NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra points in the form of background information.
Ethics
Q1.What do you understand by the following terms – Sympathy, Empathy, Compassion, and Apathy? 10M
Introduction
Sympathy, Empathy, Compassion, and Apathy are separate terms with some very important distinctions. Empathy means that you feel what a person is feeling. Sympathy means you can understand what the person is feeling. Compassion is the willingness to relieve the suffering of another. Apathy is a complete lack of feeling or concern for something or someone.
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Sympathy:
- Sympathy refers to acknowledging another person’s emotional hardships and providing comfort and assurance. Sympathy is when you can understand what the person is feeling.
- For example, if someone’s father has passed away, you may not be able to viscerally feel that person’s pain. However, you can employ your cognitive skills to understand that your friend is sad.
It makes sense, then, to send sympathy cards when you understand that someone is suffering. You are not feeling that person’s pain, but you want them to know you are aware of their suffering.
Empathy:
- Empathy refers to understanding what others are feeling. This may be because we ourselves have felt so or we can put ourselves in their shoes. It is viscerally feeling what another feels. Empathy may arise automatically when you witness someone in pain.
- For example, Mahatma Gandhi lived a simple life because he was empathetic. He renounced a luxurious life because he could empathize with the Indian masses suffering under exploitative British rule.
Compassion:
- Compassion takes empathy and sympathy a step further. When you are compassionate, you feel the pain of another (i.e., empathy) or you recognize that the person is in pain (i.e., sympathy), and then you do your best to alleviate the person’s suffering from that situation. Thus, the emphasis here is on the action and want to help.
- For example – On seeing a child waiter in a restaurant, someone unleashes himself from simply being a spectator and makes some arrangements according to his capacity for the good ( like informing NGOs, arranging education, counseling his parents, etc.), then he has compassion.
Apathy:
- Apathy is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern about something. Apathy is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, or passion.
- For example – Muller, a young footballer from Ghana who plays for a seven-a-side football team in Kerala, spent 73 days stranded outside Mumbai airport with less than Rs 1,000 in his pocket. The bureaucratic apathy of the Ghana embassy, Maharashtra government, and the government of India made him stranded on his way home because of the lockdown.
Conclusion
Civil Servants should be Sympathetic, Empathetic, Compassionate, Non-apathetic, Efficient, Impartial, and Incorruptible and these are the guiding principles that form the bedrock of the higher civil services
Q2. What are moral values that can be derived from Indian Culture? Elaborate. 10M
Introduction
Moral values are defined as guidelines that assist a person in deciding between right and wrong. To create honest, credible, and fair judgments and relationships in daily life, the awareness of one’s morals – along with self-awareness – is crucial.
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Important values that are ever relevant and unchanging in Indian culture
- Satya (truth) – A man has duties and commitments in all stages of life. The Vedas teach how to perform them. According to the Vedas, the nobler virtue is truth and then follows other virtues. Quran says – “Always speak the truth, even if there is a fear in speaking the truth”.
- Unity – Indian culture is a blend of diverse religions, diverse societal groups, diverse beliefs and customs, and diverse beliefs, yet Indians are united. This makes one of the notable features of India – Unity in Diversity.
- Niskama karma – It is the principle that is enshrined in Bhagavad Gita. It implies a person to do self-less or desireless action/work, action/work to be performed without any expectation of fruits or results. This sense of detachment as a moral value can help public servants to do selfless work for the benefit of the public.
- Spirituality – Bhakti movement, Sufi movements, Jainism, and Buddhism in India prescribe the disciplines for spiritual life, which are to be observed consciously or unconsciously as long as man lives.
- Controlling Emotions – Various religious texts advised containing and restraining all the emotions that may lead to a sinful existence. Thus he is asked to control such emotions as Kama (lust), Krodha(anger), Mada (ego, pride), and Matsara (jealousy). The moral codes of various texts repeatedly emphasize the importance of being aware of these ordinary but strong human emotions that lead to the disruptions of a harmonious society.
- Dana(liberal giving) – Helping those who are in need is emphasized by all the religions existing in India. In Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, dana is the practice of cultivating generosity. It can take the form of giving to an individual in distress or need. It can also take the form of philanthropic public projects that empower and help many.
Conclusion
Indian culture plays an important role in inculcating ethical values. Indian culture is very rich and diverse and teaches us to be tolerant of others. It shows us evidence of the development of values in life.
