General Studies - IV

1. What does ethics seek to promote in human life? Why is it all the more important in Public
Administration? (GS 4)

What does ethics seek to promote in human life:

 Ethics promotes morality in human life by making morals and value judgments a part of
the decision-making process.
 Being ethical means choosing the proper course of action despite obstacles and
challenges that may hinder one from choosing to do the right thing.
 Ethics' broadly acts as 'Code of conduct' for leading human life in a co-operative,
peaceful & positive manner.
 Ethics seeks to promote the principle of utilitarianism (Maximum good for maximum
people).
 Ethics in human life is essential to help build character and outlook of and individual.
 It is important to sustain and cherish human life without infringing rights of others at
indiviual level and maintaining sociaL order an harmonay at societal level.

Why is it important in public administration :-

 Ethics are the rules that define moral conduct according to the ideology of a specific
group. Moreover, ethics in public administration are important for good business
conduct based on the needs of a specific town, state or country.
 Ethics provide accountability between the public and the administration.
o Adhering to a code of ethics ensures that the public receives what it needs in a
fair manner.
 It also gives the administration guidelines for integrity in their operations. That integrity,
in turn, helps foster the trust of the community.
 Public servants have sensitive information about countries economy,defence and
security it is necessary that they adopt ethical standards and do not spell the secrets
which can harm the society.
 To adopt to a corrupt free behaviour administrators should have ethical standards.
 Ethics seeks to promote compassion and empathy in administrator to maintain social
harmony, unity, pro-poor policy formulation, more focus on equity and social justice.
 With a strong code of ethics in public administration, leaders have the guidelines they
need to carry out their tasks and inspire their employees and committees to enforce
laws in a professional and equitable manner.

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  Another positive outcome of good ethics in public administration is timely and
informative communication with the community.
o This kind of transparency builds trust and prevents or minimizes the potential
issues that can arise when information is divulged from outside sources.
 In a democratic legal order, it is essential (i) to provide both public officials and the
public at large with a common frame of reference regarding the principles and
standards to be applied and (ii) to assist public officials to develop an appreciation of the
ethical issues involved in effective and efficient public service delivery.

2. Mention four attributes that are important for civil service. Justify your answer. (GS 4)

Introduction:
 Civil servants are the lynchpin between the government and public. So it is very
important for the civil servants to have the following attributes :-
1.Emotional Intelligence and empathy :-
 In a country like India where there are diverse people civil servants need to empathise
with the local people and try to convince them for change like convincing them for
importance of toilets and making the area open defecation free,trying to convince the
people for not aborting the female child,importance of education for children etc.
2.Integrity and honesty:-
 It is very important for a civil servant to have both these qualities especially in the
society ridden with corrupted officials.To teach people to differentiate what is right and
what is wrong especially under high pressure situations.A corrupt officer can push the
development back and it is one of the worst qualities a civil servant can have according
to chanakya.
3.Efficiency :-
 To be able to get the things done and being accountable to their actions is very
important for a civil servant to gain trust from the public.
 For example in a Boat tragedy in Bihar, the district administration was found not to have
taken precautionary measures in advance.
4.Accountability and transparency:-
 Accountability for their action: A bureaucrat of clean and sound conscience will always
take the accountability of her actions. When actions are guided by malafide intentions,
accountability diminishes and blame-game picks up.
There are many other attributes which are essential for the civil service as well like
openenss,perseverence etc too.

