1.

Definitions, phrases and examples

1. Belief
1. It is an internal feeling that something is true.
2. It is what we think about things. An individual usually tends to
internalise the beliefs of people around him or of charismatic
leaders.
2. Values
1. Values are things which are valuable to him. They are most
important of all beliefs. Beliefs of a person can be changed easily
but values are very difficult to change.
2. For example, Raju may believe Americans by nature are bad,
without any prior objective facts. But if Raju sees an American
helping someone, he may change his belief system accordingly.
That means beliefs can be changed easily. Values take time to
develop, but once they are developed they are hard to change.
3. Values of mine
1. Patriotism: I believe in the patriotism and the love for country
but it should not be a jingoistic feeling. Patriotism gives you a
drive to work for people, removing inequality in all spheres of
life.
2. Peace: People are fighting each other for religious, caste,
language and race reasons. Lack of peace in society brings an
ambience of fear, pain, acrimony and injustice. My duty in this
regard lies in germinating brotherhood among people. Violence
begets violence and nothing can be achieved from it. Ex: National
movement.
3. Compassion: We are all humans first. No doubt we have different
skin colours, religious preferences and political points of view, but
at the end of the day, we still need to take care of one another.
4. Effort: No matter the outcome, there is always value in the effort
when the effort is authentic and well intended. Krishna in
Bhagavadgita says one should do work diligently without any
expectation of any rewards. This reduces unnecessary
expectations and pressures. Ex: A civil servant should work as
hard as he can even though if such work is not recognised by
 others and may not lead to personal benefits to him.
4. Civil services values
1. For every situation we don’t have time to test the case on ethical
theories such as utilitarianism. So, prescribed values provide time
saving shortcut in many such situations.
2. For example, non-partisanship is one value of civil service. So, a
civil servant need not think whether to join a political rally or not.
It is clear from the value that it is plain wrong.
3. They reduce moral sacrifices on one’s part. For example,
Objectivity is one of the civil services value. So, a civil servant
can easily remove any family biases in decision making without
any guilt feeling.
4. Values have hierarchy. For a judge, value hierarchy should be
first, Justice and then followed by mercy.
5. A civil servant has various discretionary powers. He must be
provided with guiding principles to prevent abuse of power. The
foundational values provide these guiding principles.
5. Ethics: Ethics is a set of standards that society places on itself. They
help us decide what is right and what is wrong. So, basically they focus
on conduct or actions of individuals. Ethics are defined by society and
not individually. Also, being ethical is not same as doing whatever
society wants. In many societies, most accepted standards are ethical.
But in some societies most accepted standards may not be ethical. An
entire society can become corrupt. Ex: Nazi Germany.
6. Values vs ethics: Suppose someone highly values success, we will
expect him to be goal oriented. But the method he choose to achieve
that success, either by correct or incorrect ways, is a matter of ethics.
Ex: Concepts such as competition, compromise, hard work may be
values of someone but they are not considered as ethics as they don’t
focus on action. While concepts like honesty, truthfulness, fairness are
used in decision making to decide rightness or wrongness of an action.
Thus they are considered as ethics.
7. Codes, principles and ideals: A code of action will enable a person to
behave with integrity. Principles are the manifestation of values, morals
and ethics. Ex: A person who acts upon principle of transparency may
be reflecting his value of honesty. An ideal is a principle or value that
 one pursues as a goal, usually in the context of ethics. Ideals are one of
high or noble character.
8. Morals: Morals also relate to right or wrong conduct. While ethics are
provided by an external source, like societies, institutions etc., morals
are individual’s own principles regarding right and wrong. Morals
emerge from religion. Thus ethics are dependent on others for definition
while morals stem from inside.

9. Moral earnestness: It means sincerity towards one’s own moral values.

If stealing is bad, a person with moral earnestness would never steal.
Ex: Not giving seat to a old man in Metro, although you are aware of
problems of old man and also you sympathise with him. Ex:
Corruption.
10. Ethics vs Morals: Morals and ethics are usually congruent with each
other as an individual is part of this society only. But sometimes, morals
may come in conflict with ethics. Ex: Defence lawyer for a terrorist.
11. Work ethics
1. It represents good attitude towards work. A person with good
work ethics will show strong commitment, sincerity, respect for
time in fulfilment of one’s duties. Work is considered not as a
burden but as an opportunity to serve and constructively
contribute to society.
 2. As Swami Vivekananda observed, every duty is holy and devotion
to duty is the highest form of worship. PM Modi said in his
August 15 speech said that more than Karya (work), Karya
Sanskriti (work attitude) of the Government is important.
12. Dedication
1. Dedication is the quality of being able to give one’s time and
attention to a particular activity, person or a cause. Dedication
gives strength to move on and on without any distraction. If a
person is not dedicated to his goal, he may loose sight of his goal
and may never achieve it. Dedication ensure that duty becomes an
end in itself.
2. Dedication is the highest form of commitment. Dedication
suggests that one is devoted even when though there is no formal
commitment. Ex: Police officers not registering the crime case if it
is not in his area. He do not want to take extra responsibility.
Although he is committed, he has no dedication towards crime
free society.
3. In AP, MLA slept near graveyard to chase away fear of
construction workers.
4. Sreedharan, Metro Man, was made MD of DMRC at the age of
65. He completed the project within/before the time and within the
allocated budget.
13. Ethical competence
1. Ethical competence is essentially the ability to implement ethics in
public life. It includes judging what constitutes ethically
appropriate conduct and ability to act ethically and communicate
the same to the public.
2. Knowledge: Ethical competence can be achieved when it is
supplemented with the legal, institutional, political, and cultural
justifications. For example, Article 14 establishes rule of law in
India. The political justification is that India is a democracy where
no citizen is above the law.
3. Reasoning skills: It is the ability to identify a situation where
there can be ethical conflicts, dilemmas, clash of values etc. For
example, a public servant should identify conflict of interest
situations. It is possible that an officer may be awarding a contract
to a relative.
 4. Advocacy skills: It is the ability to communicate a principled
view of the decision to media and the public at large. For example,
displacing tribals from their home forests is a major issue.
Officials must be sensitive to public sentiments and announce
such decisions with clear reasons.
5. Self awareness: Officials need to develop skills in recognising the
various merits and weaknesses of their own positions, and of the
principled positions which may be taken by other officials,
individuals, interest groups, and the State, and building consensus.
6. Attitude and commitment: Even officers of highest integrity
may choose to ignore ethical considerations. Ensuring consistent
ethical behaviour may require attitudinal change in the officials.
For example, a coal secretary may allocate a mining block without
dwelling much on the lives of the poor inhabitants that may be
affected. He may act solely on economic grounds.
14. Objectivity
1. Objectivity refers to taking decisions on fair basis without any
bias or external influence. It means being truthful, unbiased,
impartial and sticking to facts. Objectivity helps civil servants to
take reasoned decisions and defending them in front of others. For
example, a judicial magistrate with objectivity would go by the
merits of a robbery case rather than being influenced by the public
perception of the culprit.
2. However objectivity should not be misconstrued as a mechanical
and rigid adherence to laws and rules. There must be an element
of fairness in the decision making. Ex: A judge imposing same
fine on a rich and poor man when both have done same crime may
be objective but not fair. Judiciary need to be fair along with being
objective or one can say that there must be enlightened
objectivity.
