100 MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS FOR UPSC MAINS 2026

What Should You Write in the Time You Have Left?

The UPSC Civil Services (Main) Examination 2026 begins on 21 August 2026 with the Essay paper, followed by GS Papers I and II on 22 August and GS Papers III and IV on 23 August. Language papers fall on 29 August and the Optional papers on 30 August. Around 13,343 candidates cleared Prelims 2026, and almost all of them are now asking the same question: what do I practise in the last remaining days?

Reading more is not the answer. Writing the right questions is. This list of 100 most important questions for UPSC Mains 2026 — 25 each for GS 1, GS 2, GS 3 and GS 4.

They are not guesses. Each one comes from studying the question papers of the last three years, seeing which themes UPSC keeps returning to, and matching those themes with what has been in the news over the past several months.

Use it as a practice set, not as a prediction. UPSC will not repeat these questions word for word. But if you write these, an unfamiliar question in the hall will still fall inside something you have already thought about. 

What the Last Three Years of PYQs Actually Tell Us

1. Static topics arrive wearing current clothes. The 2025 GS I paper asked about Harappan architecture and Chandella sculptures — pure static — but also about tectonic movements, offshore oil, and the use of GIS and AI in geography. The 2025 GS III paper leaned openly on the news cycle: PLI, the semiconductor mission, ITER, CCUS, the LWE deadline. Candidates who prepared NCERTs alone struggled. The lesson: no static topic is safe from a contemporary framing, and no current topic is safe from a conceptual one.

2. The command words have shifted from “describe” to “examine”. Analytical questions outnumbered factual ones in GS I 2025, GS II 2025 was described by most reviewers as conceptual rather than fact-based, and the 2025 Ethics paper moved noticeably away from abstract philosophy towards live governance dilemmas. UPSC is testing judgement, not recall.

3. Weightage has tilted, but not evenly. Geography carried the heaviest load in GS I 2025 (roughly 7 of 20 questions). Polity remained the toughest and densest section of GS II. In GS III, Economy and Internal Security were the scoring blocks while Science & Technology was the hardest. Ethics split roughly evenly between theory and case studies, with the case studies clearly harder than in earlier years.

Here is how the three papers compare at a glance:

If you want to map these trends against the syllabus itself before you start writing, the full IAS exam pattern and syllabus breakdown is a useful reference to keep open.

The Current Affairs Window That Matters

•             Polity and Constitution: the Supreme Court’s November 2025 opinion on the Presidential Reference regarding Governors’ assent under Articles 200 and 201; the nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls announced in October 2025 and upheld by the Supreme Court in May 2026; the 130th and 131st Constitution Amendment Bills covering ministerial removal, delimitation and women’s reservation.

•             Economy: the Economic Survey 2025-26 with real GDP growth around 7.4%; Union Budget 2026-27 with capital expenditure raised to about ₹12.2 lakh crore, an Infrastructure Risk Guarantee Fund and CPSE asset-recycling REITs; the Income Tax Act, 2025 taking effect from 1 April 2026; GST 2.0 rate rationalisation; the four Labour Codes in force from 21 November 2025.

•             International Relations: the India–EU FTA signed on 27 January 2026; the India–US bilateral trade understanding of February 2026 reducing tariffs from 50% to 18%; the Indus Waters Treaty held in abeyance; the India AI Impact Summit and New Delhi Declaration of February 2026.

•             Environment: COP30 at Belém and the Global Mutirão decision; India’s NDC 3.0; the EU’s CBAM operational from 1 January 2026; the Supreme Court’s July 2026 verdict on post-facto environmental clearances.

•             Security: the 31 March 2026 milestone on Left Wing Extremism; progress on Integrated Theatre Commands; Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb disruptions to energy shipping.

