GS-4
ETHICS -01
ANSWER –
(a) Transparency means sharing information and acting in an open
manner. Transparency is essential for controlling corruption in public life, to
uphold accountability and deliver information to stakeholders about the
activities, procedures and policies of the Government. It also allows
stakeholders to collect information that may be critical to uncovering abuses
and defending their interests.
(b) Accountability is the process whereby public sector organisations, and the
individuals within them, are responsible for their decisions and actions and
submit themselves to appropriate external scrutiny. Accountability is the
fundamental requirement for preventing the abuse of power and for ensuring
that power is directed towards the achievement of efficiency, effectiveness,
responsiveness and transparency in civil services. It is needed to prevent
covert unethical behaviour which would affect public service and due
entitlements of stakeholders.
(c) Justice means giving each person what he or she deserves while fairness is
associated with an ability to judge without reference to one’s feelings or
interests. The principles of justice and fairness can be thought of as rules of
“fair play” for issues of social justice. These principles of justice and fairness
are needed in civil service to ensure that the common man receives his due
without biasness, inefficiencies or greed of the civil servant affecting his
entitlements.
(d) Courage of conviction: In public service, while facing different situations
one may be buoyed by the circumstances, fear, passions, greed since the
decisions at the helm would be affecting many interests, vested or nonvested. It is during these trying moments that courage of conviction helps a
civil servant to stay on the best course of action despite various temptations
and risks, staying firm in his beliefs, values and duty. Hence, this quality
assumes importance in public service.
(e) Spirit of Service: Quality of being committed to public service without any
self motives. The domain of civil service calls for duty in the spirit of service
for country, society and its people and sacrifices by putting aside greed,
personal entitlements and engagements. This is the single most important
value that marks civil services apart from other service and keeps the civil
servant motivated to keep working for the betterment of society.
Answer –
Introduction:
Civil/public service values are those values which are created and sustained by
the
government on behalf of the public. These are the principles on which
government and policies should be based on. Adherence to foundational values
such as integrity, impartiality, objectivity ,and non-partisanship serve as guiding
principles for civil servants in the discharge of public service duties.
Body:
Integrity:
• Integrity means adopting similar standards or moral principles in
similar situations across time and interested parties.
• It differs from other foundational values of civil services, as it means
to be honest and consistent in thoughts, speech and action.
• It is a quality of eliminating the gap between ‘what we think, what we
say, and what we do.’
• It means doing the right thing even when nobody is watching.
• A simple example of integrity can be cited of, Going back to a store
and pay for something that we forgot to pay for.
Impartiality:
• Impartiality means that, regardless of a public servants personal
beliefs and preferences, and personal relationships with other
servants or with members of the community; he or she must
impartially serve the government of the day and treat members of the
public and other public servants fairly and impartially.
• Impartiality implies tolerance and restraint, particularly in dealing with
political or religious convictions.
• Impartiality differs from other foundational values of civil services by
ensuring equality without any bias and prejudices in the general.
Impartiality denotes that all the responsibilities of a person are carried
out in a fair and just manner. It is a commitment to equality and
diversity.
• An example of impartiality is, the nature of a judge in a court case.
Non-partisanship:
• Non-partisanship ensures a neutral approach in politics and a solid
commitment to the government.
• A non-partisan civil service is also responsible to the Constitution of
the land to which they have taken an oath of loyalty.
• Non-partisanship infers that the officer has to do her/his task without
any fear of, or favour to any political party.
• Non-partisanship strengthens the democratic procedures and
institutions along with maintaining the integrity of the service.
• For example, Mainstream news media is viewed as Autonomous and
independent media in the society. Any effort by an administrator to
vitiate this autonomy in favour of any political party would wreak
havoc on the system.
Objectivity:
• Objectivity means the state or quality of being true and keeping aside
one’s emotions, biases, prejudices. Objectivity is mind independent
and object specific.
• In public life, it means giving equal treatment to people in equal
situation irrespective of any other factor i.e. being fair.
