UPSC Mains 2017 GS Paper 4 Q6a: model answer
How will you apply emotional intelligence in administrative practices?
What the question wants
Explain how you would use emotional intelligence in everyday administrative work.
How to structure it
Component by component, with an office scene.
- Self-awareness
- Self-regulation
- Motivation
- Empathy
- Social skills
How to think it through
Apply each of Goleman's five to a DM context: self-awareness (bias, fatigue), self-regulation (angry crowd, political pressure), motivation (long-term goals despite transfers), empathy (grievance hearing, disaster victims), social skills (team, inter-department coordination, negotiation with protesters, media). Example: handling a protest after a custodial death; Jan Sunwai; Odisha disaster.
Model answer
Suppose a road accident kills a schoolchild and an angry crowd blocks the highway. The collector who arrives needs law and order skills, but first he needs emotional intelligence.
How I would apply each part of EI
- Self-awareness
- Notice my own fatigue, irritation or bias before I speak.
- Know when I am too tired to take a big decision.
- Self-regulation
- Stay calm when the crowd shouts or a politician threatens.
- Respond to provocation with patience, not force.
- Motivation
- Keep working towards long-term goals even after transfers or criticism.
- Find meaning in outcomes, not in praise.
- Empathy
- In public hearings, listen fully before replying.
- With the grieving family, acknowledge the loss first and then explain the compensation process.
- Social skills
- Build a team where juniors can report bad news early.
- Negotiate with protesters and speak clearly to the media.
Back on the highway
- I would meet the family, announce an inquiry and relief, and ask local leaders to help clear the road, using persuasion before force.
EI does not replace rules; it decides whether the rules are applied with a closed fist or an open hand.
Draw: A district map with five pins, each labelled with an EI component and a scene: office, crowd, hearing, team, media.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
Goleman's five components, self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skills, crowd management, public hearing, grieving family, team building, negotiation, media.
Where most answers lose marks
- Listing components without applying each one to an administrative situation.
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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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