General Studies Paper I — 25 Questions

Indian Heritage and Culture

1.          Harappan urbanism rested less on monumental grandeur than on hydraulic engineering and craft specialisation. Examine. (15 marks, 250 words)

2.          The regional schools of Indian temple architecture were shaped as much by political patronage as by religious doctrine. Discuss with reference to any two schools. (15 marks, 250 words)

3.          The Bhakti and Sufi traditions did not merely coexist; they reshaped each other’s vocabulary. Elaborate. (10 marks, 150 words)

4.          India’s folk and tribal art forms survive today less through state patronage than through market demand. Critically examine the implications for cultural authenticity. (10 marks, 150 words)

History

5.          Sangam literature is a social document before it is a literary one. Assess its value as a source for the study of early Tamilakam. (10 marks, 150 words)

6.          Evaluate the administrative and revenue innovations of the Vijayanagara empire and their long-term impact on peninsular India. (15 marks, 250 words)

7.          The tribal and peasant uprisings of the nineteenth century were not failed rebellions but early articulations of a political consciousness. Comment. (15 marks, 250 words)

8.          Compare the strategies adopted by Jotirao Phule, B. R. Ambedkar and Periyar in confronting caste, and assess their contemporary relevance. (15 marks, 250 words)

9.          Gandhi transformed the national movement less by introducing new demands than by changing who could participate in it. Discuss with reference to the period 1917–1922. (15 marks, 250 words)

10.      The integration of the princely states and the linguistic reorganisation of states were two distinct exercises in nation-building with a shared logic. Examine. (15 marks, 250 words)

11.      Decolonisation in Asia and Africa produced political sovereignty without economic sovereignty. Critically analyse. (15 marks, 250 words)

Indian Society

12.      Smart city interventions have improved urban efficiency more than urban equity. Critically examine in the Indian context. (15 marks, 250 words)

13.      Internal migration is India’s largest invisible welfare challenge. In the light of the new Labour Codes, discuss the adequacy of the existing framework for inter-state migrant workers. (15 marks, 250 words)

14.      Displacement of tribal communities for development projects remains a problem of rehabilitation rather than of compensation. Examine with reference to the Forest Rights Act, 2006. (15 marks, 250 words)

15.      India’s falling female labour force participation coexists with rising female educational attainment. Account for this paradox and suggest correctives. (15 marks, 250 words)

16.      India will age before it becomes rich. Discuss the social and institutional implications of this demographic sequence. (10 marks, 150 words)

17.      Social media has widened public participation while narrowing public reasoning. Comment in the context of communal polarisation in India. (10 marks, 150 words)

Geography

18.      Explain how plate tectonic processes account for the global distribution of earthquakes, volcanoes and mineral belts. (15 marks, 250 words)

19.      Discuss the influence of El Niño–La Niña oscillations on the Indian monsoon and on India’s agricultural planning. (15 marks, 250 words)

20.      Extreme heat is a development challenge, not a seasonal emergency. Examine this proposition with reference to India’s cities and its outdoor workforce. (15 marks, 250 words)

21.      Sea-level rise threatens India’s deltaic and island regions differently. Compare the vulnerabilities of the Sundarbans and the Lakshadweep group, and suggest adaptation strategies. (15 marks, 250 words)

22.      Groundwater depletion in India is a governance failure disguised as a hydrological one. Discuss. (10 marks, 150 words)

23.      Inter-state river water disputes persist despite a statutory framework. Analyse the reasons with reference to the Mahanadi dispute and suggest institutional reform. (15 marks, 250 words)

24.      The global race for critical minerals is redrawing the economic geography of resource-rich regions. Examine India’s position and its strategic options. (15 marks, 250 words)

25.      Assess the role of geospatial technology and artificial intelligence in disaster preparedness and resource mapping in India. (10 marks, 150 words)

General Studies Paper II — 25 Questions

Polity and Constitution

26.      The Supreme Court’s advisory opinion on the powers of the Governor under Articles 200 and 201 restores textual fidelity but leaves the problem of inaction unresolved. Critically examine. (15 marks, 250 words)

27.      Article 143 is a constitutional safety valve, not an appellate remedy. Discuss the scope and limits of the President’s advisory reference. (15 marks, 250 words)

28.      The Election Commission’s powers under Article 324 are plenary but not unlimited. Examine in the context of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. (15 marks, 250 words)

29.      Delimitation on the basis of population risks penalising states that succeeded at demographic transition. Discuss the federal implications of the proposed expansion of the Lok Sabha. (15 marks, 250 words)

30.      Automatic removal of ministers on prolonged detention advances probity but sits uneasily with the presumption of innocence. Critically evaluate. (15 marks, 250 words)

31.      Vertical devolution alone cannot fix Centre–State fiscal asymmetry. Examine the emerging issues before the Sixteenth Finance Commission. (15 marks, 250 words)

32.      Judicial independence and judicial accountability are not competing values. Discuss with reference to the appointment and oversight of higher judiciary. (15 marks, 250 words)