• Objectivity differs from other foundational values of civil services as
it allows civil servants to take decision on the merits of the case and
take due account of expert advice. For example District collector in
making appointments needs to give priority to merit rather than other
factors like the caste or background of the candidate.
These foundational values ensure an effective civil service which functions
honestly, impartially and efficiently. These values empower the administrator to
fill the gaps of trust deficit between the citizens and the Government. Despite
their different traits the foundational values are the basic requisite for the better
functioning of the administrative system.
Conclusion:
These foundational values provide lawfulness to the behaviour of an
administrator and make it more effective. Hence, The civil servants have to
abide by a common set of values which caters to larger interests of society at
large and to achieve social, political and economic justice.
ETHICS -02
Answer –
Moral attitudes are grounded in moral beliefs of “Right” and “wrong” action.
Moral attitudes are stronger than moral principles.
Person responsible for his actions and his attitudes, for his will and striving,
his love and his hatred, his joy and his sorrow, and his basic attitudes, can be
morally good or bad.
• A man will have personality radiating moral values if he is humble,
pure, honest and affectionate.
• As long as a man unseeingly disrespects the moral values of other
persons, as long as he does not differentiate the positive value which
inheres in truth, and the negative value which is proper to error, as
long as he does not comprehend the value which inheres in the life of
man, and the negative value attached to an injustice, he will be
incompetent of moral goodness.
• Family, society, religion and education contribute a lot in shaping those
moral convictions. Positive implication of moral attitudes are that these
attitudes tangled with strong emotions.
There fore it can be said that – moral values are always personal values.
Qualities of moral attitude –
It has been well documented that ethical values are the highest among all
types of natural values. Moral values include Goodness, purity, truthfulness,
humility of man rank higher than genius, brilliancy, exuberant vitality and the
beauty of nature or of art, than the stability and power of a state. Few
qualities are –
• Reverence
• Faithfulness
• Veracity
• Goodness
❖ Reverence: It is the ability to hold moral values, to sustain them,
and to respond to them, is the foundation for realizing the moral
values of man. These marks can be found only in the man who
possesses reverence
➢ Reverence is a feeling or attitude of great respect towards
others touched with awe; veneration. It is the attitude which
can be labelled as the originator of all moral life, for in it
man first takes a position toward the world which opens his
spiritual judgements and enables him to grasp values.
❖ faithfulness or Constancy: Among the attitudes of people which
are basic for his whole moral life, faithfulness is another important
feature of moral attitude. Faithfulness is the concept of
dependably remaining loyal to someone or something and
putting that loyalty into consistent practice, regardless of
extenuating situations. The more faithful, the more constant a
man is, the more substantial will he be, the more capable of
becoming a vessel of moral values, a being in whom purity,
justice, humility, love and goodness will dwell lastingly and will
radiate from him to the world about him.
❖ Veracity:
Truthfulness is another of the basic suppositions for a person’s
moral life. A dishonest person not only exemplifies a great moral
disvalue, but he is crippled in his whole personality; the whole of
his moral life; everything in him which is morally positive is
threatened by his untruthfulness.
➢ Veracity is fidelity or constancy and the awareness of
responsibility, a basis of whole moral life. Like these other
virtues, it bears a high value in itself, and like these is also
indispensable as a basic presupposition of a personality in
which genuine moral values may flower in their plenitude.
❖ Goodness: Goodness is the central characteristics of moral values.
Among the different moral values, there is none which represents more
completely the entire reign of moral values, than goodness. The
goodness of a man does not limit itself to generous intentions toward
one particular person whom one loves. When it is said, someone is
good, it means that person continually manifests this open
benevolence, that his attitude toward every man has this loving, this
generous character.
Conclusion –
moral attitudes encourages a person towards Altruism, volunteerism, social
service. Negative impact of moral attitude are that person can use such
attitude to defend violence behaviour and insanity and still society will accept
it because moral attitude is a strong emotions. It motivates a person towards
riots, massacre and terrorism. Since moral attitude is tied with strong
sentiments, people do not get along with those who do not share their moral
attitude.
