UPSC Mains 2025 GS4 Q19 — Case study - Refugee crisis
Ashok is Divisional Commissioner of one of the border districts of the North East State. A few years back, Military has taken over the neighbouring country after overthrowing the elected civil government. Civil war situation is prevailing in the country especially in last two years. However, internal situation further deteriorated due to rebel groups taking over control of certain populated areas near own border. Due to intense fight between military and rebel groups, civilian casualties has increased manifold in recent past. In the meantime, in one night Ashok got information from the local police guarding the border check post that there are about 200-250 people mainly women and children trying to cross over to our side of the border. There are also about 10 soldiers with their weapons in military uniform part of this group who wants to cross over. Women and Children are also crying and begging for help. A few of them are injured and bleeding profusely need immediate medical care. Ashok tried to contact Home Secretary of the State but failed to do so due to poor connectivity mainly due to inclement weather. (a) What are the options available with Ashok to cope with the situation? (b) What are the ethical and legal dilemmas being faced by Ashok? (c) Which of the options, do you think would be more appropriate for Ashok to adopt and why? (d) In the present situation, what are the extra precautionary measures to be taken by the Border Guarding Police in dealing with soldiers in uniform? (Answer in 250 words)
Question Decoded — examiner's intent
- Directive verbs
- What areappropriate for Ashok to adoptwhyextra precautionary measures to be taken
- Scope keywords
- Divisional Commissionerborder districtswomen and childrensoldiers with their weaponsinjured and bleeding profuselyinclement weatherrebel groups
- Implicit sub-parts
- The International Refugee vs. Illegal Immigrant distinction in the Indian context.
- The protocol for disarming and interning foreign combatants entering sovereign territory.
- The conflict between 'Responsibility to Protect' (Humanitarianism) vs. 'National Security' (Sovereignty).
- Adherence to the principle of Non-refoulement versus lack of a formal domestic refugee law.
- Common pitfalls
- Focusing only on the humanitarian aspect of women/children while ignoring the critical security threat of 10 armed foreign soldiers.
- Proposing a complete 'push-back' which violates fundamental human rights and the right to life of the injured.
- Failing to mention the specific administrative protocol of disarming, segregating, and detaining the soldiers separately from civilians.
- Wasting word count on criticizing the 'poor connectivity' instead of demonstrating decisiveness in a communication vacuum.
- Dimensions required
- International Law (Geneva Conventions)National Security and Border ManagementEthical Deontology vs. UtilitarianismAdministrative Law and Discretionary PowersHuman Rights and Bio-ethics (Medical Triage)
- Marks allocation hint
Allocate 40-50 words each for options and dilemmas (Parts a & b) to establish the crisis context. Dedicate the bulk (around 100 words) to the 'Appropriate Option' (Part c) as it tests ethical reasoning. Use the final 50-60 words for Part (d) to demonstrate technical administrative competence regarding the soldiers.
Unlock the full analysis for this question
You've seen the question and its examiner-intent decoding. Subscribers also get:
- 🔗 Similar Previous Year Questions — cross-year, cross-paper matches so you study the topic, not the question
- 📚 Source Map — verified citations from Laxmikanth, NCERT, PRS, Yojana, Economic Survey, Spectrum
- 🌱 How this topic is evolving — current-affairs bridge anchored to live TARS news clustering
- 🧭 Examiner's Pattern — how the topic has been framed across every year UPSC has tested it
- ✍️ Answer Skeleton — a structured outline (intro → body → conclusion) you can flesh out
- 🎯 AI evaluation — write your answer, get rubric-based scoring from gs-eval
Or browse 132+ free preview questions across all years and papers — the first 3 questions of every paper are unlocked.
Ready to practice?
Subscribers can attempt this question in 250 words and get an instant, rubric-based evaluation showing where they stand.
Subscribe to evaluate your answer →