33.      Tribunalisation was meant to decongest courts; it has often relocated the congestion. Critically analyse. (10 marks, 150 words)

34.      Constitutional commissions such as the NCSC and NCST possess recommendatory authority without adjudicatory power. Does this limit their effectiveness? Examine. (10 marks, 150 words)

Governance

35.      Algorithmic curation by intermediaries raises questions that the safe harbour framework was not designed to answer. Discuss the regulatory options before India. (15 marks, 250 words)

36.      The Digital Personal Data Protection Act balances citizen privacy against state necessity. Examine whether the balance struck is constitutionally sound. (15 marks, 250 words)

37.      Digital Public Infrastructure has outpaced data governance. Examine with reference to sectoral data stacks in agriculture and health. (15 marks, 250 words)

38.      Transparency legislation is only as strong as the definition of a public authority. Discuss with reference to recent litigation on the scope of the RTI Act. (10 marks, 150 words)

39.      Mission-mode governance improves delivery but weakens institutional memory. Comment. (10 marks, 150 words)

40.      The third tier of Indian federalism remains functionally dependent despite constitutional status. Suggest reforms to strengthen fiscal and administrative autonomy of local bodies. (15 marks, 250 words)

Social Justice

41.      The Code on Social Security, 2020 recognises gig and platform workers for the first time. Assess whether recognition translates into protection. (15 marks, 250 words)

42.      Redesigning the rural employment guarantee alters the balance of obligation between the Union and the States. Critically examine the implications for cooperative federalism and for rural distress. (15 marks, 250 words)

43.      Personal law reform in India has advanced through judicial intervention more than legislative consensus. Discuss with reference to the ongoing debate on gender justice within personal laws. (15 marks, 250 words)

44.      Examination integrity is a governance problem before it is a policing problem. Examine in the light of the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024. (10 marks, 150 words)

45.      India’s health outcomes lag its health expenditure. Analyse the structural reasons and suggest financing reforms. (15 marks, 250 words)

International Relations

46.      The India–EU Free Trade Agreement is as much a geopolitical instrument as a commercial one. Critically examine, including the challenge posed by the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. (15 marks, 250 words)

47.      India’s trade understanding with the United States traded energy autonomy for market access. Assess this proposition and its consequences for strategic autonomy. (15 marks, 250 words)

48.      Holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance raises questions of treaty law, riparian obligation and regional stability. Examine. (15 marks, 250 words)

49.      India’s Neighbourhood First policy delivers most consistently where development partnership precedes strategic expectation. Discuss with recent examples. (15 marks, 250 words)

50.      India has positioned itself as a bridge between frontier technology and the Global South. Evaluate this claim in the light of India’s AI diplomacy and its demand for multilateral reform. (15 marks, 250 words)

Practising these questions in a timed setting matters more than reading another compilation. Candidates who write under exam conditions and get their answers corrected improve far faster than those who only revise. A structured UPSC mains test series with written feedback is the simplest way to build that discipline. 

General Studies Paper III — 25 Questions

Economy

51.      India’s growth is increasingly domestically anchored but unevenly distributed across demand segments. Examine with reference to the divergence between industrial output and consumer demand. (15 marks, 250 words)

52.      Public capital expenditure crowds in private investment only under specific conditions. Discuss those conditions and assess the instruments introduced to de-risk private infrastructure investment. (15 marks, 250 words)

53.      Rate rationalisation under GST has simplified the tax but strained the fiscal compact between the Union and the States. Critically examine. (15 marks, 250 words)

54.      The Labour Codes attempt to reconcile flexibility for employers with security for workers. Assess whether this reconciliation is achievable in practice. (15 marks, 250 words)

55.      Free trade agreements create market access but not export competitiveness. Discuss the domestic reforms required for India to convert its new FTAs into export growth. (15 marks, 250 words)

56.      Credit constraints, not demand alone, limit MSME contribution to employment. Examine and suggest remedies. (10 marks, 150 words)

57.      Deepening retail participation in capital markets carries both a savings dividend and a systemic risk. Discuss the regulatory response required. (10 marks, 150 words)

58.      Flexible inflation targeting has anchored expectations but constrains counter-cyclical policy. Critically evaluate India’s monetary-fiscal coordination. (15 marks, 250 words)

Agriculture

59.      Cropping patterns in India follow incentives, not agro-ecology. Examine this statement in the context of groundwater depletion in the north-western plains. (15 marks, 250 words)

