UPSC Mains 2013 GS Paper 4 Q3: model answer
Some people feel that values keep changing with time and situation, while others strongly believe that there are certain universal and eternal human values. Give your perception in this regard with due justification.
What the question wants
Give and justify your view on whether values change with time and situation or whether some human values are universal and eternal.
How to structure it
Two views, then your position.
- Relativist view
- Universalist view
- Synthesis
How to think it through
Relativism: values change (untouchability once accepted, now unconstitutional; women's rights; LGBTQ, Navtej Johar 2018). Universalism: truth, non-violence, compassion, dignity in all religions; UDHR 1948; Kant's categorical imperative. Synthesis: core values eternal, their expression and application change; e.g., respect for elders universal but forms change; justice same, our understanding widens.
Model answer
In 1950, the Constitution abolished untouchability, a practice that many had once accepted as 'tradition'. In 2018, the Supreme Court in Navtej Singh Johar decriminalised consensual same-sex relations. Such changes make some people say that values keep shifting.
The view that values change
- Societies once accepted slavery, sati and child marriage; today they are crimes.
- Women's rights, privacy and environmental care are newer values.
- Situations shape choices: a lie to save a life may be right.
The view that some values are eternal
- Truth, non-violence, compassion and justice appear in every major religion and philosophy.
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) rests on shared human dignity.
- Kant argued that moral law must hold for everyone, everywhere.
My view
- Core values are universal; what changes is how widely we apply them and the forms they take.
- Untouchability was never 'right'; society simply took time to extend dignity to all.
- So values do not change at the root; our understanding of them grows.
As an officer, I would hold firmly to the core and stay flexible on the form.
Draw: A tree: roots labelled 'eternal values', branches labelled 'changing practices'.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
relativism, universalism, untouchability abolished 1950, Navtej Singh Johar 2018, UDHR 1948, Kant, human dignity, core vs form.
Where most answers lose marks
- Picking one side without justifying it or acknowledging the other.
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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 Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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