15. How to inculcate objectivity
1. Training.
2. Transparency: After Right to information act, civil servants
today will think twice before taking discretionary decisions,
fearing that he will have to answer it if someone files an RTI.
3. Accountability: Within judicial/administrative procedure, there
should be mechanism for appellate board to review decisions of
 the authorities. Ex: taxation, land acquisition etc.
4. Critical thinking: ASI began gold hunting in Uttar Pradesh, on
order of a union minister who believed a baba. They showed lack
of critical thinking by blindly following dictates of some person.
5. Information management: If you don’t have complete
information, you can’t take objective decisions. Ex: SDGs have 17
goals and 169 targets. Previously in MDGs, we had 18 indicators,
yet we lacked proper statistical databases to compare
performance.
16. Subjective situations
1. To realise social and economic justice to downtrodden,
administrators have to consider subjective paths but their actions
should be in their jurisdiction, reasonable and have humanitarian
values. Administrator need to take decisions on the spot. To bring
innovativeness, they need certain element of subjectivity.
2. Our constitution has also some such subjective actions. Though
Supreme court awards death sentences on objective basis,
constitution has provisions to pardon death sentences subjectively
based on good moral conduct during period of sentence.
17. Public trust
1. It is the firm belief of the people in public offices, institutions and
officials i.e. the measure of public confidence on the working of
the Government. High public trust enables a civil servant to take
bold decisions, whereas, low public trust raises question on every
activity. It can be built by consistent performance and efficient
delivery of expected services.
2. Election Commission enjoys high trust and this has helped it to
implement 'Model Code of Conduct' even without Legislature's
backing.
18. Strength of character
1. It is a measure of how much a person can persevere in adverse
circumstances and stand against wrong actions and deeds. It is
determined by how strongly or weakly does one believes and
adheres to certain values. It stands to test in the face of hardships.
2. This strength helps a civil servant to firmly say no to anyone's ill
demands that may go against the law or interests of general public.
Ex: During riots, passing of tenders, work during disasters and so
 on.
19. Tolerance
1. Tolerance refers to a permissive attitude towards those whose
opinions, practices, religion and nationality, etc., differing from
one’s own. It is the act or capacity of enduring the diversity of
views and practices in our environment. It is based on the idea of
how to live together in peace and harmony with one another
despite dissenting view points. Tolerance upholds human rights of
dignified life and rule of law.
2. Public officials need to be secular in outlook. To do this, value of
tolerance is necessary. Tolerance also means being open to diverse
views which is fundamental in our constitution. All India services
calls upon civil servants to serve culturally different people. A
Punjabi civil servant may find it difficult to serve in South India if
he does not have aptitude of tolerance.
20. How to be tolerant
1. Reading literature.
2. Working and living in culturally different societies will make one
much tolerant.
3. Interacting with different set of people in your locality, like people
from different castes, religions, etc.
4. Writing one’s experiences daily in a diary, will help us keep in
check the violent reactions in us. I made it a practice.
5. Try working on something where you have to be part of a team,
and communicate with each other to get the job done.
6. A calm mind is essential for accepting diverse views. Meditation
and physical exercise is helping me to remain calm.
21. Selflessness
1. It means to put others before oneself to the extent of having little
or no concern for one's life, money, position etc. The job of civil
servant demands that public concerns be the top priority. There
might be situations where an official has to give up family time at
a stretch in order to fulfil professional responsibilities. Further,
selflessness helps in building an organization of integrity and
honesty.
22. Courage
1. Courage is the virtue that enables a person to restrain fear in the
 face of danger, difficulty or doubt. As Nelson Mandela put it,
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over
it". Courage is the first of human qualities because it’s the quality
that guarantees the others.
2. Courage enables people to face tough consequences for their acts.
For instance whistleblowers like Edward Snowden often pay
heavy price for disclosures.
3. Without courage it is difficult to display qualities like leadership
which entails laying out roadmaps for the future amidst
uncertainty. For example it is courage that enabled Mahatma
Gandhi to display the virtue of non-violence against the
oppressive colonial regime.
4. It encourages people to take firm decisions and attempt things that
they have not tried before. For instance, it takes courage to invest
in novel & seemingly impractical/commercially unviable ideas
like the SpaceX.
5. Various personal, social and professional feats are unthinkable
without courage. Without courage, Raja Rammohan roy would not
have fought against Sati.
6. Courage is not just dramatic physical heroism. Life provides daily
opportunities and instances of courageous acts like standing up for
injustice, supporting cleanliness in public places, standing up for
rights of minorities, women, etc. However, it must be borne in
mind that courage must stay within limits defined by reason.
23. Efficiency
1. Efficiency implies doing one’s best in one’s job, with limited
available resources and time to achieve desired objectives.
Efficiency simply does not mean mechanical productivity. For a
genuinely efficient person there is regard for the higher goals of
governance, including public welfare and he devotes himself to
the expeditious achievement of those goals.
2. Thus, an efficient person is also an ethical person. He or she
possesses administrative morality that is essentially rooted in a
conviction in the desirability of ethical conduct.
24. Diligence
1. Diligence is the quality of showing perseverance in carrying out
the work while showing careful attention to each and every detail.
 This quality is indispensable to every civil servant considering the
complexity of work and great responsibility which comes with it.
2. For example, in order to implement the anti-corruption laws in a
district administration where corruption is a way of life one needs
to be very careful and attentive with strong will to carry out the
task.
3. An example of diligent is a worker who always stays late to get
projects done on deadline. An example of diligent is the artist who
paints every strand of hair on a portrait.
4. But it is difficult to inculcate value of diligence since modern life
tends to value comfort more than hard work. Too many people
want to put out minimum effort for maximum pay.
25. How to inculcate diligence
1. By role modelling: There have been various public personalities
who showed exemplary quality of diligence in their public
conduct. Ex: Sreedharan. Such personalities should be made role
model for civil servants by making them aware of their lives.
2. Social recognition: Giving recognition and rewards to individuals
who practices such quality will provide motivation to fellow civil
servants to adopt such values.
3. Giving adequate autonomy: Freedom from political pressure
will provide the civil servant to actively engage in his work.
4. Providing adequate resources: Diligence not only require
individual will but resource in form of information and means to
carry out the task. Provision of adequate resources will create
conducive condition for inculcation of diligence as practical value.
26. Non-partisanship and impartiality
1. Non-partisan in public administration means not to side with any
group, especially with political groups and parties. Decisions
should be based on evidence and for ensuring maximum public
welfare and not a specific entity. Advice should be without any
fear of backlash.
2. Impartiality means that civil servants in carrying out their official
work, including functions like procurement, recruitment, delivery
of services etc, should take decisions based on merit alone.
27. Importance of above for civil servants
 1. Impartiality enables the administrator in filling up the gaps of trust
deficit between the subjects and the Government.
2. Impartiality provides legitimacy to the conduct of administrator
and makes it more effective. For example, in conduct of an
election process, public will measure the legitimacy of an election
on basis of actual integrity of administration.
3. Non-partisanship strengthens the democratic procedures and
organisation’s credibility.
4. It strongly attracts pre-requisites of noble administration like
transparency and honesty.
28. How to ensure non-partisanship
1. Maintaining contact with industrialist, builders, NGOs, politicians
etc., only at the professional level via meetings, conferences etc.
and not at the personal level.
