Probity In Governance

Table of Contents

1. Probity In Governance
1. CONCEPT OF PUBLIC SERVICE:
2. PROBITY IN GOVERNANCE:
3. INFORMATION SHARING & TRANSPARENCY:
4. CODE OF CONDUCT & CODE OF ETHICS:
5. CITIZEN CENTRIC ADMINISTRATION
6. CITIZEN’S CHARTER
7. WORK CULTURE:
8. QUALITY OF PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY
9. UTILISATION OF PUBLIC FUNDS:
10. SOCIAL AUDIT:
1. CORRUPTION AND ITS CHALLENGES:
11. PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS:

Probity In Governance

To prepare for ETHICS for any competitive exam, aspirants have to know about Probity In Governance. It
gives an idea of all the important topics for the IAS Exam and the Economy syllabus (GS-IV.). Probity In
Governance terms are important from Ethical perspectives in the UPSC exam. IAS aspirants should thoroughly
understand their meaning and application, as questions can be asked from this static portion of the IAS Syllabus
in both the UPSC Prelims and the UPSC Mains exams. Even these topics are also highly linked with current
affairs. Almost every question asked from them is related to current events. So, apart from standard textbooks,
you should rely on newspapers and news analyses as well for these sections.

Syllabus:

1. Concept of public service;

2. Philosophical basis of governance and probity;
3. Information sharing and transparency in government,
4. Right to Information,
5. Code of Ethics,
6. Code of Conduct,
7. Citizen Centric Administration,
8. Citizen’s Charter,
9. Work culture,
10. Quality of service delivery,
11. Utilisation of Public funds,
12. Social Audit,
13. Challenges of corruption

CONCEPT OF PUBLIC SERVICE:

 Public service refers to the broad framework under which government employees extend services
with the aim of advancing greater public good. The term is linked with a social agreement. It includes
the services provided, the contiguous interactions and the grievance redressal linked with those services.
All the aspects of day to day life ranging from health, education, infrastructure and law and order among
others that the government provides are under the purview of public service.
Public services offer the most common interface between people and the state, and their functioning
shapes people’s sense of trust in and expectations of government. They may be related with fundamental
human rights.
Public services need to be delivered with honesty, citizen centricity, responsiveness, particularly to the
needs of the most vulnerable. Promoting greater transparency and allowing ordinary citizens to assess the
quality, adequacy and effectiveness of elementary services, to voice their needs and preferences and to
become involved in innovation offers.
In broader perspective, public service is to be seen as an amalgam of legal and moral obligations that
must be provided in a transparent, efficient and time bound manner. Delivering effective public services
needs multi- level transformation such as changing the way public sector organisations think and act, how
they view their roles.

PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF PUBLIC SERVICE:

Social Contract: Thinkers like Thomas Hobbes, John Locke propounded that public service is the
contractual obligation of government as the people have surrendered some of their rights and resources to
them in return for certain basic services. Hence, public servants are bound to serve the people.
Spirituality: Thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi viewed public service as a way to salvation. He believed
that public service elevates individual consciousness and produces the highest sense of fulfilment. He said,
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”.
Giving Back: It is also believed that public service is the duty of those who have enriched themselves
using public resources, so that a stable and happy society is achieved. It is the duty of those who are
capable to serve those who are in need. This is the view held by rich philanthropists such as Bill Gates,
Narayan Murthy etc.
Spirit of Service: Public service is also viewed as a manifestation of individual morality which motivates
public servants towards working for others. Such public service is based on individual conscience and
social goodwill. Swami Vivekananda said, “service of man is the service of God”.

PUBLIC SERVICE PROFESSIONALISM MEANS:

Political neutrality.
Transparency and accountability.
Economy, Efficiency and Equity in utilization/implementation of government scheme.
Citizen Centricity.

FEATURES OF PUBLIC SERVICE:

Public services are usually provided by local or national monopoly especially in sector which are natural
monopoly (e.g. law & order, judiciary)
Certain public services are vital for existence of community itself. Eg – water, transport, food etc
These services involve outputs that are hard to attribute to specific individual effort. If anything wrong
happens people blame the government rather that an individual.
They are provided by large scale administration which effect entire social-economic structure of society.
Public accountability is the essence of public services in democracy.
 Social-good oriented rather than profit oriented.
Public service is provided by administration which works under political direction and scrutiny.
Provided by legal framework.
Needs to maintain fairness of treatment and equity.

PUBLIC SERVICE VALUES:

The Public Service and the Public Servants shall be guided and informed by the following values in the
discharge of their functions:

Patriotism and upholding national pride.

Allegiance to the Constitution and the law of the nation.
Objectivity, honesty, care and diligence, courtesy and transparency.
Maintain absolute integrity.
Discharge official duties with competence and accountability; without discrimination and in accordance
with the law.
Ensure effective management, professional growth and leadership development.
Avoid misuse of official position or information and using the public moneys with utmost care and
economy.
Function with the objective serving public.
Public Servants are to serve as instruments of good governance and to provide services for the betterment
of the public at large.
Foster socio-economic development, with due regard to the diversity of the nation but
without discrimination on the ground of caste, community, religion, gender or class and duly protecting
the interest of poor, underprivileged and weaker sections.

ETHICAL CONCERNS IN PUBLIC SERVICE:

Administrative discretion
Corruption
Nepotism
Crony-Capitalism
Administrative secrecy and Opacity
Information leaks
Policy dilemmas
Inefficiency and Ineffectiveness
Self-aggrandizing
Lack of Accountability
Authoritarianism

PROBITY IN GOVERNANCE:

Probity in governance is defined as the having strong ethical and moral values in the process of
governance. Probity is a word which is derived from Latin which means “good”. Therefore, good values
in governance are honesty, accountable, integrity, compassion etc.
Probity is the quality of having strong knowledge of moral principle and integrity (in personal or
public relations). It includes they honesty and decency of a person or organisation in applying their moral
principles in personal and public life.
 Probity represents the maximalist approach to life in which a person adheres to the best principles and
ideals rather than simply avoiding corrupt or dishonest practices in personal and public relations.
Governance, defined as the process of decision making and the process by which it get implemented
which involves govt, civil society, NGOs, Interest groups etc.

PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF PROBITY IN GOVERNANCE:

Epics, the philosophical basis of good governance that is probity in governance started with epics like
Ramayana, a model of ideal good governance.
Kautilya in his Arthashastra quoted traits of king and ways to stop corruption. He also written about
disciplinary proceedings against corrupt officials
Aristotle, for him good governance and political stability are vital components of a state and morality is
the basic foundation of political attitudes. Possession of virtues like justice, charity, generosity for benefit
of society.
Thomas Hobbes, Linked concepts of ethics with rationality and objectivity in state and common wealth
Immanuel Kant, Makes the concept of duty central to morality.
Utilitarian principle, the greatest good to greatest number of people
Max Weber, Present bureaucratic system working on weber’s Legal-Rationality model.

MODERN VIEW POINT OF PROBITY IN GOVERNANCE – SOCIAL CONTRACT:

Social contract is an agreement, between the ruled and their rulers, defining the rights and duties of each.
The central assertion that social contract theory approaches is that law and political order are not natural,
but human creations.
The social contract and the political order it creates are simply the means towards an end – the benefit of
the individuals involved – and legitimate only to the extent that they fulfill their part of the agreement.
When the government fails to secure their natural rights (Locke) or satisfy the best interests of society
(called the “general will” by Rousseau), citizens can withdraw their obligation to obey, or change the
leadership through elections or other means including.
Locke believed that natural rights were inalienable, and therefore the rule of God superseded
government authority.
Rousseau believed that democracy (self-rule) was the best way to ensure welfare while maintaining
individual freedom under the rule of law.

IMPORTANCE OF PROBITY IN GOVERNANCE:

Probity in governance is an essential and vital requirement for an efficient and effective system of
governance and for socio-economic development.
Ensuring probity in governance results in absence of corruption.
Distributive and Procedural justice
Smooth and better implementation of laws
Transparency and accountability can be ensured
Lack of Technological knowledge to implement e-governance tools
To ensure integrity, ethical behaviour and accountability in the governance
Builds up trust on state i.e., Legitimises the system
Enhances social capital and trust among the people
Impartiality, non-partisanship and non-discrimination to ensure fairness
Optimum utilisation of resources
PROBITY IN PUBLIC LIFE:

Probity in public life is standards that society expects from those elected or appointed to public office to
observe and maintain in their conduct. Probity in governance is an essential and vital requirement for an
efficient and effective system of governance and for sustainable development. It incorporates:

1. Rule of law
2. Equity and inclusiveness
3. Consensus orientation (persuasion)
4. Participation
5. Transparency
6. Accountability
7. Responsibility
8. Selflessness
9. Justice

ISSUES IN THE PRESENT SYSTEM:

Absence of corruption and fair implementation of laws is a pre-requisite for probity in governance.
Indeed, pre-requisite condition for a proper, fair and effective enforcement of law is discipline.
Unfortunately for India, discipline is disappearing fast from public life and without discipline, no real
progress is possible. Discipline implies public and private morality and a sense of honesty.
While in the West, a man who rises to positions of higher authority develops greater respect for laws, the
opposite is true in our country. Here, a person holding high position with which he can ignore the laws and
regulations.
We are being swamped by a culture of indiscipline, untruth, no morality, both public and private life.
It is true that instilling a sense of discipline among the citizens is more the function of the society, its
leaders, political parties and public figures and least a legislative instrument. Even so, things have come to
such a pass that measures need to be contemplated.
The values such as selflessness, Integrity, Honesty, Accountability, etc. which measures Probity in
governance were already discussed in various parts of the subject in this document.

NCRWC ON PROBITY IN GOVERNANCE:

National Commission to Review the working of Constitution’s (NCRWC) made a detailed report on
‘Probity in governance’.
According to the commission, an important requisite for ensuring probity in governance is absence of
corruption. In this regard the commission also quoted the Scandinavian economist-sociologist Gunnyar
Myrdal’s Indian state as a ‘soft society’. He clarified what the expression ‘soft society’ means.
According to him, a soft society is:
One which does not have the political will to enact the laws necessary for its progress and development
and/or does not possess the political will to implement the laws, even when made.
Where there is no discipline.
In fact, he has stressed the second aspect more than the first. According to him, if there is no discipline in
the society, no real or meaningful development or progress is possible. It is the lack of discipline in the
society – which expression includes the administration and structures of governance at all levels – that is
contributing to corruption.
Corruption and indiscipline feed upon each other. One way of instilling the discipline among the
society may be to reduce the chances of corruption and to deal with it sternly and mercilessly wherever it
 is found. For this purpose, the inadequacies in the criminal judicial system have to be redressed.
Corruption is also anti-poor.

HOW TO ENSURE PROBITY IN GOVERNANCE:

Code of conduct and Code of Ethics

Transparency and Accountability – RTI, Lokpal and Lokayuktas
Citizen Centric Administration – Citizen charter, Service delivery
Effective utilisation of public funds
Tackling corruption- Institutional mechanism like Lokpal and lokayukta to deal with corruption
Ethics in government act on lines of USA – It created mandatory, public disclosure of financial and
employment history of public officials and their immediate families. It also created restrictions on
lobbying efforts by public officials for a set period after leaving public office. Also, it created the
independent office tasked with investigating government officials.