Answer –
Political values are important when they frame political behaviour. Political
attitudes are the approaches of people to the areas of public life covered by
political psychology such as views on nationalism.
• Political Attitude means the beliefs and values which underpin the
operation of a particular political system. These attitudes were seen as
including knowledge and skills about the operation of the political
system positive and negative judgments about the system. These
attitudes decide how people participate, whom they vote for and which
political parties they support.
The factors that shape political attitude –
The factors which make attitudes are family, gender, religion, race, ethnicity
and region.
• Family: Family is generally the first and most persistent factor which
influence on young people’s mind for shaping political opinions.
Despite family incongruities and generation gaps, children tend to grow
up and have the political attitude similar to their parents.
• Religion: Religious principles often affect the way people vote. Religion
is the faith of the people in values and beliefs. Associates of the
“Religious Right” differ in their political attitudes from everyone else.
The religious right tends to support to be more conservative. This
tendency is more clearly associated with social issues such as gay
rights, cow protection than with economic issues or foreign affairs.
• Race and Ethnicity: the party which supports the people of one ethnic
group the loyalty of peoples tend to that political party .
• Economic pressures: Many scholars affirmed that economic pressures
are prime stimulus for choosing a particular political position, and,
indeed, this does appear to be an important factor. People who are
doing well in society usually do not want it to change. On the contrary,
the poor have little to lose materially and much to gain from
progressive change.
• Psychological factor: Some people are also more psychologically
suitable for liberalism or conservatism than others.
• Nature of People: This is determining factor in shaping political attitude.
If person believes that people are essentially bad, selfish, and
aggressive, then one is likely to lean to the right of the spectrum.
Anyone who thinks that people are innately evil will tend to rely on
strict laws and firm punishment for violators and vice- versa.
Political attitudes have a prevailing function since they are a
predictor for vote choice.
Role of Political attitude and ideology is important in determining ethics in
politics because:
• Political ideology is edge service. In society, there is a need of healthy
political attitude for constructive politics. It will lead to more working
hours of assemblies and Parliament which is ethical demand of
constitution and people.
• Ethics in politics are determined mainly by how near party is to people
and how fast grievances are addressed. Both are litmus test for Political
attitudes, while each is claimed in political ideology, but having positive
political attitude is important.
• Positive Political attitude strengthens Ethics in politics which is important
as it attracts youths toward politics and re-establishes faith in democracy
in difficult times when nation needs.
• Political attitude on positive side can lead to showing zero tolerance
toward corruption, pro-poor, welfare for weaker sections, listening to
public grievances, but on negative side political attitude can take shape
of regionalism, communalising public to polarise them during election.
Conclusion –
Political Philosophy is basis of Political party for which it stands. It is like
internal constitution of party. Every political party has healthy and pro-people
political ideology but hardly do they follow it because for electoral gains,
political attitude of individual politicians comes into action and hence bribery,
lobbying, fake protests, walkout, insensitive defamation on other parties and
perks politics comes into play.
ETHICS – PRACTICE Qs Topic – ATTITUDE
Positive Attitude refers to a psychological tendency that is expressed by
evaluating a particular object with some degree of favour. The positive
attitudes yield favourable behaviour. There are many variables which help in
the formation of favourable attitudes. The persons having positive attitudes
towards the job and organisation can contribute their best to the
organisation.
IDENTIFY THE TRAITS OF A PERSON WITH POSITIVE ATTITUDE
• Optimism: Optimism doesn’t mean ignoring your problems or denying
the existence of adversity. Instead, an optimistic outlook allows you to
deal with challenging situations more productively. Optimism manifests
itself as a willingness to make an effort and take a chance, rather than
assuming that your efforts will be unsuccessful or that your
circumstances will never improve.