2. Regulate gift taking from businessmen, etc.
3. Ensuring transparency via a website for my department where all
decisions and reasons for taking the decision will be uploaded real
time.
4. Ensuring accountability by assigning time bound tasks to officers
and monitoring the progress.
5. Citizens participation via 24x7 helpline and regular meetings with
civil society.
6. Creating a citizen’s charter which will be derived from the ethics
implicit in the constitution and which will serve as guideline in
cases where the law is ambiguous.
29. Intuition
1. Intuition refers to the ability to acquire knowledge about things
without reasoning or usage of reasoning in general. It is often
conceived as a kind of inner perception. Ex: Gandhi started salt
satyagraha and Quit India movement through his intuition of
grasping the situation.
2. It develops with age, sometimes maturity, sometimes with
experience, in some with intellect. It teaches, guides and motivates
us. We experience Deja-vu’s because our intuition might have felt
it or comprehended it much before.
30. Conscientiousness
 1. Conscientiousness is the personality trait of being careful, or
diligent. Conscientiousness implies a desire to do a task well, and
to take obligations to others seriously. It implies a desire to do a
task well. Conscientious people are efficient and organised as
opposed to easy going and disorderly.
31. Prudence
1. Prudence is the ability to govern one’s behaviour by the use of
reason. It is often associated with wisdom, insight and knowledge.
Prudence avoids extreme actions and focuses on middle path as
suggested by Buddhism.
2. All other virtues are regulated by it. Distinguishing when acts are
courageous, as opposed to reckless is an act of prudence. Ex:
Irwin pact, Gandhi calling off non-cooperation movement.
32. Temperance
1. It is defined as moderation or voluntary self-restraint. This
includes restraint from retaliation in the form of non-violence and
forgiveness, restraint from arrogance in the form of humility and
modesty and restraint from excessive anger or craving for
something in the form of calmness and self control.
2. Buddhism talks about taking middle path in all actions. This is
nothing but following temperance in one’s action.
33. Perseverance
1. Steady persistence in adhering to a cause of action, a belief or a
purpose etc., in spite of difficulties or discouragement. Medicine
is a field which requires dedication and perseverance.
2. Two greatest obstacles for people to overcome in life are failures
and fatigue. Failures may demotivate a person and might deviate
his path. Fatigue may cause boredom and may reduce
effectiveness. Thus perseverance is necessary to overcome both
fatigue and failure. Ex: Leaders of national struggle.
34. Activism
1. It signifies a bold, fearless and upright civil servant. A civil
servant must show boldness to protest against the immoral
decisions of their political masters. His obligation to the
constitution must override his loyalty to the government.
2. Ex: Sri Lakshmi, 2g scam.
35. Honesty
1. There is no more fundamental ethical value than honesty. We
associate honesty with people of honour, and we admire and rely
on those who are honest. Honesty involves both communications
and conduct.
2. Honesty precludes all acts, including half truths, out of context
statements, and even silence during times of moral crisis.
36. Integrity
1. It is a concept of consistency of thoughts, words, deeds, and
duties. Choosing the right, regardless of the consequence, is the
hallmark of integrity. Integrity is choosing your thoughts and
actions based on values rather than personal gain.
2. People of integrity are trustworthy because they base their
decisions on moral and ethical principles, not on convenience.
3. Integrity enabled the official to do the right and legal thing with
conviction and ensure that it sees logical end. A person without
integrity will not have the appetite for a long struggle for what on
feels is right.
4. In this era of social media and information flow an upright official
with integrity will inspire many and there will be a popular
support to the action of such an officer.
5. In public service it is said that one’s reputation precedes oneself.
So the quality of an official having high integrity will be well
known to those who approach him.
6. Character and integrity are more often demonstrated by the way
we handle day to day relationship questions than by any heroic
acts of courage.
37. Intellectual integrity
1. It is defined as recognition of the need to be true to one’s own
thinking and to hold oneself to the same standards one expects
others to meet. It is to practice what one advocates to others and to
honestly admit discrepancies and inconsistencies in one’s own
thoughts and action.
2. For example, if you succeed, you’d say you worked hard. If
someone else succeeds, you’d attribute it to his good luck. That
shows lack of intellectual integrity, because you’re not evaluating
everything on same parameter. Suppose if a husband lied to her
 wife about something important, then his behaviour lacks
integrity.
38. How to inculcate integrity
1. Through training.
2. Through institutional structure such as laws, rules and regulation.
2nd ARC recommends setting up code of ethics for all
departments of the government. Ex: Speaker will monitor how
many times parliament was disrupted, a committee will monitor it
and report will be published.
3. Select random officer and try to bribe him. This is not same as
CBI/ACB raid, they want to flush out corrupt people. But integrity
testing is done to establish honesty.
4. If young recruit’s first posting is made under honest officer, then
he’s more like to remain honest for the rest of his life because of
mentoring by a good role model.
39. Fidelity: It is defined as faithfulness to obligations and duties.
Correspondence with fact or with a given quality and adherence to truth
are vital for maintaining fidelity. A public servant is expected to be at
all times a trustworthy person in the public services. An unfaithful
public servant tarnishes the image of the entire system.
40. Rapprochement: Establishing cordial relations with employees and
other people who have direct relationship with the organisation.
41. Equanimity: It is a state of psychological stability and composure
which is undisturbed by experiences of good or bad, pain or pleasure, or
other phenomenon that may cause the normal people to lose the balance
of their mind.
42. Rationality: It is a concept which believes in the use of reason which is
detached with passions, emotions and beliefs. If our personal beliefs or
sentiments are not in conformity with rationality, they should not
prevail over rationality. It means bringing out a practical solution to a
practical situation.
43. Apathy: Lack of interest or concern. It is a state of indifference or not
showing concern, motivation, excitement, passion etc. Being indifferent
towards others problems, towards systemic lapses, towards progressive
change.
44. Social accountability
1. Social accountability is a process in which ordinary citizens or
 civil society participate in extracting accountability. It does not
rely on Government institutions to extract accountability of one
another. Conventional methods don’t involve public in defining
standards and methods of accountability.
2. Conventional accountability mechanisms rely on government
agencies to extract accountability. Internal mechanisms like
departmental hierarchy are prone to biases, favouritism and quid
pro quo. Also, conventional methods are of post-hoc nature i.e.
they can look into the propriety of the actions of officials only
after they are done.
45. Excellence
1. An administrator would ensure the highest standards of quality in
decisions and action and would not compromise with standards
because of convenience or complacency.
2. In a competitive international environment, an administrative
system should faithfully adhere to the requisites of total quality
management (TQM).
46. Fusion
1. An administrator would rationally bring about a fusion of
individual, organisational and social goals to help evolve unison
of ideals and imbibe in his behaviour a commitment to such a
fusion.
2. In the situation of conflicting goals, a concern for ethics should
govern the choices made.
47. Responsiveness and Resilience
1. An administrator would respond effectively to the demands and
challenges from the external as well as internal environment. He
would adapt to environmental transformation and yet sustain the
ethical norms of conduct.
2. In situations of deviation from the prescribed ethical norms, the
administrative system would show resilience and bounce back into
the accepted ethical mould at the earliest opportunity.
48. Sympathy vs empathy vs compassion
1. Sympathy refers to acknowledging another person’s pain and
providing comfort and assurance.
