Lucent IAS

APSC Mains GS4 Syllabus - Paper V

The most comprehensive and detailed analysis of the APSC Mains GS4 syllabus has been done by the Lucent IAS faculties for the benefit of the APSC aspirants. We have presented a complete list of topics using books, magazines, newspaper sources. Using this reference, any aspirant can quickly know what to read for APSC Mains exam, how to plan APSC preparation. The aspirant can also analyze which specific GS4 topics are his/her strengths or weakness and focus accordingly to prepare them without wastage of valuable preparation time. You may reach out to us for any support or guidance you need.

Table of Contents

    apsc mains gs4

    APSC Mains GS4 Syllabus Summary

    Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude

    This paper will include questions to test the candidate’s attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life and his problem-solving approach to various issues and conflicts faced by him in dealing with society. Questions may utilize the case study approach to determine these aspects.

    • Ethics and Human Interface: Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics in private and public relationships.
    • Human Values: lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values.
    • Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behavior; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.
    • Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service : integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker-sections.
    • Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance. Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world.
    • Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems; ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in international relations and funding; corporate governance.
    • Probity in Governance: Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity;
    • Information sharing and transparency in government: Right to Information, Codes of Ethics,
      Codes of Conduct, Citizen’s Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of
      public funds, challenges of corruption.

    APSC Mains GS3 Topic List

    1.Ethics and Human Interface

      • Definition of ethics
      • Essence of ethics
      • Determinants of ethics
      • Dimensions of ethics
      • Difference between ethics, morality, and law
      • Consequence of ethical behaviour
      • Non moral, amoral, and immoral
      • Branches of ethics
        • Normative ethics
        • Meta ethics
        • Applied ethics
        • Bio ethics
        • Environmental ethics
      • Ethics in private and public life

    2. Human values

      • Introduction to values
      • Types of values
      • Morals, values and ethics
      • Inculcating values
        • Role of society
        • Role of family
        • Role of education institutes
      • Reformers and administrators
        • Raja Ram Mohan Roy
        • Max weber
        • Plato
        • Aristotle
      • Teachings from great leaders
        • Gandhi
        • Vivekananda
        • Gautam buddha
        • Bhimrao Ambedkar
        • Sardar Patel

    3. Attitude

      • Basics
      • Formation of a good attitude
        • Childhood- reward, punishment
        • Adolescent
        • Adulthood
      • Functions of attitude
        • Utilitarian
        • Social
        • Symbolic
      • Attitude and Behaviour
      • Cognitive Dissonance
      • Social influence
      • Persuasion
      • Moral and Political attitudes

    4. Aptitude and foundational values

      • Aptitude for civil services
      • Foundational values
        • Neutrality
        • Anonymity
        • Integrity
        • Humility
        • Adaptability
        • Perseverance
        • Magnanimity
        • Tolerance and compassion

    5. Emotional Intelligence

      • Significance
      • Max weber’s Ideal Bureaucracy
      • Utilities of Emotional Intelligence
      • Emotional Quotient
      • Components of emotional intelligence
      • Application of Emotional Intelligence
      • Motivation

    6. Contribution of moral thinkers and philosophers

      • Gandhi
      • John Rawls
      • Vivekananda
      • J s mills
      • Max weber
      • Jeremy Bentham
      • Others

    7. Values in civil services

    • Bureaucratic values
    • Democratic values
    • Integrity
    • Honesty
    • Tolerance
    • Empathy
    • Compassion

    8. Ethics in public administration

      • Ethical Governance
      • Impartiality & Non-partisanship
      • Political neutrality
      • Ethics and accountability
        • Accountability vs responsibility
        • Accountability and transparency
      • Ethics in governance
      • Corporate governance
      • Ethical dilemmas
        • Conflict of interest
        • Conflict of duties
        • Conflict in administrations
        • Action of private institution
      • Resolving ethical dilemmas
        • Utilitarian approach
        • Rights approach
        • Justice approach
        • Common good approach
        • Virtue approach

    9. Laws, rules, regulations and conscience

      • Definitions
      • Limitations
      • Human conducts

    10. International ethics

      • Morality vs national interest
      • Ethical issues in international funding
      • Humanitarian intervention
      • War and ethics
      • Information flow and ethics

    10. Probity governance

      • Probity
      • Misconducts
      • Information sharing
        • Intra organisation
        • Inter organisation
        • Public information
      • Transparency
      • Social audits
      • Code of ethics
      • Right to information
      • Citizen’s charter
      • Service delivery
      • Work culture
      • Utilization of public funds
      • Corruption
        • Economic source
        • Institutional
        • Social source
        • Individual source
        • Exposing corruption
        • Whistle-blower
        • Anti-corruption measures