• Acceptance: Sometimes, despite your best efforts, circumstances just
don’t work out. For those circumstances, acceptance can help you learn
from your mistakes. Acceptance can also help you maintain
perspective, rather than exaggerating the situation. Saying goes like
“You have to stop shooting yourself, stop berating yourself for
something that didn’t work quite right.”
• Resilience: Resilience allows you to rebound from adversity rather than
turning to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as substance abuse. A
major component to resilience is the ability to maintain daily routines
while coping with major setbacks. It is about reaching out to other
people as well as nurturing yourself. Building and maintaining a support
system is an important aspect of resilience.
• Gratitude: Gratitude is an important aspect of a positive attitude.
Practicing gratitude is an active, ongoing process that requires active
cultivation. Taking time each day to contemplate the good aspects of
your life, through such activities as enjoying a sunset is an act of
gratitude. Noticing beauty in your surroundings can generate a sense of
gratitude.
HOW TO INCULCATE POSITIVE ATTITUDE?
Your attitude plays a huge part in how you look at life. It affects how you see
things around you and how you handle situations. You can’t control what
happens to you. But you can control your attitude. Following the tips below
can help you have a more positive attitude:
• Develop good habits: Your attitude is up to you. With a little effort, you
can change a negative attitude into a positive one. But the only person
who can change your attitude is you. Developing good habits like
doing physical exercise, meditation, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, etc.
can go a great way to lift your spirits.
• Follow the path of optimism and gratitude: Take a moment to think
about something good that could happen to gain a positive outlook.
Remember, when things aren’t going well, tomorrow is a brand-new
day.
• Keep Good Company: Build positive friendships. It’s hard to maintain a
positive attitude when your friends or co-workers have negative ones.
Rarely will you see a positive person in a group of negative people.
Negativity spreads. So, avoid negative people or situations.
• Enjoy a hobby: It’s good to have a hobby or enjoyable activity that you
can fall back on when things get tough or you’ve had a hard day. Most
hobbies allow you to relax Example: Learn a new sport or Take a
cooking class. Doing something different is a great attitude.
• Don’t be a self-critique: one needs to be good to oneself. Look at the
bigger picture is one of the best ways to change your attitude. Is your
life really so bad? Look at the things you can be grateful for and your
attitude will change for the better.
• Ask for a helping hand: If you are trying to improve your attitude, ask a
friend or family member to tell you when you’re slipping back into your
old habits. A reminder to look on the bright side may be all you need.
Answer:
Attitude is a predisposition to respond positively or negatively towards
certain idea, object, person, or situation. It includes evaluation of people,
issues, objects or events. It can also be uncertain at time. Attitude can be
explicit and implicit which are affected by recent or more accessible events
and rooted in unconscious cognition respectively.
How attitude influence thoughts and behaviour
● In prediction of long term behaviour: The effects of an attitude become
more apparent when we look at a person’s aggregate or average behaviour
rather than at an individual act. E.g. It is difficult to predict religious attitude
of a person by seeing her going to Church occasion.
● Predicting level of specificity in behaviour: Attitude specificity is the extent
to which attitudes are focused on specific objects or situations. E.g.- Choice of
the kind of food one person prefers.
● If an individual is aware of his attitude, he or she will be quite self
conscious about it and may hesitate showing it in their behaviour whereas
people who are not aware tend to get influenced by the individuals’
behaviour more intensely.
● Stronger attitudes have greater impact on behaviour of an individual.
Attitude formed through direct experience are stronger whereas attitudes
formed due to experience of others are comparatively weak.
● The more easily attitude can be retrieved from memory, automatically it
gets activated without conscious awareness of individual and guide our
behaviour.
At times attitude of others also influence our thoughts and behaviour. For e.g.
Sardar Patel was dedicated freedom fighter and he was having disciplined
and supportive attitude towards all sections of society. Seeing his dedication
in Bardoli Satyagraha, the farmers of Bardoli had also participated in
Satyagraha at large scale.
