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UPPCS (Uttar Pradesh)Stage 2: Main Examination

Human Values: Leaders, Reformers, Administrators and Institutions

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Main Examination, General Studies IV:

Human Values: lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators, role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values.

Topics in detail

What human values are

  • Meaning of values: lasting beliefs about what is desirable, which guide choices and behaviour.
  • Terminal values (ends, such as freedom or equality) and instrumental values (means, such as honesty or responsibility), as classified by Milton Rokeach.
  • Core human values: truth, non-violence, compassion, justice, equality, freedom, tolerance, honesty, respect for life.
  • Constitutional values: justice, liberty, equality and fraternity in the Preamble; the Fundamental Duties in Article 51A.
  • Values and value conflicts: when two good values pull in different directions.
  • Erosion of values: consumerism, materialism, individualism, and the debate around them.

Lessons from great leaders

  • Mahatma Gandhi: truth and non-violence, satyagraha, trusteeship, simplicity, the link between means and ends.
  • Gautama Buddha: the middle path, compassion and non-attachment; Sarnath (first sermon) and Kushinagar (mahaparinirvana) are in Uttar Pradesh.
  • Mahavira: ahimsa, aparigraha (non-possession), anekantavada (many-sidedness of truth).
  • Swami Vivekananda: service of human beings as service of God, strength and self-reliance.
  • Rabindranath Tagore: universal humanism and freedom of the mind.
  • Dr B. R. Ambedkar: dignity, equality, social justice, constitutional morality.
  • Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel: integrity, firmness, national unity; his defence of an independent civil service.
  • Lal Bahadur Shastri: simplicity and personal accountability, including his resignation as Railway Minister after a rail accident in 1956.
  • Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr.: perseverance, reconciliation and non-violent resistance to injustice.

Lessons from reformers

  • Kabir and Guru Ravidas (both associated with Varanasi): equality of all people, rejection of ritualism and caste pride, honest living.
  • Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar: reason, women's rights, education.
  • Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule: education of girls and of the oppressed castes.
  • Swami Dayanand Saraswati: the Arya Samaj (1875), social reform and education.
  • Sir Syed Ahmad Khan: modern scientific education; the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh (begun as a school in 1875).
  • Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya: founding of the Banaras Hindu University (1916); education as nation-building.
  • Sree Narayana Guru: one caste, one religion, one God for humanity.

Lessons from administrators

  • Ashoka: dhamma, welfare of subjects, tolerance; his edicts, including the pillar at Prayagraj (Allahabad) and the lion capital at Sarnath.
  • Kautilya's Arthashastra: the ruler's happiness lies in the happiness of the subjects; duties of officials and checks on corruption.
  • Akbar: sulh-i-kul (peace with all) and religious tolerance.
  • Sher Shah Suri: revenue administration, roads and sarais.
  • Modern public servants as role models: T. N. Seshan (electoral integrity as Chief Election Commissioner), S. R. Sankaran (welfare of bonded labourers and tribal people), Verghese Kurien (the cooperative dairy movement).
  • Common lessons: honesty under pressure, empathy for the poor, institution building, leading by example.

Role of family in inculcating values

  • The family as the first agent of socialisation: learning by imitation and example.
  • Parenting styles and their effect on moral development.
  • Joint and nuclear families: what changes in the transmission of values.
  • Gender equality and respect for elders and children within the home.
  • Challenges: lack of time, screen exposure, conflicting messages.

Role of society in inculcating values

  • Community, neighbourhood, religious institutions and peer groups.
  • Social norms, customs and their positive and negative effects (for example, caste prejudice).
  • Media, cinema and social media as transmitters of values and of stereotypes.
  • Civil society organisations, volunteering and role models.

Role of educational institutions in inculcating values

  • Teachers as role models; the hidden curriculum of school life.
  • Value education in the curriculum; the emphasis on ethical and constitutional values in the National Education Policy, 2020.
  • Co-curricular activity: the National Service Scheme, the National Cadet Corps, sports, community service.
  • Limits of rote learning; the need for discussion, debate and reflection on moral questions.
  • Universities and professional colleges: research ethics, academic integrity, plagiarism.

Overlaps

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