CHALLENGES IN ENSURING PROBITY:

High level of inequalities among communities

No incentive
No fear of accountability
Lack of leadership
Poor work culture
Hedonism
Discretion in absence of transparency
Poor and ambiguous value system

WAYS TO IMPROVE PROBITY IN GOVERNANCE:

Value education
Transformational leadership
High Emotional Intelligence – optimistic attitude
Developing altruism and ethical literacy
Good and ethical governance system
Independent Media
Vibrant civil society
Accountability
People with right aptitude must be chosen
Healthy Work culture
Representative democracy to participative democracy

INFORMATION SHARING & TRANSPARENCY:

Information sharing and Transparency are used interchangbly. One implies another. The information
sharing transparency and transparency ensure availability of information.
Transparency is core element of democratic society. It is the foundation on which trust and faith can be
formed. It is only when the people know about the functioning of the government that they can trust the
authorities. Thus there has been an emphasis on transparent governance.
 Information sharing is a disclosure of information related to govt policies, schemes, list of beneficiaries,
status ongoing projects, fund utilisation etc. Whereas transparency refers to actions of the govt which are
not kept hidden from public scrutiny and can’t be opaque.

IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION SHARING AND TRANSPARENCY:

To make public officials accountable for their actions

To fight corruption
To claim our rights – Public have right to know what the govt doing
To build confidence and trust among public-on-public offices
To ensure probity in governance
To make governments more efficient and effective
To encourage Public and private investments to boost economy
To reduce information asymmetry between what is available and what is existing in official records
To create a level playing field between various sections of the society

CHALLENGES IN TRANSPARENCY & INFORMATION SHARING:

Structural constraints – The lack of staff, offline records and files – Lack of digitisation of files, Huge
files to compile to check for required information.
Privacy & Secrecy – Constitution provides right to privacy and also official secrets act blocking sharing
of information. Such roadblocks creating obstacles in sharing information and transparency
Grievances– Lack of grievance mechanism also hindering information sharing
Immunities– Immunities enjoyed by civil servants and departmental approvals prior to unclassified any
classified documents
Threat to activists– Those who fighting for transparency in govt are having life threat and previously
many such activists died
Delays– There are delays in disposing of information sharing applications.
Digital outreach – Though usage of e-governance tools increasing but urban-rural digital divide still
wider so rural public offices unable to utilise the growing e-governance models due to internet
connectivity, no awareness on computer usage etc.
Culture that is resistant to information sharing
Too much Centralisation and misinterpretation of rules calling for secrecy.
Malpractices and corruption
Lack of effective, capable and competent leadership within agencies
The absence of a clear value proposition

MECHANISMS TO ENSURE INFORMATION SHARING & TRANSPARENCY IN PUBLIC

OFFICES:

RTI – Govt enacted RTI act to ensure information sharing and transparency. Therefore, it will be
implemented in letter& spirit.
Oath of Transparency– Introduce oath of transparency among bureaucrats and politicians.
Official secrecy act– It should be replead so there is no conflict between two acts.
E-Governance– Develop e-governance tools for smooth flow of information with periodical updates.
Digital divide– Bridge the gap between rural and urban so rural people can make use of the services.
Social audit– In rural employment programmes it should be implemented.
Media– Use of media to bring awareness and create confidence among the public.
Citizen Charter – Should be published on services available.
EVOLUTION OF RIGHT TO INFORMATION:

In a democracy, people are the real sovereigns and the elected government and its functionaries are
servants of the public.
As stated by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, everyone should enjoy freedom of opinion
and expression, including the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas. Therefore, by the
very nature, transparency should be the norm in all matters of governance.
Right to information has been seen as a step towards ensuring this transparency to strengthen
participatory democracy and ushering in people-centred governance.
RTI opens government’s doings to public scrutiny, thereby arming them with the information that can
empower the poor and the weaker sections of society to demand and get information about public policies
and actions.
This transparency in government organisations makes them function more objectively thereby enhancing
predictability.
The credit of pioneering the movement for RTI goes mainly to Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan under
the leadership of Aruna Roy which pressurised the government authorities to provide information such as
master rolls and bills relating to purchase and transportation of materials.
This information was then cross-checked at Jan Sunwais against actual testimonies of workers. Such an
arrangement was successful in drawing attention to corruption and leakages in the system.
Eventually, the National Advisory Council headed by Sonia Gandhi, considered the paper submitted by
Aruna Roy (also a member of NAC) and the RTI Bill 2004 was adopted by the Parliament in 2005.

RTI ACT, 2005:

The Right to Information is embedded in Article 19.1 of the constitution and is a fundamental right. It is all
about asking questions and getting answers as a Right. As per the original sections of the RTI act, 2005

The Act applies to all states and union territories of India including the UT of J&K and Ladakh.
(since 2019, post revocation of Art. 370)
Under this Act, any citizen may request information from a ‘public authority’ which is required to
respond to the request within 30 days.
The Act also prescribes that every public authority has to computerise their records for wide
dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information (Section 4 – Public Interest
Disclosure)
Building of institutions like Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and
related Information officers and Appellate authorities like Central Public Information Officer (CPIO),
Chief Information Commissioner, State Chief Information Commissioner etc.
Before taking any decision, the Central Public Info. Officer shall take into consideration the representation
made by a third party (a person other than the citizen making a request for information and includes a
public authority)

OBJECTIVES OF RTI ACT:

To empower the citizens with information

To promote transparency and accountability
To contain corruption
To enhance people’s participation in democratic process.

IMPORTANT SECTIONS OF RTI ACT 2005:

Section Features
Section
It extends to the whole of India
1(2)
Section “Information” means any material in any form, and information relating to any private
body which can be accessed by a Public Authority under any other law for the time being
2(f) in force.
States that “Public authority” means any authority or body or institution of self-
government established or constituted –

• by or under the Constitution;

• by any other law made by Parliament/State Legislature.

