Answer:
Impartiality can be defined as not being biased or favourable towards any person. It requires that all the decisions should be based on merit and merit alone. Compassion, on the other hand, requires a civil servant to be sensitive to the needs of the people and act to alleviate their problems.
Although impartiality seems to be a hindrance in practising compassion, impartiality and compassion are not contradictory values. A civil servant working in a diverse country like India needs to be aware of the difference required in the approach to serve people placed at different footing. Our Constitution itself has provided for affirmative action in terms of reservation in government jobs and has also directed the State to formulate policies to uplift the status of disadvantaged and vulnerable groups such as women, factory workers, scheduled castes and tribes. It also directs the State to provide legal aid to people who can’t afford it.
An instance where impartiality may seem as hindering compassion is the case where a needy person approaches a civil servant for help however he/she does not possess required documents such as Aadhar number not linked to the ration card or other shortcomings. Impartiality in such a case would require the officer to straight away deny the benefits to the person; however it does not require the officer to be indifferent to the needs of that person. A compassionate officer can and should help that person in arranging the documents.
It is for the same reason that public servants are provided with some level of discretion in their jobs to ensure that they do not blindly follow the principle of impartiality when compassion is needed to ensure effective delivery of public service. The need is to strike a balance between the two values and apply them as per the given situation without breaking the law of the land.
Thus, an officer while being impartial may practice compassion to realize the aim of helping the poorest of the poor. It becomes even more important in a country like India which faces many problems such as low level of literacy, developmental imbalances, digital divide, gender and social prejudices etc. The answer to such difficult problems of today lies in greater association and higher level of compassion and understanding in governance. Thus, impartiality does not bar an officer from practising compassion.

Answer: Prejudice is an unjustified or incorrect belief (usually negative) towards an individual based solely on the individual’s membership in a social group while discrimination is when someone acts on his/her prejudiced beliefs. For example, if it is believed that people born in one’s own country or community are superior to others, it is a prejudice. When this belief becomes the basis for the denial of certain rights to people originating from other countries or communities, it becomes discrimination. Prejudice based upon factors such as age, ethnicity, race, religion, sex, gender, etc. can ultimately become the basis of discrimination causing a social cleavage, which if left unaddressed can lead to various issues in society, such as:

• Violation of rights: It leads to violation of civil and political rights as well as economic, social, and cultural rights (ESCRs). For instance, prejudice based on social hierarchy has led to discrimination of lower castes, which alienates them in society.
• Unrealized societal potential: Discrimination derived from prejudices invariably leads to exclusion. On the societal level, when discrimination is allowed or tolerated in a society, it deprives people of exercising their potential for themselves and for society. For example, during the colonial rule in India, the political, economic, social, and cultural rights of the Indian population were severely suppressed by the British, which led to a long struggle for freedom from the British.
• Stereotyping: Prejudice, when not addressed through a concerted effort at an early time, is hard to get rid of as stereotyping tendencies are created, which linger for a long time. For example, the secessionist movement, which acquired a violent turn in the erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was precipitated by the stereotyping of the Bengalis and the consequent denial of their socio-cultural and political rights by the West Pakistani elite.
• Disturbs harmony: The belief that a particular ‘outgroup’ poses a threat to one’s own (sometimes dominant or majority) ‘ingroup’ results in perceived threats. When not resolved in a timely manner, it often leads to violence. For instance, during the COVID-19 outbreak, discrimination and violence against East Asians witnessed a spike in some Western countries. Due to the established prejudice, all of them were grouped into the same category, and discrimination against them reached a high.

Thus, prejudice and discrimination should be addressed at the earliest. For this, certain ethical values like universal brotherhood, equality, empowerment of right holders, accountability, sensitivity training, participative decision-making, stakeholder engagement, raising awareness about threats posed by prejudice, etc. should be inculcated in society.