UPSC Mains 2017 GS Paper 4 Q5a: model answer
"Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principles which direct them." — Napoleon Bonaparte. Stating examples mention the rulers (i) who have harmed society and country, (ii) who worked for the development of society and country.
What the question wants
Using Napoleon's line on great ambition, give examples of rulers who harmed society and country, and rulers who worked for development.
How to structure it
Meaning, two lists of rulers, lesson.
- Meaning
- Rulers who harmed
- Rulers who developed
- Lesson for officers
How to think it through
Full question: (i) who have harmed society and country (ii) who worked for development. Harm: Hitler (Holocaust, WWII), Pol Pot (Khmer Rouge, ~1.5–2 million deaths 1975–79), Idi Amin, Aurangzeb? avoid. Development: Ashoka (dhamma, welfare), Akbar (sulh-i-kul, administration), Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore), Abraham Lincoln (end slavery), Sardar Patel (integration of 560+ princely states). Lesson: principles direct ambition.
Model answer
Ambition is like fire: it can cook a meal or burn a house. Napoleon, himself a man of vast ambition, said the result depends on the principles that guide it.
What it means
- Great ambition is the drive to achieve something large; it powers great characters.
- It is morally neutral. Joined to good principles, it builds; joined to bad ones, it destroys.
(i) Rulers who harmed society and country
- Adolf Hitler: ambition for racial empire led to the Holocaust and the Second World War.
- Pol Pot: his Khmer Rouge regime (1975–79) caused the deaths of around 1.5 to 2 million Cambodians in pursuit of an agrarian utopia.
(ii) Rulers who worked for development
- Ashoka: turned from conquest to dhamma, building hospitals, wells and roads for people and animals.
- Akbar: promoted sulh-i-kul (peace with all) and an efficient revenue system.
- Sardar Patel: integrated over 560 princely states into India with firmness and tact.
Lesson for a public servant
- Ambition to make a district the best in health or education is welcome, provided it is guided by honesty, fairness and respect for law.
Ambition decides how high you climb; principles decide which way you were climbing.
Draw: A fire symbol in the centre with two arrows: 'principles' → hearth (development); 'no principles' → burning house (harm).
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
Napoleon, ambition morally neutral, principles, Hitler, Pol Pot 1975–79, Idi Amin 1972, Ashoka dhamma, Akbar sulhi-kul, Sardar Patel 560+ princely states, Lee Kuan Yew.
Where most answers lose marks
- Giving only one list of rulers; both parts are required.
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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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