Is Introduction of Ethics Paper in Civil Services Examination a
Devastating Failure?
In the wake of an Indian Police Service Officer found cheating in Civil Services
Examination -2017, there are myriad questions placed on, by far the best, paper introduced
by Union Public Service Commission – the Ethics paper. Ironically, the IPS scored high
marks in Ethics paper when he cleared the exam.

THE BACKDROP
In the year 2017, a young IPS officer re-took the Civil Services Exam to get a higher rank
and the highest job- the Indian Administrative Services. The exam which is known to be
the ‘the mother of all exams’. He is married to a visiting faculty of an IAS preparation
institute. He took guidance under a known Ethics faculty. Sadly, before this IPS could be
an IAS, the incidence of him cheating in the examination revealed. What was more
perplexing was that he gathered support from his wife and mentor in cheating his way
through the exam. His wife and mentor did extend the support to him, but certainly not
the ‘right’ way. Whatever further inquiry reveals, but there is no doubt that the incidence
has casted shadow on his previous selection, as an IPS. This transgression put a question
mark, inter alia, on the introduction and significance of the Ethics paper itself.
In this backdrop, the existence of the Ethics paper itself came under enquiry. Albeit being
unfortunate to find itself in the aforesaid situation, yet it requires a deeper investigation.

THE QUESTIONS POSED
“Whether the Ethics paper of Civil Services Examination failed to serve its purpose by
not being able to weed out unethical candidate?” Subsequently, an inferential question
is raised i.e. -‘Has UPSC failed to filter-out the unethical candidates? Does the entire
onus lie on the UPSC?’
In order to understand these questions and their answers, one first needs to decipher what
lies in the soul of such inquisition, as otherwise, these would be misplaced inquiries.
When one observes keenly, it is not difficult to realise the raison d’etre for introduction
of Ethics paper. UPSC’s intent is not to be judged post an incidence as what happened was
not consequential. It, at the best, reflected the limits placed on any external test conducted
by any body across the globe. Another question is- ‘Did UPSC ever aim to introduce
Ethics paper with the intent of weeding out absolutely any unethical practices? Or was it
to introduce the culture of values and the recognition of the morals, which was long
overdue?’

THE ANSWERS SOUGHT
To reach to the answers, one needs to understand about what is this ‘Ethics Paper’? Ethics
paper, in essence, tries to examine, to quote summarily, that if a candidate is ‘ethical
problem-solving decision maker’? And this is the very need of administration and
governance. Now, the means to test the same is a pen-and-paper test. That places quite a
few boundaries on the extent of the paper. However, when seen in comparison with other
papers, viz. GS I, GS II, GS III, Essay and optional, it becomes crystal clear that no other
paper is intently as sound as this paper. Thus, Ethics stand out in examining the aptitude
of a candidate to be a Civil Servant, which by fact, is not the aspiration of any other paper.
This marks a distinction for Ethics as the first paper in the history of Civil Services
Examination of India, to have been dedicated to the pious examination of the future ability
of the candidate, well in time.
This brings us to enquire into- whether the attempt of UPSC is successful? To be fair and
judicious, one needs to deal it in greater detail than simply looking at it as one sided
attempt by the UPSC.

AN EXAMPLE
To clarify further let us have a look at an example. Taking the case of judiciary, we know
that, at times, the criminal walks free, unpunished. But would it be justified to condemn
the whole justice system or question the intent of the entire judiciary? The reason a
criminal walks free is, customarily, the smartness and intelligence with which his/her trails
were covered. In such cases, it is extremely difficult for the judiciary to find out dirt on
the criminal and, resulting lack of evidence, sets the ‘wrong’ free. This is akin to the case
of UPSC. This, in no way, is to discount the fact that there are no other reasons than the
stated one in such evasion of a criminal. Reasons like criminal liasoning, abuse of power etc. do form a segment. But it could not be discussed in this article due to the scope of the
title.

