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UPSC 2021 GS-IV · 10 marks · 150 words

'Refugees should not be turned back to the country where they would face persecution or human right violation.' Examine the statement with reference to the ethical dimension being violated by the nation claiming to be democratic with open society.

What “Examine” demands

investigate the issue closely — how it arose, how it works, what it achieves and where it falls short — looking at both sides.

The characteristic failure: description of what the thing is, with no probing of how well it works.

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”.

  • Name the principle: non-refoulement (1951 Refugee Convention Art 33) — India is not a signatory but Art 21 jurisprudence extends to non-citizens (NHRC v. Arunachal, 1996)
  • Ethical dimensions violated: human dignity, universalism vs statism, Gandhian sarvodaya/atithi devo bhava as civilisational resources
  • The democratic-openness contradiction: values professed vs applied selectively (Rohingya deportations vs Tibetan/Sri Lankan precedents)
  • Balanced close: security screening is legitimate; blanket refoulement is not — an ethics answer must still take a position

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

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