2. Empathy is the ability to place oneself in another‘s position and
 understand their feelings and experience their emotions. Unless
the public officials empathize with the common man, they will not
be able to understand the problems faced by him and
consequently, public services will not improve. Ex: An empathetic
official will ensure ramps in his/ her office premises to aid the
movement of the physically disabled.
3. Compassion refers to a step further, where a person not only feels
empathetic but also a desire to help alleviate the suffering of the
other person. Thus, the emphasis here is on action and wanting to
help. In, other word while Sympathy focuses on awareness,
empathy focuses on experience and Compassion focuses on
action.
4. For example, if a poor person come to an administrative officer
without adequate documents for a LPG connection. In case, he
just shows his concern, it is sympathy. Further, in case he consoles
the person and tells him that he shares his agony and suffering, it
is empathy. Finally, in case he not only shows his solidarity but
also uses his discretionary powers to allocate him a connection, it
is compassion.
5. Compassionate Kozhikode is a project by district administration
of Kozhikode to facilitate people who are willing to give to
people who are in need.
49. How to cultivate empathy
1. Art, literature, cinema can help us inculcate empathy. Ex: Satyajit
Ray’s Pather Panchali realistically portrays the poverty and rural
India. Mother Teresa’s autobiography, No Greater Love, moves
one’s heart.
2. Encourage perspective talking, role playing games, put yourself in
the shoes of other people.
3. Visit slums, old age homes, etc.
4. People of all religions are given public holidays on religious
events. It should encourage them to participate in each other’s
festivals.
5. Right to education act provides 25% reservation to children from
economically weaker section in the schools. So, rich and poor will
interact with each other and cultivate empathy for each other.
6. IAS probationers are sent to Bharat Darshan for similar reason of
 understanding the diversity of India and grow compassion towards
others.
50. Compassion
1. An administrator, without violating the prescribed laws and rules,
would demonstrate compassion for the poor, the disabled and the
weak while using his discretion in making decisions. At least, he
would not grant any benefits to the stronger section of society
only because they are strong and would not deny the due
consideration to the weak, despite their weakness.
2. Helping security guard of my hostel to fill a school application
form for his daughter. Contributing a meagre amount, from my
internship stipend, to an NGO working for children education.
51. National interest
1. A civil servant would keep in view the impact of his action on his
nation’s strength and prestige.
2. The Japanese, Koreans, Germans and the Chinese citizens, while
performing their official roles, have at the back of their mind a
concern and respect for their nation. This automatically raises the
level of service rendered and the products delivered.
52. Red tapism
1. Red tape is excessive regulation or rigid conformity to rules that is
considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinders or prevents
action or decision making. It is applied
to governments, corporations and other large organisations.
2. This unchecked growth may continue independently of the
organisation’s success or failure. Through bureaucratic inertia,
organisations tend to take on a life of their own beyond their
formal objectives.
53. Ethics audit
1. It refers to a neutral investigation into how well a company
conforms to the ethical standards of the industry or society
generally.
2. An ethics audit may consider the company’s own practices, how it
redresses grievances, how it discloses its finances, what kind of
safety it accords to whistle blowers, and even the general cultural
surrounding its business dealings. Ex: Sahara group for siphoning
 public money and loosing public trust, Volkswagen for violation
of environment norms, etc.
54. Gratitude
1. Gratitude is a feeling of being grateful and wanting to express
thanks. It originates from the heart and then opens our eyes to the
beauties of nature. Mark Twain has rightly said I can live for two
months on a good compliment.
2. Gratitude enable you to understand the importance of others in
your life and make you humble as your existence and success was
possible only because of them. Ex: Rahul Dravid, during his
farewell speech, thanked all the groundsmen, curators, etc., for
preparing pitches so that he could play the match.
3. Gratitude also pushes you hard to make your contribution tangible
towards something and someone that has shaped you. Ex: Usain
Bolt does his advertisement shoots in Jamaica, so that his people
would be benefitted.
4. Civil servants have to remember always that power and authority
that has been vested to them is for the wellbeing of the people and
they express their gratitude to the people by providing them
satisfactory service.
55. Magnanimity
1. Magnanimity is a quality of being kind, generous and forgiving.
Person filled by magnanimity do not seek revenge. Mahatma
Gandhi chose magnanimity over revenge as his guide for making
his decisions. Ex: According to christianity Jesus gave his life for
benefit of human kind.
2. Civil servants sometimes work in very adverse and hostile
circumstances. In those critical houses, they are supposed to forget
their personal interests and issues and work towards happiness of
people. Ex: Nelson Mandela did not show any retribution against
white people when he became president.
56. Humility
1. Humility is the quality of being humble and thinking that you are
not superior to anyone. It also means not drawing attention to
yourself.
2. For example, even though Narayan Murthy is a billionaire, he
 cleans his toilet by himself. Also, being a parent can be a very
humble job, wiping noses, changing diapers, and meeting a child’s
every need for years.
3. Humility asks us to acknowledge our imperfections. It requires
that we admit when we are wrong and then change course.
4. People look towards civil servants with suspicion, because they
find most of the civil servants are full of arrogance, egoist, and
power drunk. Civil servants need to dispel this notion from the
minds of people by becoming humble.
57. Reliability
1. Reliable persons are more trusted than an unreliable person. By
making a promise to someone we are making ourself morally
accountable to them, and by not keeping up we are doing morally
incorrect thing.
2. We should interpret your promises fairly and honestly and avoid
unwise commitments. Think about unknown or future events that
could make it difficult, undesirable or impossible.
58. Loyalty
1. Loyalty is a responsibility to promote the interests of certain
people, organisations. This duty goes beyond the normal
obligation we all share to care for others.
2. We must rank our loyalty obligations in some rational fashion. For
example, it’s perfectly reasonable to look out for the interests of
our children over other children.
3. Loyalty requires us to keep some information confidential. When
keeping a secret breaks the law or threatens others, however, we
may have a responsibility to blow the whistle.
4. Employees and public servants have a duty to make all
professional decisions on merit, unimpeded by conflicting
personal interests. They owe ultimate loyalty to the public.
59. Respect
1. People are not things, and everyone has a right to be treated with
dignity. We certainly have no ethical duty to hold all people in
high esteem, but we should treat everyone with respect, regardless
of who they are and what they have done.
2. We have a responsibility to be the best we can be in all situations,
 even when dealing with unpleasant people.
3. Respect prohibits violence, humiliation, manipulation and
exploitation. It reflects notions such as civility, courtesy, decency,
dignity, autonomy, tolerance and acceptance.
4. A respectful person is an attentive listener, although his patience
with the boorish need not be endless. Nevertheless, the respectful
person treats others with consideration, and doesn’t resort to
intimidation, coercion or violence except in extraordinary
situations. Punishment is used in moderation and only to advance
important social goals and purposes.
60. Responsibility
1. Being responsible means being in charge of our choices and our
lives. It means being accountable for what we do and who we are.
It is a moral obligation. Ethical people show responsibility by
being accountable, pursuing excellence and exercising self
restraint. They exhibit the ability to respond to expectations.
2. Responsible people finish what they start, overcoming rather than
surrendering to obstacles and avoid excuses. Responsible people
always look for ways to do their work better.
3. Responsible people exercise self control, restraining passions and
appetites (such as lust, hatred, gluttony, greed and fear) for the
sake of longer term vision and better judgment. They delay
gratification if necessary and never feel its necessary to win at any
cost.
