The fallacy of knowledge

The ninth verse of Ishavasya Upanishad says

अन्धं तमः प्रविशन्ति येऽविद्यामुपासते।
ततो भूय इव ते तमो य उ विद्यायाꣳ रताः

Into blinding darkness enter those who worship ignorance; and into deeper darkness go those who worship knowledge.

The first part of the verse is quite clear and easily acceptable — ignorance may be bliss at times, but not the reverence of ignorance!

The later part of the verse may seem to indicate condemnation of education. However what it is trying to differentiate is the difference between knowledge and the right application of knowledge — which can also be considered as wisdom.

Knowledge should be seen as a means towards an end, and not the end in itself. Wisdom is what enables you to use the knowledge to make the right interpretation, right decision or take the right action.

Consider the Indian civil service. The most important capability India needs from its’ bureaucrats are the ability to solve problems, and more importantly ability to solve problems at scale. The solutions need to be assessed for both intended as well as potential unintended outcomes. The solutions need to be sustainable, scalable and politically palatable. It takes significant amount of analytical skills to solutionise with objectives. And India does not have a dearth of problems for testing the analytical ability of the civil services aspirants!

There are of course other important traits like dedication, discipline, honesty and service mindedness. However the Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC is primarily a test of ability to acquire and retain knowledge. The new format introduced since 2011 now apparently has more focus on analysis, but the analytical focus is still missing. It is time UPSC looks at remodelling the selection to look at the problem solving skills of the aspirants than a test of knowledge. This is much needed to take the country out of the darkness that we currently are in.