Section
• By notification issued or order made by the appropriate Government, and includes
2(h)
anybody:

Ø Owned, controlled or substantially financed;

Ø NGO substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by the appropriate

Government.
“Right to Information” means the right to information accessible under this Act
which is held by or under the control of any public authority and includes the right
to:

• Inspection of work, documents, records;

Section
• Taking notes, extracts or certified copies of documents or records;
2(j)
• Taking certified samples of material;

• Obtaining information in the form of diskettes, floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any
other electronic mode or through printouts where such information is stored in a computer
or in any other device.
Section 4 Suo-motu disclosure of information by each public authority.
Exemption to certain Information –

• National security or sovereignty

• National economic interests

• Relations with foreign states

Section 8 • Law enforcement and the judicial process

• Cabinet and other decision-making documents

• Trade secrets & commercial confidentiality

• Individual safety

• Personal privacy
Provides for disclosure of information exempted under Official Secrets Act, 1923 if larger
Section 8 (2)
public interest is served.
OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT AND ITS DRAWBACKS TO THE RTI:

Given that, we retained the colonial Official Secrets Act (OSA) of the British era, even after
independence we continued to operate in a secret manner at an administrative level.
The Central Civil Service Conduct Rules of 1964 also strengthen the OSA by prohibiting the
government servants from communicating the official document to anyone without authorisation.

Issues with OSA

As stated by the Second ARC report, most contentious issue in the implementation of the Right to
Information Act relates to official secrets.
Section 5 of OSA stated that, any person having information about a prohibited place, or an information
which may help enemy state, or which has been entrusted to him in confidence, or which he has obtained
owing to his official position, commits an ‘offence’ if s/he communicates it to an unauthorised person.
Any kind of information is covered by this Section if it is classified as ‘secret’.
The word ‘official secrets’ has not been defined in the Act, therefore, making it easier for public servant
to classify anything as “secret”.
Shourie Committee on OSA stated that ‘it is the OSA that has been regarded in many quarters as being
primarily responsible for the excessive secrecy in the government. Its “catch-all” nature has invited
sustained criticism and demand for its amendment.’

ISSUES IN IMPLEMENTATION OF RTI:

Complicated system of accepting requests.

Poor record-keeping practices
Lack of adequate infrastructure and staff for running information commissions
Dilution of supplementary laws like the whistle-blower protection Act.
Insistence on demand drafts.
Varying and often higher rates of application fee.
Large number of PIOs obstructing the process.
Information commissioners do not have adequate authorities to enforce the RTI Act.
Though RTI’s aim is not to create a grievance redressal mechanism, the notices from Information
Commissions often spur the public authorities to redress grievances.
Low public awareness regarding types of organisations covered under the RTI act etc.
75% percent of the citizens dissatisfied with the quality of information being provided.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE RTI:

Creation of RTI Implementation Cells by appropriate Governments.

Improving convenience in filing requests by creating multiple access channels, Common Service Centres
set up under National e-Governance Plan to facilitate citizens in filing RTI applications.
CIC and SICs should be entrusted with the task of monitoring effective implementation of RTI in all
public authorities.
A National Coordination Committee (NCC) may be set up under the chairmanship of the Chief
Information Commissioner with the nodal union ministry, the SICs and representatives of States as
 members.
All organisation listed under Schedule 2 have to appoint PIOs.
Inventory of Public Authorities should be made at the central and state levels and using web-based
applications for public authorities.
Single window agency should be set up in each district.
Provisions should be made to include annual confidential reports, examination question papers and
related matters in the exemptions under the RTI Act.
Institutionalising third party audit.

RTI (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2019:

Provision RTI Act, 2005 RTI (Amendment) Act, 2019

The Chief Information
The act removes this provision and
Term of Office Commissioner (CIC) and
states that the central government
and Conditions of Information Commissioners (ICs)
will notify the term of office for the
service (at the central and state level) will
CIC and the ICs.
hold office for a term of five years.
The salary of the CIC and ICs (at
the central level) will be equivalent
to the salary paid to the Chief
The act removes these provisions and
Election Commissioner and Election
states that the salaries, allowances,
Commissioners, respectively.
Salary and and other terms and conditions of
Similarly, the salary of the CIC and
allowances service of the central and state CIC
ICs (at the state level) will be
and ICs will be determined by the
equivalent to the salary paid to the
central government.
Election Commissioners and the
Chief Secretary to the state
government, respectively.
The Act states that at the time of the
appointment of the CIC and ICs (at
the central and state level), if they
are receiving pension or any other
retirement benefits for previous
government service, their salaries
will be reduced by an amount equal
Deductions in
to the pension. Previous government The act removes these provisions.
Salary
service includes service under: (i)
the central government, (ii) state
government, (iii) corporation
established under a central or state
law, and (iv) company owned or
controlled by the central or state
government.

CRITICISM OF THE AMENDMENT ACT:

Information commissions are, as important as election commission. Considering it, lowering the
authority of IC will affect the working of IC. Even SC has directed that CIC and ICs shall be appointed
 on the same terms and conditions as applicable to the Chief Election Commissioner or Election
Commissioners.
The recent amendment will dilute the autonomy of the Information Commissions against government
interference.
The new provisions that empowers the Central Govt to unilaterally decide the salary and allowances as
well as tenure and other service conditions will change the existing framework on which RTI functions.
Amendments are pushed through without the consultation of the citizens, by passing examination by the
standing committees.

CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSIONER (CIC):

The Central Information Commission has been constituted under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
The jurisdiction of the Commission extends over all Central Public Authorities. The Commission has
certain powers and functions mentioned in sections 18, 19, 20 and 25 of the RTI Act, 2005.These
broadly relate to:
Adjudication in second appeal for giving information
Direction for record keeping, suo motu disclosures receiving and enquiring into a complaint on
inability to file RTI etc
Imposition of penalties and Monitoring and Reporting including preparation of an Annual Report.
The decisions of the Commission are final and binding.

Issues with the CIC office:

With the recent amendment, office of CIC became purely govt discretion in terms of his salary and tenure
Erosion of information regime with degradation of information autonomy in the public offices
Powers only on paper but in reality, scenario is different. CIC ordered to disclose funding of political
parties under RTI but no political party willing follow his orders
Frequent judicial interferences
Delay in appointments

Right to Information has provided for the citizens in a democratic country, a valuable opportunity to actively
participate in the process of governance. But in India, because of a stereotypical legacy of colonialism,
centralization and feudalism, people’s willingness and awareness to participate is still relatively dormant.