60.      Post-harvest losses represent a larger opportunity than yield increases. Discuss the role of food processing and cold chain infrastructure in raising farm incomes. (15 marks, 250 words)

61.      Digital agriculture promises precision but raises questions of farmer data ownership and consent. Critically examine India’s approach to agricultural data governance. (15 marks, 250 words)

62.      Agricultural liberalisation under recent trade agreements poses asymmetric risks across Indian farm sub-sectors. Analyse and suggest safeguards. (15 marks, 250 words)

Science and Technology

63.      Sovereign artificial intelligence requires capability across compute, models, data, talent and energy. Assess India’s readiness across this stack. (15 marks, 250 words)

64.      Semiconductor self-reliance is a supply chain question, not a fabrication question. Discuss India’s strategy and its dependencies. (15 marks, 250 words)

65.      The opening of India’s space sector to private participation demands a corresponding regulatory architecture. Examine with reference to authorisation, liability and re-entry safety. (15 marks, 250 words)

66.      Discuss the potential of quantum technologies and bio-manufacturing for India’s economy and identify the bottlenecks in translating research into deployment. (15 marks, 250 words)

67.      Adoption of artificial intelligence in public institutions raises accountability questions distinct from those in the private sector. Examine, including the risks of unverified machine-generated content in official decision-making. (15 marks, 250 words)

Environment and Ecology

68.      Ex post facto environmental clearance dilutes the preventive purpose of environmental regulation. Critically examine in the light of recent judicial pronouncements. (15 marks, 250 words)

69.      Adaptation finance remains the weakest link in the global climate architecture. Assess the outcomes of the most recent Conference of the Parties from a developing country perspective. (15 marks, 250 words)

70.      Unilateral carbon border measures shift the burden of decarbonisation onto developing economies. Examine India’s response options, including domestic carbon pricing. (15 marks, 250 words)

71.      India’s net-zero pathway depends on firm low-carbon capacity as much as on renewable additions. Discuss the role of nuclear energy, green hydrogen and carbon capture in this transition. (15 marks, 250 words)

Internal Security and Disaster Management

72.      The decline of Left Wing Extremism as an armed movement does not automatically end it as an ideological one. Examine the requirements of post-conflict consolidation. (15 marks, 250 words)

73.      Integrated Theatre Commands promise jointness but carry transition risks to operational readiness. Critically analyse. (15 marks, 250 words)

74.      Disruption of Red Sea shipping lanes exposes the linkage between maritime security and India’s energy security. Discuss India’s strategic and operational responses. (15 marks, 250 words)

75.      Drones, deepfakes and grey-zone tactics have blurred the threshold between peace and conflict. Examine the implications for India’s internal security architecture. (15 marks, 250 words)

General Studies Paper IV — 25 Questions

76.      Distinguish between constitutional morality and popular morality. When the two conflict, what should guide a public servant? Illustrate. (10 marks, 150 words)

77.      Algorithmic decision-making creates an accountability gap: the decision has an author but no one who can explain it. Discuss the ethical obligations this imposes on the administrator who deploys it. (10 marks, 150 words)

78.      “Privacy is not secrecy; it is control.” Examine this distinction in the context of state collection of citizen data for welfare targeting. (10 marks, 150 words)

79.      Intergenerational equity is an ethical claim before it is a legal one. Discuss with reference to environmental clearances granted after a project has begun. (10 marks, 150 words)

80.      Transparency is a means; accountability is the end. Examine whether India’s transparency framework has confused the two. (10 marks, 150 words)

81.      Emotional intelligence is most tested not in crisis but in the weeks after it. Comment with reference to disaster administration. (10 marks, 150 words)

82.      What do you understand by “moral courage”? Distinguish it from physical courage and from stubbornness, with examples from public administration. (10 marks, 150 words)

83.      Corruption is sustained more by institutional design than by individual greed. Critically examine. (10 marks, 150 words)

84.      Can a state ethically prioritise the welfare of its own citizens over commitments to the global commons? Discuss with reference to energy and climate policy choices. (10 marks, 150 words)

85.      Platforms claim to be neutral carriers while shaping what citizens see. Examine the ethical responsibilities that follow from this asymmetry. (10 marks, 150 words)

86.      Explain Gandhi’s concept of trusteeship. Is it a workable ethical framework for contemporary corporate conduct? (10 marks, 150 words)

