Revision summary
Gandhi’s ethics is a daily vow, not a speech. Satya, ahimsa, asteya, aparigraha, restraint, and fearlessness are the core. Labour, swadeshi, equal respect for faiths, and the end of untouchability complete the public face. The vows work as one: greed or fear breaks the rest. For a civil servant they mean a truthful noting and non-injury under statute, not a pulpit.
Model answer
Introduction
Gandhi did not treat ethics as a Sunday lecture. Ideal human behaviour, for him, was a daily vow in which truth, non-violence, and self-restraint keep means as clean as the end.
Body
The core vows
- Satya, truth, is the first virtue: speech, noting, and inner report must match the fact, even when silence would be safer.
- Ahimsa, non-violence, is not passivity; it is the refusal to injure in thought, word, or blow, including the weak who cannot hit back.
- Asteya and aparigraha, non-stealing and non-possession, cut the greed that turns office and market into extraction.
- Brahmacharya, as self-restraint, trains the senses so that power is not spent on appetite or domination.
- Abhaya, fearlessness, is the courage to stand by truth when the crowd, the superior, or the mob threatens.
- Sharir-shrama, bread labour, and swadeshi bind dignity to work and to the neighbour’s livelihood, not to imported display.
- Sarva-dharma-samabhava and sparshbhavana (anti-untouchability) make respect for every faith and every person a test of character, not of courtesy.
How they produce ethical behaviour
- Gandhi’s eleven vows work together: without truth, non-violence becomes a pose; without non-possession, truth becomes a bargain.
- Trusteeship asks the powerful to hold wealth and office for those who have less, which is ethics as duty, not as charity of mood.
- The talisman — recall the weakest face — converts these virtues into a public test of any law or file.
- Ideal behaviour is therefore habit under vow, examined each day, not a single heroic hour.
A limit for the civil servant
- A civil servant takes Gandhi’s virtues as inner discipline: truth in the noting, non-injury of the petitioner, fearlessness before an illegal oral order.
- The officer still applies statute equally; personal austerity is not a licence to moralise the citizen.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD S[Satya] --> V[Eleven vows] A[Ahimsa] --> V R[Restraint and trusteeship] --> V V --> E[Ideal ethical behaviour]
Conclusion
Gandhi’s essential virtues are truth, non-violence, restraint, fearlessness, labour, and equal respect. Together they make means as binding as ends. In office they appear as a clean file and a protected weak person, not as a private cult.
Quick related
Students also ask
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‘Corruption causes misuse of government treasury, administrative inefficiency and obstruction in national development.’ Give suggestions for prevention of corruption in public life in the context of the statement given.
Next question in the 2021 paper (Q3). View answer →
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Is ahimsa the same as inaction?
No. Gandhi’s non-violence is active resistance without injury. Cowardice was, for him, worse than violence.
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Must a district officer take all eleven vows literally?
The officer is bound by the Constitution. The vows are a character map: truth, non-injury, and fearlessness in the file.
Same topic · past papers
UPPSC has asked this before
These previous-year questions sit on the same topic. Open one to practise the earlier ask.
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2025 · Q13 · UPGS4 · 12 marks
Explain the 12 essential factors in ethical judgement. In case of ethical judgement being against the administrative decision, how would you harmonize them? Discuss with example. -
2021 · Q5 · UPGS4 · 8 marks
A peaceful protest was being carried out by a group of milk traders. The Superintendent of Police instructs the Police Officials to prevent the group from committing any type of violence. He, however, tells them to ‘teach them a lesson’, if situation warrants. A police official on duty indulges into an argument with a protestor and beats him up. When inquired about his action, he says that he was told to teach them a lesson by the Superintendent of Police. Give your comment on ethical behaviour of both the Superintendent of Police and the Police official in the light of the above-mentioned incident.
More from this paper
Q1 · UPSC Mains 2021 · UPGS4 · 8 marks · Solution
Does individual morality have a bearing effect on the decision of public life?
Ethics and Human Interface
Public decisions are signed by persons, so private honesty and restraint shape the file. Integrity is a personal virtue that must appear as a speaking order, not as a slogan. Private creed may not replace equality, impersonality, or statute. Conduct rules punish the private vice that enters the noting. When conscience and duty clash, recusal or resignation is honest; a secret veto is not.
Q3 · UPSC Mains 2021 · UPGS4 · 8 marks · Solution
‘Corruption causes misuse of government treasury, administrative inefficiency and obstruction in national development.’ Give suggestions for prevention of corruption in public life in the context of the statement given.
Probity in Governance
Corruption misuses public money, slows honest work, and turns schemes into rent. Prevention cuts discretion through published rules, e-office, and speaking orders. RTI, social audit, DBT, and asset disclosure shrink the dark market. Vigilance and whistle-blower protection must not punish the complainant. Appraisal should reward a reasoned refusal, and political funding must not sell the file from above.
Q4 · UPSC Mains 2021 · UPGS4 · 8 marks · Solution
Describe the relevance of the following in the context of civil services: (a) Ethical Governance (b) Probity in public life.
Civil Service aptitude and values
Ethical governance is inspectable, people-centred use of official power. It is relevant because the civil servant turns policy into a lived yes or no. Nolan’s principles and the Second ARC give the working map. Probity is uprightness: no cut, no hidden conflict, no false noting. Without both, skill becomes a more efficient rent.