There are times when attitude may not help in determining the behaviour of
individuals. For ex- In a village women have positive attitude towards
cleanliness. Even small houses, the single living room is kept clean; the
meager articles are kept in neat and tidy order. However, success of Swachh
Bharat programme can’t be determined with the attitude of villagers towards
cleanliness. As there may be other factors which affect the implementation of
programme. Villagers may not want to spend extra money in maintenance of
toilet.
Conclusion
Hence it can be said that attitude have deep influence on our thoughts and
behaviour but attitude specificity helps in correct prediction of behaviour. At
time there are multiple factors other than attitude comes to play, which
influence the behaviour
Answer –
Aptitude refers to the inherent ability to learn and grasp, whereas attitude
refers to one’s disposition towards an object, person or action.
Body
The fundamental difference between the two concepts can be enumerated as
follows:
▪ Aptitude is the ‘ability to learn’ and attitude is the ‘desire to learn’, i.e.,
aptitude basically tells about the potential ability to learn or acquire a
skill while, attitude tells about a person’s desire to perform or learn.
▪ While attitude is associated with character or virtues; it is a reflection of
one’s personality, aptitude is associated with competence; it determines
if the person can develop desired skills to do a task.
▪ Attitude is a psychological phenomenon which can be positive, negative
or neutral. On the other hand, aptitude can be mental (general mental
ability) or physical.
▪ Aptitude remains fixed and determinate throughout our lives, however,
the attitude may undergo continuous changes depending upon the
consequences of past actions and knowledge gained from external
sources.
Importance of Attitude and Aptitude in any organisation
▪ According to some experts, success is 99% attitude and 1%
aptitude. As per research studies, recruiting people with the right skills
can be costly if they do not have the right attitude, where there is a lack
of ‘fit’.
▪ In a study by Leadership Intelligence quotient (IQ), it was found that
46% of the people hired fail within the first 18 months on the job and
they did not fail for lack of skills, but rather for lack of attitude.
▪ Thus, having people with a right attitude is considered more
important for organizational success than having people with high
aptitude and a wrong attitude.
▪ Attitude is a motor driving the acquisition and use of a specific ability. If
a person is fully equipped for a role, but lacks real enthusiasm, the best
skill-set will count for very little.
➢ For instance, a person having an aptitude for music, but lacking
the desire to hone his/her skill will not make him/her a good
musician no matter how greatly he might be gifted. It requires an
attitude of competitive learning to develop and hone one’s skills.
▪ When a positive mind-set is undertaken, performance on nearly every
level productivity, creativity and engagement improves.
▪ Thomas Edison once said, “Genius is one percent inspiration and
ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Therefore, to succeed in life, a
positive attitude towards hard work and perseverance are extremely
important.
Attitude and aptitude for Civil Servants
▪ For a civil servant both these qualities, i.e., aptitude and attitude are
of equal importance as they go hand in hand in developing a
personality which inculcates a sense of service.
▪ A civil servant must have an aptitude/ability to do his job as well as an
attitude to do his duty, i.e., to serve the people.
o For instance, in a feudal and patriarchal society, in order to
promote female literacy, an officer must himself have a favourable
attitude towards women empowerment along with the effective
persuasive skills to change people’s attitude.
▪ The dynamic field of new public administration with increasing use of
technology for efficient delivery of services requires not only an attitude
to adapt oneself to the changing environment and demands of the job,
but also an aptitude to learn quickly to perform one’s job in the most
efficient way.
Conclusion
▪ ‘Aptitude without attitude is blind; Attitude without aptitude is lame’
▪ Both the right skills (aptitude) and the disposition (attitude) are equally
important to excel in a particular field. It is the right blend of the two
inherited and acquired qualities respectively that go hand in hand in
determining the gains and losses in a person’s life.
▪ In a diverse country like India, where social and religious tensions and
conflicts can be of frequent occurrence, a civil servant would require not
only an attitude of tolerance, but also skills of leadership and
persuasion to establish peace and order.
Ethics – Mains Answer Writing Mains practice Qs –
Answer:
Values are abstract ideals representing the person’s belief about the modes of conduct.
