GS4 Weekly [26th – 31st Jan 2015] [The Undercover group] (Insightsonindia.com)

Topic: Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems;

Q) Do you think it is ethical for a civil servant to lie before citizens even in public interest? Justify

your stance with suitable examples. (150 Words)

General

Ans:

Honesty forms one of the most significant civil service values. It is the ability of civil servant to

be truthful to his inner-self and public both. But, the meaning of truth has to be considered in

broader sense. The ultimate truth as per Gandhi is establishment of progressive and socially

integrated society. And for that civil servant can refrain from speaking truth or lie in order to

uphold supremacy of public interest. Chanakya too has reiterated the same by introducing Kutil

NITI where deviant means like lie is acceptable till the time it harmonize the society.

To illustrate, if some terrorist attack has happened and state's machinery has come to a

standstill. In such situation if civil servant in order to avoid chaos and restore law & order in

public, issues an authoritative statement of everything being in control then it may not be

unethical fully.

However, CS should use such means as a matter of exception and not rule.

Topic: Human Values-Lessons from the lives of great leaders, reformers & Administrators

Q) Some believe that the high level of corruption levels in the country can be traced back to

certain elements in Indian Culture. Critically analyse. (150 Words)

General

Ans: Corruption, Prostitution and Theft are as old as Human civilisation. These malices of society

are well represented in various mythologies, upanishads, samhita and vedas which forms

documentation of Indian Culture of olden times.

Corruption was present and prevalent during old times are evident from one instance in

Mahabharata: In Mahabharata it is mentioned that, when Sudama started his journey to meet

Shri Krishna. He had a bag full of rice, but as he crossed each provinces, guards at nagar dwara

asked for share of rice as bribe. Hence, when Sudama reached Dwaraka, he was left only with

handful of rice. It shows that bribing existed in those time also and were part of Indian culture.

Corruption exists where ever there is manual intervention in public authority and personal

greed dominating over public duty. In India, because of vast poverty and gap between public

authority and public created reason for corruption more

Topic: Human Values-Lessons from the lives of great leaders, reformers & Administrators

Q) “The three key societal members who can make a difference are father, mother and teacher”

-A P J Abdul Kalam.

What role does society at large play vis-à-vis these individuals in creating an ethical individual?

(150 Words)

General

Ans: Culture is what we learn from our parents, family, friends, peers, and schools. It is shared,

not biologically determined. Home environment is important in developing the personality of

the child.

Father and mother (parents) play vital role in character development of child. They propagate

value such as Belongingness, Flexibility, Respect, Honesty, Forgiveness, Generosity, curiosity,

and Communication, these values expose child to set the course for their lives.

Same way teacher plays vital role, because education is necessarily a process of inculcating

values to equip the learner to lead a life. – A kind of life that is satisfying to the individual in

accordance with the cherished values and ideals of the society.

Parents are primary agency for development and Teachers are secondary agency. These two

agencies working in tandem gives person tertiary quality as Plato mentioned:

“The mark of an educated person is the willingness to use one’s knowledge and skills to solve

the problems of society

Topic: Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems;

Q) “The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the

apathy of a citizen in a democracy.” Elaborate. (200 Words)

General

Ans: Context:

This is a famous quote by Charles de Montesquieu, a French philosopher (translated in 1734).

Montesquieu judged the Roman Empire by the moral and political standards of the republic,

thereby making clear the general human decline that, in his view, occurred with the transition

from one to the other. The Roman Empire fell because of the apathy of the people.

He defined ideal system of Government where an administrative or executive, a judicial and a

legislative branch, for the most part are independent the one from the other.

Description:

Our nation was founded as a constitutional democratic republic. That means all the power our

union and state government has been delegated by the citizens. It also means that all

government officials are chosen and fired by election, and are expected to represent the will of

the majority while protecting the rights of all citizens.

The biggest threat to our national survival is not illegal immigrants, economics, global warming,

or lack of health care. The biggest threat is citizen apathy.

Apathy in the people is the beginning of Corruption, a decline in values and a return to tyranny

and eventually fatal to the democratic idea. It is through interaction that a cross culture will

emerge and public opinion will play a major role in shaping the nation. Apathy, indifference and

undernourishment will kill democracy than an ambush.

Example:

Voting in an election is not only a duty of every citizen but an act of worshiping and keeping

faith in our democratic ideals.If participation in elections becomes meager then governments

becomes weaker and tend to take decision which further deteriorate political scenario in the

country.