Nevertheless, RTI has introduced in the politico administrative system the traits of caution, care, vigilance,
efficiency, transparency and other ethical aspects. Hopefully, the RTI act will help effect a shift from the
parochial culture of secrecy to a liberal culture of openness from personalised centralisation to accountable
decentralisation and from a unilateral policy and decisional system to a pattern of participative governance.

CODE OF CONDUCT & CODE OF ETHICS:

Code of conduct and code of ethics both are aimed at regulating organisation’s employee’s behaviour.
Similarities and differences between them very thin. The following table describes similarities and differences
between them.
CODE OF CONDUCT:

Code of conduct evolved with Cornwallis code during East India Company rule. Till Independence, these
conduct rules updated periodically.
After the independence, Santhanam Committee recommended considerable enlargement of such rules
resulting in the 1964 version. These rules have subsequently been updated to include additional norms of
behaviour.
Present ‘Conduct Rules’, that is Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules – 1964 and analogous rules
applicable to members of the All-India Services or employees of various State Governments.
The norms prescribed in such rules are much older than the Rules themselves. Thus, specific acts were
proscribed from time to time through notifications under the Fundamental Rules and the Civil Service
Regulations.
This is understandably a continuing process, and reflects the changing, often increasing expectations of
society, from the civil services. The breach of such prohibitions entailed punitive actions like removal
from service.
There were, of course, provisions like ‘illegal gratification’ or bribery – Sections 161 to 165 of the IPC –
or ‘criminal breach of trust by a public servant’ – Section 409 IPC – which provide for terms of
imprisonment.
In 1947, with the enactment of the Prevention of Corruption Act, a new set of offences was also created.
Hence, overall, the summery of conduct rules are:
Disapproval of habitual lending and indiscriminate borrowing
Banning of various actions like accepting gifts
Buying and selling property
Making commercial investments
Promoting companies
Accepting commercial employment after retirement
The requirement of observing courtesy
Prohibiting demanding and accepting dowry
Prohibiting sexual harassment of women employees
Prohibition to employ children below 14 years of age as domestic help
Maintaining integrity and absolute devotion to duty
Not indulging in ‘conduct unbecoming of a government servant’, is generally directed towards
cataloguing specific activities deemed undesirable for government servants
They should adhere to “Oath to secrecy”

But having this code of conduct with value neutrality not sufficient for development administration. Code of
conduct failed to promote positive values among the bureaucrats. Therefore, various committees
recommended need to have a code of ethics for civil servants to promote positive emotions like compassion,
empathy, decentralisation etc. Second Administrative Reforms Commission in its report on Ethics dealt what
ethical conduct should civil servants maintain in public life.

CODE OF ETHICS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS:

From so many years India having just code of conduct for civil servants but there is no code of ethics
although such codes exist in other countries.
In India we are having several conduct rules, which prohibit a set of common activities. These conduct
rules achieved what they intended to designed, but they do not constitute a code of ethics.
 Also, after the 73rd and 74th amendments of the constitution, the local bodies now have an important
role to play in nation’s development and have major executive powers. It is essential that the need for
relevant codes for these bodies and their employees, and for any public authority, is recognised.

PUBLIC SERVICES BILL, 2006

A draft “Public services Bill” 2006 was brought by Ministry of personnel to promote code of ethical values
among the Civil servants. The salient feature of the bill are:

Allegiance to the various ideals enshrined in the preamble to the Constitution

Apolitical functioning
Good governance for betterment of the people to be the primary goal of civil service
Duty to act objectively and impartially
Accountability and transparency in decision-making
Maintenance of highest ethical standards
Merit to be the criteria in selection of civil servants consistent, however, with the cultural, ethnic and other
diversities of the nation Ensuring economy and avoidance of wastage in expenditure
Provision of healthy and congenial work environment
Communication, consultation and cooperation in performance of functions i.e., participation of all levels
of personnel in management

Bill also having a provision regarding Public Services Commissioner, is authorised to evaluate the public
servant’s ethical conduct.

Public Services Bill Recognizing and Affirming:

1. that good governance is an inalienable right of the citizens in a democracy,

2. that good governance should be participatory, transparent, accountable, governed by the rule of law
and be informed by equity and inclusiveness in governance, and effectiveness and efficiency in service,
and,
3. that a politically neutral, professional, accountable and efficient public service is an essential
instrument for promotion of good governance,

CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING CODE OF ETHICS:

Wide in nature made subject to multiple interpretations

There is no legal mechanism to implement it
There is no barometer to measure persons ethical values
There is no punishment for violation of this code
No grievance mechanism for immoral actions
There should be some other requisite elements necessary to support a code such as viable legal system, in
synchronisation with laws that deal with corruption, ways of adjudicating administrative violations,
investigators, supported by prosecutors and a judiciary.

CODE OF ETHICS Vs CODE OF CONDUCT:

CODE OF ETHICS CODE OF CONDUCT

 Set of rules and regulations which governs our
Set of values which influences our decision making
actions
Guides our behaviour Seeks the expected behaviour
Promotes positive behaviour Prevents negative behaviour
Scope is wider Scope is very narrower
Wide ranging and non-specific Limited range and Specific in nature
Addressed to anyone Addressed to only organisations members
Universal Varies from organisation to organisation
Morally binding and Voluntary in Nature. There is no
Legally enforceable by civil services conduct rules
formal mechanism to implement to it.
Examples: Guidelines for accepting private gifts,
social media usage, habitual lending and
Examples: Integrity, Honesty, Empathy, Compassion
indiscriminate borrowing, accepting commercial
employment after retirement etc

RECOMMENDATIONS OF SECOND ARC TO STRENGTHEN CODE OF ETHICS:

‘Public Service Values’ towards which all public servants should aspire, should be defined and made
applicable to all tiers of Government and organizations. Any transgression of these values should be
treated as misconduct, inviting punishment
Conflict of interest should be comprehensively covered in the Code of Ethics and in the Code of Conduct
for officers. Also, serving officials should not be nominated on the Boards of Public undertakings. This
will, however, not apply to non-profit public institutions and advisory bodies.
Statutory recognition to code of ethics
Code of conduct should be integrated into code of ethics
Code of ethics should also deal ethical dilemmas
There should be penal provisions and grievance redressal mechanism to deal issues with such code.

