Harpreet Singh Blogs

Sri K Srinivas IAS, Director LBSNAA in his Inaugural Speech beautifully described the qualities of a good civil servant:   austerity, ability and anonymity.  Austerity means discipline of body and thoughts. It also means both effective and efficient use of resources. Ability means competence to do tasks successfully. It requires an attitude of lifelong learning. Anonymity means giving credit for a successful task to people, democratic processes, people's representatives, team members. It is putting "We" before "I". There is a special energy whenever a new Foundation Course is conducted. Everyone is excited to meet new entrants and look for beauty and excellence of Public Service in them. A Foundation Course is special and a beginning of new energy.

Individuals desire many things which they believe will make them happy, such  food, drink, sex, wealth, fame and power.   Freudian thought holds that desire operates at the deep level of our unconscious minds. Having desires without investigating it is wrong.  According to Aristotle, a human being is special because of the ability of critical reflection. Rationality is key to finding what is good and value for the human being. Hence  desires have to investigated to find out what is good for a human being. Therefore, can we argue that human values arise from critical reflection of the lived experiences?