Revision summary
DPSPs demand both housing for the weak and protection of the environment. Clearing a biodiverse forest can unhouse tribals while housing someone else. The ethical first search is vacant plots, infill and degraded land, with FRA consent if forest is touched at all. A photo colony in a core habitat fails public-trust and land-ethic tests. The poor who live from the forest count as the poor, not as an obstacle.
Model answer
Introduction
The Constitution asks the State to care about roti, kapda and makan. A district wants to cut a living forest to house the homeless. The same forest holds rain, tribes, medicine and soil. This is not ‘trees versus poor people’. It is which poor, which land, and whether the State did the easier violence.
Body
(a) Can deforestation be ethically justified for housing?
Not as a first resort, and not in this dense old patch. Shelter is a real duty (Article 21 with DPSPs on livelihood). A living forest that holds rain, tribes and soil is also a duty (Article 48A, public trust, FRA). Ethics of lesser harm can justify some tree loss on already degraded land after an honest search. It cannot justify the easiest green core so that a colony photograph is ready this financial year. If the only story is “the poor cannot eat biodiversity”, the speaker has erased the poor who already eat from that forest. So: no ethical blank cheque for this proposal; a narrow maybe only after brown-land failure is proved in public.
(b) Socio-economic, administrative and ethical challenges
Socio-economic: urban homeless need makan; forest users need produce and identity; a cleared slope can dry a town and raise future disaster costs. Administrative: EIA theatre, forged gram sabhas, target-driven housing missions, weak land records, and a contractor who arrives before the botanist. Ethical: which poor; consent versus consultation; present voters versus unborn; means (a grove as a shortcut) versus ends (dignity). Leopold’s land ethic and Gandhi’s talisman collide unless the officer counts the tribal face as the poorest face too.
(c) Substantial alternatives
Publish a vacant-land audit of government plots, infill, unused staff colonies and rental housing. Build vertical on brownfield. Repair existing public buildings first. If forest is touched at all: edge only, gram sabha consent, no-go core, real compensatory ecology (not distant eucalyptus), and livelihood shares for displaced users. PMAY and rental policy should precede a chainsaw. That package protects environmental integrity and human dignity together.
A civil servant who only quotes makan has forgotten that the grove is also kapda — shade — for the people who already live there.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD H[Homeless makan] --> CH[Choice] F[Forest tribe rain] --> CH CH --> L[Degraded land infill] CH --> X[Do not cut core]
Conclusion
Shelter is a constitutional care. A dense old forest is not the first place to keep that promise. Audit degraded land, get consent, and do not manufacture a new displaced tribe in the name of housing.
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Case study. Subash is Secretary, PWD in the State Government. He is a senior officer, known for his competence, integrity and dedication to work. He enjoys the trust and confidence of Minister Incharge of PWD and Programme Implementation. As a part of his job profile, he is responsible for policy formulation, execution of projects relating to infrastructure initiatives in the State. Besides, he oversees the technical and administrative aspects relating to planning, designing and construction etc. Subash's Minister is an important Minister in the state and significant growth in urban infrastructure development and road network has been registered during his tenure. He is very keen for launching of ambitious road construction project in the near future. Subash is in regular touch with the Minister and is working various modalities of road construction project. Regular meetings, interactions and presentations are made by him to the Minister before a formal public announcement of the project is made by the Minister. Subash's only son Vikas is in real estate business. His son from his own sources is aware that a mega road project is on the anvil and announcement in this regard is expected anytime. He is very keen to know from his father the exact location of the upcoming project. He knows that there would be quantum jump in the prices of land at the proposed location. Buying land at this stage at cheaper prices would pay him rich dividends. He is pleading with him (his father) day in and day out to share him location of the proposed project. He assured him that he would handle the matter discreetly as it would not attract any adverse notice as he in the normal course, keeps on buying land as a part of his business. He feels pressurised because of constant pleadings by his son. Another significant aspect of the matter pertained to the extra/undue interest in the above project by the Minister PWD. His nephew was also having big infrastructure project company. In fact, the Minister has also introduced his nephew to him and indicated to him to take care of his nephew's business interest in the forthcoming project. The Minister encouraged him to act fast in the matter as early announcement and execution of mega road project would enhance his status in the party and public life. In the above backdrop, Subash is in a fix as to the future course of action. (a) Discuss the ethical issues involved in the case. (b) Critically examine the options available to Subash in the above situation. (c) Which of the above would be most appropriate and why?