CERTAIN STEPS TO INCULCATE PROBITY AMONG POLITICIANS:

Mandatory declaration of assets, liabilities and business interests by politicians before elections should
be accompanied by a proper audit of these declarations by empowering Election Commission. The
Chief Minister of Tripura is one of the poorest in terms of assets and can be considered as a living
example of the probity practiced by him in his professional life. This is seen from the state faring well in
HDI, when other North eastern states are marred with insurgency and violence.
A dedicated unit to oversee violation of Code of ethics and Code of conduct by politicians be set up both
at state and centre level. CoE & CoC for politicians should be laid down in public domain indicating
violations for public awareness.
Parliamentary conduct ethics must be taught to MPs. For example, an year back an MP used a pepper
spray to disrupt proceedings. Similarly, frequent disruptions happen because of MPs coming into well.
These must be stringently acted upon.
Illegal expenditure during elections is root cause of corruption among politicians, partial state funding of
elections could be the way forward in controlling it.
Schemes like MPLAD and MLALAD should be abolished to do away with the conflict of interests
among legislators.
Short duration training like civil servants on ethical aspects can be provided to first time MPs and
MLAs.
CITIZEN CENTRIC ADMINISTRATION

The concepts of good governance and citizen centric administration are connected each other. Citizen
centricity with the aim of ensuring citizens’ welfare and citizens’ satisfaction, is critical for any government,
local, state or national which aims to provide good governance.

PRE-REQUISITES FOR CITIZEN CENTRIC GOVERNANCE:

Sound legal framework

Accountability framework
Robust institutional mechanism for proper implementation of laws and their effective functioning
Competent personnel staffing these institutions; and sound personnel management policies
Right policies for decentralization, delegation and accountability.
Rule of Law – Zero tolerance strategy
Making institutions vibrant, responsive and accountable
Democratic decentralization and delegation
Transparency and openness
Civil Services Reforms
Ethics in Governance
Procedural Reforms

WAYS TO ACHIEVE CITIZEN CENTRIC GOVERNANCE:

Re-engineering processes to make governance ‘citizen centric’ – New Public Management (NPM) and
New Public Administration (NPA)
Adoption of Appropriate Modern Technology
Right to Information
Citizens’ Charters
Social Audits
Independent evaluation of services
Effective and efficient Grievance Redressal Mechanisms
Active citizens’ participation – Public-private partnerships.

As governance is primarily a series of service operations with the ultimate objective of maximizing citizens’
welfare, use of management principles such as the Six Sigma concepts (data, focus on clients/citizens,
quality) combined with Lean thinking (process flow, minimizing the costs of unnecessary complexity) can
help to transform government service organizations into more efficient and citizen friendly agencies.

It is ultimately hope that, governance in India can be simplified so as to bring to its citizen a “multi-channel
single window delivery structure” for channelizing all types of government services at the local level in the
most efficient manner possible using modern IT technology so that the citizen can access these services easily
and conveniently at his doorstep and even on the run through the use of mobile telephony.

CITIZEN’S CHARTER
A Citizens’ Charter is basically a set of commitments made by an organization regarding the standards of
service which it delivers. The Citizens’ Charter is an instrument which seeks to make an organization
transparent, accountable and citizen friendly.

“A Citizens’ Charter represents the commitment of the Organisation towards standard, quality and time frame of
service delivery, grievance redress mechanism, transparency and accountability.” – Department of
Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances.

Citizen’s Charters are public agreements between citizens and service delivery providers that clearly codify
expectations and standards in the realm of service delivery.

EVOLUTION OF CITIZEN’S CHARTER

To make bureaucrats accountable to the public citizens’ charter first time evolved in UK in 1990’s.
Introduced by the then PM of UK John Mayor.
The Citizens’ Charter, when introduced in the early 1990’s, represented a landmark shift in the delivery
of public services. The emphasis of the Citizens’ Charter is on citizens as customers of public services.
The aim of the scheme was to ensure that public services are made responsive to the citizens they serve.
The original Citizens’ charter has six principles and three more principles added in later years. They
are:

1. Quality – improving the quality of services

2. Choice – for the users wherever possible
3. Standards – specifying what to expect within a time frame
4. Value – for the taxpayers’ money
5. Accountability – of the service provider (individual as well as Organization)
6. Transparency – in rules, procedures, schemes and grievance redressal
7. Innovate and Improve
8. Work with other providers
9. Consult and involve and treat all fairly

COMPONENTS OF CITIZENS’ CHARTER:

According to 2nd ARC Twelfth Report-Citizen Centric Administration, every citizens’ charter has several
essential components to make it meaningful:

1. Vision and Mission Statement of the organization:

This gives the outcomes desired and the broad strategy to achieve these goals and outcomes.
This also makes the users aware of the intent of their service provider
Helps in holding the organization accountable.

2. Subjects & Services provided – In its Citizens’ Charter, the organization must state clearly what subjects
it deals with and the service areas it broadly covers. This helps the users to understand the type of services
they can expect from a particular service provider. These commitments/promises constitute the heart of a
citizens’ charter. Even though these promises are not enforceable in a court of law, each organization
should ensure that the promises made are kept and, in case of default, a suitable compensatory/remedial
mechanism should be provided.
 3. Citizen Responsibilities– The Citizens’ Charter should also stipulate the responsibilities of the citizens in
the context of the charter.

