Parmal is a small but underdeveloped district. It has rocky terrain that is not suitable for agriculture, though some subsistence agriculture is being done on small plots of land. The area receives adequate rainfall and has an irrigation canal flowing through it. Amria, its administrative centre, is a medium sized town. It houses a large district hospital, an Industrial Training Institute and some privately owned skill training centres. It has all the facilities of a district headquarters. A trunk railway line passes approximately 50 kilometres from Amria. Its poor connectivity is a major reason for the absence of any major industry therein. The state government offers a 10 years tax holiday as an incentive to new industry.
In 2010 Anil, an industrialist, decided to take benefits to set up Amria Plastic Works (APW) in Noora village, about 20 km from Amria. While the factory was being built, Anil hired the required key labour and got them trained at the skill training centres at Amria. This act of his made the key personnel very loyal to APW.
APW started production in 2011 with the labour drawn fully from Noora village. The villagers were very happy to get employment near their homes and were motivated by the key personnel to meet the production targets with high quality. APW started making large profits, a sizeable portion of which was used to improve the quality of life in Noora. By 2016, Noora could boast of a greener village and a renovated village temple. Anil liaised with the local MLA to increase the frequency of the bus services to Amria. The government also opened a primary health care centre and primary school at Noora in buildings constructed by APW. APW used its CSR funds to set up women’s self-help groups, subsidize primary education to the village children and procure an ambulance for use by its employees and the needy.
In 2019, there was a minor fire in APW. It was quickly extinguished as fire safety protocols were in place in the factory. Investigations revealed that the factory had been using electricity in excess of its authorized capacity. This was soon rectified. The next year, due to a nationwide lockdown, the requirement of production fell for four months. Anil decided that all employees would be paid regularly. He employed them to plant trees and improve the village habitat.
APW had developed a reputation of high quality production and a motivated workforce.
Critically analyse the story of APW and state the ethical issues involved. Do you consider APW as a role model for development of backward areas? Give reasons.
Approach · directive: “critically analyse / state / do you consider”
What it asks · Critically analyse APW's story (what it did right, where it slipped), state the ethical issues, and give a reasoned view on whether it is a model for developing backward areas.
The question has 3 parts — answer each
- Critically analyse the story of APW
- State the ethical issues involved
- Do you consider APW a role model for the development of backward areas: give reasons
Open with · APW shows how a private firm can lift a backward village through jobs, training and welfare; the story also shows gaps in compliance and in reach.
Cover
- Strengths: local jobs and skilling, CSR in schools, health and women's SHGs, an ambulance, and a safe factory with fire protocols.
- Ethical positives: care for workers (all paid during the lockdown and put to tree planting), a stakeholder approach, community trust, and CSR spent on real local needs.
- Concerns: drawing electricity beyond the authorised capacity was a legal and safety lapse, flagged only after a fire; compliance should not wait for accidents.
- Limits: benefits reach one village and rest on one owner's goodwill, and CSR is doing tasks the State should do.
- Gaps in the story: it is silent on wages, worker rights, environmental clearance and plastic waste, so the ethical picture is incomplete.
- Model for backward areas? Partly: an anchor industry with local skilling, local hiring and community investment works, and the tax holiday and ITI base helped.
- But a model needs more: legal and environmental compliance, benefits spread across the district, worker rights, and State support in rail-road links, power and skills.
Close with · APW is a good example of responsible enterprise but not yet a complete model: backward areas need such firms together with a State that supplies connectivity, oversight and a wider spread of benefits.
Add value (verified)
- Gandhi's trusteeship formula: a means of transforming the capitalist order into an egalitarian one, giving the owning class a chance to reform itself. Practical Trusteeship Formula (by Pyarelal; final draft approved by Gandhi) — mkgandhi.org ↗“Trusteeship provides a means of transforming the present capitalist order of society into an egalitarian one. It gives no quarter to capitalism, but gives the present owning class a chance of reforming itself.”
- The trusteeship formula permits private ownership only as far as society allows for its welfare, and does not exclude legislative regulation of wealth. Practical Trusteeship Formula (by Pyarelal; final draft approved by Gandhi) — mkgandhi.org ↗“It does not recognize any right of private ownership of property except so far as it may be permitted by society for its own welfare. It does not exclude legislative regulation of the ownership and use of wealth.”
- Section 135(5), Companies Act, 2013: at least 2% of average net profits of the three preceding years on CSR, with preference to the local area where the company operates. Statutory provisions on CSR (Section 135, Companies Act, 2013) — CSR Odisha, Government of Odisha ↗“at least two per cent of the average net profits of the company made during the three immediately preceding financial years, in pursuance of its Corporate Social Responsibility Policy: Provided that the company shall give preference to the local area and areas around it where it operates”
- Gandhi's Young India (22 October 1925) printed seven social sins, among them 'commerce without morality'. Seven Social Sins — mkgandhi.org (Bombay Sarvodaya Mandal & Gandhi Research Foundation) ↗“Seven Social Sins Politics without Principle Wealth Without Work Pleasure Without Conscience Knowledge without Character Commerce without Morality Science without Humanity Worship without Sacrifice - Young India, 22-10-1925”
- The Aspirational Districts Programme (January 2018) works through convergence of Central and State schemes, collaboration with District Collectors, and competition through monthly delta ranking. Aspirational Districts Programme — NITI Aayog ↗“The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level Nodal Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts through monthly delta ranking; all driven by a mass movement.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2020, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 375 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
Gandhi's trusteeship formula gave "the present owning class a chance of reforming itself" by holding wealth for society. APW's story in Noora comes close to that ideal; a critical reading also shows what it omits.
Stakeholders
- Anil and APW; Noora's workers and villagers; the state government; the rest of Parmal; the environment.
Critical analysis of APW's story
| Dimension | Strength | Gap |
|---|---|---|
| Livelihood | Local hiring after training at Amria | One village only |
| Welfare | School and health-centre buildings, SHGs, ambulance | State duties done privately |
| Compliance | Fire protocols worked | Power drawn beyond authorised load |
- Strengths: staff trained before production, labour drawn wholly from Noora, and every employee paid through the lockdown while planting trees.
- Lapses: excess electricity was a legal breach and a fire hazard, found only after an accident; compliance should be proactive, not reactive.
- Silences: nothing on wages, hours, unions, environmental clearance or plastic waste, so the ethical audit is incomplete.
- Dependence: benefits rest on one owner's goodwill; liaison with the MLA for buses shows access others lack.
Ethical issues
- CSR as floor, not ceiling: Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 asks companies to prefer "the local area and areas around it"; APW went beyond money to skills and care.
- Stakeholder over shareholder: workers and village treated as partners, the opposite of what Young India (1925) called commerce without morality.
- Legality and stewardship: compliance is a duty, and a plastics unit owes care to its environment.
- Paternalism and equity: a village dependent on one firm, and a district left behind.
Is APW a role model for backward areas? Partly
- Yes, for the method: an anchor industry with local skilling, local hiring and community investment, helped by the 10-year tax holiday and Amria's skill centres, made a rocky, poorly connected area productive.
- Not yet a full model: it needs strict compliance, worker rights and grievance systems, benefits spread across Parmal, and public rail, road and power links.
- Scale through the State: the Aspirational Districts Programme's convergence of schemes and collaboration with District Collectors can multiply such private effort across a district.
APW is trusteeship in practice, and the trusteeship formula itself "does not exclude legislative regulation" of wealth. Responsible enterprise, joined to a State that regulates, connects and spreads the gains, is the model backward districts need.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.