(The UPSC Essentials Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest updates. Subscribe to The Indian Express UPSC Key and prepare for the Civil Services and other competitive examinations with cues on how to read and understand content from the most authoritative news source in India. Note: Catch the UPSC Weekly Quiz every Saturday evening and brush up on your current affairs knowledge.) To reach and receive the fundamental meaning of any concept, the best inquiry should begin with "What?" In this context, the first three essential questions which should come to our minds are: What is Value? What are Human Values? Why do we study Human Values as aspiring bureaucrats? Let's know. Relevance: The topic is a part of UPSC CSE General Studies Paper-IV Ethics Syllabus. Aspirants will find the article useful for their Essay paper too. Moreover, the essence of the article will help aspirants in their professional lives or in life in general. Nanditesh Nilay will write for UPSC Ethics Simplified fortnightly on Sundays. The first article will be a concept while the second article will be a caselet based on the concept. Value Value has its Latin origin and it comes from the word, VALERE. The meaning is," to be of worth." So either the value of a product or an action carries a significant worth- tangible as well as intangible. In other words, Value means the worth or utility of a thing. So when we say Profile Value, it means the worth of a profile. In the same way, the monetary worth of a skill associated with a profile can bring economic value. Now in the industrial era, we have products and their values. So everywhere we understand something or somebody with the value associated or exhibited. According to Rokeach, “Value is an enduring belief, a specific mode of conduct or an end state of existence, along a continuum of relative importance.” Human Values When we associate the worth or utility of human attributes in life or personality, we refer to them as Human Values. Simply put, Values which make us Human. Here we can understand in a simple way that values are those notions or feelings which are urgent as well as important for the collective survival and happiness of society. It promotes harmonious living as well as guides our relationship with the environment across. So before moving to Ethics it is better to align with the spirit of Human Values. Ethics Exemplified: The Human Value of Service and Daridra Narayan - A Pandemic lesson Here is an example of an important human value- Service. I take it from my article in The Indian Express, "Pandemic lesson on the importance of service must not be forgotten". The pain and suffering around the world and in our country due to COVID brought us closer to a specific human value — the spirit of service. In a world where profit and loss decide human interaction, it was the essence of service, the doctor and the nurse, the delivery person, the storekeeper, all risking their lives to help ease ours, that touched everyone across the world, even in the most powerful of nations. Service and only service stirred our souls. The French designer Coco Chanel said, “the best things in life are free. The second-best things are very expensive.” Apart from water, sunlight, and air, during the pandemic, we came closer to the human value of selfless service. It prepared us to relate, to forge solidarity with others. The pandemic has, therefore, defined the texture of a human relationship in terms of service and connection. But the nature of that connection has a history. This sense of service as key to the human relationship got sharply defined during the pandemic. To care for and serve somebody without any prejudice or immediate interest became the calling card of compassion. The values of interpersonal relationships, community bonding, and intrapersonal relationships emerged larger than life. Swami Vivekananda affirmed that “if one wants to find God, serve man. To reach Narayana, one must serve the Daridra Narayan.” Here, Daridra Narayan would mean those fighting the COVID-19 virus in critical care or those who succumbed to it, those who had to care for their loved ones. The day and night became a battle for the survival of humanity itself. Professionals, from frontline workers to vaccine researchers, emerged to serve in the middle of a crisis. They proved that one can live individually but survival needs the collective spirit. This wasn’t the case before the pandemic. Between customers — the customer is god or king — service and selfless service, we liked to read balance sheets and work out the margin of profit. Selfless service wasn’t a natural choice. Many of us have worked with countless people all our lives, but most of us will find it a challenge to pick four to five persons whom we have served selflessly. Studying Human Values as aspiring bureaucrats You are aspiring not just for a prestigious job but also as you will be a role model for many in society. We are studying Human Values because governance is based on the ideals of justice, transparency, and the spirit of civil service. So it is expected that a civil servant must carry those human feelings or attributes which can do justice and take care of the needs of the last person in society. Simultaneously, there must be holistic and sensitive governance that can balance the relationship between man and nature. Here it is important that a civil servant must exhibit the values of empathy, transparency, trust, integrity, courage, and many other human values in the execution or decision making process. Human values are equally needed even in policy formulation. EXPRESS INPUT In his opinion piece ('In Good Faith: A secular ethics for our times) for The Indian Express, The Dalai Lama wrote: "There is good reason to develop these basic human values, because I believe that human nature is basically gentle. I believe that we are only occasionally aggressive and that generally our lives are very much involved with love and affection. Even the cells in our body work better if we have peace of mind. An agitated mind usually provokes some physical imbalance. If peace of mind is important for good health, that means the body itself is structured in a way that accords with mental peace. We can therefore conclude that human nature is more inclined to gentleness and affection." Point to ponder: Civil servants are expected to be like Caesar's wife in character and Plato's "philosopher king". Discuss. FYI “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion” The phrase means that those holding important public positions should avoid even the appearance of wrongdoing. Their behaviour must always be “above suspicion”, since any misconduct, or rumours of misconduct, by them besmirches the high office they hold. Plato's "philosopher king" ( Plato, The Republic) The idea means that the best governance is the one in which philosophers rule. The Platonic idea here is that philosophers are both ethically and intellectually the best class to rule. Ethically, they are built of values and are free from greed and other temptations which push them away from their duties. Intellectually, they are wise enough to understand the task at hand. — Edited by Manas Srivastava The writer is the author of 'Being Good and Aaiye, Insaan Banaen'. He teaches courses on and offers training in ethics, values and behaviour. He has been the expert/consultant to UPSC, SAARC countries, Civil services Academy, National Centre for Good Governance, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Competition Commission of India (CCI), etc. He will be writing for the UPSC Ethics Simplified (Concepts and Caselets) fortnightly. Do not miss The Caselet on Human Values by Nanditesh Nilay in UPSC Ethics Simplified on January 22. Share your views, answers and suggestions in the comment box or at manas.srivastava@indianexpress.com.