4. An accountable person doesn’t shift blame or claim credit for the
work of others. He considers the likely consequences of his
behaviour and associations. He recognises the common complicity
in the triumph of evil when nothing is done to stop it. He leads by
example.
61. Fairness
1. Fairness implies adherence to a balanced standard of justice
without relevance to one’s own feelings or inclinations. It includes
issues of equality, impartiality, proportionality, openness and due
process. It is unfair to handle similar matters inconsistently.
2. A fair person scrupulously employs open and impartial processes
for gathering and evaluating information necessary to make
 decisions. Fair people do not wait for the truth to come to them
and they seek out relevant information and conflicting
perspectives before making important judgments.
62. Caring
1. If you existed alone in the universe, there would be no need for
ethics and your heart could be a cold, hard stone. Caring is the
heart of ethics, and ethical decision making.
2. It is scarcely possible to be truly ethical and yet unconcerned with
the welfare of others. That is because ethics is ultimately about
good relations with other people.
3. Of course, sometimes we must hurt those we truly care for, and
some decisions, while quite ethical, do cause pain. But one should
consciously cause no more harm than is reasonably necessary to
perform one’s duties.
4. The highest form of caring is the honest expression of
benevolence, or altruism. This is not to be confused with strategic
charity. Gifts to charities to advance personal interests are a fraud.
That is, they aren’t gifts at all. They are investments or tax write
offs.
63. Forgiving
1. To err is human, to forgive is divine. Everyone makes mistakes,
commit sins at some point in their life. It’s a human nature to
make mistakes. But to forgive someone from those mistakes is
indeed very hard. It doesn’t happens naturally like making a
mistake. People are acting in a godlike (divine) way when they
forgive. One almost have to be in a real holy place in their mind to
forgive someone.
2. It is morally correct to forgive such a person who accepts his
mistake and promises not to repeat it. It is so because someone is
showing courage and honesty by accepting his mistake with a
promise of not repeating. His thoughts are noble and gestures are
right. Forgiving him will help in making him a better human
being.
3. Lord Rama showed no hatred against his stepmother, Kaikeyi, for
sending him to the forest for fourteen years so that her son,
Bharat, could be the king.
4. All of us are humans. We all have our weaknesses and strength.
 No one is perfect. So when someone does a wrong to us, why
can’t we forgive them. Forgiving that person brings out the god
like nature that lies in human. It is not very easy to do it but once
we truly forgive someone for his mistake we will feel an inner
peace.
64. Trust
1. Trust means that you rely on someone else to do the right thing.
You believe in the person’s integrity and strength, to the extent
that you are able to put yourself on the line at some risk to
yourself.
2. Simply refraining from deception is not enough. Trustworthiness
is the most complicated of the six core ethical values and concerns
a variety of qualities like honesty, integrity, reliability and
loyalty.
3. A team without trust isn’t really a team. It’s just a group of
individuals, working together, often making disappointing
progress. They may not share information, they might battle over
rights and responsibilities, and they may not cooperate with one
another.
4. It doesn’t matter how capable or talented your people are, they
may never reach their full potential if trust isn’t present.
5. Trust is essential to an effective team, because it provides a sense
of safety. When your team members feel safe with each other,
they feel comfortable to open up, take appropriate risks.
6. When trust is in place, each individual in the team becomes
stronger, because he or she is part of an effective, cohesive group.
When people trust one another, the group can achieve truly
meaningful goals.
65. Strategies for building trust
1. Don't make unrealistic promises. Always fulfill the promises
made. Walk the talk once a promise is made.
2. If you want to build trust within your team, then lead by example,
and show your people that you trust them.
3. You cant be honest to one person and dis-honest to others.
Maintain integrity in building trust.
4. Speak truth as a matter of habit. A single lie to a friend or loved
 ones can break all trust forever.
5. One way to build trust is to develop inter-personal relations
among colleagues. Think about creating situations that help them
share personal stories, and bond. Do this by asking sensitively
about their family, etc
6. Don’t place blame on others. When people work together, honest
mistakes and disappointments happen, and it’s easy to blame
someone who causes these. However, when everyone starts
pointing fingers, an unpleasant atmosphere can quickly develop.
This lowers morale, undermines trust, and is ultimately
unproductive.
66. Anonymity
1. Bureaucrat is supposed to work behind the curtain and avoid
limelight. He will not get credit for the success and he will not be
blamed for the failure. It will be responsibility of the political
executive to handle all the applause and criticism. For example, in
Mundhra deal scam (1957), Chagla commission held that Minister
Krishnamachari is constitutionally responsible for the actions of
his secretary.
2. A civil servant should avoid going to media to air his grievances
or differences of opinion. Minister must be given the power to
extra work, power to reward and punish.
3. It allows civil servant to not fall for political compulsions and
public sentiments but be rational in his decisions and actions. He
is not worried about various pressure groups. He quietly works in
the background in public interest. It allows them to advice to
ministers freely and without fear of any adverse public or political
reactions and without fear of damage to their future careers.
4. Anonymity has been used by civil servant to shed accountability
and refusal to be held responsible even for their malaise action.
They have derilicted duty and hid behind the cloak of ministerial
responsibility for their collusion in corruption citing anonymity.
He is liable for his actions and anonymity cannot be an excuse. In
the 2G scam case supreme court held that telecom secretary
cannot hide behind anonymity to defend his malafide inaction.
67. Conduct rules providing anonymity
 1. He shall guard the official secrets.
2. Shall not make any public utterance that would embarrass
relations between Union and state or between two countries.
3. He should not criticise any policy of government.
4. Needs government permission before publishing book or
appearing on TV. Without government permission, he must not
accept any honour, ceremony, meeting, rally held in his honour.
5. Suppose press has made some remarks against him for his official
conduct. He cannot file defamation suit against them or make
press statements, without government permission. This ensures
discipline, decorum and moral of the services.
68. Arguments against anonymity
1. Often ministers come up with populist schemes with unattainable
targets and then blames officers for not implementing it faithfully.
2. Ministers openly criticises bureaucrats but bureaucrats can’t
defend because norms of anonymity. Still they have to face the
people protesting against the state.
3. Often the entire state bureaucracy is corrupt and inefficient. So,
despite using the official channels, the honest officer may not get
any justice.
4. Norm of anonymity will stop him from approaching media. And
still if he approaches media, he will be further persecuted for
violating the service norms.
69. Happiness
1. The source of happiness is the mind that directs a person to be
happy even in circumstances that are difficult and obstacles that
may seem insurmountable to some. It is rightly said that happiness
is a state of mind. The people who manage to stay happy despite
calamity are the ones who have most of the following traits.
2. Contentment: The first rule to stay happy is to be content with
whatever life gives you. One may be ambitious and put in great
efforts but satisfaction at the end of the activity must be there. It is
soothing and inspires a person to struggle.
3. Will power: An indomitable will power will encourage the person
to find a way even at places where there will be none.
4. Positive outlook: A person with positive outlook will always look
 for constructive plans rather than destructive ones. To construct
something a new is anyways an inspiring activity which gains
appreciation from society and instills confidence in the person.
5. Passion: To move in a direction in which one is passionate is
itself soothing. When way to destination itself becomes enjoyable,
destination is not far away. Happiness, in this case, lies not only in
destination but journey itself.
