Q19 · UPPSC PCS Mains 2021 · GS IV · 12 marks · ~200 words in the hall · 2 min read

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‘Today objectivity and dedication is the need of the hour in civil services.’ Justify the statement.

Topic: Civil Service aptitude and values. Syllabus: Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service — integrity, impartiality, non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public services. Same official PYQ from year-wise 2021 and Civil Service aptitude and values.

Revision summary

Objectivity is evidence, law, and equal treatment, not faction or a viral clip. Dedication is fidelity to the Constitution and to last-mile work after the camera leaves. Today’s polarised, digital, transfer-heavy service makes both scarce and necessary. A dedicated partisan and an objective cynic both fail the citizen. Trust is the scarce good: objectivity earns the stranger; dedication earns Monday morning.

Model answer

Introduction

Objectivity is deciding on facts, law, and equal treatment, not on faction or mood. Dedication is staying with the public purpose when the posting is hard and the applause is thin. Today’s civil service needs both because the file is louder, faster, and more watched than before.

Body

Objectivity as the need of the hour

  • Polarised politics and social media invite the officer to become a side. Objectivity is the refusal to let a rumour, a caste arithmetic, or a viral clip replace evidence.
  • Welfare targeting, tenders, and policing now sit on databases; a biased query or a cooked dashboard is a new form of partiality.
  • Transfers, anonymous complaints, and 24-hour news punish an unpopular but lawful order; objectivity is the courage to write the speaking note anyway.
  • Objectivity is not coldness. It is the same licence standard for the connected and the unknown, and a recusal when the family is in the file.

Dedication as the need of the hour

  • Dedication is fidelity to the Constitution and to the weakest user of the scheme, not to a patron.
  • Disaster, pandemic-style load, and last-mile exclusion need stamina after the camera leaves.
  • A dedicated officer finishes the rehabilitation after the demolition photo, and the scholarship after the announcement.
  • Without dedication, objectivity becomes a neat note that nobody implements.

Why the pair, today

  • A dedicated partisan is a danger; an objective cynic who does the minimum is a quiet failure.
  • Today’s hour includes deepfakes, vendor capture, and identity heat in Uttar Pradesh as elsewhere; the pair is the practical ethic of Article 14 in a live tehsil.
  • Training, protection of honest officers, and appraisals that mark integrity — not only revenue — are how the hour is met as a system, not as a sermon.

Justification

  • The statement holds because public trust is the scarce good, and trust dies when the file looks bought or abandoned.
  • Objectivity earns the trust of the stranger; dedication earns the trust that the State will still be there on Monday.

Flow diagram

flowchart TD
  O[Objectivity] --> F[Facts equal treatment]
  D[Dedication] --> P[Public purpose stamina]
  F --> T[Citizen trust]
  P --> T

Conclusion

Objectivity keeps the civil service from becoming a faction. Dedication keeps it from becoming a posting. In a polarised, digital, high-pressure hour, both are the working name of a constitutional officer.

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