UPSC Mains 2021 GS Paper 4 Q5b: model answer
Should impartial and being non-partisan be considered as indispensable qualities to make a successful civil servant? Discuss with illustrations.
What the question wants
Discuss, with illustrations, whether impartiality and non-partisanship are essential for a successful civil servant.
How to structure it
Yes, with reasons and nuance.
- Meaning
- Why indispensable
- Illustrations
- Nuance: neutral but not indifferent
How to think it through
Yes indispensable; reasons: Constitution, Article 14, rule of law, continuity across governments, trust, legitimacy. Illustrations: Election officers; Gujarat 2002? avoid controversial. T.N. Seshan, Vinod Rai CAG 2G audit (2010) — politically sensitive but factual; refusal to act in riots. Nuance: neutrality vs commitment to constitutional values (committed to Constitution, not party); empathy for weaker sections is not partiality (affirmative action legal).
Model answer
A district magistrate on election duty may have voted for one party a month earlier. On counting day, nobody in the hall should be able to guess which.
What the two values mean
- Impartiality: deciding on facts and law, not on who the person is.
- Non-partisanship: serving any elected government with equal loyalty, without political affiliation.
Why they are indispensable
- Rule of law: Article 14 requires equal treatment.
- Continuity: governments change, administration must not.
- Trust: a citizen who loses a case accepts it only if the process was fair.
Illustrations
- T.N. Seshan applied the Model Code of Conduct to ruling and opposition parties alike.
- Officers who protect minorities during communal riots, whatever the political mood, earn lasting public trust.
- The Shah Commission recorded how officers who served party interests during the Emergency damaged the services.
A necessary nuance
- Neutral does not mean indifferent. An officer must be committed to the Constitution, its values of justice and equality.
- Special help for weaker sections is not partiality; it is required by Articles 15(4) and 46.
Success without neutrality may win postings; it never wins the people's trust.
Draw: A scale balanced on a pedestal labelled 'Constitution', with 'party A' and 'party B' on equal pans.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
impartiality, non-partisanship, Article 14, continuity, trust, election duty, T.N. Seshan, Shah Commission, committed to Constitution, Articles 15(4) and 46.
Where most answers lose marks
- Equating neutrality with having no values or no empathy.
Related Mains PYQs
- Owing to paucity of time, a university professor generates a Ph.D. evaluation report using Artificial Intelligence and submits it with some modifications.… UPSC 2026 · GS-IV
- Discuss how national security can be balanced with concerns of human rights. UPSC 2026 · GS-IV
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had cautioned that employing civil disobedience within a constitutional democracy equates to endorsing ‘anarchy’. How should modern democracies… UPSC 2026 · GS-IV
- Shakespeare in Henry IV says, “The arms are fair when the intent of bearing them is just”. What ethical implications does this… UPSC 2026 · GS-IV
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.
Want every PYQ in one place? See the Battle IAS PYQ Book.