2024 · GS Paper 4 · Q11 · 20 marks
With the summer heat being exceptionally severe this year, the district has been facing severe water shortage. The District Collector has been mobilizing his subordinate officials to conserve the remaining water reserves for preventing the district from plunging into acute drinking water crisis. Along with an awareness campaign for conserving water, strict measures have been taken for stopping the over-exploitation of ground-water. Vigilance teams have been deployed to tour the villages and find the farmers who are drawing water from deep borewells or from the river reservoir for irrigation. The farmers are agitated by such action. A delegation of farmers meets the District Collector with their issues and complains that while they are not being allowed to irrigate their crops, big industries located near the river are drawing huge amounts of water through deep borewells for their industrial processes. The farmers allege that their administration is anti-farmer and corrupt, being bribed by the industry. The district needs to placate the farmers as they are threatening to go on a prolonged protest. At the same time, the District Collector has to deal with the water crisis. The industry cannot be closed as this would result in a large number of workers being unemployed. (a) Discuss all options available to the District Collector as a District Magistrate. (b) What suitable actions can be taken in view of mutually compatible interests of the stakeholders? (c) What are the potential administrative and ethical dilemmas for the District Collector?
In short
The Collector should impose metered rationing on every user with drinking water first, audit industrial borewells openly with farmer representatives, and support farmers with rotational irrigation and recharge. Drinking water gets priority under the National Water Policy, 2012, and water is held in public trust.
Model answer
Ghissu Editorial · Verified 4 Oct 2026 · 288 words
(i) CONFRONT [Strict-Legal]
Banning all irrigation and sealing industry saves water but costs crops and jobs.
(ii) CAPITULATE [Empathetic-Humanitarian]
Relaxing the ban buys peace but risks a drinking water crisis.
(iii) EVADE [Procedural-Evasive]
Referring the issue upward is Diffusion of Responsibility.
(iv) COMPROMISE [Compromised-Hybrid]
Letting industry pay a cess is Dual-Standard Practice.
(v) RECONCILE ✓ [Balanced]
Metered rationing for every user, drinking water first, using DDMA and Section 163 BNSS powers (recommended).
Drinking water first
Priority under the National Water Policy, 2012, with tankers to deficit villages.
Audit industry openly
Check borewells against CGWA permissions with a joint team including farmers.
Shared sacrifice
Industry recycles water and cuts withdrawal so jobs survive; farmers get rotational irrigation for standing crops and Atal Bhujal Yojana [scheme] support for village water budgets.
Competing goods
Public Health vs Livelihood, and Equity vs Economic Utility.
Trust issue
The bribery charge needs a visible inquiry, since perceived Regulatory Capture erodes trust, and water is held in public trust per M.C. Mehta v Kamal Nath (1997) [case].
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District and Local Administration Dilemmas7 questions
Asked in 6 of 14 sittings since 2013
- 2026Seema is a senior bureaucrat with a reputation of honesty and professional efficiency. She has recently been posted as the District Collector (DC) to Surinder Nagar, where a large industrial area is being established. The new industrial area had caused many farmers to submit applications for change of land use (CLU) to convert their farmlands into residential areas. There is an unusually large backlog of these applications awaiting processing. Seema noticed that some applications had been approved selectively with no visible chronological pattern. The case files showed a few complaints of some approvals being subject to receipt of large bribes from the applicants. On further fact-finding, Seema realized that a small group of touts was controlling this illegal activity through some subordinate officials in the Collectorate. This had created a fear in the other employees who were reluctant to process any application. The resultant backlog has been piling up thereby hindering local economic progress and causing public dissatisfaction. Seema was faced with a major moral and administrative challenge of dismantling this corruption network without hampering daily administrative operations. An aggressive internal investigation would result in institutional resistance and, possibly, a backlash from labour unions. Conversely, ignoring this situation would encourage the wrongdoers and unnecessarily continue this avoidable harassment to the populace. (a) What are the ethical issues involved in this case? (b) Discuss the options open to Seema. Identify the recommended option and justify it.
- 2025Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program, MGNREGA was earlier known as National Rural Employment Scheme, NREGA. It is an Indian Social Welfare Program that aimed at fulfilling the 'Right to Work' provisions made in the Constitution. MGNREGA was launched in 2006 under Rural Employment Sector by the Ministry of Rural Development. Main objective of the program is to give legal guarantee of wage employment to the adult members of rural households who are willing to do unskilled manual labour work subject to a maximum of 100 days per year for every household. Every rural household has the right to register under the scheme, job card is issued to the registered, Job Card holder can seek employment; State Government shall pay 25% of minimum wage for the first 30 days as compensatory daily unemployment allowance to the families and of wage for remaining period of the year. MGNREGA work was undertaken by various Gram Panchayats. You have been appointed as an Administrator Incharge of the District. You have been given the responsibility of monitoring MGNREGA work undertaken by various Gram Panchayats. You are also given the authority to give technical sanctions to all MGNREGA works. In one of the Panchayats in your jurisdiction, you notice that your predecessor has mismanaged the Program in terms of: (i) Money not disbursed to actual job-seekers. (ii) Muster Rolls of the Labourers not properly maintained. (iii) Mismatch between the work done and payments made. (iv) Payments made to fictitious persons. (v) Job Cards were given without looking into the need of person. (vi) Mismanagement of funds and to the extent of siphoning of funds. (vii) Approved works that never existed. (a) What is your reaction to the above situation and how do you restore the proper functioning of MGNREGA Program in this regard? (b) What actions would you initiate to solve the various issues listed above? (c) How would you deal with the above situation?
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Question from the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) Examination 2024 paper. Answer written by Ghissu's engine and checked against our editorial standards. Found an error? Tell us and we correct it within 48 hours.