

What we are trying to convey is that one can’t FAKE ethical behavior.Įven if one does manage that, inconsistency would be visible all over his/her answer sheet and that leads to only one thing–failure. Consistency in our thinking is the most important ingredient of success in this paper. It should be like a canopy similar to that of a topical rainforest covering the entire region and not like the sporadic bushes and shrubs of the deserts, popping here and there sporadically. Now let us begin by saying a simple yet important thing: Ethics, integrity and honesty should form a common theme during your entire preparation and not only for GS paper IV. It only means we must act in the most efficient and effective manner keeping in mind the demands of the syllabus and of course the time constraint. Acting smartly doesn’t mean following utopian shortcuts as they lead you nowhere. We think our smart generation must act smartly. Or do we have to think and act differently or we rephrase our word–smartly? Should we start making notes of all the terms and terminologies, views and ideas of thinkers and philosophers, psychological theories related to attitude and aptitude, principles of governance and the list goes on. Does it mean that we should prepare it as the other three GS papers. So how do you think we should approach the syllabus? The UPSC syllabus designates a name for the paper. But the question is do we have the ingredients to cook that delicious, finger licking Biryani? Don’t worry by the time you are done with this write up, you shall have those ingredients. The examiners are quality starved and they won’t accept anything below Hyderabadi Biryani, forget about the street food of Rajindernagar. But only if that could hold true with UPSC as well! Unfortunately, our university machismo doesn’t augur well with UPSC. No matter what you knew and how much you knew, filling pages was no big deal for you.

And boy! You are never short of ideas, are you? You see those generic terms like integrity, honesty and governance and immediately have a feeling that you can nail the paper. You almost have the feeling that it is in your reach, somewhere in your mind, may be your subconscious thoughts. GS paper IV is perhaps the most intriguing and misunderstood part of the UPSC syllabus.


Special Series for better understanding of Ethics– Part I