Morals, ethics, empathy all have source in Values.
Why Moral Exemplars at home are important?
● Values cannot be taught like subjects in school.
● Children acquire manners and values by observing daily activities of their parents and
relatives
● Instructions and informal communications on good manners have long lasting effect on
children.
● Children, especially in the formative years, imbibe and imitate values expressed by their
close relatives or parents.
● As a child’s brain is clean slate when born, home becomes a nursery for inculcating
values among children. Also, school enlarges knowledge base of children and provides
ecosystem for further reinforcement of values learnt at home through curriculum,
extracurricular activities, in a disciplined manner.
Role of family in developing values –
1. Ethical values- The value of honesty establishes a strong desire to do right thing. It
helps to develop good attributes including truthfulness, kindness, discipline, integrity, etc.
Children are taught to be honest and truthful from young age. Through reward and
punishment mechanism, the relative importance of the value increases. E.g Virat Kohli
credits father for his belief in hard work and not to look anywhere for favors.
2. Empathy – Empathy means an ability to understand and share the feelings of other.
Mother has a crucial role in the development of this value, where a child learns about
advantages of selfless love, care and kindness to strengthen emotional bond. E.g. Baba
Amte remembers that his mother was an inspiration for him to demonstrate empathy
towards leprosy patients
3. Discipline – Parents behaviour as a role model develop discipline in children. E.g. If
father stops a car at signal, pays taxes influences a child to be a responsible citizen.
4. Elders – Respect means giving due regard for the feelings, wishes, or rights of others.
Respect to elders, peers and for them is an important value that helps develop children
into a benevolent and kind person. It is the value of respect which forms the basis of
tolerance in a society. E.g. Barack Obama credits his grandparents for his belief that every
individual is special and should be respected for we are all part of something larger than
ourselves.
Therefore, value development always begins at home. The values develop as a result of
socialisation and are those values learnt during childhood are enduring as they are
embedded and deeply ingrained in the personality.
➢ Unfortunately, today, most of the degradation in human values can be traced to the
fact that family as an institution is becoming less effective due to the emergence of
nuclear families, absence of elders, culture of materialism neglecting humane values.
Thus, family has become peripheral, which otherwise should have been the centre
of value development.
Answer:
The philosophy of Swami Vivekananda and the ideals for which he lived and worked are a
great source of inspiration for the youth today. He wanted the countrymen including the
youth to have ‘muscles of iron’, ‘nerves of steel’ and ‘minds like thunderbolt’. Owing to
this, his birth anniversary i.e. January 12th is commemorated and celebrated as National
Youth Day.
Certain teachings relevant to the current youth are as under:
• Character building: He believed that the nation’s youth held the key for solving various
problems facing India. According to him, each human being with his/her own potential
could guide himself/herself (Atma-Nirmana) and at the same time play an active role in the
society.
➢ This emphasis on individual potential is relevant to the youngsters to develop their
skills and carve an identity for themselves.
• Education and society: Vivekananda had attached great significance to the role of
education in society building. He believed that the Indian society had its own fundamental
characteristics like guru-shishya parampara etc. since the beginning, which should be
maintained at any cost.
• Philanthropy & service to mankind: Vivekananda once said, “so as long as the millions
live in hunger and ignorance, I hold each man a traitor.” Such a call inspired the
youngsters to serve the suffering humanity. This is relevant to the youth, as it will
encourage the spirit of social service, philanthropy, and humanitarianism.
• Spirit of national awakening: He wanted youth who would eventually be leaders,
contribute to national awakening, preach and teach the eternal spiritual truths of our
forefathers. With his messages of “Arise, Awake and Stop not till the goal is achieved”, he
inspired youngsters to invoke the spirit of nationalism.
• Universal tolerance: His famous speech at the World Parliament of Religions, emphasized
universal tolerance. This teaching is significant for the youth in a highly polarised global
world order.
