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.
It asks 3 things — 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 · Profit versus social good, and private benevolence versus public duty: APW lifted one backward village much as Gandhi's trusteeship would wish, yet shows lapses and limits.
Cover
- Opening: profit versus social good, private benevolence versus public duty; APW as Gandhian trusteeship in practice, with lapses.
- Critical analysis in a table (livelihood, welfare, compliance: strength and gap), plus the story's silences on wages, unions and plastic waste.
- Issues: trusteeship versus paternalism; CSR under Section 135 (preference to the local area) as a floor; compliance versus convenience; access versus equity.
- Role model? Partly: the method (anchor industry, local skilling and hiring, community investment) works; compliance, worker rights and district-wide spread are missing.
- Way forward: wider ownership on the AMUL cooperative model (1946), and the Aspirational Districts Programme's convergence to scale such effort.
Close with · Trusteeship does not exclude legislative regulation: responsible enterprise, joined to a State that regulates, connects and spreads the gains, is the model backward districts need.
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 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· 370words · Minimalist IAS
Profit versus social good, and private benevolence versus public duty: APW lifted one backward village much as Gandhi's trusteeship would wish, yet shows lapses and limits.
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.
Ethical issues involved
- Trusteeship versus paternalism: Gandhi's formula gave "the present owning class a chance of reforming itself"; Anil took it, but a village dependent on one owner's goodwill is fragile.
- CSR as floor, not ceiling: Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 prefers "the local area and areas around it"; APW went beyond money to skills and care.
- Compliance versus convenience: law is a duty, not an option, and a plastics unit owes care to its environment.
- Access versus equity: liaison with the MLA for buses shows access others lack, while the rest of Parmal waits.
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.
- 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.
Way forward
- Wider ownership: AMUL (1946) shows gains that outlast any one owner, because its producers "own the cooperative" and decide collectively.
- 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.
Trusteeship 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.
Prepared by Minimalist IAS to the answer standard of Shivam Singh (mentor, 7 years) · facts checked against official sources (how we verify) · updated 1 Oct 2026. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.