THE ISSUE
Returning to the issue, it is realised, there are loopholes imbibed in the very nature of
humans due to which we are likely to witness incidences reflecting immorality. However,
it would seldom reflect the ‘failure of an entire system’, and often reflect the successful
effort of an ill-intended endeavour made possible by the diligence of an actor to bypass
the systemic procedures.

THE REAL QUESTIONS
But what are the real questions? They are the ones hidden behind the surface reality and
could be known by reason inspecting our aspirations. What is the will of the nation? To
save the crooked from entering the prestigious services. Therefore, the question is –‘How
can the will of the nation be implemented?’ Another question is –‘What role does Ethics
paper play in serving the mentioned purpose?’ Yet another, important one is – ‘What role
can UPSC play to better the application of its intent?’

THE DIFFICULT ANSWERS
‘How can the will of the nation be implemented?’
The answer is simple. We, as a nation, would need to work together. The bottleneck is that
we do no train ourselves towards the knowledge of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. We wait for an
external body to save us by seeding out the rotten. This leaves a huge scope of moral lapses
as the locus is placed outside oneself and, resulting in introspection taking a backseat.
When such an incidence is reported, we do not take time to point out fingers at the best
bait we find. How many times do we question ourselves and feel responsible for that IPS
was a part of our society? Do we ask ourselves the role that we had played in him and
other such candidates inculcating the kind of value they had internalized? Do we even
make an effort to consciously make a choice in selection of the kind of values we would
want to nourish and nurture? Do we realise that tomorrow it can as well be our brother,
sister, or whole younger generation, or ourselves, who find themselves in such a situation?
It is high time we wake up from this moral ignorance to the role of family and society and other institutions in inculcating values. And also waking up to the need to educate our very
own consciences. If we, as a nation, want to achieve something, we, as a nation, need to
do something, and it will always, and ever, start from us.

Coming to the second question -‘What role does Ethics paper play in serving the
mentioned purpose?’
It is this Ethics paper which marks a gradient shift in the examination pattern of Civil
Services conducted by UPSC. Today we have at least one paper which intends to evaluate
the sanctity of a future Civil Servant beforehand. It shall be welcomed as a progressive
step towards the approach of the examination. This is also the contemporary trend in other
countries of the world, which are much more evolved on the same front. It’s time we start
doing some ‘catching-up’ too.
It is to be realised that this paper is in an infant phase. Candidates aspiring for CSE have
little idea about what to do? And so is the condition of the public officers when
administrative ethics is concerned. It will take some time before we evolve, from infantile
to adolescent to young to further evolution, in Ethics.

This brings us to the last question – ‘What role can UPSC play to better the application of
its intent?’
UPSC has a very well known, extremely crucial role to play when handling of Ethics paper
is intrigued. The designing of the paper is at a fair level considering the stage Ethics is in.
Further, the growth is visibly reflected in the evolution that this paper has seen since its
inception, in 2013, till today, in 2017. However, it is extremely vital that a greater ‘ethical
competence’ be developed in the examiners and evaluators of Ethics paper. There is much
more to this paper than the technical knowledge on the same. This calls for a crisp and
precise competence instilled in order to be able to look beyond the expressed text in the
paper on Ethics. If UPSC is able to do the same, the ethics paper will reach its next stage
in evolution, in which it would be better and more efficiently able to weed out the
compromised candidates, if not all.

Reiterating a fact known to all is – any inquiry at a superficial level builds a simpler picture
but not a real one. Only when we delve deeper into it, we realise the meaning of ‘tip of the ice-berg’. After all, the devil does lie in the detail. On the contrary, it is this Ethics, with
knowledge of which, we can combat the ‘demons of wrongs’ and establish the sanity of
‘right’.

CONCLUDING REMARK
If there is to question, there is more to us and our value systems, than to anything else.
The Ethics paper is a beautifully crafted one in both – its intent and approach. And it is
not only helpful for a candidate to clear the exam and be a Civil Servant, but also for any
person to become a better human being a fuller personality. And all we need to do is to
wake up from our ethical slumber, and understand the plethora it has to offer. And
understand it right.