4 min readNew DelhiJun 1, 2024 10:54 AM IST
First published on: May 26, 2024 at 02:04 PM IST
UPSC Ethics Simplified draws your attention to a topic of Emotional Intelligence in the form of a caselet. This caselet is an extension of the concept discussed on May 12 (Emotional Intelligence: The Concept). It is advised to revisit the concept article before reading the caselet below.
Relevance: The topic is a part of UPSC CSE General Studies Paper-IV Ethics syllabus. Caselets are particularly relevant in the Case Study section. Aspirants will also find the article useful for their Essay paper and situation-based questions in personality tests.
Nanditesh Nilay writes 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.
THE CASELET
You have recently taken the responsibility of the officer in-charge of a welfare scheme. One morning you were not in a good mood and even yelled at your subordinate who was not providing you with correct information related to the welfare scheme. The moment you came out of your chamber you saw a long queue of applicants. You asked your subordinate to consider those persons who have proper documents. All of a sudden you found a lady shouting at other staff as they were stopping her to meet you in person. You ignored it and returned to your chamber.
After a while, your subordinate came and reported about that old lady’s willingness to meet you, but you were in no mood to talk to her. You said, “I did not talk to my mother yesterday as it was Mother’s Day. I have so many things to do. Please handle yourself.”
However, the old woman suddenly comes inside your office and seeks to become a beneficiary. The woman is illiterate and does not have any documents to prove her eligibility for the scheme. You did not understand what to do. She said, “After seeing me, why do you turn your face? Would you have made the same gesture for your mother? You are bada sahab, but without emotion.”
Finally, you find that she is really poor and destitute with no one to care for her. Though she didn’t have any documents but dilemma is that giving her the benefits without the documents would be tantamount to bypassing the law.
Post Read Questions:
Q1. What are the core issues in this case?
Q.2 Identify those areas where you are lacking officer-like qualities.
Q.3 Whether as an officer you have a low EQ or is it completely absent?
Ethicist view:
In this case, there are clear issues of EQ involved. The officer is sincere but what about his EQ? How will he understand the spirit of the law if he is not high on emotional intelligence? With the spirit of self-awareness and motivation only, he can connect( social skills) with the lady and request the woman to help her in preparing all documents or he can use his power of discretion(according to law)by giving her benefit based on self -declaration or undertaking till the time her documents are prepared.
Edited by Manas Srivastava
(The writer is the author of ‘Being Good and Aaiye, Insaan Banaen’ and ‘Ethikos: Stories Searching Happiness’. 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 has PhD in two disciplines and has been a Doctoral Fellow in Gandhian Studies from ICSSR. His second PhD is from IIT Delhi on Ethical Decision Making among Indian Bureaucrats. He writes for the UPSC Ethics Simplified (Concepts and Caselets) fortnightly.)
"The old woman suddenly comes inside your office and seeks to become a beneficiary of a welfare scheme." Will you be able to address her problem as the officer in-charge? 
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