Q) You are working as Sub Inspector and the place where you work is also the constituency of

powerful politician who is now a very influential minister in the state government. Recently a

woman social activist was tied to tree and was badly beaten and molested by few political

activists belonging to the ruling party. After registering the case and preliminary investigation

you come to know that the men who molested were staunch followers of the minister. The

minister frequently calls you and pressurises you to either go slow with investigation or close

the case citing lack of evidence. In your investigation you have found strong evidence to give

justice to the woman and punish minister’s followers. However, the minister has threatened to

transfer you to a distant place if you do not heed to his requests. Despite threats and pressures

you continue with your investigation and file a strong case against the perpetrators. Later you

come to know that the minister had used his influence and bribed the judges to get bail to his

followers.

a) How do you deal with political pressure when performing your duty? (100 Words)

b) In the above case, your wife advises you to record your conversations with the minister in

your cellphone and make them public via media. Will you do so? Justify. (150 Words)

c) Some of your friends suggest you to get transfer and move to new place so that you are saved

from the wrath of the minister whose requests you neglected. (100 Words)

The Hindu

Ans:

(a):Holding a position of SI, my responsibility is not only to ensure law abiding by public but to

check my actions too. Political Pressure is with intent to bend my moral toward their favour. As I

already have strong evidence to prove their crime, so there is no reason to feel threatened

because justice will come to me eventually. As there is news about bribing judges to furnish bail,

but still justice will come toward my finding. Hence there is little reason to get threatened when

I am in right path toward my duty and I will continue with my investigation. How I will deal:

1. I will let my seniors know about the ground scenarios, my findings, evidences. So, that they

will have clear idea and even If I will be transferred my finding will be channelized to new SI.

2. I will take support of my sub-ordinates to involve them also in investigation. So, that it will

present as department work and not myself alone as political party Vendetta.

Answer(b): As Shri Krishna told in Bhagvat Gita that, to win a war every tactics is ethical. Here,

my investigation is also war against crime, so recording telephonic conversation is completely

ethical as it is part of investigation and will lead to justice of woman social activist and punishing

perpetrator which will clean the democracy and politics. But making it public by using media is

unethical as investigation is not completed. It will lead to media trial and more offensiveness

from political party which will hinder further investigation.

Recording the converstaion sounds unethical as it is collecting information without others

consent and knowing but that is the way we collect evidences for crime. It will be beneficial for

present and future situation. It will not only record the evidence and also any threat politician

pose on me will have record.

Answer(c): Granting transfer is not in my hand, it has to come from super-ordinates. In this case,

asking for transfer will set bad precedents in from of my super and sub ordinates. Also it is

unethical to stop my investigation in middle and voluntarily evading from it. It will not only

make value of my investigation zero, but also devoid the social activist of justice which is very

near as I have strong evidences against perpetrators. Hence taking transfer is not a good idea to

be chosen.

Topic: Human Values-Lessons from the lives of great leaders, reformers & Administrators

Q) Changing attitudes of people lie at the heart of empowerment and development. What

attitudinal changes have to be brought among citizens to improve functioning of democracy?

Give innovative solutions to bring about the above changes suggested. (200 Words)

General

Ans: When, people say that all the politicians should go to hell as all of them are corrupt. Then

those people should also provide address to hell, because they shall find “hell inside their

attitude itself”.

Citizens must be educated to give equal importance to Fundamental Rights as well as

Fundamental Duties.

But is it ethical to expect others unless involving ourselves? We must personally do following:

1. Vote in every election, be it by-election, general election or state elections. Never mind about

others, see that you, your family and friends and any others people use the voting right.

2. Educate people around you about the ills of NOT voting and Voting after taking money, while

voting other things should be given priority from caste/religion.

3. Express yourself through social networks, newspaper articles, blogs about serious issues in

the country. This helps create a mass opinion. You see most of us Indians are oblivious to many

issues, simple because no one points it out to us.

4. Involve personally in a local level, expose corruption in your local police station/gram

panchayat/university/college/corporation et al. Raise such issues in media.

With advance of Internet and Mass Media democratic participation can become easier. We

should use tools provided by Government and Internet to increase people’s participation in

functioning of government.

Digital India initiative, and NOFN helps in active participation from village and cities and it can be

concentrated.

Our fore-fathers have fought for democracy and snatch it out of the “hell”. We should preserve

it and make it more vibrant.

Topic: Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems;

Q) Martin Luther King Jr. believed that a life worth living should include a principle worth dying

for. Do you stand for any such principles in life and explain why they are so important for

you? (150 Words)

General

Ans: There are principles worth dying for but not a single one worth killing for. Martin Luther

King Jr. and other great personalities of world had some genuine principle or other for which

they lived and for which they did not afraid even the death.