• Meaningful life: He wanted the youth to live a meaningful life through different quests
like physical quest (for ensuring physical fitness), social quest (for undertaking social
activities aimed not only for the betterment of society but also the individuals), intellectual
quest (for building intellectual strength) and spiritual quest (for achieving spiritual and
psychological well-being).
Cultural capital and Vedanta: His interpretation of the Vedanta, not only brought him
closer to the masses but also established several milestones in the cultural development of
India. His teachings centre around the themes of Vedas and Upanishads, which are relevant
for the young population.
Swami Vivekananda believed that the young generation, which he called as the modern
generation, is very powerful. It can do anything and everything and has the eternal power
to even revive the whole country and realize his dream of making Bharat a Vishwa Guru
once again
Answer:
The importance of ‘honest disagreement’ lies in debating, comparing ideas, which forms
the basis and growth of societal, political or cultural ideas. Honest disagreement means
“an alternative view to the existing one” derived from moral conviction. Thus, it forms the
basis of constructive disagreement. The word “honest” means that two or more
people/entities disagree about a subject in a manner in which they are devoting their effort
not to insult each other’s ideas, but to find the best or the most appropriate solution. In
other words, well-developed and persuasive arguments should prevail in the discussion,
not populist or misleading. Hence, having avenues available for honest disagreement
symbolizes presence of values like tolerance, mutual respect, teamwork which are founding
principles of effective functioning for a society/organization.
Few examples of honest disagreements along with outcomes are:
• Parliamentary debates, where opposition suggests amendments to a public policy.
Rational acceptance of such suggestions not only makes policy robust but also
inclusive.
• On the contrary, in the absence of faculties for truthful and honest disagreement,
the society/nation loses dynamism. It results into ‘uniformity’ of views which over
time becomes static, as society does not question itself leading to disruption of
opportunities for growth. Thus, collapse of such a society is the logical end. For E.G:
In the Absence of effective ‘communication channel’ and honest dialogue there is
constant conflict between Palestine and Israel. Had these communities respected
each other’s honest opinions, the value of tolerance would have prevailed instead of
violence in the region.
• In 1971, Sir Manekshaw extended his disagreement with the Government of India
to initiate immediate actions for liberating Bangladesh. Though Indian military
delayed its operations, the result was in favour of Indian interest with minimum
casualties.
• Absence of disagreements Leads towards Stagnation: Currently, in the global
economy, the WTO arbitration mechanism has become dysfunctional post ‘Trade
War’. There are no more global institutions to hear different and dissenting voices.
Thus, the avenues for resolving differences have been limited and this is a sign of
stagnation in the global economy.
Interestingly, ‘Syadvada’ of Jain philosophy also promotes that truth is multifaceted and we
can know about complete truth only if we accept partial truth of all stakeholders. Also,
adherence to these values strengthens mutual interactions and hence tolerance.
Thus, the view of Mahatma Gandhi is not only universal but the very presence of avenues
for honest disagreement is a sign of open-mindedness, acceptance, translating into organic
societies and healthy nations.
ETHICS –( Model Answer)
Answer:
The development of every section of the society is “Rashtradharm” of the
Government. “Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas”, which is synonymous with
‘antyodaya’ (ensuring welfare of the last man in the society) of Deen Dayal’s
Integral Humanism concept, is a commitment to take light of development to
all sections of the society.
Tolerance is the characteristic of having a permissive attitude towards those
whose opinions and beliefs differ from one’s own, whereas compassion is a
feeling of sympathy for the poor and a strong desire to alleviate the suffering
of others.
Relationship between Tolerance and Compassion:
Tolerance is not simply an attitude but is an essential element for peace, unity
and economic well-being of a nation or society. Intolerance suppresses the
rights and capabilities of weaker sections, their due concerns and demands
get ignored, due to which their mental and physical development is
compromised.
• For example, intolerance against women’s rights has led to subjugation
and suppression of women’s talent, which has hampered their
development, thus jeopardizing ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’.
