Our world is in crisis because of the absence of consciousness.
Our world is in crisis at multiple levels. Rising temperature, nuclear arms, sectarian conflicts, boundary disputes, financial woes, pandemics, declining trustability and the list goes further. If human world is marked by ability of man to be aware of and rationally respond to its surrounding, that is consciousness, humans need to demonstrate more of it. For these crises are reflections of irresponsible, insensitive, and apathetic actions of mankind.
Mindless extraction of natural resources and exploitation of environment all over the world have resulted in global warming, frequent instances of drought, flood, severe cyclones, forest fires, etc. That the world has not been able to yet implement a Paris Climate Accord signed in 2015 shows the lack of concern and seriousness towards the 'tragedy of commons'.
The long power conflicts in Africa and Middle East and the humanitarian crises therein (famine in Yemen for instance) show the absolute apathy of leaders towards their citizens.
Failure of the global community to reach at consensus over elimination of terrorism, nuclear arms, space war, threats from state funded organized crimes further reflect lack of consciousness to resolve these crises.
In fact responses to COVID 19 or racial discrimination where there are global mechanisms to deal with, show that there is dearth of respect and sense of obligation.
Philosophers like Rousseau and Locke believed that it was the urge for common good that drove humans towards collective organized life. The highest points in recent human history such as formation of UN, Rio Agenda, agreemnets on SDGs are all outcome of responsible and conscious efforts towards larger human welfare.
The need of the hour is mutual recognition of accountability, empathy, and compassion towards fellow humans and the surrounding ecology. With conscious acts the world can overcome the crises.
5. All people do not aspire for excellence. Do you agree? What does “excellence‟ mean to you? What are you doing to develop the virtue of excellence in yourself?
All people do not aspire for excellence beacuse
1. Behavioral factors - lack of self motivation, low self esteem, inferiority complex, mental health issues like short attention etc.
2. Infrastructural factors - financial constraints, absence of educational institutions and formal training, lack of government support, remote geography, etc.
3. Social factors - lack of family support and guidance of experienced people, identity barriers like caste, lack of competitive peers, etc.
From an individual's perspective excellence is relative concept. For a student excellence means coming first in the examination while for it may mean just scoring the passing marks. In the former's opinion the later may not have aspiration for excellence as they have different benchmarks.
To me excellence means achieving the best performance as per my ability. It is a virtue that propels one to achieve the highest standard of efficiency and effectiveness.
Amartya Sen in capability approach argues that developing capabilities is key to achieving one's desired goals. My focus therefore has been
1. Knowledge of the subject/area where I seek excellence
2. Acquiring required set of skills through formal training
3. Right attitude and keenness to learn from past mistakes
4. Taking inspiration from success stories
I believe in the words of Swami Vivekananda "Arise, Awake, and stop not till the goal is reached" as I aspire for excellence.
6. Explain with examples how whistle-blowing is both an ethical and unethical act if seen in different perspectives?
Whistleblowing means passing on information about corruption or any other malpractice in an organisation to its leadership. It is intended to avert adverse consequences for the organisation.
Ethical act because
1. Helps detect misappropriation of public funds and thereby maintain transparency in the account book, for eg. Engineer Satyendra Dubey had unearthed corruption in his construction project
2. Compels to adhere to code of conduct and code of ethics like accountability, integrity, gender friendly atmosphere,etc. Several me too revelations in many organizations came through whistleblowers.
3. Can lead to legal and institutional framework for better public conduct, for eg. recent amendments to Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 that protects bribe giver if he/she discloses about bribe taker within seven days.
Unethical if
1. Intended to cause personal harm like maligning reputation, frame in false charges, eg. false cases of sexual harassment
2. At times an honest intention may end up in wrong conduct. So if a whistleblower does not investigate enough to find the whole picture and passes on partial information as complete truth it will be unfair to the person who committed an "honest mistake".
