Ethics - QRN
Ethics - QRN
Keywords to use • Ramayana — Family, Value of one’s word, Attachment = Suffering (Sita Deer)
• Dharma — Duty, Obligation, Righteousness.
Keywords • Bhakti — No Discrimination — Human Equality.
• Sufi — Love, Brotherhood, Fraternity
1 Syllabus • Christianity — Do unto Other as you would do to yourself.
• Islamic Ethics — Good intentions, Good deeds. Kindness, Honesty
2 Constitutional Morality
• Sikh Ethics — Charity, Compassion, Self Less Service, Non-enmity (Granth Saheb)
3 Crisis of Conscience • Jain Ethics — Vision, Knowledge, Conduct + Non Violence + Forgiveness + Humanity
+ Anekantavada — Theory of Relative Pluralism (Truth from varied angles)
4 Conflict of Interest • Buddhist Ethics — Greed, Hatred are demeritorious = Akusala Kamma + Virtue such
5 Cognitive Dissonance as Generosity, Love and wisdom — Kusala Kamma. Also, Intentions makes an
action good or bad not the action itself.
6 FR + DPSP Articles (Ethical Issue)
From “My Experiments with Truth” — by Mahatma Gandhi
7 Moral Corruption 1. Gandhi’s elder brother did not tell him about their mother’s death when he was in
England — as he would have hard time in foreign land. (On lying)
8 Post truth World 2. Gandhi chose to go England to study law, despite warning of others that he will be
9 EIA + SIA outcasted for crossing the sea/taking a foreign voyage. (Caste, Education)
3. Gandhi choose to fight back against the discrimination based of colour in South
10 Compensatory Justice Africa instead of retaining to India. (Conscience, Courage)
4. Gandhi’s Talisman — Whenever in Doubt, ask yourself that if your action will be of
11 Reformatory Justice any use to the poorest and weakest man.
12 Social Audits 5. Gandhi created a trust of all the gifts he received from people of Natal for his public
service as acc. to him, a public servant should not accept costly gifts. (Corruption)
13 Ethics Audit 6. Gandhi treated and kept all boys and girls together irrespective of their attitude,
financial status, religion etc. (Impartiality)
14 “In the present context” — Recent examples
15 Y-Y Complex quotes.
Mahabharat — Through Karna, Vyasa presents many conflicts of life: friendship or
16 Epistemology: Means v/s Ends = Deonto v/s Teleo family, personal ambition or universal good, loyalty or opportunity.
17 Gandhi’s Sarvodaya
18 Gandhi's Trusteeship
Common dilemmas, conflicts, values and precedents (Ethical Dilemmas)
19 Gandhi's Talisman — Whenever you are in doubt
recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man Public Sector Ethics
[woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, Integrity vs Personal Well-being
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if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use
to him [her]. 2 Truth vs Loyalty
22 Doctrine of Karma — “As you sow so shall you reap” 5 Senior’s Directives vs Personal Values/Public Interest
35 Common good — Best serves community and not few 2 Human Centrism vs Bio Centrism
members (Eg. Social Capital)
Based on Society
36 Virtue: kind of person or organisation we aspire to be 1 Individual Interest vs Social Interest
37 Vivekanand’s approach — The quintessence of all 2 Equality vs Equity
ethics is “Be thou unselfish” — Not “I” but “thou”.
3 Traditional Values vs Modern Values
38 Professional Ethics — Code of Conduct, Army
Discipline Based on International Ethics
40 2 Patriotism vs Nationalism
3 Patriotism vs Empathy
4 National Interest vs Universal Value (Eg. World Peace)
5 Duty towards Citizens vs Duty towards Humanity
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Mnemonics
Sr. No Keyword Mnemonic/Personality
4 Six Stages of Moral Dev: 1. Reward-punishment: Earliest stage of child when child does not have
Lawrence Kohlberg his/her own senses rather he/she behaves on reward & punishment.
2. Reciprocal Behaviour: They reciprocate to the behaviour they observe.
3. Good boy, nice girl: Children try to behave good, in socially acceptable
manner not due to their independent moral faculty but rather due to
social acceptance & appreciation.
4. Obedience to law: They start showing their behaviour to obey the law of
the land & become dutiful & vocal about discipline etc. (sort of
revolutionary stage).
5. Utilitarian stage: They become self-centered and family centered their
aim becomes pleasure seeking.
6. Kantian stage: Achievement of autonomy in moral understanding i.e. the
person does not act as society will like it. His/her views will be based on
own understanding & not on what others say.
Quotes (Role of…) 1. “The influence of teachers extends beyond the classroom, well into the
future.” - F. Jose
2. “The first duty of university is to teach wisdom and not trade;
character and not technicalities.” — Winston Churchill.
3. “The three key societal member which can make a difference are Father,
Mother and Teacher.” - APJ Abdul Kalam
4. “Mother is the first teacher and home is the first school”
5. SDB: “Children do not listen to what parents say but follow what they
do”
6. Adopting our age-old philosophy ~ Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.
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Sr. No Keyword Mnemonic/Personality
Role of Society The word “audit” is derived from the Latin word “audire”, which means to
hear.