Certain principles are larger than life and giving away life for saving those is just pouring a drop

in the ocean.However these principles should always be accompanied by a rational explanation

and deep justification which bring societal justice and collective welfare.

Patriotism:

I believe in the patriotism and the love for country but that is not just a fanatic feeling but an

examined one. Patriotism not only includes love for country but its larger perspective gives the

meaning of love for mankind, working for them, caring them, removing inequality which i

believe my life is for. I never want my country to be the most powerful nation but always want it

to be the prosperous one. When we want ourselves to be powerful than others then others,it

will surely someday create catastrophe against us.

Secularism:

The rising communal forces in the world have threatened the stability of entire societal fabric.

Dehumanizing massacres, undignified exploitation and subversion of just and fair society

through brute force brings an ambiance of fear, pain, acrimony and injustice. And living in such

gross misconduct of one group against other is intolerable and undesirable. My only duty in this

regard lies in germinating brotherhood and interfaith among religion to foster peace as

Vivekananda enlightened. And, during my course of action if I have to lay down my life, I would

consider it a blessing than curse.

Other examples:

The life of Kailash Satyarthi: Protecting Children

Topic: Human Values-Lessons from the lives of great leaders, reformers & Administrators

Q) Gandhian idea of trusteeship can help solve many problems plaguing corporate India today.

Comment (150 Words)

General

Ans: “Machinery has its place; it has come to stay. But it must not be allowed to displace

necessary human labour” – M.K. Gandhi.

Gandhi’s thoughts on economic systems evolved over time and they incorporated the good of

both Capitalism and Socialism.

Every thought of Gandhi may not be relevant today but Gandhian economics is very

comprehensive to deal with many present day issues. After independence, Vinobha Bhave in

one way demonstrated the "Trusteeship" Concept through the "Bhoodan Movement".

Gandhi's concept of trusteeship is that he wanted capitalists to act as trustees (not owners) of

their businesses and conduct them in a socially responsible way.

The philosophy of Trusteeship believes in inherent goodness of human beings. It involves the

capitalists and industrialist in the service of society without any element of coercion. It doesn’t

want the destruction of capitalists. Gandhi himself believed that their destruction would result

in the end of the workers.

Corporate Social Responsibility links Corporate Sector to Social Sector. It is becoming more

relevant in our society plagued by increasing inequalities between haves and have-nots. Many

corporate have their own NGOs operating at ground level, and in other cases they are involving

the civil society in their activities.

Thus, issue is “Corporate Social Responsibility”, can be traced to Gandhi’s concept of

“Trusteeship” in solving modern corporate problems.

Topic: Human Values-Lessons from the lives of great leaders, reformers & Administrators

Q) “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and people who mean to be their own governors

must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” – James Madison.

Discuss this statement in the light of recent developments that are empowering citizens. (200

Words)

General

Ans: Governance without information was "a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy”. - Madison

James Madison traditionally viewed as the Father of the United States Constitution, is also seen

by many as a defender of open government.

Indian Parliament enacted landmark act “Right to Information, 2005” empowering citizens

complete access to information on government’s business. Parliament also enacted lokpal and

lokayukta act 2013. But India is yet to get her first Lokpal appointed.

Empowering People of India:

The RTI Act applies to all States and Union Territories of India except Jammu & Kashmir, where

J&K Right to Information Act is in force. There certain exempt from disclosure of information

under section 8 of the Act.

Private bodies are not within the Act's ambit directly. But in a decision of Sarbajit Roy versus

Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission, the CIC also reaffirmed that privatised public utility

companies continue to be within the RTI Act- their privatisation notwithstanding.

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has held that the political parties are public

authorities and are answerable to citizens under the RTI Act.

Recent Supreme judgement on BCCI also reveals necessity to empower public for RTI in such a

private body which governs public sports in "Territory of India".

Currently, India operates without CIC and around 15,000 applications are pending and need to

be rectified.

Empowering people with RTI and LOKPAL is the prime duty of government at the centre. Good

Governance is only possible if the tools to nail mis-governance and corruption are working in

order and easily accessible for general public.