87.      “Justice as fairness requires that inequalities benefit the least advantaged.” Examine the relevance of this Rawlsian principle to India’s welfare architecture. (10 marks, 150 words)

88.      Conflict of interest is often disclosed but rarely resolved. Discuss with reference to post-retirement appointments of public officials. (10 marks, 150 words)

89.      Electoral integrity requires both accurate rolls and inclusive enrolment. Where these pull in opposite directions, what ethical principles should guide the administrator? (10 marks, 150 words)

90.      Empathy without competence is sentimentality; competence without empathy is bureaucracy. Discuss in the context of welfare delivery to migrant and tribal populations. (10 marks, 150 words)

Each case study carries 20 marks and should be answered in about 250 words.

91.

You are the District Magistrate of a district that has a large seasonal outflow of workers to other states. A statewide revision of electoral rolls is under way and your district has been given a fixed six-week window for house-to-house verification and for the filing of claims and objections.

Three weeks into the exercise, your Booth Level Officers report a pattern. In four blocks from which men migrate for construction work between March and October, families are unable to produce the documents required for verification. In many cases the head of the household is away and the papers are with him. In others the documents were lost in floods two years ago. Nearly eleven thousand names in these blocks are likely to be marked for deletion when the draft roll is published.

The ruling party’s district unit has written to you asking that the schedule be followed strictly, saying that any relaxation will be misused. The opposition has called for a public protest and has alleged that the exercise is designed to remove poor voters. Two of your Booth Level Officers have reported being threatened. A senior officer at the state headquarters has told you informally that the state schedule cannot be changed for one district, and that names removed from the draft roll can always be restored later through the claims process, though he accepts that very few people actually file such claims.

You know that publishing the draft roll on time will meet your target and attract no adverse notice, and that a large number of genuine voters will lose their vote.

(a) What are the ethical issues involved in this case? (b) What options are available to you? Evaluate each of them. (c) What course of action would you take, and on what principles would you justify it?

92.

You are the Secretary of the Social Welfare Department in a state that has recently begun using a computer-based system to identify eligible households for a food and cash support scheme. The system uses land records, electricity connection data, vehicle registration and past benefit history to score each household, and the scheme is disbursed automatically to those above a cut-off.

Six months after launch, a field study by a university team finds that households engaged in traditional fishing are being excluded at nearly four times the rate of other households. The reason appears to be that their boats are registered as assets under a different law and are counted by the system as a sign of prosperity, even though most of these families are among the poorest in the coastal blocks. The vendor that built the system points out that the contract specified an overall accuracy of ninety-five per cent, which the system meets, and that the problem lies in the underlying records rather than in the model.

Correcting the system will take about four months. Reverting to manual verification in the affected blocks would need staff you do not have and would delay payments during the lean fishing season. The Minister has publicly praised the system as a model of leakage-free delivery and is not likely to welcome any announcement that it is flawed. A journalist has already sought your comment on the study.

(a) Identify the ethical issues raised by this case. (b) What options are available to you, and what are the merits and demerits of each? (c) What would you do, and why?

93.

You are the Collector of a district with high unemployment. Six years ago, a food processing unit began operating in your district without obtaining the environmental clearance required by law. The unit now employs about two thousand workers, most of them women from nearby villages, and buys produce from roughly nine thousand farmers. The promoter has now applied for the clearance to be granted with retrospective effect, under a scheme that permits such regularisation in limited circumstances on payment of a penalty and completion of remedial work.

An independent assessment commissioned by your office finds that effluent from the unit has raised nitrate levels in the groundwater of three surrounding villages above the permissible limit. The contamination is reversible if a treatment plant is installed, which the promoter has agreed to fund. Health data from the primary health centre shows a rise in reported stomach ailments in these villages over the same period, although the doctors are not able to establish a direct link.

A residents’ association from the affected villages has filed a complaint demanding closure. The state industries department has written to you supporting regularisation, pointing to employment. Your own subordinate officers are divided. You also know that if regularisation is granted easily here, several other units in the district that have avoided clearance will apply on the same ground.

(a) Bring out the ethical dimensions of this case. (b) What are the options before you? (c) What decision would you take, and on what reasoning?

94.

You are the Commissioner of a municipal corporation in a city that has recorded temperatures above forty-five degrees Celsius for eleven consecutive days. The city’s public hospitals have reported a sharp rise in admissions, and the mortuary at the largest hospital has been operating beyond capacity.