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3. Is morality important to lead a happy life? Support your answer with examples. (GS 4)
Introduction:
 Morality makes a person aware of the difference between right and wrong .It is believed
to a large extent that a moral person has a satisfaction to lead a happy life.
Yes morality is important to lead a happy life:-
 To be happy is to be emotionally and evaluatively satisfied with one’s life .Since there is
no definitive proof of what the standard of satisfaction is, being open to the devising
and testing of standards by others is part of claiming one’s own standard as a reasoning
being. This open-ness is equivalent to being open to and hence respecting and caring for
the pursuit of happiness of others. Since such respect and care is what it is to be moral,
it follows that one cannot be happy without being moral.
 A person can lead a fulfilled and happy life because he/she has created great
relationships through strong ethical and moral conduct.
 In administration when one sees the life of Corrupt vs. Honest Officers – Former CAG
Mr. Vinod Rai unearthed big scams and was at the receiving end of the then
government. However, now he is respected by all. At the same time, a dishonest officer
can accumulate huge wealth but will always live in fear.
 Where a person has high moral standards he receives respect from all quarters and
would have a life of no fear leading to a happy life.
 In personal life there might be many instances where one might be tempted to lie or
cheat or chose an easy path for success which is riddled with unethical and immoral
means but conscience would constantly remind u and the person would not be happy so
ethical and moral life even though it's tough leads to a happy life.
4. “Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of
slavery”. Critically examine. (GS 4)
Knowledge Base
 Liberty is respected by the world and it is this which gives people freedom to do what
they want to do.
 According to Plato, Self control means controlling inferior soul by superior soul of the
person. Without this self control, there will be excess of liberty which will lead to
inferior virtues of greed, indolence, carelessness taking over superior virtues of
discipline, sincerity and empathy . Hence, a person becomes slave of immorality.
 However “Lliberty runs rampant” can be framed like this: Imagine that there are no
rules of the road, no driving lanes, no set direction for traffic to take.
 If there are no rules and everyone can drive however they want, the road might
become very chaotic and dangerous. This chaos, as a norm, would keep many people
from driving. Driving would be too dangerous. In this case, the freedom to drive is
nullified by the danger of driving.
 The excessive liberty, in this case, would become a clear danger to life, making people
slaves to a certain chaos.
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  This may create problems of control and dependency and create slavery like situation.
When there is excess of liberty some people might get addicted to alcohol,drugs etc
which can make these people get addicted to these and become slaves .
 Environmental problem :- During the industrial age, people had excess liberty to use
natural resources. So, human made nature slave. Now the devastating result is in form
of Global warming.
 Green revolution encouraged tube irrigation resulting in excessive ground water
recharge. This deteriorated soil health and made farmers dependent on fertilizers.
 Excessive agricultural rights and abdication of environmental duties lead to modern
form of slavery and dependence.
 Similarly if government is free to decide on all developmental projects, all policies and
all laws without taking view of public and checking ground realities, will impinge on
rights of people and create problems of displacement, farmer suicide, freedom of
speech etc.
 Excess of liberty available to politicians has resulted in the nation being enslaved by
corruption
However, liberty is important for establishing free society.Any restriction hampers the
progress of the society
 Liberty has to be balanced with tolerance and awareness of duties. In western society
authors are given liberty and people are also tolerant towards rights of others. Hence
there are less protest and agitations.
 Similarly excessive liberty of thought can break the chain of ignorance and inequality
like Copernicus educated the world that universe is sun centric, Dr. Ambedkar fought for
the right of Dalits and downtrodden.
 some liberty is necessary at every level for good and effective decision making process,
for effective implementation of policy and to spend a free life.
 . Free society is important for growth of art, culture, science and promote new
innovations by braking the shackles of orthodoxy.

5. “Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his
dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.” Critically
comment. (GS 4)

 Everyday there is something to learn in life.When people think they know everything
and don't make an effort to learn that is when they are pushed backwards.
 One can always improve the things one does but this is about challenging the way one
always think about things. It is always about re-evaluating the things one has already
evaluated.
 India as a country has been under constant development trying new things for the
welfare of the society.During British era there were restrictions on speech and
expression .But this got rectified by the freedom movement leaders after independence
by imbibing article 19 in the constitution.
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  Similarly in administration with digital world the growth of transparency and
accountability has increased which was not possible earlier with multiple mechanisms
available for the same thing leading to duplication of work.
 So reevaluating the current and striving for further development is how the life moves
forward.
 However in the effort for constant development sometimes the society is adversely
affected as seen with the discoveries and certain inventions like atom bomb,dynamite
because of which some societies suffered excessively.
 Also in an effort for constant development the societies tend to forget the ethical values
based on which the learning has to sustain leading to corruption.This needs to be
avoided.

6. “The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.” Discuss. (GS 4)

 The reward most of the time comes in the form of greater opportunity as it wins the
trust of people. This boosts moral and self-esteem.The confidence of others also get
reinforced when the person has already worked hard.
 Leaders who took lead in freedom struggle, had confidence of people and were
rewarded in the form of more opportunity in constituent assembly, interim government
and then in first elected government.
 India was criticised by the international community for conducting nuclear tests once
but got rewarded with more nuclear deals with many countries because of the
responsibility and maturity in showed in dealing with nuclear weapons.
 When an administrator of a district tries to achieve 100% literacy in a particular district
and reaches the goal,He/she gains the confidence to continue the good work as
satisfaction that one gets when worked for the greater good itself is the reward which
pushed a human being forward.
 However there are instances which show that despite not being efficient people still are
treated the same way as efficient people do like in government jobs performance is not
the criteria for promotions and perks but experience is.This is detrimental to public
interest and good governance.
 Also monetary rewards do help a person to some extent and providing position in
leadership levels and providing greater role for the person in the organisation helps to
maintain efficiency of the person.
 Therefore a very accomplished work will be remembered by mankind for centuries that
is a reward in itself.

7..Glass ceiling for woman’s progression in workplace is a serious concern. Comment. (GS 4)

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Introduction:-
 "Glass ceiling" is the term used to describe barriers that prevent women and minorities
from advancing to management positions in corporations and organizations.

