September 15 – GS4/Ethics: 2025 | UPSC Daily Answer Writing Practice PDF Download

(A) “Hatred is destructive of a person’s wisdom and conscience that can poison a nation’s spirit”. Do you agree with this view? Justify your answer. (UPSC MAINS GS4)

• National spirit consists in certain ideals, wishes, beliefs, forms of thought and habits which constitute a common ground and common aims for nations’ feeling and thereby make possible the existence of the nation. 
• The current level of hatred in world and Indian society is fuelling such malignant divisiveness that it is seriously affecting the nation, besides debasing our sense of humanity itself. psychological aspects of hatred does not disregard the role of various socio-political, economic or historical factors responsible for this complex emotion. However, all of them are eventually processed in the mind of the hater. 
• Hatred is based not just on a negative perception of others, but also depends on one’s personal history; its effects on one’s personality; one’s feelings, ideas or ideologies, beliefs, and their identity. Moreover, hatred, like love, has its origins in personal stories that characterise one’s emotions. 
• All those who spew hatred, including jingoists and the hyper-nationalists are often under-achievers in life. This leads to a deep-rooted inferiority complex and frustration. They must blame something for it, which also becomes an object of resentment and later, hatred. However, in an effort to salvage some of their sagging self-esteem, they try to compensate for it by latching on to something, which, in their perception, is visibly, tangibly an ‘achiever’ – such as a political party or some well-known organisation. 
• By associating themselves with that organisation, they feel that the prestige, recognition or glory of the organisation will ‘rub off’ onto them and compensate for what they could not achieve individually. How hatred affect the nation’s spirit Violence is one of the biggest offsets of hatred in the country. It disturbs the nation’s brotherhood, communal harmony and leads to instability and chaos in the country. 
• One of the pre-requisites of perpetrating violence is the lowering or elimination of moral consciousness. Fanaticism, characterised by blind adherence and uncritical thinking, dilutes empathy, awareness of others’ suffering, and feelings of guilt towards the object of hatred. Haters thus acquire the ability of morally disengaging from their actions and create excuses for the hatred they feel, or the suffering that they consciously cause. 
• That is how a mass murderer can, after an act of ethnic cleansing, be found to be a loving husband and a good father to his children . Moreover, one of the clear manifestations of hatred is hate speech which lowers the tone of public debate, coarsens the society’s moral sensibility and weakens the culture of mutual respect. 
• It also violates the dignity of the target group by stigmatising them, denying their capacity to live as responsible members of the society. Hence, the hatred and hate speech is against the very basic principle of community brotherhood and nation’s harmony and spirit. It is high time that government needs to make stringent laws to counter such hatred.

Topics Covered- Effects of Hatred

(B) What are the main components of Emotional Intelligence (EI)? Can they be learned? Discuss. (UPSC 2020)

Emotional intelligence (otherwise known as emotional quotient or EQ) is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.
Emotional intelligence helps you build stronger relationships, succeed at school and work, and achieve your career and personal goals. It can also help you to connect with your feelings, turn intention into action, and make informed decisions about what matters most to you.

The five main components to Emotional Intelligence are:

• Self-awareness This is the ability to recognise and understand personal moods, emotions and drives and the effect of them on both self and others. Self-awareness depends on one’s ability to monitor one’s own emotional state and to correctly identify and name the emotions being felt. Developing this ability is essential for realistic self-assessment and builds self-confidence and the ability to take oneself less seriously. 
• Self-regulation This is the ability to control or re- direct disruptive emotional impulses and moods. It involves the ability to suspend judgment and delay action to allow time for thought. From a neuroscientific perspective, you can frequently observe this skill, or lack of it, by watching response times. If an angry client is in rapid-fire mode responding to what you say in less than about half a second then it is very likely that they are not giving conscious thought to what is being said to them. Those with this ability will frequently demonstrate trustworthiness, integrity, comfort, with ambiguity and openness to change. 
• Internal motivation Frequently seen within veterinary professionals, internal motivation is about working with and for an inner vision of what is important, a curiosity and desire for learning and development, a drive that goes beyond external rewards such as money or status. There is often a strong drive to achieve, optimism even in the face of failure and organisational commitment. There are also risks, particularly in the presence of an undue sense of perfectionism. 
• Empathy This relates to the ability to understand the emotional make-up of others and the skill to treat people according to their emotional reactions. It includes skills in building and maintaining relationships with those we come into contact with on a daily basis. Though central to a service profession, empathy can tend to be somewhat less well developed in those with an isolated background and an intensive/competitive scientific training. Empathy often does, but does not necessarily, imply compassion; it can be used for both good and bad. 
• Social skills This involves the ability to manage relationships, build networks, find common ground and build rapport. It will often help when leading change, being persuasive, building expertise and getting great performance from teams. Whether E.I. cab be learnt: A common question that is often asked about Emotional Intelligence is that “Can EQ be learned?” We have all experienced or have met people that seem to be naturally gifted at controlling or recognizing their emotions. 
• These individuals seem to understand how to put others in a comfortable place, or get them engaged, or even to give another person whatever it is that they need at that time. People can learn how to interact more effectively at work and increase their emotional intelligence. To make this happen, an individual needs to be personally motivated to do this. Individuals need to first have a handle of where they are starting from (assessment) and then understand which of the five components of EQ need the greatest attention. 
• The skills that make up emotional intelligence can be learned at any time. However, it’s important to remember that there is a difference between simply learning about EQ and applying that knowledge to your life. Just because you know you should do something doesn’t mean you will—especially when you become overwhelmed by stress, which can override your best intentions. In order to permanently change behavior in ways that stand up under pressure, you need to learn how to overcome stress in the moment, and in your relationships, in order to remain emotionally aware. 

The key skills for building your EQ and improving your ability to manage emotions and connect with others are: 

• Self-management 
• Self-awareness 
• Social awareness 
• Relationship management 

Hence, emotional intelligence is not only important for civil servants but also to everyone or a policy. Public policy and public functionaries aiming to provide good governance are guided by ethics of positive social change and public ethos.

Topics- Emotional Intelligence