Your health officer brings you a discrepancy. Hospital records show sixty-two deaths in which heat was recorded as a contributing factor, mostly among construction workers, street vendors and elderly people living in single-room tenements. The official figure being reported to the state, however, is four. The difference is because deaths are being recorded against the underlying condition, usually cardiac or renal, in line with existing certification practice.

Reporting the higher figure would be accurate and would strengthen the case for treating heat as a notified disaster, which would open up relief funds for the families of the dead. It would also invite intense media criticism of your corporation’s preparedness, and the state government has already indicated that it does not want the city portrayed as a place of mass heat deaths during an investment summit scheduled next month. Your Mayor has asked you to “keep the numbers clean”. Two of your junior officers have separately told you that they are uncomfortable with what is being reported.

(a) What are the ethical issues involved? (b) What options do you have, and what are the likely consequences of each? (c) What would you do?

95.

You are the Collector of a district that contains a large deposit of a mineral essential for battery manufacturing. The Union government has classified the mineral as critical for the country’s energy transition and has cleared the block for auction. The deposit lies under forest land that has been used for generations by a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group of about four thousand people, who depend on it for collection of forest produce and who hold community forest rights under the law.

The gram sabha has passed a resolution refusing consent. The state government has asked you to hold a fresh gram sabha, pointing out that the earlier meeting was attended by less than half the members, and has hinted that the resolution can be set aside on procedural grounds. Company representatives have offered a package of jobs, a school and a health centre, and have privately approached three influential members of the community. Some younger members of the community are in favour of the project; the older members are not.

You are aware that the project is important for the country and that similar deposits are scarce. You are also aware that once the community loses the land, no compensation will restore what it loses.

(a) Identify the ethical and constitutional issues in this case. (b) Discuss the options available to you. (c) What course of action would you adopt, and why?

96.

You are the head of a state regulatory authority set up to oversee working conditions in the platform economy. Over the past year, twenty-three delivery riders have died in road accidents in the state capital, and your own data shows that the accidents cluster in the last fifteen minutes of guaranteed delivery windows.

You propose a rule requiring platforms to remove time-based penalties, to cap continuous working hours and to provide accident insurance. The platforms respond that these measures will raise costs, that they will have to reduce the number of riders they engage, and that riders themselves prefer higher earnings to shorter hours. Two rider unions support your proposal. A third, which is the largest, opposes it, saying that its members need the incentive payments and cannot afford fewer hours.

A senior official in the state government tells you that two of the platforms have threatened to shift their regional operations to a neighbouring state, taking about forty thousand livelihoods with them, and asks you to make the rules advisory rather than binding. You believe that advisory rules will not be followed.

(a) What are the ethical issues in this case? (b) Examine the options before you. (c) What would you recommend, and on what grounds?

97.

You are a young officer heading the special investigation team looking into the leak of a state recruitment examination taken by nearly one million candidates. The leak has already led to the cancellation of the examination, protests in several districts and one suicide by a candidate.

Following the money trail, your team recovers evidence linking a coaching centre to the printing press, and further evidence that the press contract was awarded on the recommendation of a person who is the son-in-law of a serving minister. The evidence against him is strong but circumstantial and will need a further two months of work, including examination of records held by a bank.

Your immediate senior calls you and says that the main accused have already been charged, that the public mood has been satisfied, and that continuing this line will be, in his words, career-limiting. He suggests you file the charge sheet now and keep the rest of the material as an open line of inquiry, which in practice will mean it is never pursued. He also reminds you that your posting is due for review in three months.

(a) What are the ethical issues involved? (b) What options are available to you? Evaluate them. (c) What would you do, and how would you justify it?

98.

You are the Collector of a district that has been declared free of extremist violence after nearly three decades. Under the surrender and rehabilitation policy, about two hundred former cadres have been given housing, a monthly stipend for two years and vocational training. Several have been resettled in villages where they once operated.

Families of civilians and police personnel killed during the years of violence have begun a protest outside your office. They point out that many of them received no compensation at the time because the cases were never registered, that some of the surrendered cadres now living comfortably were involved in those killings, and that the state appears to reward violence and ignore its victims. Their grievance is factually correct.

