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UPSC 2021 GS-IV · 10 marks · 150 words

Should impartial and being non-partisan be considered as indispensable qualities to make a successful civil servant? Discuss with illustrations.

What “Discuss” demands

present several distinct facets of the issue and connect them into an argument, giving the competing views real weight rather than one line each.

The characteristic failure: a list of points with no argument running through them.

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 precisely: impartiality (equal treatment of publics) vs non-partisanship (neutrality between governments) — candidates who conflate them cap at average
  • Why indispensable: continuity across regimes, citizen trust, merit protection — illustrations: T.N. Seshan's ECI, an officer administering schemes across party lines
  • The counter-case taken seriously: 'committed bureaucracy' debate; commitment to Constitution ≠ commitment to party
  • Anchor: 2nd ARC foundational values; Sardar Patel's 1947 'steel frame' address on an apolitical service

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

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