APTITUDE AND FOUNDATIONAL

VALUES FOR CIVIL SERVICE

ANUPAM GAURAV
 SYLLABUS

● Aptitude
● Foundational values for Civil Service
○ Integrity
○ Impartiality
○ Non-partisanship
○ Objectivity
○ Dedication to Public Service
○ Empathy
○ Tolerance
○ Compassion towards the Weaker Sections
 APTITUDE

It is derived from word “Aptos” which means “fitted for”.

A natural or inherent talent to acquire a certain skill or ability in the
future through appropriate training.
Aptitude can be both mental as well as physical.
Aptitude for a particular job increases the probability of success as it
leads to fast learning with less effort of different skills required for
that job.
 APTITUDE

Aptitude can be categorized as mental as well as physical.

It implies the prediction about the individual’s potentialities for
future.
It is the aptness or quickness to succeed in a specific field of activity.
 SKILL, ABILITY AND APTITUDE

SKILL
It refers to things an individual has learnt to do in the past.
ABILITY
It refers to things that an individual can do now.
APTITUDE
It refers to things an individual can learn in the future.
 FOUNDATIONAL VALUES FOR CIVIL SERVICE

Foundational values are a set of ethical and professional standards

that helps in discharging government functions in a proper and
efficient way.
They are necessary to ensure good governance and develop trust and
credibility of government among people.
 SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION

Refurbishing of Personnel Administrations, Scaling New Heights

Second ARC’s 10th Report
Civil Services should have commitment to the Constitution of India.
Values
● Objectivity
● Empathy for the vulnerable and weaker sections of society
● Adherence to the highest standards of Probity, Integrity, and Conduct
● Commitment to citizen’s concerns and public good
● Impartiality and Non-partisanship
 INTELLECTUAL STANDARDS

● Clarity
● Accuracy
● Precision
● Relevance
● Depth
● Breadth
● Logic
● Significance
● Fairness
 INTELLECTUAL TRAITS

Intellectual Integrity
Intellectual Humility
Intellectual Courage
Intellectual Empathy
Intellectual Perseverance
Faith In Reason
Fair Mindedness
Intellectual Autonomy
 INTEGRITY

It indicates soundness of moral principles, the character of

uncorrupted virtues, uprightness, honesty, and sincerity.
According to Ministry of Personnel
“A civil servant with integrity is one who consistently behaves in an
open, fair and transparent manner, honours one’s commitments and
works to uphold the public service values. ”
Fundamental rule for maintaining civil servants’ integrity is to avoid
situations which may give rise to a conflict of interest.
 INTEGRITY

● Avoid misuse of position.

● Avoid being placed in position of obligation.
● Avoid possibility of position which may arouse suspicion.
● Encourage others to consistently follow Public Service values.
● Impartial treatment of people.
● Enforce law, public service values, and rules of conduct.
● Courage and conviction to make and stand by right decisions.
● Provide honest and frank advice.
● Ensure full disclosure.
● Challenge powerful and influential people.
● Stand firm when dealing with unreasonable requests and demands.
● Take accountability for own actions and encourage others to do the
same.
 INTEGRITY

INTELLECTUAL INTEGRITY
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 also means to honestly admit discrepancies and inconsistencies in
one’s own thought and action, and be able to identify inconsistencies
in one’s own thinking.
 INTEGRITY

TARAK SINGH v. JYOTI BASU (2005) CASE

“Integrity is the hallmark of judicial discipline apart from others.
Integrity according to Oxford dictionary is moral uprightness;
honesty. It takes in its sweep probity, innocence, trustfulness,
openness, sicierty, blamelessness, immaculacy, rectitude,
uprightness, virtuousness, righteousness, goodness, cleanness,
decency, honour, reputation, nobility, irreproachability, purity, purity,
respectability, genuineness, moral excellence etc.
In short it depicts sterling character with firm adherence to a code of
moral values. ‘Judiciary is an integrity institution.’ Therefore, Judicial
Officers should possess the sterling quality of integrity.”
 UPRIGHTNESS

It is defined as the quality of being honest, responsible, and moral in

the perspective of ethics.
Moral uprightness is about personality and behaviour of an
individual or as a civil servant.
 WISDOM

