UPSC Mains 2025 GS4 Q5a: model answer
“One who is devoted to one’s duty attains highest perfection in life.” Analyse this statement with reference to sense of responsibility and personal fulfilment as a civil servant.
What the question wants
Link devotion to duty with responsibility and fulfilment in civil service, with nuance.
How to structure it
Intro: Gita idea. Body: (1) Sense of responsibility; (2) Personal fulfilment; (3) Caution. Conclusion: When duty is understood as service, responsibility and fulfilment become the same thing.
- 1(1) Sense of responsibility
- 2(2) Personal fulfilment
- 3(3) Caution
Model answer
The idea comes from the Bhagavad Gita (18.45): a person attains perfection by being devoted to his own duty. It praises work done well and without selfish attachment to results.
Sense of responsibility
- A civil servant's duty is to the Constitution and the public. Devotion means doing it fully even when unseen.
- T.N. Seshan's insistence on following electoral law transformed elections.
- Duty includes answerability: owning failures, not only successes.
Personal fulfilment
- Meaning comes from impact: seeing a village get water or a girl return to school.
- Nishkama karma frees one from anxiety about postings and praise, reducing stress.
- Integrity brings self-respect, which no reward can buy.
Caution
- Devotion to duty must not become blind obedience; duty is to law and conscience, not to a superior's wrong order.
- It should not mean neglecting health and family; burnout helps no one.
When duty is understood as service, responsibility and fulfilment become the same thing.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
swadharma nishkama karma responsibility intrinsic motivation integrity
Where most answers lose marks
- Treating duty as obedience to superiors.
Fresh examples from current affairs
Supreme Court: no prior approval under Section 17A needed to probe a bribe demand
In a judgment of 16 October 2026, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices S.V.N. Bhatti and N.V. Anjaria held that investigating a bribe demand by a public servant does not need prior approval under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Asking for a bribe, the court said, is not part of discharging official duties.
UPSC angle: Prelims: Sections 7, 7A, 17A and 19 of the PC Act. · Mains GS-II/GS-IV: honest officers versus accountability.
19 Oct 2026Learn the concept
Question text as printed in the official UPSC question paper: https://www.upsc.gov.in/sites/default/files/GENERAL-STUDIES-PAPER-IV-QP-CSM-25-010925.pdf The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.