UPSC Mains 2015 GS Paper 4 Q14: model answer
You are recently posted as district development officer of a district. Shortly thereafter you found that there is considerable tension in the rural areas of your district on the issue of sending girls to schools. The elders of the village feel that many problems have come up because girls are being educated and they are stepping out of the safe environment of the household. They are of the view that the girls should be quickly married off with minimum education. The girls are also competing for jobs after education, which have traditionally remained in boys' exclusive domain, adding to unemployment amongst male population. The younger generation feels that in the present era, girls should have equal opportunities for education and employment, and other means of livelihood. The entire locality is divided between the elders and the younger lot and further sub-divided between sexes in both generations. You come to know that in Panchayat or in other local bodies or even in busy crossroads, the issue is being acrimoniously debated. One day you are informed that an unpleasant incident has taken place. Some girls were molested, when they were en route to schools. The incident led to clashes between several groups and a law and order problem has arisen. The elders after heated discussion have taken a joint decision not to allow girls to go to school and to socially boycott all such families, which do not follow their dictate. (a) What steps would you take to ensure girls' safety without disrupting their education? (b) How would you manage and mould patriarchic attitude of the village elders to ensure harmony in the inter-generational relations?
What the question wants
As district development officer, ensure girls' safety and education, and manage the patriarchal attitude of elders for intergenerational harmony.
How to structure it
Safety and education, attitude change.
(a) Immediate and medium-term steps
(b) Moulding elders' attitudes
How to think it through
Immediate: FIR on molestation (POCSO if minors, BNS), arrest; police patrol on school routes; social boycott is illegal (and a 'diktat' — Shakti Vahini 2018 SC on khap); school bus/escort, cycles (Bihar cycle scheme), girls' hostel (KGBV). Engage elders: dialogue, respected women role models, success stories, BBBP, SHGs, show economic gains of educated girls, child marriage law (PCMA 2006), involve religious leaders, youth-elder joint committee. Jobs: skill both boys and girls, expand opportunities.
Model answer
Stakeholders
- The girls and their families; the molested girls; boys; elders; women of the village; schools; police; the panchayat.
Dilemmas
- Respect for elders vs girls' rights; social peace vs law enforcement; tradition vs equality.
Options
- Give in to the elders; impose orders by force; protect girls firmly and win the elders over patiently.
The elders have punished the victims for the crime of the molesters. The first task is to reverse that logic.
(a) Safety without stopping education
- Act on the crime: FIR on the molestation, swift arrest and charge sheet; the POCSO Act if the girls are minors.
- Secure the route: police patrols at school times, women constables, CCTV at key points, and a helpline number shared in every school.
- Safe transport: a school bus or escorted group travel; bicycles, as Bihar's cycle scheme showed, give girls both speed and confidence.
- Make the boycott unenforceable: social boycott is illegal; the Supreme Court in Shakti Vahini (2018) held that such community diktats cannot override individual rights. Warn the instigators.
- Back-up options: residential schooling in Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas for families under pressure.
(b) Moulding the elders' attitude
- Listen first: their fear is about safety and honour. Show that the answer is safety, not confinement.
- Respected voices: invite women officers, doctors and teachers from the region, and local religious leaders, to speak.
- Show the gains: educated girls marry later, have healthier children and add to family income.
- A joint committee of elders, young people and women to oversee school safety, so that elders are partners rather than opponents.
- Address the jobs fear: skilling and placement drives for young men, so that girls are not blamed for unemployment.
- Remind them of the law: the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
- Celebrate: honour families that educate daughters at village functions, and invite the first graduate girl of the village to speak at the Gram Sabha.
When the elders begin to talk about 'our girls' rather than 'those girls', the battle is won.
Draw: Two columns: 'safety measures' and 'attitude measures', meeting at 'girls in school'.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
girls' education, molestation, POCSO, police patrol, social boycott illegal, Shakti Vahini 2018, KGBV, cycle scheme, PCMA 2006, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, joint committee, inter-generational dialogue, role models.
Where most answers lose marks
- Suggesting girls stay home temporarily 'until things settle'.
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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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