Mains Practice Questions

Introduction:

Impartiality and empathy are two essential yet seemingly conflicting values in public service. Impartiality demands neutrality, fairness, and adherence to rules, while empathy requires understanding and responding to the needs and emotions of citizens. 

Body: 

Impartiality in Public Service

• Ensures fairness and equal treatment of citizens.
• Anchored in constitutional principles like Article 14 (equality before law) and the rule of law.
• Upholds administrative justice, preventing favoritism, nepotism, or arbitrariness.

Empathy in Public Service

• Recognized as a core value in Nolan Committee principles (selflessness, objectivity) and Second ARC recommendations.
• Enhances citizen-centric governance, making policies responsive to vulnerable groups.
  • Example: During disasters, empathetic officers go beyond rigid rules to provide relief to the needy.

Does Empathy Lead to Bias?

• Arguments that empathy can cause bias:
  • May result in preferential treatment (e.g., favoring an individual based on emotional appeal).
  • Risk of subjectivity in decision-making, undermining rule of law.
  • Could lead to inconsistency and accusations of unfairness.
• Arguments that empathy strengthens impartiality:
  • Empathy ensures policies do not become mechanical or exclusionary.
  • Enables administrators to understand structural disadvantages (e.g., gender, caste, disability) and apply rules more equitably.
  • Example: Targeted welfare schemes (e.g., scholarships for SC/ST, Divyangjan initiatives) are empathetic yet institutionalized to ensure fairness.

Critical Analysis

• Excess empathy without institutional safeguards may cause bias and inequity.
• Strict impartiality without empathy may lead to alienation.
• The ideal approach is empathetic impartiality—where empathy guides understanding of diverse needs but decisions remain within the framework of fairness and constitutional morality.

Conclusion

True impartiality can indeed coexist with empathy if empathy is institutionalized as a guiding principle, not an arbitrary personal emotion. A civil servant must act as a “firm administrator with a humane heart”, ensuring rule-based impartiality while exercising empathy to interpret and implement laws justly.