A single place to practice Ethics questions across every theme — organised so you can focus on your weak areas.
Every topic page in this Ethics section already has its own "Practice Questions in Previous-Year Style" section. This page pulls together a cross-topic sample so you can test yourself across the whole paper in one sitting.
For the complete, year-wise archive of actual official Previous Year Question papers, visit the main PYQ section of the site.
| Year | Topic | Question |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Ethics & Human Interface | "What do you understand by 'values' and 'ethics'? In what way is it important to be ethical along with being professionally competent?" |
| 2013 | Ethics & Human Interface | "'Integrity is the quality of the honesty and moral uprightness of a person...' Explain." |
| 2014 | Public/Civil Service Values | "Attitude and knowledge are the pre-requisites for bringing efficiency in public service delivery. However, they are not sufficient... discuss role of values in public service delivery." |
| 2014 | Emotional Intelligence | "Emotional intelligence is the ability to make use of one's emotions in effective and positive ways... Discuss how emotional intelligence can be useful in decision making and public administration." |
| 2016 | Human Values | "'Corruption is the manifestation of the failure of core values in the society.' What steps would you suggest to restore basic ethical values in public life?" |
| 2017 | Public/Civil Service Values | "What do you understand by the term 'public service values' and 'ethics in public service'? Why should these be inculcated in public service?" |
| 2018 | Ethics & Human Interface | "What do you understand by the term 'Values'? How are values different from Ethics? Explain the sources of values with suitable examples." |
| 2019 | Probity in Governance | "What do you understand by 'probity' in public life? What are the difficulties in practising it in the present times? How can these difficulties be overcome?" |
| 2020 | Human Values | "What is meant by 'crisis of conscience'? Narrate one incident in your life when you were faced with such a crisis and how you resolved it." |
| Practice | Attitude | "'Attitude is more important than IQ for effective administration.' Critically examine this statement with reference to functions of attitude." |
| Practice | Attitude | "'Attitudes are caught, not taught.' Examine this statement in the context of moral attitude formation among civil servants." |
| Practice | Aptitude & Foundational Values | "Distinguish between 'neutrality' and 'impartiality' as foundational values of civil service, with examples." |
| Practice | Aptitude & Foundational Values | "'Anonymity of civil servants is increasingly difficult to sustain in the age of RTI and social media.' Discuss." |
| Practice | Ethics & Human Interface | "'A public servant's private life is entirely his own business.' Critically comment." |
| Practice | Moral Thinkers & Philosophers | "Write short notes (150 words each) on the ethical contributions of any two thinkers — one Indian and one Western." |
| Practice | Public/Civil Service Values | "'Corporate Social Responsibility is as much an ethical obligation as a legal one.' Discuss with reference to Indian corporate governance norms." |
| Practice | Public/Civil Service Values | "Examine the ethical basis of India's position on 'Common but Differentiated Responsibilities' in international climate negotiations." |
| Practice | Public/Civil Service Values | "'Regulatory independence and regulatory accountability are often seen as being in tension.' Discuss with reference to Indian regulatory institutions." |
| Practice | Probity in Governance | "'Transparency alone cannot guarantee probity in governance.' Critically examine with reference to the RTI Act, 2005." |
| Practice | Probity in Governance | "Discuss the role of e-governance in strengthening probity in public administration, with examples." |
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