Human values refer to the basic inherent moral inclinations towards kindness, honesty, loyalty, love, peace, sympathy, truth etc. that enhance fundamental goodness of human beings and society at large. They are the values that human beings cherish and hold in common, consciously and otherwise, in most of the places and times and practice them. They enable the interpretation of “right and wrong” and provide the ways to understand humans and organizations.

Objectives of Professional Ethics & Human Values in Engineering

• To understand the moral values that ought to guide the Engineering profession and resolve the moral issues in the profession.
• To justify the moral judgment concerning the profession.
• To develop a set of beliefs, attitudes and habits that engineers should display concerning morality.
• To create an awareness on Engineering Ethics and Human Values.
• To inspire Moral and Social Values and Loyalty.
• To appreciate the rights of others.

The principal human values include

• a) Love & Compassion: Love manifests in sincere care of others, kindness, empathy and compassion for all. True unconditional love leads to compassion. It may be seen in operation in human acts of generosity, mercy and charity.
• b) Peace: Peace contains values like equality, humility, optimism, patience, self- confidence, self-control, self-esteem etc. Its scope includes peace at the levels of individual, society and the world.
• c) Truth: Truth is eternal and unchanging, as it deals with ultimate and unchanging reality. It is marked with values like accuracy, fairness, honesty, sincerity, justice, fearlessness, integrity, quest for knowledge, determination, etc. In professional life, the simplest manifestation of truth is in sincerity that can be seen in terms of commitment to work.
• d) Non-Violence: Non-violence refers to restraint from consciously doing any harm through one’s thoughts, speech or action to any entity, living or Handbook of Human Values and Professional Ethics, GNDU, Amritsar Page 2 of 6 non-living. Non- violence demands abstinence from hatred and nurturing love and compassion for all beings.
• e) Righteousness: Righteousness is the backbone of core human values as it involves conduct of life and action by practicing propriety and decorum at every stage. It covers ethical guidelines, ethical behaviour and moral values.
• f) Renunciation: Renunciation connotes caring attitude towards all living beings without any selfish motives. It is seen in austerity, self-control, and selflessness of a person.
• g) Service: Service is an action performed out of love. It also stands for compassion and sacrifice for others. The value of service demands equanimity without any conditions or discrimination based on caste, creed, race, region and religion.
• h) Peaceful co-existence: Peaceful co-existence describes cohesive and coherent relationships. It contains psychological and social values such as benevolence, compassion, consideration, morality, forgiveness, brotherhood, equality, perseverance, respect for others, environmental awareness, etc.
• i) Discipline: Discipline indicates regulated values followed by the individual for all beings. It contains values like regulation, direction, order, etc. Values are to be learned through practices to form the foundation of strong human culture.

The core values followed by MACE

• Quality Education and Research
• Striving for Excellence
• Strong Professional Ethics
• Student Centric Academic Environment
• Social Well-being and Development
• Respect for All