At the same time, you know that the rehabilitation package is the main reason surrenders have continued, and that any sign of the state withdrawing it may push some of the surrendered cadres back. Local political leaders are encouraging the protest. Your Superintendent of Police warns that the situation could turn violent within a week.

(a) Discuss the ethical issues involved in reconciling reconciliation with justice. (b) What options are available to you? (c) What course of action would you take?

99.

You are the Health Secretary of a state facing the early stage of an outbreak of a contagious disease. A technology company offers, free of cost, to model the spread of the disease using anonymised mobile phone location data of subscribers in the affected districts. Public health experts in your department believe the model could identify likely clusters about ten days earlier than existing surveillance, which could save a significant number of lives.

Your legal advisor says the position is unclear. The subscribers consented to the use of their data for service purposes, not for this. Anonymised location data can, in certain conditions, be re-identified. There is no specific provision covering this use, and no time to obtain fresh consent from several million subscribers. The company has also asked, separately, for permission to publish a research paper on the exercise.

The Chief Secretary wants a decision within forty-eight hours. You are aware that if you refuse and the outbreak spreads, you will be held responsible, and that if you agree, you will have set a precedent for the use of citizen data in an emergency.

(a) Identify the ethical issues involved. (b) What options are available to you, and what are the implications of each? (c) What would you decide, and why?

100.

You are a Deputy Secretary in a department that has to submit a report to a statutory commission on the performance of a welfare scheme. Your senior, a Joint Secretary who is due to retire in two months, hands you a draft prepared with the help of an artificial intelligence tool and asks you to finalise it under your signature.

On checking, you find that two of the eleven studies cited in the report do not exist, and that a figure attributed to a national survey does not appear in that survey. The overall conclusions of the report, however, match your own understanding of how the scheme has performed, and the department’s field data supports them.

When you point this out, your senior says that the conclusions are sound, that the citations are a minor matter, that no one reads the references, and that the deadline set by the commission cannot be extended. He adds that he has already briefed the Secretary that the report is ready. Withdrawing the citations at this stage would require redoing a substantial part of the report and would delay submission by at least a week.

(a) What are the ethical issues involved in this case? (b) What options do you have? (c) What would you do, and what principles would guide you?

How to Use These Questions

•             Write eight questions in a single sitting, two from each paper. Switching between papers is itself a skill the exam tests.

•             Keep to time. Roughly seven minutes for a ten-mark question and eleven for a fifteen-mark question. Twenty questions in one hundred and eighty minutes leaves no room for a slow start.

•             Go back to the questions you did badly on and write them again. A second attempt at a hard question teaches more than a first attempt at an easy one.

•             Build a small stock of supporting material as you go. One committee, one figure, one judgment and one scheme for each theme is usually enough.

•             For the case studies, write the full answer, not a plan. Case study answers fail because candidates run out of time, not because they run out of ideas.

Candidates who begin this discipline early, ideally alongside their classroom preparation, find the last phase far less stressful. This is one reason many first-time aspirants prefer a guided programme at the best IAS coaching in Kolkata or a similar structured course rather than preparing alone.

Four Mistakes That Cost Marks Last Year

The same errors showed up across all four papers in 2025.

Answering the topic instead of the question. A question that asks you to examine the effect on federal relations is not asking for a general essay on the subject. Underline the command word before you begin.

Writing one-sided answers. The examiner is looking for a balanced view and a reasoned conclusion, not advocacy. Give the other side its due even when you disagree with it.

Using recent developments as decoration. A judgment or a report should carry your argument, not sit in a box at the end of the answer.

Running out of time in GS 3. The paper now requires more reading and more thinking per question. Practise all twenty, not ten.

Aspirants preparing for a State service alongside UPSC face the same problem in a compressed form, since much of the preparation is common. Those writing the Odisha examination will find the OPSC OAS exam pattern closely mirrors this structure.

Conclusion

No list can predict a UPSC paper, and any resource that claims to is selling something. What a carefully built list does is narrow the field. It takes the behaviour of the examiner over three years and the developments of the past several months and turns them into a set of themes you can actually sit down and write.

Do that, and an unfamiliar question in the examination hall will still fall inside a framework you have already built. That is the whole purpose. Knowledge is not what separates candidates at this stage. Practice is.

If you are still deciding how to structure the remaining preparation, working with the best UPSC coaching in India gives you the two things that are hardest to arrange on your own: an honest evaluation of your writing, and a schedule you are answerable to.