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Sr. No Keyword Mnemonic/Personality
Aptitude + Attitude
15 Impartiality Enablers:
1. Public Opinion
#PIB_DND 2. Interest analysis
3. Bias Free
4. Decision validation
5. No Emotions
6. Decision support system
16 Emotional Intelligence Recognition and application of state of mind or emotions for fruitful
purposes. It is about how well we handle ourselves.
“Emotion exerts same effect on
human action as Reason.” - Why EI?: #FIT_AS-M
Toynbee.
1. Self Awareness - Aware of One’s Emotions, Thoughts, Behaviour. Eg.
“As much as 80% of adult Self Confidence, Self deprecating sense of humour.
success comes from EQ” - 2. Self Management - Ability to control emotions. Redirecting disruptive
Daniel Goleman. moods/impulses. Eg. Integrity, Trust, Openness.
3. Empathy - Thinking from standpoint of another person. Eg. Cross
cultural sensitivity, building and retaining talent.
4. Social Skills - Proficiency in Relationship Management and building
rapport and network. Eg. Leadership, Persuasiveness.
17 Positive Emotions 1. Shanmugam Manjunath - Closed two pumps of Oil mafia due to
1. Courage adulteration. Was shot later.
2. Love 2. Alexander Prokhorenko - ordered an airstrike on himself.
3. Optimism 3. Successful business woman of USA- Chanda Jeveri.
4. Self-Confidence 4. Eva Kor — Auschwitz survivor forgave a doctor who conducted
5. Empathy experiments on her.
5. French President asked for forgiveness from Rwandans for France’s role
in 1994 Rwandan genocide killing 8 lakh people
18 Negative Emotions 1. Ramayana — Three kinds of sin: Falsehood, Lust and Violence.
2. Y-Y — ‘Who is man’s most dreaded enemy?’ ‘Anger.’
Shadripu: 6 enemies of the 3. Ramayana — Vali's anger led to his end even though Sugriva
mind: humbly confessed the truth.
1. Lust 4. Cause of Mahabharat was Duryodhan’s greed.
2. Anger 5. Y-Y — ‘What is the worst disease?’ — ‘Greed.’
3. Greed 6. “Duryodhana’s envy of the Pandava fortune is the root cause of the
4. Arrogance tragedy that is the Mahabharata”
5. Delusion
6. Jealousy
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Sr. No Keyword Mnemonic/Personality
Public Service Value Set of principles and tenets that a public service agency should observe in
the discharge of its duties.
1. Responsibility
2. Commitment 1. IAS with 24 hrs CCTV = Manivanna (Kerala Cadre)
3. Excellence 2. Janamaithri Suraksha Project of Kerala Police
4. Responsiveness 3. Mention Mission Karmayogi
5. Compassion
6. National Interest WF:
7. Integrity 4. New Public Management
8. Selflessness 5. Specialisation
9. Public Interest 6. Flat Org. (ISRO)
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Sr. No Keyword Mnemonic/Personality
Two Doctrine:
1. Doctrine of Public Trust
2. Doctrine of Appropriateness
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Ethics Examples
1. Humanitarian — Kalyanasundaram: A 74-year-old man who was a librarian, he donated his entire life’s earning
which was around 30 Crore rupees, for the betterment of poor people
2. Aptitude — Sonam Wangchuk — Ice Stupas + established a revolutionary school in 1988, which admitted kids
written off as failures by society.
3. Public Service — Mir Mohammed Ali, a 2011-batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, helped the state's Kannur become
the country's first plastic-free district in 2017 in only five months.
4. Determination — Dadarao Bilhore lost his 16-year-old son to a road accident – thanks to a pothole + fills up every
single pothole he comes across in Mumbai + Known as the ‘Pothole Dada of Mumbai’.
5. Resilience — Arunima Sinha - A national level volleyball player Arunima, 23 at the time, was traveling by the
Padmavat Express + the tallest peak in the world: Mount Everest, making her the first woman amputee to scale.
6. Bravery — Brave heart nurse, Reshma Mohandas took care of India's oldest 93 years old Thomas Abraham COVID-
19 survivor, expressing unflinching faith in health care system. This recovery has been dubbed as a 'miracle cure'.
7. Harmony — A display of communal harmony, Muslim neighbours of a 37-year-old Hindu man, Rajendra Bagri,
who died of throat cancer, carried his bier and performed the funeral rites when his relatives could not come to
the city because of the nationwide lockdown enforced to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
8. Dedication — Growing up, Oprah was reportedly a victim of sexual abuse and was repeatedly molested by her
cousin and uncle. Later, she became pregnant and gave birth to a child at age 14, who passed away just two
weeks later. But Oprah persevered, going on to finish high school and working her way up through the ranks of
television to become an international superstar and creator of her own network.