Yes:-
 The presence of women in senior
managerial positions is very low in spite of having good scholastics, plethora of
knowledge, quality and efficiency.
 An international survey finds 73% of female managers believe barriers to advancement
still exist, compared with only 38% of men.
 The world of work has not caught up with the needs of modern families where both
parents work, with few senior positions offering flexibility around working hours and it
is still on the whole women who require flexibility in order to manage childcare
commitments, thus restricting their career.
 Sexism, including women being passed over for top jobs, serves to further reinforce the
glass ceiling.
 Glass ceiling further reinforces patriarchal mindset in the society.
 Affects gender equality in policy making.
 Perpetuate the thinking that girl child is not needed and is a burden which can lead to
rising cases of female infanticide.
 Gender Gap report of WEF highlights disparities in salary, promotions
 Women labor force participation is stuck in low growth sectors like textile, leather, food
processing, handicraft with near absence of skill mobility
 Even political representation is mere 12% in Lok Sabha as well as ministeries in central
government.
 Also recent ILO report suggests that only 15% of managerial posts are held by women,
and glass ceiling is one of the factors leading to such low representation of people.
 ASPIRATIONS :-
o Every person hopes to reach the zenith of the institution, which results in
efficiency in their work. Glass ceiling virtually kills these aspirations and zeal to
work hard.

No:-

 Women's liberation, feminism and civil rights legislation already provide for women's
equality.
 Women's job choices keep them off of the executive track.
 Women who do make job choices that put them on the executive track and do have the
right educational preparation have not been in the corporation long enough to build up
experience and this will automatically correct itself with time.

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Hence, glass ceiling on women's progression is not only harmful for women, but for society as a
whole. Many countries like USA, Nordic countries have adopted flexible work timing for women
and equal opportunities to them to rise to the top most designations.

8.“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Discuss critically. (GS 4)

Introduction:-

 Thoreau in this quote points out the difference between the senses and perception.
Input from our senses provides data and facts but does not truly allow us to perceive or
experience the item our eyes view.
 For instance one might “look” at a painting and view a canvas with paint and brush
strokes. But what one “sees” is again a mastery of beauty, passion or story that touches
my mind and my heart.
 There is just too much to see and process, so people minds delete that which it believes
to be unnecessary.
 When one faces the most challenging situations ones perspective at what they want to
perceive from that situation is their choice.The situation might be bleak but you can still
have a positive outlook .
o It’s especially important to do this in your most challenging moments, when
conditions look particularly bleak.
 The gift of conscious perception can be an astounding event that happens whenever we
realize that it is we, and we alone, who assign meaning to whatever our eyes fall upon
every moment of every day. people don’t see just with their eyes; people see with our
mind and heart.
 For a civil servant this statement makes all the more sense as sometimes his perception
and the conscience can tell him to do the right wrong when he/she sees something and
is faced with a ethical dilemma

9. “Emotional intelligence is your ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself

and others, and your ability to use this awareness to manage your behavior and
relationships.” Analyze. (GS 4)

Link

Emotional intelligence:-
Four main skills of emotional intelligence are:-

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  Self-awareness – our ability to perceive our emotions and understand our tendencies to
act in certain ways in given situations

 Social awareness – our ability to understand the emotions of other people, what they
are thinking and feeling

 Self-management – our ability to use awareness of our emotions to stay flexible and
direct our behavior positively and constructively

 Relationship management – our ability to use our awareness of our own emotions and
those of others to manage interactions successfully

Importance of emotional intelligence:

1.At work place:

 An employee with low emotional intelligence can negatively impact a workplace and
their team members leading to poor morale.
o Examples of low emotionally intelligent behaviour includes; not being able to
take critical feedback, laying blame on other staff, passive-aggressive comments.
 In management, those with low emotional intelligence exhibit the same traits, but can
also be leaders who do not listen to the recommendations of the staff that they manage
and become out of touch with those that they lead.
 Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation and Self-Motivation
o Employees who possess high levels of emotional intelligence are much more self-
aware.
o In the workplace this translates to an employee who understands their own
strengths and their own weaknesses in addition to how their actions could affect
their team members.
o Self-aware employees are also better equipped to handle constructive criticism
and learn from their mistakes.
o An employee with high emotional intelligence can also reveal and control their
own emotions to team members
o Emotionally intelligent people are also self-motivated, but they are not
motivated by money or a title alone
 Empathy and Interpersonal Skills
 An empathetic employee is an employee who has compassion and understands human
nature. This allows them to connect with their team members and peers on an
emotional level.
 Having empathy is a sign of high emotional intelligence and means that employee is able
to respond genuinely to any of their colleagues’ concerns.

2.In administration:
 Emotional Intelligence (EI) can be a valuable tool a administrator and managers in
government or any company.
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  Self-awareness
 Bureuacrats need to know emotions, moods and drives of their peers and persons at
whom public policy is targeted for better acquaintance with the nature of problems in
society and their possible solutions.
 Self-regulation
o An aware bureaucrat can guide his emotions and perform accordingly for
betterment of society.
 Motivation
o Knowledge about his emotion, passion and sentiment as well as that of his peers
can help motivate them and persist in adverse situations.
o This will also maximize organisational benefits together with timely achievement
of targets.
 Empathy
o Understanding of others' problems helps in their quick and effective resolution.
 Social skills
o proper management of societal relations also helps in lessening work-family
conflict, enhances physical and mental health and provides job satisfaction.
3.Personal life
 EI has significant role to play in maintaining effective and fulfilling relationships in
personal life too

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