Topic: Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems;

Q) “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

(a)How far is this statement true in Indian context and how much did it contribute to the growth

of corruption in the country? ( 200 words )

(b) Many civil servants who are personally honest have done great disservice to the nation by

not taking on the corrupt elements in their tribe heads on. Comment (200 words)

General

Ans: a) As said correctly “Main reason for the evil in world is not the action of evil doer but the

silence of good people.” India is a land of people with diverse values and culture. This brings an

attitude of tolerance. Tolerance is good and considered saintly behavior as per mythology but it

actualizes wrong actions when applied to.

a) Tolerance toward evil and hence not raising voice against it.

b) Tolerance toward anything wrong which is not affecting us in short term like corruption,

willfully accepting and giving bribes.

c) Ignoring small and insignificant things like attitude toward punctuality, littering in public

place.

e) Indian culture advocates for collectivistic view of person rather than individualistic view of

western nations. With the view that we are part of society, many a times, we start taking bribe

or indulge in unethical practices thinking that corruption is going in society, what big difference

we can bring as we are small part of society only.

Such Tolerance translates to suffering or doing nothing at the face of wrong happening in our

zone of influence. Similarlythe patrilineal culture prevalent forces women in India internalize the

idea that they are inferior and form various stereotypesin society. It makes them indifferent

toward women plight in same society and even in same home sometimes. This indirectly

encourages men to internalize the idea of superior sex in terms of command, power and

responsibility and they start dictating the activities of women in society.

Hence many evils in society breed or sustain because of tolerance and lack of break-free

attitude which we inherit from Indian culture

Topic: Human Values-Lessons from the lives of great leaders, reformers & Administrators

Q) There is a widespread view in the society today that, “every man has his price.” Do you agree

with this view? Critically analyse. (150 Words)

General

Ans: In the contemporary world where every activity is evaluated on economic markers and

seen as opportunity to content his greed, it is not wrong to say that "Every man has his price."

Wether it be sports like cricket or parliament or hospital or even a temple, everyone has a price.

Price tag here refers to the money or equivalent favors directed to a person in exchange of

favor. Favors like getting loan passed, getting someone harassed by the police, getting fake

degrees and even getting organ transplanted illegally by doctors all accompany a hefty price tag

which is paid to the person doing the favor.

This unchecked favoring has led to widespread corruption and severely affected the economy

besides bringing a bad name to the country. Normal day to day activity which were supposed to

be done with a sense of sincerity and responsibility are nowadays not been done without

bribing the individual.

Getting favors done or even simple tasks out of ones ambit has put an price tag to the task and

also the to individual. It seems like everyone has got a price and they are programmed

accordingly, so qualities such as pride, altruism and duty are long been lost. We should all

pledge ourselves to stay away from this price tag and serve human kind selflessly.

Topic: Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems;

Q) As a senior public servant, what techniques would you adopt to influence and persuade your

staff to maintain high ethical conduct in your organization? (150 Words)

General

Ans: Public Servant means one has to serve public. It doesn’t mean always to follow orders and

take directions but also to order the subordinates to streamline their action, moral and self-

esteem to get timely delivery of their service. Few of my techniques which I may adopt are:

(1.) I will ensure Fairness in all my actions so that my staff will have no doubt, confusion in

deriving my intention. I will ask same from them i.e. fairness and transparency.

(2.) Making sure, I will be Available and Accessible to everyone of my staff and public in my

office hour. And for urgent issues they can reach me on my personal number after office hours.

It will instill sense of presence in them. By not being absentee staff.

(3.) I will always be ready to take responsibility for any mistake under my wings. If any of my

staff commits a mistake and I was part of that process, even partially. I will not hesitate to take

responsiliby publicly. But inside department I will analyse with them why the mistake happened

and take steps for no future repeition.

(4.) Respect for Constitution is utmost important for Public servant. Whenever in doubt I will

always ask them to act legally and constitutionally.

(5.) Excellence Striving in all actions of delivery.

(6.) Timely delivery of assignment. For this I will set assignment specific deadlines and goals for

everyone and myself.

(7.) Honesty and Integrity will be key area for my adoption. Felicitating those who have shown

this in their duty line at annual function. Organising functions inviting super ordinate and

everyone’s family will boost their morale and sense of duty.

(8.) Caring for sub-ordinates so as to keep them at moral ease and fearless toward duty delivery.

(9.) Applying Scientific and technical approach to manage work, evaulaute performance and

deadlines. Use of internet, smartphone, centralised system to report, internal appraisal system

etc are some steps.

Topic: Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information;

Q) Recently, we have witnessed the trend of secret information leaks by anonymous persons

with in the government to expose malpractices. Debate whether this act done with good

intentions be considered as ethical. (150 Words)

General

Ans: Professionally, an officer is required not to pass government information among public or

media under the conduct rules. He is accountable to senior officers and ultimate responsibility

lies with publicly chosen ministers. He is required to work anonymously for government.

