Sunita was a young, idealistic development officer in a district panchayat. After joining the district, she studied about its social and economic situation. She consulted various plan documents and looked at the social and economic parameters of the district. She found that the district is relatively better off than other districts in terms of irrigation, crop diversification and industry. But its social indicators were poor with high infant mortality rate, high maternal mortality rate and low literacy percentage among women. Based on her analysis, Sunita thought that large investments in the social sector will be necessary in order to tackle these problems. The panchayat was an elected body. It has decided to spend 40% of its budget on minor irrigation. Sunita felt that the large allocation to minor irrigation will benefit land owning farmers and starve other social programme. What should Sunita do in these circumstances? 10 marks - Civilsdaily

Sunita was a young, idealistic development officer in a district panchayat. After joining the district, she studied about its social and economic situation. She consulted various plan documents and looked at the social and economic parameters of the district. She found that the district is relatively better off than other districts in terms of irrigation, crop diversification and industry. But its social indicators were poor with high infant mortality rate, high maternal mortality rate and low literacy percentage among women. Based on her analysis, Sunita thought that large investments in the social sector will be necessary in order to tackle these problems. The panchayat was an elected body. It has decided to spend 40% of its budget on minor irrigation. Sunita felt that the large allocation to minor irrigation will benefit land owning farmers and starve other social programme. What should Sunita do in these circumstances? 10 marks

Mentor’s comment- In the introduction briefly explain the situation in the question, point out the moral dilemmas posed by the … Continue reading Sunita was a young, idealistic development officer in a district panchayat. After joining the district, she studied about its social and economic situation. She consulted various plan documents and looked at the social and economic parameters of the district. She found that the district is relatively better off than other districts in terms of irrigation, crop diversification and industry. But its social indicators were poor with high infant mortality rate, high maternal mortality rate and low literacy percentage among women. Based on her analysis, Sunita thought that large investments in the social sector will be necessary in order to tackle these problems. The panchayat was an elected body. It has decided to spend 40% of its budget on minor irrigation. Sunita felt that the large allocation to minor irrigation will benefit land owning farmers and starve other social programme. What should Sunita do in these circumstances? 10 marks