The girl is from a very poor family and is the sole breadwinner. She is alone looking after her ailing parents.
Following are the options before you. Analyze their consequences and choose the best course of action (not necessarily the below ones):
- File police complaint against both the girl and manager, and send them to jail
- File police complaint only against the manager
- Seek promotion and pay hike from the manager in return for keeping the whole episode a secret with a stern warning to him (250 Words)
- Umesh is in jail on the charges of raping a 14-year-old girl. He is sentenced to death and even the President has rejected his mercy plea. The girl has given birth to a child. Her parents are against raising this child as they see it as illegitimate and source of eternal pain to their family. Finally, the girl and her parents decide to give it up for adoption. Upon knowing about this move, Umesh sends a notice from jail that as he is child’s father, the family cannot put it for adoption without his permission. He also says that it his wish to see the child before he is sent to gallows. But the girl and her family rejects his demand.
- a) Is Umesh right in rising objection? Justify.
- b) Is it not morally right to fulfill his desire to the child before he is hanged? Is the girl justified in rejecting his demand? Explain. (250 Words)
- A lady makes a stunning debut in bollywood. Her first movie becomes a superhit and she is hailed as next big star in the industry. However, as a teen, she was forced to do porn movies due to poverty and those videos were uploaded on internet. Only she and few handfuls of people know this secret. After ten years, after tasting her first big success, she is scared that revelation of her past would cast shadow on her success and hamper her chances of getting more movies to act in.
She fills a Google’s online form to request the removal of those videos from its search engine.
Should Google comply? Justify. (250 Words)
- Raju’s close friend gets selected in UPSC civil services exam and gets into IAS. From his experiences in training at academy, he keeps narrating several incidents to Raju. He tells him that most of the selected candidates have stopped reading newspapers and books; many of them party all night, consume alcohol and flirt with girls; few candidates who have good connections in bureaucracy, form coterie and indulge in politicking; they sleep in classes and pass lewd comments on guest faculty; many who were sent on village trip, never visited villages and wrote false reports etc. However, Raju’s friend also narrates many good things about training such as how it’s helping him understand the idea of India, cultivate patience, discipline, endurance and perseverance, and respect diverse opinions. Raju, being himself a civil services aspirant, is disturbed by negative aspects of training. Based upon his friend’s feedback, he decides to write his own recommendations to government explaining what should constitute training module for IAS trainees.
If you were in Raju’s place, what would you write in your recommendations? Justify each of them. (250 Words)
