Integrity (Integrity for IAS Officer) is a great virtue that plays a great role in the development of the character of all humans. It’s highly important for all the Civil Servants specifically the IAS officers.
What is Integrity?
Integrity signifies adherence to the moral and the ethical principles. It emphasizes soundness of the moral character including honesty, apart from other virtues. More often than not, Integrity reflects the core fundamental values of an individual. It’s the commitment made voluntarily by an individual to honour all the principles and values at the moral, spiritual and ethical platforms without making any kinds of the compromises.
What makes Integrity highly important for all the Civil Servants specifically the IAS officers?
It’s understandable that a Civil Servant specifically an IAS officer must not compromise by any means as far as Ethics and Integrity are concerned. It’s only an IAS officer with a sound moral integrity who can be just to all.
The IAS officers are responsible for the formulation and implementation of the government policies. And it’s only an individual with absolute integrity and hence, an unprejudiced mind, who can serve the society doing justice to all.
How does UPSC make an assessment of the Integrity of the IAS aspirants?
It should not come as a surprise that the Mains for the Civil Services Exam conducted by the Union Public Service Commission include General Studies Paper IV – Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude. The Paper carries 250 Marks.
What do various UPSC CSE stages and the Exam pattern focus at to assess a candidate’s integrity?
UPSC is a highly reputed government body of high repute for selecting only the most capable and unprejudiced candidates with sound integrity. Besides, UPSC is well known for being impartial while making the selections.
Apart from the General Studies Paper IV – Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude as specified above, UPSC also focuses on:
1.How you answer the Mains Papers does matter!
Basically, it’s your ideology, the manner you think of various developments at the national and the international platforms. And the same is reflected in your answers all through various Papers of the Mains including the four GS Papers and the Essay Paper.
Many a times, your choice of the Optional subject also provides UPSC with a brilliant opportunity to make an assessment of your thinking pattern. That is to say, if you opt for Psychology, your answer writing skills would definitely reveal your own thinking pattern.
2.The loaded questions:
Apart from your answer writing skills in the Mains, UPSC does make use of the loaded questions. A loaded question often entraps the candidate into saying either “yes” or “no” without leaving much of the scope for the middle ground.
For example, you might be asked in the Interview if you have stopped cheating in the Exam. Either a “yes” or “no” – anyways the answer implies that you might have cheated at some point or another. And you still have to maintain your cool while replying. And that’s an important characteristic of Integrity.
Or the questions might be making a few assumptions beforehand.
For example, you might be asked if India’s steady GDP growth rate and a low inflation has resulted in the improvement of the economy. But, India’s GDP growth has not been steady and the inflation is not low either.
No wonder, the recent trend of making use of the loaded questions in the CSE has facilitated UPSC to assess the Integrity of the candidates to a considerably greater extent.
3.The Interview:
UPSC Interview is referred to as the Personality Test. It’s not your knowledge, but your complete personality that is being assessed. Thus UPSC questions during the Interview aka the Personality Test do aim at assessing your Integrity, apart from other qualities of your personality.
Besides, the manner you opt for answering various questions while facing various Papers of the Mains and the Interview also serve to throw a very bright light on various characteristics that contribute to an individual’s Integrity.
Your answering skills both for the Papers of Mains and the Interview reveal your:
- Moral
- Ethical
- Spiritual, and
- Artistic values and principles
Besides, your answers reveal how responsible you are at personal, professional, and various other platforms towards the society.
Thus, it’s only an IAS officer with a sound integrity who can administer the society well without being partial or prejudiced in any manner. Moreover, it’s only an administrator with a sound Integrity who can keep the functioning of the government free of all the corruption of any kind.
