Forbearance has two parallel registers that the UPSC aspirant must distinguish. In diplomacy and ethics, it signals mature restraint — choosing not to retaliate even when you could. In banking law, it is a technical term — the RBI’s regulatory forbearance allows banks to defer recognising a stressed asset as an NPA.
Both senses share a core idea: a party with the right to act chooses, deliberately, not to. The word is more dignified than ‘patience’ and more legally precise than ‘tolerance’, making it a Mains-grade choice for answers on strategic doctrine or financial regulation.