9. Selflessness — SDM Arvind Kumar of Balia, UP himself started to carry sacks to prevent a dam from collapse. It
inspired hundreds of villagers to join him
10. Courage/Fortitude — Sanjukta Parashar is a 2006-batch IPS officer of Assam cadre. She's known as the "Iron Lady
of Assam". Parashar, a hard-core professional, killed 16 Bodo militants and arrested more than 64 of them while
serving in Assam
11. Duty — Shahida Parveen, a sub-inspector posted at Muni Ki Reti police station in Rishikesh, put off her marriage to
be able to look after migrant workers at a relief camp.
12. Ethics — Mahatma Gandhi - 1920s- civil disobedience movement against Rowlatt Act
13. Ethics in Economic Life — Panama Paper leaks: Tax evasion through unethical means. The Panama paper
documents contain personal financial information about wealthy individuals and public officials
14. Ethics in Economic Life — 1992 Harshad Mehta Scam — Indian Stock Market
15. Ethics in Corporate Life — CSR
16. Justice — Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA; Save Childhood Movement) - rights of children - 1980 by Nobel
Laureate Mr. Kailash Satyarthi. Its focus has centered on ending bonded labor
17. Ethos — Komagata Maru incident — 2016, Canadian President made an official apology for Canada’s failure in
giving peaceful entry to the immigrants.
18. Benevolence — 1979, Nobel Peace Prize to Mother Teresa: Mother Teresa cancelled celebratory ceremonial
dinner as the money would instead feed poor people.
19. Attitude — Battle of Kalinga changed the life of King Ashoka.
20. Dedication to public service — E. Shridharan is an Indian civil engineer — Metro Man of India.
21. Non-Partisan — NAM
22. Ethical Dilemma — During operation Blue Star in 1984 a soldier, who was follower of Sikhism, was asked to shoot
in the Gurudwar
23. Humility — APJ Abdul Kalam — Convocation of IIT (BHU) Varanasi APJ Abdul Kalam was invited as the Chief Guest.
There were five chairs placed on the stage.
24. Cheating/breach of Trust: - Lance Edward Armstrong
25. Fairness — Justice HR Khanna
26. Empathy — 14th Dalai Lama — 80,000 Tibetan refugees. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru agreed to allow Tibetan
refugees to settle in India
27. Empathy — Kalam sir observed the engineer being engrossed in the work. So, he took the children to the
exhibition.
28. Compassion — Anand Kumar's Super 30- Anand Kumar from Bihar
29. Kindness — Operation Sulaimani: free food programme initiated by Prasanth Nair, District Collector of Kozhikode
30. Tolerance — Sarva dharma prarthna sthal
31. Courage/Fortitude — Successful business woman of USA- Chanda Jeveri.
32. Perseverance — Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group. He had applied ten times to Harvard Business School and got
rejected each time. He applied for 30 different jobs and was rejected by all. He went for a job with the police;
they said, 'you're no good. He even went to KFC. Twenty-four people went for the job. Twenty-three were
accepted, Jack Ma was the only guy who was rejected. Every failure tries to convey a message and the one who is
capable of keeping his eyes and ears open to it can give a better direction to his life.
33. Nationalism — Challenge of amalgamating 562 independent states with a democratic self-governing India was
difficult and delicate. But, Saradar Patel handled the integration
34. Patriotism — Bose - epitome of Sacrifice + Subhash cracked the Indian Civil Service exam with fourth rank but
resigned for the love of his motherland
35. Loyalty/Sacrifice — A Rajput Prince was conspired to be killed. Panna who worked in the court learnt of the
conspiracy. In order to save the Prince, she replaced the Prince with her own kid. Her own kid got killed. Such a
supreme sacrifice marks her as an epitome of loyalty.
36. Resilience — Karoly Takacs was a Hungarian Shooter
37. Resilience — Arunima Sinha - A national level volleyball player Arunima, 23 at the time, was traveling by the
Padmavat Express + the tallest peak in the world: Mount Everest, making her the first woman amputee to scale
38. Simplicity — Padma Vibhushan, but the humility with which P.N. Haksar, Indira Gandhi’s go-to man, declined the
award is in stark contrast to the intense lobbying the Padmas
39. Corruption — Adarsh Society Scam: (CAG) said, "The episode of Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society reveals how
a group of officials could subvert rules for personal benefit.
40. Role of Citizens — 11-year-old girl Ms. Ridhi from Hyderabad has collected Rs. 6.2 lakh to buy food for the less
fortunate during the lockdown. Moved by a video of a hungry person breaking down on being given food.
41. Human Dignity — Napoleon Bonaparte = Very narrow bridge to cross + Labour from other side embarked +
Napoleon said I am not working and hence the laborer has priority over me, at this moment his time is more
precious than mine
42. Integrity — Manjunath Shanmugam — worked as a sales officer for Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and worked
courageously to stop selling of adulterated fuel. He was murdered for sealing a corrupt petrol station in
Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh.
43. Integrity — Satyendra Dubey, an Indian Engineering Service officer, working with NHAI, was murdered for
seemingly exposing serious corruption in the Central government’s Golden Quadrilateral Highway construction
project
44. Truthfulness — Lal Bahadur Shastri as PM - Mill + Sarees for his wife.
45. Power — Durga Shakti Nagpal: The 2010-batch IAS officer had a tryst with land-related corruption during her
training period in Punjab and was exposed to a land scam.