    11. Case Studies

    1. Environmental ecology

      • Ecology and ecosystem
      • Functions of ecology
        • Energy flow
        • Food chain
        • Food web
        • Ecological pyramid
        • Biotic interactions
      • Terrestrial ecosystem
        • Indian forest types
        • Tundra
        • Grassland
        • Desert
        • Alpine
      • Aquatic ecosystem
        • Lake ecology
        • Eutrophication
        • Algal bloom
        • Mangrove
        • Coral reefs
        • Government initiatives
        • Montreux record

    2. Environmental pollution

      • Pollutants
      • Air pollution
        • 5 PM10
        • Smog
        • NAAQ
        • Fly ash
        • Black Carbon
        • Vehicular exhaust
      • Water pollution
      • Soil pollution
      • Noise pollution
      • Radioactive pollution
      • Thermal pollution
      • Plastic pollution
      • E Waste
      • Bioremediation
      • Acid Rain
      • Recent initiatives
      • Bharat Stage Standards

    3. Environmental Impact Assessment

      • Importance and need
      • EIA cycle
      • Components of EIA
      • Drawbacks and recommendations

    4. Biodiversity

      • Biodiversity meaning
      • Biodiversity levels
      • Measurement of biodiversity
      • Marine organism
        • Plankton
        • Phyto-plankton
        • Zoo-plankton
        • Others
      • Biodiversity services
      • Indian Biodiversity
        • Flora
        • Fauna
        • Biogeographical classification
        • Scheduled animals of Wildlife Protection Act 1972
      • Red data book
        • IUCN
        • Threatened species
        • Conservation
      • Medical plants in India
        • Conservation
      • Invasive alien species

    5. Protected Area Network

      • National initiative
        • Wildlife sanctuaries
        • National parks
        • Conservation reserves
        • Community reserves
        • Sacred grooves
        • Export prohibited items
      • Global initiative
        • Man and biosphere program
        • Biosphere reserves
        • World heritage site
        • Biodiversity hotspots
      • Conservation efforts
        • Project tiger
        • Project elephant
        • Vulture
        • Snow leopard
        • Crocodile
        • Sea turtle
        • Secure Himalaya
        • Project hangul
        • Captive breeding project
        • Dolphin
        • Rhino vision
        • Government initiatives
        • SAWEN initiatives

    6. Climate Change

      • Global Warming
      • Green house effect
      • Green house gases
      • IPCC report
      • Ocean Acidification
      • Ozone Depletion
      • Others

    7. Impact of climate change

      • Food security and agriculture
      • Sea level rising
      • Migration
      • Water stress and insecurity
      • Impact on weather pattern
      • Others

    8. Mitigation Measures

      • Carbon sequestration
      • Carbon sink
      • Carbon credit
      • Carbon offsetting
      • Carbon tax
      • Geo-Engineering
      • Plantation drives

    9. India and climate change

      • Impact of climate change
        • Himalayan rivers
        • Cities in India
        • Monsoon
      • National action plan on climate change
      • Indian network on climate change assessment
      • Climate resilient agriculture
      • BSE Greenex
      • Fame India program
      • National adaptation fund for climate change

    10. Climate change organization

      • History
      • Earth summit
      • UNFCCC
        • Kyoto protocol
        • Paris climate deal
        • Conference of parties
      • REDD and REDD+
      • Global Environmental Facilities
      • Montreal Protocol
        • Kigali Amendment
      • Climate Finance Architecture
      • Green Economy
      • UNEP and its initiatives
      • Green Buildings
      • World Bank Initiatives

    11. Environmental Acts

      • Indian Forest Act 1927
      • Wildlife protection act 1972
      • Water Act 1974
      • Air(prevention and control of pollution) Act 1981
      • Environmental protection acts 1986
      • National forest policy 1988
      • Biological diversity act 2002
      • Forest Dwellers Act 2006
      • Coastal Regulation Zone
      • Biomedical waste management rule 2016
      • E waste management rule 2016
      • Plastic waste management rule 2016
      • National Green Tribunal

     

    12. Organizations

      • National
        • Animal welfare board
        • Central zoo authority
        • Wildlife crime control bureau
        • National green tribunal
        • Pollution control board of India
      • Global
        • Convention on Biological Diversity
        • CITES
        • Ramsar Convention
        • TRAFFIC
        • Conservation of Migratory Species
        • IUCN
        • WWF
        • Global Tiger Forum
        • Rotterdam Convention
        • Stockholm Convention
        • Basel Convention
      • Other organisations
        • Regional
        • Partnerships among countries