Master Answer WritingSign in

UPSC 2017 GS-IV · 10 marks · 150 words

One of the tests of integrity is complete refusal to be compromised. Explain with reference to a real life example.

What “Explain” demands

set out how or why something works, with the mechanism made explicit.

The characteristic failure: stating that it works without showing how.

What a top answer must contain

These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.

  • Define integrity as wholeness — conduct matching declared values even when unobserved and costly; distinguish it from mere honesty
  • The 'complete refusal' point: integrity admits no partial compromise, because a single exception establishes a price
  • A real example is what the question demands, not a hypothetical — Satyendra Dubey (NHAI, 2003), Manjunath Shanmugam (IOC, 2005), Ashok Khemka's repeated transfers, T.N. Seshan enforcing the Model Code
  • The institutional counterpart: whistle-blower protection, the Whistle Blowers Protection Act 2014 and why it remains largely unoperationalised
  • Balanced close: refusing compromise is not rigidity about means — distinguish principled firmness from obstinacy

The band thresholds and the pre-scored sample answers behind this standard stay private — they are the calibration your copy is placed against.

Now write it, and find out what you actually scored

Attempt this question — typed or photographed — and it is marked against the standard above in under a minute: six parameter scores, a blunt verdict, and the points you missed. 50 free credits on signup, no card.

Write this answerSee a marked copy first

More from UPSC GS-IV