• Tolerance is very closely linked with compassion. Compassion motivates
an individual to feel other’s pain and to help the weak. A tolerant
person will be able to understand the mind and needs of others, to
understand the cause of suffering, which will make him/her to feel for
others. This feeling will force him/her to act in his capacity to help
others and to alleviate their suffering. Thus tolerance and compassion
often go hand in hand.
Tolerance and compassion are needed to be imbibed by the government, the
bureaucracy and the citizens.
• Government has to be compassionate to ensure that the rights of all are
protected and even the poorest is a part of development process.
Women’s reservation in Parliament bill, when passed, would ensure that
a large section, which was hitherto neglected, is given guaranteed
reservation.
• Bureaucracy will ensure that the laws are implemented in the right
spirit, ethically and people benefit from the entitlements earmarked for
them. Giving out ration to a starving person, without proof of
entitlement, occasionally, can sometimes be a life-saving help to the
poor.
• A compassionate citizenry will be motivated to raise voice against
injustice towards the weak, and in helping others where state support is
not available and in ensuring inclusive development. Laws against rape
would not have seen revision, if the civil society had not raised their
voice in protest after Nirbhaya rape.
Simply “throwing money” at a problem does not resolve the real issues and
underlying causes. For example, social activist Anna Hazare was moved by the
widespread corruption and the plight of taxpayer motivated him to act, which
resulted into a nationwide movement against corruption. An attitude of
compassion helps ensure that we do not impose a top-down solution on
those who are affected—the homeless, the unemployed, minority youth, the
hungry; rather, we need to take the time to walk in their shoes, to listen, to
understand them; to make ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’ a reality.
Answer:
Objectivity –
Objectivity is basing advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of evidence. It
involves being open minded, impartial, guided by merit and not letting
preconceived notions or prejudices affect one’s duty or professional conduct
Civil servants require objectivity for:
• providing information and advice, including advice to Ministers, on the basis
of the evidence, and accurately present the options and facts;
• Decision-making on the merits of the case – ignoring inconvenient facts or
relevant considerations would result in lopsided policy formulation and would
eventually lead to ineffective implementation.
Empathy is the awareness of the feelings and emotions of other people by
placing oneself in their position. It is a key element of Emotional Intelligence,
as it represents a social awareness competency and a person’s ability to
connect with others.
• Access to basic services, social justice, and economic prosperity is
unavailable to a large number of marginalized and disadvantaged
people. It is therefore imperative to inculcate amongst the civil servants,
a strong sense of values like empathy, tolerance and compassion
towards the weaker section.
Relation of objectivity and Empathy – Objectivity and empathy are
complementing values as these result in civil servants behaving in a
compassionate manner and patiently listening to citizens while taking a
balanced view.
• Also, it ensures that civil servants are passionate about their service
and dispassionate about the profile of the people that they are serving,
except in extraordinary situations such as dealing with pregnant
women, widows, divyangjan etc. Objectivity without empathy makes a
civil servant robotic, whereas, empathy without objectivity leads to nonconformity to rules, biasness and wastage of public resources.
• There are instances such as in the public distribution system, where
government agencies provide services for the sake of provisioning
without keeping in mind the ultimate objective of public welfare. For
service to the country, civil servants have to imbibe better
understanding of whom to serve – their needs, aspirations and living
conditions.
• While compliance with processes is important to ensure objectivity and
fairness, the processes themselves need to be empathetic, particularly
towards the vulnerable and weaker sections of the society. Priority
should be given to ensure that intended outcomes benefit the society,
while duly protecting the interest of poor, underprivileged and weaker
sections.
Therefore, civil servants must be objective as well as empathetic to achieve
the vision of national integration and inclusive development. Mahatma
Gandhi’s advice to anyone who was in doubt, to find out if an action was
good or not, was to put oneself in the situation of the poorest of the poor
and see how a particular policy and programme will impact him or her.
Serving all citizens equally without any bias or prejudice with a special focus
on those who have been left out of the developmental process should be the
direction, the ‘antyodaya’ approach, leaving no one behind.