70. Qualitative life
1. The meaning of quality life varies from individual to individual.
But quality life should include the pursuit of material satisfaction,
responsibility of family, society and sharing love and spiritual
enlightenment.
2. Artha: Wealth may be accumulated both ethically (businessmen)
and unethically (drug smugglers). But, unethically accumulated
wealth does not give lasting happiness. Parties to the Bofors scam
or 2G scam cannot claim to sleep peacefully at night.
3. Kama: Pursuit of pleasures should not be at the expense of others.
Pleasure which stems from the world, whether it is a pleasure of
the senses or a pleasure derived from one’s position or situation in
the world, is a distraction from a higher good. For example, a civil
servant may cheat or lie in order to get quick promotions, but this
alone is unlikely to improve his career.
4. Dharma: For example, financially independent adults do not only
have the responsibility of their own children, but of their parents,
the society and nation as a whole. It is said that the good of one is
contained in the good of all. By sharing happiness and love, we
not only derive personal satisfaction, but also give happiness to
others.
5. Moksha: Pursuit of true knowledge is unlikely with unethical
conduct. All scriptures, teachers and saints advise to first purify
one’s conduct and character and then embark on a spiritual quest.
Selfless work, the highest ethics, is one of the virtues taught by
Gita. This alone ensures lasting happiness and thus a quality life.
71. Justice
1. Justice is fairness in protection of rights and punishment of
wrongs. Reformative justice places emphasis on reforming the
 offender. It doesn’t not believe in proportionate punishments like
death penalty. Retributive justice demands proportional
punishment for the crimes committed. They believe criminals
must pay for their crimes. Ex: Death penalty.
2. I believe in reformative justice. To err is human and our society
should try to reform the offenders and give them a second chance
to redeem themselves. No correlation between retributive justice
and reduction in crime rate. This defeats purpose of justice.
3. There is a difference between law and justice. The essence of law
is its force. Law is law because it carries the means to coerce or
force obedience. The power of the state is behind it. The essence
of justice is fairness. Any system of laws functions through a
hierarchy of authorities.
4. Justice for a public servant is redressing the problems of an
aggrieved citizen in an effective, efficient and equitable way.
72. Ways to ensure justice
1. By being honest and impartial and avoiding nepotism.
2. By being empathetic and compassionate towards each aggrieved
person and addressing their problems within a time limit.
3. By following code of conduct and code of ethics while
discharging my duties.
4. By being transparent and accountable to my actions.
5. By building social capital with all stake holders to bridge the trust
deficit.

Vinay's lecture

1. Confirmation bias
2. Wishful thinking: Unrealistic thinking. Not pragmatic. People indulge
in wishful thinking to satisfy their self-esteem. Trump wants to build a
wall between US and Mexico.
3. Cognition: Mental process of acquiring knowledge through thought
experience and senses.
4. Pygmalion effect: Others expectation of a target person, affects the
performance of target person.
5. Stereotyping: Over-generalised belief about a particular category of
 people. Ex: Men don't cry. Women don't play video games.
6. Fundamental attribution error: It is the tendency people have to
overemphasise personal characteristics and ignore situational factors in
judging others' behaviour.
7. Red Herring: Something misleads or distracts from something that is
relevant. Ex: Political manifestos.
8. Eco-chamber effect: Your beliefs are re-inforced through repeated
sharing of same kind of information. Ex: Facebook provides you same
type of articles you like or share. This clouts you from other side of the
opinion. Ex: Radicalisation.
9. Dis-information (wrong information with malafide intention), Mis-
information (Wrong information created without any malafide
intention) and Mal-information (Right information spread to cause
harm to a particular group).
10. False consensus: Under false notion that one's morals or beliefs are
widely shared.
11. Bounded ethicality: Ability to make ethical decision is limited. The
limitations arise from internal or external factors.
12. Conformity bias: It refers to our tendency to take cues for proper
behaviour from the actions of others rather than exercise our own
independent judgment. Ex: Supporting Mob lynching.
13. Ethical fading: Ethical fading is similar to moral disengagement.
Moral disengagement is when people restructure reality in order to
make their own actions seem less harmful than they actually are.
14. Diffusion of responsibility: People not attending to road accident
victims thinking someone else would save them.
15. Fiduciary Duty: Relationship between two parties that obligates one to
act solely in the interest of the other. Ex: Lawyer-Client, Accountant-
Client, etc.
16. GroupThink
17. Incrementalism: Belief in or advocacy of change by degrees;
gradualism.
18. Loss aversion: Loss aversion refers to people's tendency to prefer
avoiding losses to acquiring equivalent gains.
19. Moral absolutism
20. Moral agent
 21. Moral cognition
22. Moral equilibrium
23. Moral muteness
24. Moral myopia: Moral myopia refers to the inability to see ethical
issues clearly.
25. Moral pluralism
26. Moral reasoning
27. Obedience to authority
28. Over-confidence bias: The overconfidence bias is the tendency people
have to be more confident in their own abilities, such as driving,
teaching, or spelling, than is objectively reasonable.
29. Pro-social behaviour
30. Rationalisation: Finding reasons to justify your actions. Ex: My father
asked to steal.
31. Role morality: It is the notion that people sometimes fail to live up to
their own ethical standards because they see themselves as playing a
certain role that excuses them from those standards. Ex: Celebrities not
using the shampoo they promote.
32. Self-serving bias: The self-serving bias is people's tendency to attribute
positive events to their own character but attribute negative events to
external factors. Ex: Politicians taking credit.
33. Social contract theory.
34. Wheel of ignorance.
35. Subject of moral worth.
36. Deontology: Means more important than the ends. Lying is always
wrong.
37. Utilitarianism: Ends are more important. Maximum good to maximum
number of people.
38. Applied ethics: Applying rules of ethics to real world.

Examples

1. Ethical actions hurting someone else

1. A new road is proposed, in a Tribal area, to connect the hamlet
with the town, but that will cause the tribal to lose some fertile
farmland. The road plan will bring larger benefits to the whole
 community like access to hospital, schools and the market to sell
their produce. So, in such a situation though the genuine interests
of some are hurt by the benevolent action, it is beneficial to
everyone in the long run.
2. A new mining project is proposed in a forest area, which has some
rare endemic plants and animals. In such a situation though the
mining will have economic benefits to the community, it will lead
to habitat destruction of the rare plants and animals.
2. Laws and ethics
1. Recently proposed Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights)
Bill, 2016 gives certain discretionary power to District Magistrate
while issuing certificate of identity. A parochial mindset
bureaucrat might try to tamper with laws to act accordingly,
without violating law.
3. Legal vs legitimate
1. While the Government was in the right when it enforced the ban
on Jallikattu, the decision cannot be termed as legitimate
considering that it offended the cultural sensibilities of a people
celebrating a festival from generations, and it was taken abruptly
without consulting the people most involved in it.
2. While the Government is legally allowed to acquire land to
construct infrastructure, the decision should be taken considering
the legitimate interests of the people whose land is to be acquired.
4. Campaigns of Govt based on moral principles
1. Income Declaration: Granted tax evading citizens a way out
while making an appeal for everyone to pay their rightful taxes.
Adverts run by the Govt appealed to the citizens to pay their taxes
to contribute to nation building.
