UPSC Mains 2018 GS Paper 4 Q4b: model answer
With regard to morality of actions, one view is that means are of paramount importance and the other view is that the ends justify the means. Which view do you think is more appropriate? Justify your answer.
What the question wants
Choose and justify between the view that means matter most and the view that ends justify the means.
How to structure it
Both views, my choice, justification.
- Means view (Kant, Gandhi)
- Ends view (Machiavelli, utilitarian)
- My view
- Example
How to think it through
Means: Gandhi —'means are to ends as seed to tree' (Hind Swaraj 1909); Kant deontology. Ends: Machiavelli, utilitarianism (Bentham/Mill). Problems with ends: fake encounters for law and order; Emergency sterilisations; torture. Means view: process legitimacy, rule of law, Maneka Gandhi due process. Nuance: consequences matter too; choose good means aimed at good ends.
Model answer
In Hind Swaraj (1909), Gandhi wrote that the means are to the end as the seed is to the tree. Plant violence and you will harvest violence, however noble your goal.
The two views
- Means are paramount: Kant and Gandhi held that an act must be right in itself; lying or harming is wrong even for a good cause.
- Ends justify the means: associated with Machiavelli and, in a softer form, with utilitarians like Bentham, who judge acts by their results.
Why I think means matter more
- Bad means corrupt the end: forced sterilisations during the Emergency were meant to control population but left lasting distrust of family planning.
- Fake encounters promise quick order but destroy faith in justice; courts have repeatedly condemned them.
- Rule of law rests on process: Article 21, after Maneka Gandhi (1978), requires 'just, fair and reasonable' procedure.
But results are not irrelevant
- The aim is good means directed at good ends, choosing the fair method that also works.
My view
A result reached by wrong means is a debt the future will have to pay.
Draw: A seed (means) growing into a tree (end), with a poisoned seed growing a withered tree.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
means vs ends, Gandhi Hind Swaraj 1909 seed and tree, Kant, Machiavelli, utilitarianism, Bentham, Emergency sterilisations, fake encounters, Maneka Gandhi 1978, due process.
Where most answers lose marks
- Ignoring outcomes completely; a balanced answer shows that results still matter.
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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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