3. If the act of whistleblowing is aimed at personal benefits instead of public interest, such as promotion or fame
Given the original purpose of whistleblowing it is necessary to develop such legal and administrative frameworks which can prevent such unethical actions.
5. All people do not aspire for excellence. Do you agree? What does “excellence‟ mean to you? What are you doing to develop the virtue of excellence in yourself?All people do not aspire for excellence beacuse
1. Behavioral factors - lack of self motivation, low self esteem, inferiority complex, mental health issues like short attention etc.
2. Infrastructural factors - financial constraints, absence of educational institutions and formal training, lack of government support, remote geography, etc.
3. Social factors - lack of family support and guidance of experienced people, identity barriers like caste, lack of competitive peers, etc.
From an individual's perspective excellence is relative concept. For a student excellence means coming first in the examination while for it may mean just scoring the passing marks. In the former's opinion the later may not have aspiration for excellence as they have different benchmarks.
To me excellence means achieving the best performance as per my ability. It is a virtue that propels one to achieve the highest standard of efficiency and effectiveness.
Amartya Sen in capability approach argues that developing capabilities is key to achieving one's desired goals. My focus therefore has been
1. Knowledge of the subject/area where I seek excellence
2. Acquiring required set of skills through formal training
3. Right attitude and keenness to learn from past mistakes
4. Taking inspiration from success stories
I believe in the words of Swami Vivekananda "Arise, Awake, and stop not till the goal is reached" as I aspire for excellence.
Good segregation in the first part of your answer. But prefer not to dump points as you had done in explaining your sub points. Eg “ lack of self motivation, low self esteem, inferiority complex, mental health issues like short attention “
The concluding line is apt
Okay I will bear that in mind henceforth. Thank you!
7. What does this quotation mean to you ?
A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.” – M.K. Gandhi
In the context of Gandhi's idea of inviolable relationship between means and ends.
Gandhi believed that means and ends are interconnected. Nature of means determines nature of outcome. For eg. non violence and satyagraha to achieve swaraj
Similarly human actions are reflections of his thoughts. It is said that man performs an action twice - once when he is thinking about it and second when he performs it in reality. For eg. a thief first thinks about what and how to steal before he actually does it.
Thoughts are guided by values and morality. Ideals of good and bad, right or wrong shape human thoughts. Thus actions reflect individual ethics. The concept of integrity meaning uniformity in thoughts and actions is implicit here.
Thus Gandhi's emphasis on purity of thoughts to achieve noble outcome. A thief cannot become saint so long as he thinks stealing is an ethical act. Hitler's belief in purity of German race guided his atrocities on Jews. Rammohan Roy and Jyotiba Phule thoughts on human equality led made them champions of women empowerment and abolition of caste discrimination.
At another level the above quote affirms human ability to achieve their goals - man can be the master of his own destiny.
8. What does this quotation mean to you ?
Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world” – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (150 words)
It indicates that ethics in private life (family) and ethics in public life (nation) are interconnected. According to it an honest person maintains his honesty at his home as well as in the profession. As per NCRB data most criminals experience troubled family life.
Plato - state is individual writ large. The nature of a nation reflects its citizens. An ethical citizenry chooses ethical leadership. Conduct of inter- state and global politics depends upon values of nations. When all countries commit to mutual peace and tranquility problems like wars, terrorism, poverty, environmental degradation will automatically disappear. Thus terrorism persists because some people believe in violence, practice it, and subsequently it finds a place in state programmes in the form of state sponsored terrorism.
8. What does this quotation mean to you ?
Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there is order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world” – A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (150 words)
It indicates that ethics in private life (family) and ethics in public life (nation) are interconnected. According to it an honest person maintains his honesty at his home as well as in the profession. As per NCRB data most criminals experience troubled family life.
Plato - state is individual writ large. The nature of a nation reflects its citizens. An ethical citizenry chooses ethical leadership. Conduct of inter- state and global politics depends upon values of nations. When all countries commit to mutual peace and tranquility problems like wars, terrorism, poverty, environmental degradation will automatically disappear. Thus terrorism persists because some people believe in violence, practice it, and subsequently it finds a place in state programmes in the form of state sponsored terrorism.