2. LPG subsidy: Made an appeal to economically well off citizens
to surrender their LPG subsidy. The savings were then diverted to
fund PM Ujjwala Yojana.
3. Good Samaritan: To ensure immediate help for road accident
victims in the Golden Hour, the Govt declared that the bystanders
helping the victim would not be harassed by the Police and even
given a little certificate of recognition.
4. Reservations: Aims to right the wrongs of our previous
generations by extending all the support possible for the
upliftment of economically and socially backward classes.
5. Rights vs Duties
1. A civil servant not performing his duties or obligations could
mean denial rights to 1000s of citizens.
6. Bio-ethics
1. The parents of seven year old Avinash rout were turned away by
the best hospitals in the capital and, by the time they admitted the
child to Batra Hospital, he was close to cardiovascular failure.
Devastated at having failed to protect their child, his parents killed
themselves after performing his last rites. Similar tragedies play
out every day in hospitals across the country. Patients and their
families are so inured to it that comment seems redundant. The
case of Avinash Rout, too, would have gone unnoticed but for the
suicide of his parents.
7. Honesty
1. Sir M. Visvesvrayya, then Dewan of Mysore state, used
Government vehicle while he went to tender his resignation. After
tendering his resignation, he drove back by his private vehicle.
2. For instance, Nehru believed in being low on tips during official
tours but was a liberal tipper on personal holidays.
8. Intellectual honesty and freedom
1. Submitting to intellectual scrutiny. Anyone can question him/her
and his/her philosophy. Also, maintaining honesty while
transmitting your knowledge in the public space. Research
scientist not fudging facts. Raghuram Rajan and Vinod Rai not
succumbing to pressure. Many arguing in English on news
channels to stop english penetration.
2. Intellectual freedom is freedom of mind and conscience. Ex:
Questioning old beliefs, ideas and to pursue knowledge.
9. Empathy
1. Alexander Fleming did not patent his penicillin drug in order to
increase its affordability. This shows compassion towards poor
and lack of greed.
2. An engineer, under Abdul Kalam, promised to take his children to
a park and said same to Kalam for his permission. However, he
got so much involved in the work and forgot about it. Kalam sir
observed the engineer being engrossed in the work. So, he took
the engineer's children to exhibition.
3. A farmer from Tamil Nadu protesting in Delhi attempted suicide
 out of frustration as there is no response from governments to
their agitation. This shows apathy from Government.
4. Recently a techie was murdered in day light. Many people stood
their watching the act without stopping it. This shows complete
apathy.
5. K. Jairaj, Karnataka cadre HAS officer, was to approve the
dismissal of a lady typist on the grounds of unruly behaviour by
her against her colleagues. But he found that she had been widow
and one co-worker mis-behaved her which made her lose her
temper. Later, considering her precarious financial condition and
need to educate her son, two increments were cut and she was
reinstated to service. Later, her son got a very good job in Infosys.
10. Integrity
1. Some of the civil servants suffered due to integrity are Ashok
Khemka, S. Manjunath, Durga Shakti Nagpal, etc.
2. However, integrity brought respect for civil servants like TN
Seshan, Armstrong Pane, etc. Late officer SR Sankaran was
rightly called “an ideal people’s IAS officer”. He was responsible
for abolition of bonded labour.
3. Gandhi mis-spelt the word ‘kettle’ when an english education
instructor asked students of Gandhi’s class to write the word.
Despite class teacher insistence, Gandhi did not correct the word
and maintained his honesty.
4. Gandhi organised workers of Ahmadabad mill against the the
owners, who were helping Gandhi to run the Sabarmati Ashram,
without the fear that such aid may discontinue. This shows
integrity on part of Gandhi.
5. Politicians being public representatives must practise high
standards of morality and integrity. But these politicians often get
caught in corruption cases, dowry harassment, etc.
11. Integrity without knowledge
1. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
2. Self Help Groups (SHGs).
12. Transparency
1. Sagayam, an IAS officer from Tamil Nadu, has disclosed his and
his family’s assets on the website.
13. Humility
1. YV reddy, previous RBI governor, used to travel in metro.
 2. Narayan murthy didn’t change his way of living. He cleans his
toilet by himself.
3. One day, Nehru kept eminent statistician and Planning
Commission member PC Mahalanobis waiting beyond the
appointed time. After waiting for several minutes, the scholar
walked off, declaring that he would not wait for a prime minister
who failed to keep his time. When Nehru heard about this, he did
not get angry but instead managed his appointments better.
4. A media person once asked former PM Indira Gandhi “What have
been your gains from the emergency?”. To which PM replied, “In
those 21 months, we comprehensively managed to alienate all
sections of Indian people.” This shows how self correction is
always a better option than self-justification.
14. Courage
1. D.Roopa whistle blower against preferential treatment meted out
to Jayalalitha.
2. Edward Snowden.
3. Satyendranath Dubey exposed corruption in NHAI despite death
threats. He was killed ultimately.
4. Girish karnad vocal on many issues despite many death threats.
5. Prakash Singh committee’s report has pointed to the fact that
many civil servants abdicated their duty and ran away, during the
recent Jat reservation stir in Haryana.
15. Justice
1. Economic injustice will lead to political injustice. Indeed,
Ambedkar saw this when he remarked that adopting the
constitution we were entering a world of contradictions, where we
try to be politically just in economically unjust situation.
2. Women’s role in family and patriarchal values results in her
exploitation in social sphere as well.
3. Mob lynching.
4. USA bombing of Syria, which is leading huge casualties.
16. Leadership
1. Satish Dhawan was the chairman of ISRO during the first launch
of SLV, which was a failed mission. He took the responsibility for
failure. In the next attempt, when the launch was successful, he
gave full credit to the team that had worked for it.
 2. Open to change -- For example, a district collector in Manipur
used social media for crowd funding for construction of a 100 km
road.
3. Credibility and trust of the people -- Compassionate Kozhikode
initiative to feed hungry people.
4. Motivate and inspire sub-ordinates -- In disaster related
operations.
17. Tolerance
1. Moral policing.
2. Attacks on valentines day, attacks on TN state people in
Karnataka show lack of tolerance.
18. Loyalty
1. A Rajput Prince was conspired to be killed. Panna who worked in
the court learnt the conspiracy. In order to save the Prince, she
replaced the Prince with her own kid. Her own kid got killed.
19. Prudence
1. Gandhi stopping non-cooperation in the wake of movement
getting out of hand with the Chauri-Chaura incident.
2. India not attacking Pakistan militarily post Uri attack in light of
the nuclear threat can be construed as an act of prudence.
20. Discipline
1. Recent Doctor's Bandh affected so many people and denied their
freedom. Similarly many Rail rokos, Bandhs, etc deny daily
commuters their freedom.
2. One who is uncontrolled is anything but free — Sister Nivedita.
21. Contentment
1. IAS officer need to be contended with his salary. But try to
achieve excellence. Raise the bar high. Ex: Sachin, Kohli, etc.
22. Self scrutiny and fault finding
1. Gandhi scrutinised his entire life. Ex: His visit to brothel, drinking
wine, etc. He regretted them. This made him better human being.
23. Purpose
1. Arjuna’s bow hitting right at the fish eye could not have been
possible had he not shown a sense of purpose and direction in his
goals. His courage and efforts could have failed him if he was
directionless.