However an honest officer find themselves in dilemma when seniors and ministers are

themselves involved in the irresponsible act.

In that case, they leak information anonymously to serve the larger public interest and save

themselves from the grudges of minister and seniors who control transfer, suspension,

promotion and even from the vested interest groups. Example of satyendra dube is enlightening

in this case.

However, leaking information should not become general routine because it promotes the

climate of suspicion and anarchy in an organization. Moreover, it is liable to be misused to take

revenge or to make personal gain from the leakage. Further, an official might not have the

complete information and full intention of the issue.

Therefore, leaking of information should be used rarely when all avenues of help are closed and

at the same time, institutional support like CVC strengthening and whistleblower act will go long

way in prospering the climate of responsible leakage.

Topic: Human Values-Lessons from the lives of great leaders, reformers & Administrators;

Q) ‘Satyagraha seeks the ethics of responsibility. Terror owns the act of violence but disowns the

responsibility for it.’ Comment. (150 Words)

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/choosing-satyagraha-over-

spectacle/article6840774.ece

Ans: The ideological difference between satyagraha and terrorism makes them to board

different body of vehicles towards challenging oppressive power structure hence presents

different dimension of responsibility.

The acts of violence are easy to perpetrate-

1)it can be attempted on individual of small group basis

2)consensus making is not sought after

3)indifferent of the suffering of victims of violence

4)final aim remains annihilation of present structure no reconciliation.

In such scenarios their umbilical cord is cut with masses so they justify violence as only available

equipment and try to disown it via blaming present structure.

in contrast satyagraha offers non violent, liberal, open ended approach such as

1)it uses body as vehicle of truth and uses it to create compassion, besides offering dignity to

indifference of terrorism.

2)it is based on consensus making,lines of communication are always open,in fact whole theatre

of political drama is being played.

In nutshell, its ideals offers it great of leverages to be accepted as genuine rights seeker of

masses, both in eyes of power structure and masses itself.

Topic: Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems;

Q) Recruitment to civil servants is done mainly on the basis of testing their domain knowledge

with negligible emphasis on ethical competencies. How far do you think has this approach

resulted in increasing corruption in government? Explain. (200 Words)

http://yojana.gov.in/CMS/(S(kdrn2245hrays345op0myc55))/pdf/Yojana/English/2014/Yojana%2

0March%202014.pdf

Ans: Civil services form the most visible and perhaps the most important arm of the

government. It is this institution that is visible in the public sphere and it is this through this

institution, social legitimacy of the government is manifested.

By selecting highly knowledgeable and intelligent officers, we can only insure that they would be

able to understand the system and use it. How they use it, that is a very serious question and a

question that has had mixed answers.

In the 6 decades of our independence, we have seen a blatant misuse of the system by highly

intelligent officers who work against the ethical norms and indulge in extracting money from the

very people they are appointed to serve. Further, the lack of accountability, lack of merit based

promotion; excessive politicisation of the system and poor work culture has ensured that the

benefits that the people deserved never get to them.

The army uses a comprehensive week long testing to select its officers. The Civil Services officers

in foreign nations have to undergo two to three days of rigorous interviewing process. Our 30

minutes of interview is not enough as the first step of the service, for it can only judge how the

candidate behaved during that time period.

Ethics on the field are what make a public servant actually serve the public. They are more

important than the cramming power of the candidate and must be selected as the primary

criterion for such a service, because even a less intelligent honest officer can find the one way of

doing the right thing, but a clever dishonest one can find ten thousand ways of rightly doing the

wrong thing.

Topic: Accountability and ethical governance; Strengthening of ethical and moral values in

governance;

Q) In today’s society, greed is increasing being viewed as good and a necessary factor for

development. Do you agree with this view? Critically analyse. (150 Words)

General

Ans: For economics, greed, exploitation of resources and open competition is good but for

spirituality and morality all such things leads to chaos and disruption, because at the end last

person in competition will keep on loosing and remain under-developed.

Today’s society is based on Individualism following culture of western society which focussed on

individual achievement for self progress and luxury rather than community based progress. As

humans are social beings where each person is a unit of society. Everyone’s greed will sum up to

societal greed and because of limited resource and developing nature of Indian society where

education, job and luxury are limited, It will lead to unhealthy competition and a cycle of success

over success and failure over failure. For inclusive development, society must focus on

developing the basic requirement so that in longer run everyone will be able to get needful

resource share out of economy for themselves like in Developed nation. Otherwise, India will

vast population will not be able sustain if resources were to be distributed as per greed and not

need.