It is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience,

understanding, common sense and insight.
It is knowledge of how to live well, and the disposition to act
appropriately on that knowledge.
Moral Constituents of Wisdom
● Having a Good Will
● Acting Morally
● Having Good Consequences
 WISDOM

UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES ADOPTED BY WISDOM

Principle of Benevolence
Principle of Justice
Utilitarian Principle
 COMPETENCY

It is defined as any knowledge, skill, trait, motive, attitude, value or other

personal characteristics that is essential to perform a job and differentiates
typical from superior performer.
Competencies Framework For Civil Services
● Ethos: Exhibiting citizen centricity and inclusiveness, promotes public
good and long term interests of nation.
● Ethics: Demonstrating integrity, transparency, openness, and fairness.
● Equity: Treating all citizens alike, ensure justice to all, and empathy
with weaker sections of society.
● Efficiency: Promoting operational excellence and value for money,
manages human capital and nurture capability.
 DEDICATION TO PUBLIC SERVICE

It involves accomplishing a task even in absence formal commitment

or external reward.
It is doing duty without focusing on the results; giving up the pride of
‘doer-ship’; and never attaching to inaction.
“Every duty is holy and devotion to duty is highest form of worship.”
— Swami Vivekananda
 IMPARTIALITY

It means to act solely according to the merits of the case and serving
governments of different political parties and the general public
equally well and in the same spirit.
It requires the public servants to refrain from opinions, positions or
actions that demonstrate a bias toward or against a particular cause
or course of action, including the defence of government policies.
 POLITICAL NEUTRALITY/NON PARTISANSHIP

According to this value the civil servant should give free and frank
advice to the government impartially and without any political
consideration.
It also means the implementation of the decisions of the government
by civil servant faithfully whether such decisions were in consonance
with their advice or not.
In non possibility of complete neutrality the administrator should act
to maximize the public interest.
 POLITICAL NEUTRALITY/NON PARTISANSHIP

IMPORTANCE
● Public Confidence
● Trust among Ministers
● Atmosphere of appraisals and promotions free from political
influence
Impartiality ensures equality without any bias and prejudices,
whereas non-partisanship ensures a neutral approach in politics and
a solid commitment to the government.
 OBJECTIVITY

The principle of objectivity implies that the decisions and actions

should be based on observable phenomena and should not be
influenced by emotions, biases or personal prejudices.
It means the state or quality of being true even outside a subject’s
individual biases, interpretations, feelings, and imaginations.
It refers to the ability in any context to judge fairly, without partiality
or external influence.
 EMPATHY

It refers to the ability to imagine oneself in another’s place and

understand the others’ feelings, desires, ideas, and actions.
It is about being able to accurately hear out and understand the
thoughts, feelings, and concerns of others, even when these are not
made explicit.
It is cornerstone for development of morals and character in an
individual.
● Significance: It is related to other virtues such as love,
compassion, kindness, tolerance, respect, and acceptance.
 EMPATHY

SKILLS FOR EMPATHY

● Active listening
● Recognising body language, facial expression, and/or tone of
voice
● Recognise unexpressed or poorly expressed thoughts,concerns
or feelings
● Pick up signals when others are not feeling comfortable and
display consideration
 EMPATHY v. SYMPATHY

Sympathy and empathy are both acts of feeling.

● Sympathy: It is the feeling in which we feel sorry for others or
petty them, but we do not specifically understand what the other
people are feeling.
● Empathy: It is the feeling in which we place ourselves in the
other person’s place, and have a good sense of what the other
person feels and understand their feeling.
 TOLERANCE

It is a fair, objective and permissive attitude towards those whose

opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one’s
own.
It is freedom from bigotry.
● Bigotry: It is the unwillingness to recognize and respect
differences in opinions or beliefs.
 COMPASSION

It is the understanding or empathy for the suffering of others. It

commonly gives rise to ‘an active desire to alleviate another’s
suffering’.
CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPASSION
● Active desire to alleviate another’s suffering
● Help others as a duty
● Understand others feelings
● Empathy towards others
● Kindness in behaviour
● Help the less fortunate ones