24. Anger
 1. Controlled use of anger and fault finding in specific situations is
sensible. For example, a teacher or mother can use anger as a
means to correct indiscipline of a child. This is last option when
other soft options have not worked.
25. Be the change you wish to see
1. PM Modi set example by himself cleaning the road before
promoting Swatch Bharat campaign.
2. Japan gave up nuclear stockpiling for promoting nuclear
disarmament. USA’s double standards.
26. VIP culture
1. Ending red beacons on cars.
2. Air travel ban on an abusive MP.
3. Swift justice in the Chandigarh stalking case.
4. Other issues like paying for security, standing in queues while
voting, ending mis-use of of official resources (cars, etc).
27. Work ethics
1. Many work at higher ages because of their love towards work. Ex:
Ram Jatmalani at age of 90 still practises at supreme court.
2. Sridharan at age of 75 is still busy working for developing
metros.
28. Corporate ethics
1. Volkswagen giving wrong information regarding its pollution
emissions.
2. Satyam fraud where the company heads fudged the facts to show
more profits, etc.
3. Axis Bank has recently made higher pays for its top management
officials, despite troubled financial Year. The display of such
largesse shows poor corporate governance.
4. Mehul Choksi and Vijay mallya.
5. Johnson and Johnson facing trail over presence of asbestos in
baby powder.
29. Teacher
1. PV Sindhu, who earned silver medal for India, in Olympics this
year, could do so only because of her teacher or coach.
2. Sachin and Ramakant Achrekar.
30. Attitude
1. The fact that attitudes are more important than abilities is best
 shown by the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. Being
paralysed from neck down did not stop him from using his brains
to the best of his abilities to supply breakthrough theories in
physics.
2. Swapna Barman -- Born with six toes. Didn't stop her from
becoming first Indian to secure a gold medal in heptathlon at the
Asian Games in 2018.
31. Behavioural attitudes
1. Population control policy cannot be uniform in India. In certain
districts people have negative attitude towards use of
contraception. In those cases behavioural changing component of
the scheme must be the major component. In other districts
distribution of contraceptive may be the major component.
32. Inaction
1. In the 2G scam, Supreme Court did not accept the argument of
telecom secretary that he was merely following orders of minister.
Court held that his inaction to prevent public loss amounted to
criminal activity.
33. Good intentions producing bad results
1. Reservations.
2. Power of discretion granted to public officials.
3. AFSPA.
4. Gun violence in USA.
5. NDP in education leading to poor standards.
34. Bad actions with good intentions
1. Clinical trials.
2. Banning liquor.
35. Technology
1. Recently 4 school kids used dark web to procure drugs. It just
took them 1.30 min to order the drugs which has stunned the
investigators.
36. Animal ethics
1. Jallikattu, cock fights, animal sacrifices, captivity of animals.
37. International funding
1. American funding of Pakistan under its coalition support fund,
even when funds are being diverted by Pakistan.
38. Rights violations
 1. India has supported UN actions in Kuwait, Korean crisis, Rwanda
genocide, etc. Apart from this, India has been providing
peacekeeping forces in various African nations like Liberia,
Sudan, etc.
2. 1971 saw blatant violations of Human Rights in East Bengal,
where India intervened actively and ultimately succeeded in
making it Bangladesh.
39. Instant fame
1. For example a local artist group in a remote village in Rajasthan
posted their songs video on youtube which became the most
viewed video of that year.
2. How many of us remember Joginder Sharma, the cricketer who
bowled India to 2007 T20 world cup victory.
40. Freedom of institutions
1. The first president of the Sahitya Akademi was the then Prime
Minister himself. Nehru claimed, ‘As President of the Akademi, I
may tell you quite frankly I would not like the Prime Minister to
interfere with my work’.
41. Forgiveness
1. India has repeatedly forgiven Pakistan despite its state sponsored
terrorism targeting India. India tried to improve relations even
after deadly 2008 Mumbai attack. But Pakistan had viewed
forgiveness as a sign of weakness. So, India has changed it stance
now. It is giving befitting reply.
42. Leading by example
1. R. Anand kumar -- Erode collector sends his daughter to Govt
school.
2. President Kovind -- Replaced all plastic bottles in his office by
glass bottles.
43. Examples

1. Muslim ministers resigning in Sri Lanka after terror attacks due to

intense pressure from some sections -- Hatred and anger,
Prejudices, lack of EI.
2. Making Hindi compulsory -- Impracticality, Ignorance to other's
people opinions, Coercion.
3. Congress MLAs defecting to TRS -- Breaking people's trust,
moral corruption, against democratic principles, bad political
 attitudes.
4. Kathua rape case -- Charge-sheet was prepared in two
months, trial lasted a year, and the verdict has been delivered
within 17 months of the occurrence -- Justice, Diligence, inspire
confidence in justice system, etc.
5. Girish Karnad -- Courage (Vocal stand on issues despite death
threats), fearless and principled defenders of freedom of speech,
commitment (even in his frail health, he made it a point to attend
protest gatherings).
6. TN Seshan cleaned the electoral system by effectively
implementing MCC -- Dedication towards public service, ethical
governance, moral courage, etc.
7. Hima Das -- Success despite adversity. Positive attitude.
Determination. Strong inspiration. Donated salary to Assam after
the recent floods.
8. Dutee Chand -- Courage. Breaking stereotypes.
9. Armstrong Pame -- Without any help from government he
constructed 100KM road between two villages in Manipur. This
shows his dedication, determination towards nation building. It
also shows compassion, strong work ethic, outcome oriented, etc.
10. E Shreedharan -- Constructed Delhi Metro with limited resources,
limited time and manpower. Dedication, utmost integrity, public
service, right attitude.
11. OP chowdary -- Transformed Dantewada into a vibrant &
progressive district through unorthodox and path-breaking
initiatives. Dedication, Out of box thinking, positive attitude,
public service, etc.
12. In 1999, Deepa Malik was diagnosed with a spinal tumour that left
her paralyzed. In 2016, Deepa Malik became the first Indian
woman to win Paralympics medal.
13. The Padman of India -- Attitude not being affected by any external
influences; Strong moral base; Empathy and sympathy
epitomised.
14. Saalumarada Timakka -- Padma shri, she has planted trees and
watered them in an entire 10km stretch for decades. She didn’t
have children and saw trees as her childern. Attitude,
 environmental ethics.
15. JK Rowling -- Donated much of her wealth to charity and the
social service programme of UK. When asked why she did this,
she commented that social security had sustained her during hard
times and she wanted to help someone the same way. Gratitude,
Social solidarity, Distribution of wealth, etc.
16. Denis Mukwege -- Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2018. Fought for
victims of sexual violence in armed conflicts. Although he has
been a target of attempted murder, he never backed down. Shows
Courage, empathy, compassion and service to the society.
17. Thailand cave rescue in 2018 -- International cooperation, use of
social media.
18. Steve smith and Warner ball tampering -- Violation of trust, sports
ethics
19. Abraham Lincoln -- Leadership, Humble background,
accommodating different view points, controlling emotion, out of
box thinking.
20. Rajinikanth Mendhe -- A 29 year-old teacher in Maharashtra
travels 50 km to teach his only student in a village.
21. Bandicoot -- Robot to eliminate manual scavenging.
Compassionate youth using technology to solve social ills.
22. Hitler, Napoleon and emergency -- Abusing power.