GS4 PYQ (Mains Answer Writing): Probity, Emotional Intelligence | UPSC Mains: Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude PDF Download

(A) What do you understand by probity in governance? Based on your understanding of the term, suggest measures for ensuring probity in government. (UPSC MAINS GS 4)

The quality of having strong moral principles; honesty and decency can be understood as probity. But there’s a slight difference, whereas on one hand honesty is about being truthful and transparent, not hiding facts and not lying, probity on the other hand is when there comes an outwards orientation to it, when one attempts to appear to be honest, when one makes sure that people get to know that one is not dishonest or simply it is the evidence of ethical behaviour in a particular process.
Probity in governance is an essential requirement for efficient and effective delivery of socio economic development and governance through strict adherence to code of ethics based on honesty, integrity and impartiality, confidentiality and transparency. An important requisite for ensuring probity in governance is absence of corruption.
The other requirements are effective laws, rules and regulations governing every aspect of public life and, more important, an effective and fair implementation of those laws, etc. Indeed, a proper, fair and effective enforcement of law is a facet of discipline.
There are several Objectives of probity in governance: 

• To ensure accountability in governance 
• To maintain integrity in public services 
• To ensure compliance with processes 
• To preserve public confidence in government processes 
• To avoid the potential for misconduct, fraud and corruption 

Probity in governance is basic requirement for successful operation of governance. It is defined as a risk management approach ensuring procedural integrity. It is concerned with procedures, processes and systems rather than outcomes. It requires people to act ethically, impartially, honestly and with fairness.
To make probity governance effective, government has to eliminate corruption. The other requisites of probity are effective laws, rules and regulations governing every feature of public life and an effective and reasonable implementation of those laws.
For ensuring probity in governance, several measures are necessary, some of which are mentioned herein below: 

• Need for enforcing section 5 of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 
• Necessity for a law providing for confiscation of illegally acquired assets of public servants 
• Enactment of a Public Interest Disclosure Act - strengthening of whistleblower act, RTI act etc. 
• Necessity for enacting a Lok Pal Bill in addition to the Central Vigilance Commission Act 
• Strengthening of the Criminal Judicial System 
• Sense of Discipline- instilled by head of organisations and leaders of society. 
• Example: Lal Bahadur Shastri used to pay when his sons used official car. 
• Behavioral change in bureaucrats through training, performance appraisal, inculcation of values like empathy and compassion. 
• E-Governance- use of ICT for transparency. It would also help in anonymous complaint against public servants by ordinary people.

Conclusion
So, a mixture of adequate rules and regulations, creating conducive administrative processes and development of ethical competence is needed to ensure probity in governance.
Too much dependence should not be on external mechanisms because this always keeps a possibility of breach but focus should be ultimately to create men of strength and character who uphold such values on their own.

Topics Covered - Probity in Governance

(B) "Emotional Intelligence is the ability to make your emotions work for you instead of against you." Do you agree with this view? Discuss. (UPSC MAINS 2019)

“In order to have anything like a complete theory of human rationality, we have to understand what role emotion plays in it.” – (Herbert Simon, American Nobel Laureate scientist) At the point of decision, emotions are very important for choosing. In fact even with what we believe are logical decisions, the very point of choice is arguably always based on emotion.
As Dr. Simon and others have pointed out, emotions influence, skew or sometimes completely determine the outcome of a large number of decisions we are confronted with in a day. Therefore, it behooves all of us who want to make the best, most objective decisions to know all we can about emotions and their effect on our decision-making. 

• People who are emotionally intelligent don’t remove all emotions from their decision-making. They remove emotions that have nothing to do with the decision. The secret to making smarter decisions that aren’t swayed by your current emotions, particularly when your emotions are unrelated to the decision at hand, could lie in emotional intelligence. 
• Emotional intelligence is a term used in psychology to signal the ability to identify and control both your and others’ emotions, and to apply that ability to certain tasks. Decisions, especially decisions involving risk, are often guided by emotions, such as anxiety, that in fact emerge from completely unrelated events. 
• Emotionally intelligent leaders are less likely to make a mistake with “incidental” anxiety because they recognize the irrelevant source of their emotions. Leaders can also help others reduce the impact of incidental anxiety by simply pointing out the true source of their emotions Leaders who perceive and relate to the emotions of those they direct are going to be seen as more caring and understanding leaders. 
• Leaders who can better manage their own emotions will also develop more positive relationships with subordinates and superiors. Finally, emotionally intelligent negotiators have been proven to be more effective. Only when we see this final result can we effectively utilize knowledge of emotions and feelings in the decision making process. 
• Instead, if we try to understand that any particular emotion, say, disgust, will result in a feeling of, say, “loathing” or “judgmental” or “detestable,” then we can better evaluate the matter and take the better action. Leaders must not allow incidental emotions to color their decisionmaking, especially involving risks. Leaders are often warned to pay attention to assumptions and biases. 

Ways to make emotions work for you in decision making process: 

• Name what you are deciding. 
• Recognize and name all feelings you are experiencing in connection with the decision. 
• Bring your feelings inward to identify its root cause (an emotion). 
• Process that emotion, not one of its symptoms (a feeling). 
• Be aware of whether you want to make a decision from this specific emotion or if you want to adjust the course Of course, you also need to do all the usual things you frequently hear about as conducive to objective decision making, such as avoiding making decisions when you are tired, stressed or being influenced by non-objective actors. 
• Nevertheless, identifying the root or emotional basis of your feelings will go a long way toward improving your decision making.

Topics Covered - Emotional Intelligence