Next question on this syllabus topic (2025 · Q9). View answer →
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Does ethics freeze all urban housing?
No. It freezes the lazy choice of a green core when brown land exists.
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What if the only land is forest?
Then prove it in a public audit, take the least harm slice, and compensate with real ecology and livelihood, not a distant eucalyptus plot.
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More from this topic
Q12 · UPSC Mains 2025 · GS IV · 20 marks
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Ethics Case Studies
Options range from pushing everyone back to opening the gate to armed men; both extremes fail. The dilemma is non-refoulement and medical duty versus sovereignty and the risk of a ruse. The better path is triage and shelter for civilians, especially women and children, and separate internment of disarmed soldiers pending the Centre. Border police should keep distance, seal weapons, separate camps, and avoid humiliation or leaks. Waiting for a dead phone while a child bleeds is not caution; it is omission.
Q11 · UPSC Mains 2025 · GS IV · 20 marks
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Ethics Case Studies
The first duty is to protect records, tell workers the truth, and stop further theft. Arrears must reach real job-seekers while ghosts, fake works and siphoned funds go to vigilance and the police. Job cards should be re-verified without stripping genuine households. The predecessor deserves due process, not a media hanging or a cover-up. Social audit, geotagging and a public dashboard keep the repair from rotting again.
Q10 · UPSC Mains 2025 · GS IV · 20 marks
Case study. Rajesh is a Group A officer with nine years of service. He is posted as Administrative Officer in an Oil Public Sector undertaking. As an Administrative Officer he is responsible for managing and coordinating various administrative tasks to ensure smooth functioning of office. He also manages office supplies, equipment etc. Rajesh is now sufficient senior and is expecting his next promotion in JAG (Junior Administrative Grade) in the next one or two years. He knows that promotion is based on examination of ACRs/Performance Appraisal of last few years (5 years or so) of an officer by a DPC (Departmental Promotion Committee) and an officer lacking requisite grading of ACRs may not be found fit for promotion. Consequences of losing promotion may entail financial and reputational loss and set-back for career progression. Though he also puts his best efforts in official discharge of his duties, yet he is unsure of assessment by his superior officer. He is now putting extra efforts so that he gets thumping report at the end of financial year. As Administrative Officer, Rajesh is regularly interacting with his immediate boss, who is his reporting officer for writing his ACR. One day he calls Rajesh and wants him to buy computer-related stationery on priority from a particular vendor. Rajesh instructs his office to initiate action for procuring these items. During the day, the dealing Assistant brings an estimate of Rupees Thirty Five Lakhs covering all stationery items from the same vendor. It is noticed that as per delegated financial powers, as provided in the GFR (General Financial Rules) as applicable in that Organisation, expenditure for office items exceeding Rupees Thirty Lakhs requires sanction of the next higher authority (boss in the present case). Rajesh knows that immediate superior would expect all these purchases should be done at his level and may not appreciate such lack of initiative on his part. During discussions with office, he learns that common practice of splitting of expenditure (where large order is divided into a series of smaller ones) is followed to avoid obtaining sanction from higher authority. This practice is against the rules and may come to the adverse notice of Audit. Rajesh is perturbed. He is unsure of taking decision in the matter. (a) What are the options available with Rajesh in the above situation?(b) What are the ethical issues involved in this case?(c) Which would be the most appropriate option for Rajesh and why?
Ethics Case Studies
Splitting ₹35 lakh into smaller bills to avoid the boss’s sanction is a GFR violation, even if it is a common trick. The ethical issues are career fear, a named vendor, and the habit of collective cheating. Rajesh’s options include splitting, lawful phasing, written illegal orders, or a proper sanction. The right choice is a single proposal to the competent authority and a competitive purchase. A promotion that needs a false indent is not worth the integrity it costs.
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