+ Define Righteousness - quality of being morally right and justifiable which forms the basis for any society.
+ Concept of Righteousness - Dharma
The jump from family life to terrorism with Plato in between is a little incoherent. While the main thread looks fine to me, I think it has to be structured better.
Define Righteousness --->How it starts with private life --->ethics in public & private interlinked -->Nation
Eg: Swami Vivekananda/ Mandela
Thank you for the feedback! Will re - attempt again.
12. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to make your emotions work for you instead of against you”. Do you agree with this view? Discuss.
Emotion is a state of mind such as anger, happiness, etc. Emotional intelligence is the ability to utilise one's state of mind to one's situations favorably. For instance - an emotionally intelligent person will utilise his frustration overv failure to improve performance instead of letting frustration exhaust him mentally and physically. Thus emotional intelligence is a positive concept.
It has three aspects -
1. Awareness about one's emotional state
2. Ability to harness emotions and apply them to emerging situations
3. Ability to manage emotions that includes regulating one's own emotions and that of others.
A Satyagrahi does not let his pain and suffering overpower him but uses the same to bring transform the opponent's heart and mind. The freedom fighters channelised their sufferings and those of fellow Indians against the British power.
Thus, emotional intelligence is the ability to make emotions work for one instead of against it.
13. You are heading the rescue operations in an area affected by severe natural calamity. Thousands of people are rendered homeless and deprived of food, drinking water and other basic amenities. Rescue work has been disrupted by heavy rainfall and damage to supply routes. The local people are seething with anger against the delayed limited rescue operations. When your team reaches the affected area, the people there heckle and even assault some of the team members . One of your team members is even severely injured. Faced with this crisis, some team members plead with you to call off the operations fearing threats to their life.In such trying circumstances, what will be your response? Examine the qualities of a public servant which will be required to manage the situation.
Confronted with people angry over bad service delivery my response will be
A. Solicit cooperation
1. Communicating with affected residents about reasons for delay such as damage to supply route and steps taken for their rescue time to time through community radio, loud speakers, etc..
2. Request cooperation from residents for quicker rescue operations
B. Boost morale of team members
1. Arrange necessary medical intervention for injured members.
2. Remind them of their call of duty and an opportunity to display their grit and skills
C. Speak to senior officers and relevant departments if air lifting of stranded people can be arranged in given situation.
All in all my entire focus will be successful completion of the mission.
Qualities of a public servant
1. Dedication to the task at hand. No amount of adversity should come on the way of evacuation of victims of the calamity.
2. Compassionately deal with angry people as well as rescue team members
3. Emotional intelligence in terms of channelising motivation, team spirit among members
4. Objective, clear, empathetic decision making keeping in mind the evolving situations
5. Lead by example : work with team members on field to motivate them instead of merely passing directions.
The concept of land ownership is not moral. Do you agree? 150 words
The concept of land ownership is as old as settled human life.
It forms the basis of
1. Community life in the form of villages, towns, states, and countries
2. Means of livelihood such as agriculture, industry, services like health and education
3. At individual level, as Aristotle had argued, land ownership is a source of motivation for further progress and achievements.
Thus land ownership has been a source of fraternity, cooperation, unity, positive attitude, etc.
However historically land ownership has also been a source of
1. War
2. Exploitation eg. colonialism
3. Conflict of interest between development vs habitat rights, development vs. environment protection
4. Inter personal quarrels, etc.
Remedial measures:
1. International agreements based on respect for territorial sovereignty
2. At national level - land reforms for just redistribution, EIA policy to balance development and rights of people and nature
3. Judiciary, community guidance to prevent land disputes, etc.
Thus land ownership per se is not immoral. Mutual respect, rule of law, and ethical governance can prevent issues caused by land ownership.
