Philosophy Optional · Paper II · Socio-Political Philosophy
Individual and State: Rights, Duties, Accountability Notes · PYQs
Free notes and every UPSC previous year question for Individual and State: Rights, Duties, Accountability, Unit 03 of Paper II, Section A: the official syllabus, 9 topic-wise notes in syllabus order, and all 26 questions from 1997 to 2026 grouped by sub-topic.
9
Free notes
26
Questions listed
15
Asked since 2013
1997–2026
Years covered
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Syllabus Free notes Previous year questions All Philosophy units
Official UPSC syllabus
Individual and State: Rights, Duties, Accountability: syllabus
The syllabus text for this unit in Paper II, Section A (Socio-Political Philosophy) of Philosophy Optional. Every note and question on this page maps to it.
Individual and State: Rights; Duties and Accountability.
Paper II · Section A · Unit 03
Individual and State: Rights, Duties, Accountability notes
Topic-wise notes for this unit in syllabus order, written for UPSC Mains in plain language, with diagrams and the previous year questions on each topic.
Free notes
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Individual and State I: The Four Views of the State — Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau
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Individual and State II: Mill, Hegel, Green, Bosanquet, Laski, Marx, the Anarchists and Gandhi
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Rights I: Meaning and Kinds — Hohfeld’s Four Incidents, Negative and Positive Rights, Civil–Political–Social Rights, Inalienable Rights and Rights as Trumps
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Rights II: Theories of Rights — Natural, Legal, Historical, Social Welfare and Idealist, with Marxist, Feminist and Communitarian Critiques
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Human Rights: Meaning, Evolution, UDHR, Vasak’s Three Generations, Universalism vs Cultural Relativism, Rawls’s Law of Peoples and the Social Contract
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Individual Rights, Group Rights and the Indian Debate: Kymlicka, Parekh, Multicultural Challenges, Indian Tradition and Rights, and Rights in a Caste Society
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Duties: Meaning and Kinds, Kant’s Perfect and Imperfect Duties, Dharma, Svadharma and Ṛṇa-traya, Niṣkāma Karma, and Fundamental Duties under Article 51A
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Rights and Duties: Correlative or Independent? — Hohfeld and Laski, Rights without Duties, Which Is Prior, Gandhi’s Letter to Huxley, and Duty and Accountability over Rights
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Accountability, Political Obligation and Civil Disobedience: Kinds of Accountability, Rule of Law, Locke’s Trust, Grounds of Obligation, Thoreau, Gandhi, Rawls and King
Free practice
Previous year questions: Individual and State: Rights, Duties, Accountability
All 26 questions UPSC has set from this unit between 1997 and 2026, grouped by sub-topic with the most-asked first, newest first within each. Questions from 2013 onwards are shown; earlier ones open on a tap.
How often UPSC asks each sub-topic
| Sub-topic | Questions | Since 2013 | Last asked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rights and Duties | 6 | 2 | 2025 |
| Accountability | 3 | 2 | 2023 |
| Nature of Rights | 3 | 3 | 2022 |
| Indian Context | 3 | 2 | 2020 |
| Plato and Aristotle | 2 | 2 | 2026 |
| Human Rights | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| Individual vs Group Rights | 2 | 2 | 2015 |
| Idealist Theory of State | 2 | 0 | 2005 |
| Individual and State | 2 | 0 | 2000 |
| Kant · Duties | 1 | 0 | 2011 |
Rights and Duties
6 questions · 2 since 2013 · last asked 2025
Asked since 2013 · 2
2025“Duties are of the nature of obligation while Rights are of the nature of entitlement. Therefore there is no necessary connection between the two.” Do you agree with this statement? Give reasons and justification for your answer. (15 marks)2017Out of rights and duties, which one is prior to the other? Discuss in the context of accountability. (10 marks)
Show 4 earlier questions (before 2013)
2008–2012 · 4 questions
2012Can we dissociate rights of citizens from their duties (12 marks)2011Can citizens have rights without duties? Discuss with examples (20 marks)2009Rights and duties are complementary.” Explain (20 marks)2008Do rights necessarily imply corresponding obligations? To whom does one primarily own obligations – individuals or state? Discuss (60 marks)
Accountability
3 questions · 2 since 2013 · last asked 2023
Asked since 2013 · 2
2023Do you agree that duty and accountability must be given priority over rights for the better functioning of a State? Justify your answer. (15 marks)2019Do rights make citizens accountable to the state? Argue in the context of the present Indian scenario. (20 marks)
Show 1 earlier question (before 2013)
2010 · 1 question
2010Does accountability necessarily contribute to moral perfection? Offer your views (15 marks)
Nature of Rights
3 questions · 3 since 2013 · last asked 2022
Asked since 2013 · 3
2022Does idea of unconditional rights necessarily lead to anarchy? Critically examine. (15 marks)2016Evaluate the statement that all human beings have certain unalienable rights. (10 marks)2016“The right of free speech implies the genuine independence of the judiciary and its complete separation from the executive.” Evaluate. (15 marks)
Indian Context
3 questions · 2 since 2013 · last asked 2020
Asked since 2013 · 2
2020Is Indian tradition antagonistic to Individual Rights? Consider it by taking recourse to the doctrine of Human Rights. (15 marks)2013What is the significance of including duties of citizens in the Indian Constitution? (10 marks)
Show 1 earlier question (before 2013)
2011 · 1 question
2011Can the conception of ‘rights’ of citizens be sustained in a society characterized by caste discrimination? Discuss (20 marks)
Plato and Aristotle
2 questions · 2 since 2013 · last asked 2026
Asked since 2013 · 2
2026Is Plato’s vision of an ideal state compatible with the rights and liberties of individual citizens? Discuss. (10 marks)2024Do you agree with the view that Aristotle was more successful than Plato in steering a middle course between ‘Statism’ and ‘Individualism’? Discuss with arguments. (20 marks)
Human Rights
2 questions · 2 since 2013 · last asked 2021
Asked since 2013 · 2
2021Evaluate whether the social contract theory adequately addresses the different issues of human rights. (15 marks)2018“Human rights and human dignity would no longer be the product of a particular culture, rather a common human aspiration for an ideal world.” Discuss. (20 marks)
Individual vs Group Rights
2 questions · 2 since 2013 · last asked 2015
Asked since 2013 · 2
2015How are individual and group rights reconciled in democracy? Explain. (10 marks)2014“All human rights are centred on individual rights.” Discuss. (20 marks)
Idealist Theory of State
2 questions · 0 since 2013 · last asked 2005
1999–2005 · 2 questions
2005Critically examine – “State is the actuality of concrete freedom” (20 marks)1999We obey the state because in the end it most truly represents ourselves.” Discuss the relation of the individual and the state in the light of the above concept of the state (60 marks)
Individual and State
2 questions · 0 since 2013 · last asked 2000
1997–2000 · 2 questions
2000Are the claims of the State and the Individual really mutually conflicting? Discuss. (60 marks)1997The individual is not merely a constituent, but a significant constituent contributing to the development of the State.’ Explain and examine (60 marks)
Kant · Duties
1 question · 0 since 2013 · last asked 2011
2011 · 1 question
2011Discuss Kant’s distinction between duties of perfect and imperfect obligation. (10 marks)
Year-wise question papers
All question papers Topic-wise PYQ bank (both papers) 2026 paper 2025 paper 2024 paper 2023 paper
Next · Paper II · Unit 04
Forms of Government: Monarchy, Theocracy, Democracy
Forms of Government: Monarchy; Theocracy and Democracy.
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