Rampura, a remote district inhabited by a tribal population, is marked by extreme backwardness and abject poverty. Agriculture is the mainstay of the local population, though it is primarily subsistence due to the very small land holdings. There is insignificant industrial or mining activity. Even the targeted welfare programs have inadequately benefited the tribal population. In this restrictive scenario, the youth has begun to migrate to other states to supplement the family income. Plight of minor girls is that their parents are persuaded by labour contractors to send them to work in the Bt Cotton farms of a nearby state. The soft fingers of the minor girls are well suited for plucking the cotton. The inadequate living and working conditions in these farms have caused serious health issues for the minor girls. NGOs in the districts of domicile and the cotton farms appear to be compromised and have not effectively espoused the twin issues of child labour and development of the area.
You are appointed as the District Collector of Rampura.
Identify the ethical issues involved. Which specific steps will you initiate to ameliorate the conditions of minor girls of your district and to improve the over-all economic scenario in the district?
Approach · directive: “identify / which steps”
What it asks · Identify the ethical issues (child labour, exploitation of minor girls, failed welfare delivery and NGOs) and give specific steps, as Collector, for the girls and for the district's economy.
The question has 3 parts — answer each
- Identify the ethical issues involved
- Specific steps, as Collector, to ameliorate the conditions of the district's minor girls
- Specific steps to improve the district's overall economic scenario
Open with · Poverty is pushing minor girls into hazardous work; as Collector I must protect the children first and then remove the causes of distress migration.
Cover
- Ethical issues: child labour and lost schooling, health harm, trafficking by contractors, poverty-driven parental consent, failed welfare delivery, and compromised NGOs.
- Immediate steps: work with the receiving state's administration and police to rescue and repatriate the girls; arrange medical care and rehabilitation through the Child Welfare Committee.
- Action against offenders: cases against contractors and farm owners under child labour and anti-trafficking laws, with the destination state's cooperation.
- Prevention: register migrating workers, license and monitor contractors, set up help desks at bus and rail stops, and form village child-protection committees.
- Education: bring the girls back to school through residential schools (Eklavya, Kasturba Gandhi), bridge courses and scholarships.
- District economy: MGNREGS work near home, Van Dhan centres for forest produce, watershed and irrigation, horticulture and millets, SHGs, and local skilling for youth.
- Governance: audit NGOs and replace compromised ones, use gram sabhas and teachers as watchdogs, and track outcomes such as girls in school and family income.
Close with · Rescue is the first duty, but lasting protection comes only when the family has a livelihood and the girl has a school to return to.
Add value (verified)
- Article 24 of the Constitution: no child below fourteen shall work in a factory or mine or in any other hazardous employment. The Constitution of India — Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice (2024 text) ↗“24. Prohibition of employment of children in factories, etc.—No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.”
- Article 21A of the Constitution: free and compulsory education for all children aged six to fourteen. The Constitution of India — Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice (2024 text) ↗“21A. Right to education.—The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of six to fourteen years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.”
- Kant's Humanity Formulation of the categorical imperative: never treat humanity, in oneself or others, as a means only, but always as an end in itself. Kant's Moral Philosophy — Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ↗“This formulation states that we should never act in such a way that we treat humanity, whether in ourselves or in others, as a means only but always as an end in itself.”
- M.C. Mehta v State of Tamil Nadu (Supreme Court, 10 December 1996): the offending employer pays Rs 20,000 for each child employed in violation of the Act, into a Child Labour Rehabilitation-cum-Welfare Fund. M.C. Mehta vs State of Tamil Nadu and Others, Supreme Court, 10 December 1996 — Indian Kanoon ↗“The inspectors appointed under section 17 would see that for each child employed in violation of the provisions of the Act, the concerned employer pays Rs.20,000/- which sum could be deposited in a fund to be known as Child Labour Rehabilitation-cum-Welfare Fund.”
- The Aspirational Districts Programme (January 2018) aims to transform 112 of the most under-developed districts through convergence, collaboration with District Collectors, and competition through monthly delta ranking. Aspirational Districts Programme — NITI Aayog ↗“Launched by the Hon’ble PM in January 2018, the Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP) aims to quickly and effectively transform 112 most under-developed districts across the country. 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”
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
Article 24 bars any child below fourteen from "hazardous employment", yet Rampura's minor girls pick Bt cotton in another state while welfare schemes and NGOs fail them. As Collector my first duty is to the children, my second to the poverty that sends them away.
Stakeholders
- The girls and their families; contractors and farm owners; the receiving state; NGOs; gram sabhas; the district administration.
Ethical issues
- Child labour and lost childhood: hazardous work and lost schooling violate Article 24 and the right to education under Article 21A.
- Exploitation: contractors value the girls only for their "soft fingers", and parents persuaded by poverty do not consent freely; Kant forbids treating humanity "as a means only".
- Failed duty of care: targeted welfare has not reached the tribal poor, and compromised NGOs have abandoned their watchdog role.
- Structural injustice: tiny holdings and no industry force families to choose between hunger and their daughters' health.
Steps for the minor girls
- Rescue: coordinate with the cotton-growing state's Collector, police and labour department; produce the girls before the Child Welfare Committee under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 for care, treatment and repatriation.
- Prosecution and compensation: cases against contractors and farm owners; following M.C. Mehta v State of Tamil Nadu (1996), recover ₹20,000 per child from the employer for a Child Labour Rehabilitation-cum-Welfare Fund.
- Back to school: Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and Eklavya Model Residential Schools, with bridge courses, scholarships and health follow-up.
- Prevention: village child-protection committees, a register of migrating families, and action against unlicensed contractors under the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979.
Steps for the district economy
- Converge and measure: adopt the Aspirational Districts Programme method of convergence of schemes, collaboration with state nodal officers and ranking on outcomes.
- Work near home: MGNREGS with a district shelf of works; watershed, check-dams and small irrigation; horticulture and millets.
- Forest livelihoods: Van Dhan centres for minor forest produce, women's SHGs and market links.
- Skills and clean delivery: skilling tied to real jobs; audit and replace compromised NGOs; track girls enrolled and household income.
Rescue meets today's emergency, but only a livelihood at home ends it; Rampura's progress should be measured in one number: girls in classrooms rather than in cotton fields.
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.