DARPG’S GUIDELINES:

To be useful, the Charter must be simple, easy to understand and available in vernacular as well.
The Charter must be framed not only by senior experts, but by interaction with the cutting edge staff who
will finally implement it and with the users (individual organizations)
Merely announcing the Charter will not change the way we function. It is important to create conditions
through interaction and training for generating a responsive climate.
Begin with a statement of the service(s) being offered
A mention is made against each service about the entitlement of the user, service standards and
remedies available to the user in case of non-adherence to standards
Procedures/costs/charges should be made available online/display boards/ booklets/inquiry counters etc
at places specified in the Charter
Indicate clearly, that while these are not justiciable, the commitments enshrined in the Charter are in the
nature of a promise to be fulfilled with oneself and with the user
Frame a structure for obtaining feedback and performance audit and fix a schedule for reviewing the
Charter at least every six months
Separate Charters can be framed for distinct services and for organizations/ agencies/attached or
subordinate to a Ministry/Department.

CRITICISM AGAINST CITIZENS’ CHARTERS:

Poor design and Content: Promises contained in the charters were vaguely worded and meaningless
Resistance to change: The new practices demand significant changes in the behaviour and attitude of the
agency and its staff towards citizens. At times, vested interests work for stalling the Citizens’ Charter
altogether or in making it toothless.
Very low level of public awareness
Citizens’ Charter has lost public respect because it was seen as being too confused in its objectives
In a majority of cases, the Charters were not formulated through a consultative process
Service providers were not familiar with the philosophy, goals and main features of the Charter
Adequate publicity to the Charters had not been given in any of the Departments evaluated. In most
Departments, the Charters are only in the initial or middle stage of implementation
No funds have been specifically earmarked for awareness generation of Citizens’ Charter or for
orientation of the staff on various components of the Charter
Charters are rarely updated
The needs of senior citizens and the disabled are not considered when drafting Charters
There was general lack of accountability and review mechanisms
Lack of charter availability in vernacular or local languages.

MAKING CITIZENS’ CHARTERS EFFECTIVE – AN AGENDA FOR REFORM:

Need for citizens and staff to be consulted at every stage of formulation of the Charter
Orientation of staff about the salient features and goals/ objectives of the Charter
Vision and mission statement of the department and skills such as team building, problem solving,
handling of grievances and communication skills
Need for creation of database on consumer grievances and redress
 Need for wider publicity of the Charter through print media, posters, banners, leaflets, handbills,
brochures, local newspapers etc. and also through electronic media
Earmarking of specific budgets for awareness generation and orientation of staff
Emulation of best practices in this field

SECOND ARC RECOMMENDATIONS:

The Commission observed, in order to make these Charters effective tools for holding public servants
accountable, the Charters should clearly spell out the remedy/penalty/compensation in case there is a default
in meeting the standards spelt out in the Charter. It emphasized that, it is better to have a few promises which
can be kept than a long list of lofty but impractical aspirations.

1. Internal restructuring should precede Charter formulation:

As a meaningful Charter seeks to improve the quality of service, mere stipulation to that effect in
the Charter will not suffice.
There has to be a complete analysis of the existing systems and processes within the organization
and, if need be, these should to be recast and new initiatives adopted.
Citizens’ Charters that are put in place after these internal reforms will be more credible and useful
than those designed as mere desk exercises without any system re-engineering.

2. One size does not fit all:

This huge challenge becomes even more complex as the capabilities and resources that
governments and departments need to implement Citizens’ Charters vary significantly across the
country. Added to these are differing local conditions.
The highly uneven distribution of Citizens’ Charters across States is clear evidence of this
ground reality. Therefore, the Commission is of the view that formulation of Citizens’ Charters
should be a decentralized activity with the head office providing broad guidelines.

3. Wide consultation process:

Citizens’ Charters should be formulated after extensive consultations within the organization
followed by a meaningful dialogue with civil society. Inputs from experts should also be
considered at this stage.

4. Firm commitments to be made:

Citizens’ Charters must be precise and make firm commitments of service delivery standards to
the citizens/consumers in quantifiable terms wherever possible.
With the passage of time, an effort should be made for more stringent standards of service
delivery.

5. Redressal mechanism in case of default:

Citizens’ Charter should clearly lay down the relief which the organization is bound to provide if it
has defaulted on the promised standards of delivery.
In addition, wherever there is a default in the service delivery by the organization, citizens must also
have recourse to a Grievance’s Redressal Mechanism.

6. Periodic evaluation of Citizens’ Charters:

Every organization must conduct periodic evaluation of its Citizens’ Charter preferably through an
independent external agency. This agency while evaluating the Charter of the organisation should
 also make an objective analysis of whether the promises made therein are being delivered within
the defined parameters.
The result of such evaluations must be used to improve upon the Charter. This is necessary because
a Citizens’ Charter is a dynamic document which must keep pace with the changing needs of the
citizens as well as the changes in underlying processes and technology. A periodic review of
Citizens’ Charter thus becomes an imperative.

7. Benchmark using end-user feedback:

Systematic monitoring and review of Citizens’ Charters is necessary even after they are approved
and placed in the public domain.
Performance and accountability tend to suffer when officials are not held responsible for the quality
of a Charter’s design and implementation.
In this context, end-user feedback can be a timely aid to assess the progress and outcomes of an
agency that has implemented a Citizens’ Charter. This is a standard practice for Charters
implemented in the UK.

8. Hold officers accountable for results:

All of the above point to the need to make the heads of agencies or other designated senior officials
accountable for their respective Citizens’ Charters.
The monitoring mechanism should fix specific responsibility in all cases where there is a default in
adhering to the Citizens’ Charter

9. Include Civil Society in the process:

Organizations need to recognize and support the efforts of civil society groups in preparation of
the Charters, their dissemination and also facilitating information disclosures.
There have been a number of States where involvement of civil society in this entire process has
resulted in vast improvement in the contents of the Charter, as well as educating the citizens about
the importance of this vital mechanism.

The Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances
Bill, 2011 (Citizens Charter)

The Bill seeks to create a mechanism to ensure timely delivery of goods and services to citizens.
Every public authority is required to publish a citizen’s charter within six months of the commencement of
the Act. The Charter will detail the goods and services to be provided and their timelines for delivery.
A citizen may file a complaint regarding any grievance related to:
Citizen’s charter
Functioning of a public authority
Violation of a law, policy or scheme.
The Bill requires all public authorities to appoint officers to redress grievances. Grievances are to be
redressed within 30 working days. The Bill also provides for the appointment of Central and State
Public Grievance Redressal Commissions.
A penalty of up to Rs 50,000 may be levied upon the responsible officer or the Grievance Redressal
Officer for failure to render services.
But the bill not yet passed due to its limitations like central govt does not have authority over state
officials, and many of its provisions already there in various laws and over lapping with existing rules. But
most of its provisions are aimed at time bound delivery of services.

WORK CULTURE:
 Work culture is a concept which deals with beliefs, thought processes and attitudes of the employees. It
is the work culture which decides the way employees interact with each other and how an organisation
functions. An organisation is said to have a strong work culture when the employees follow the
organisation’s rules and adhere to the existing guidelines.
It is essential for the employees to enjoy at the work place for them to develop a sense of professional
loyalty. The organisation must offer positive ambience to the employees for them to concentrate on the
work rather than interfering in each other’s work. Such a work culture plays an important role in
extracting the best out of employees and making them stick to organisation for longer time.

COMPONENTS OF WORK CULTURE:

Legacy of its earlier leadership – Founder fathers’ vision should be carry forward and it will be part and
parcel of organisational culture
Organisation’s Mission, goals, objectives should reflect in its work culture
Work Ethics – Discipline, confidentiality, loyalty, integrity, commitment to the duty, delivery of services
on time, Transparency etc.
Treatment of customers – Customers or consumers should be treated as gods to any organisation. They
should be respected and their grievances should be addressed on earliest time
Recognition to work – Rewards, promotions, increments, bonus.

WORK CULTURE: PUBLIC SECTOR Vs PRIVATE WORK CULTURE

PUBLIC SECTOR PRIVATE SECTOR

Public welfare is the main goal of the public sector Profit and business is the main goal
Strict code of conduct and rules and regulations, Deadlines, speedy work, competition with another
formal dress code organisation
Justice, due process of law to be followed while
Efficiency, customer satisfaction
delivering services
There is no much scope to creativity Beyond limits to one’s own creativity
Red-tapism, low level delivery, low skills, hierarchy
Workers exploitation, workers’ rights at stake
are common traits in public work culture

FEATURES OF A HEALTHY WORK CULTURE:

Employees must be cheerful, polite and punctual. One must respect his fellow worker. Backbiting is
considered strictly unprofessional.
Appreciating the top performers is important. Let them feel indispensable for their organization.
Organisation must have employee friendly policies and practical guidelines. Expecting an employee to
work till late night on his birthday is simply impractical.
Encourage discussions at the workplace to reach to better conclusions. Transparency is essential at all
levels for better relationships among employees and a healthy work culture.
Promote team building activities to bind the employees together. Conduct training programs,
workshops, seminars and presentations to upgrade the existing skills of the employees.
Partiality leads to demotivated employees and eventually an unhealthy work culture. Employees should
be judged only by their work.
FEATURES OF A POOR WORK CULTURE:

Office politics – Politics plays vital role in organisational productivity. Therefore, rules and system should
be transparent and there should be limits on discretionary powers on superiors.
Inefficiency: A poor work culture shows high resource use, slow pace of work due to the ‘chalta hai’
attitude and complacency among workers. This is itself a result of lack of accountability and weak
supervision.
Work pressure and stress – Due to heavy load of work employees went under tremendous pressure and
stress.
Lack of accountability: Poor performance is not penalized and workers are not made to account for their
poor quality of work. This pattern of behaviour slowly spreads to other workers as it is not penalized.
Poor grievance redressal: Sufficient care is not given to needs and complaints of the clients who are
unsatisfied with the services. It results from a lack of commitment to service and weak institutional
mechanisms to redress grievances.
Personal life-work balance – There should be enough time to spend with family members. It will not
only relieve their work stress and also boosts to employee morale and helps in organisational productivity.
Nepotism and favouritism: Human resource management is based on favouring loyalists and favourites
instead of being based on performance. This goes on to encourage sycophancy among employees and
feudal attitude among supervisors and at the same time, fails to reward good performance.
Low morale and motivation: Workforce suffers from lack of motivation due to low compensation, poor
human relations, poor working conditions, lack of recognition and so on. This results in fall of
productivity and casual attitude among employees.
Red-tapism: Organization works with a process-orientation rather than result- orientation. It is caused by
rigid rules and procedures and lack of incentive for risk taking and swift decision making.
Lack of Inclusivity – Organisation should be equally represented with from different sections of the
society.
Conflicts: Disputes between managers and subordinates and among fellow employees are rampant and
remain unresolved. They lead to logjams, stagnation and loss of productivity.

PROBLEMS IN BUREAUCRATIC WORK CULTURE:

Structural issues – Issues like centralised decision making, hierarchy and superiority and subordinates. It
will cause structural and procedural delays to get things done. Results in inefficiency in the organisation.
Coordination & Cooperation – With so many govt departments and many public offices, coordination
with them difficult task. If an office filled with corrupt subordinates and cooperation to honest superior is
a myth in that office.
Means but not an end – Work culture mainly focussed on timely completion of projects without thinking
of its consequences.
Lack of Trained personnel– Most of the lower employees at retiring age. They are not able to adopt
changing work conditions
Erosion of work ethics – Govt offices known for “1’0 clock offices” i.e., employees come to office at
lunch time and leaves before sunset. There is no discipline, arrogance towards customers, no punctuality.
Technology – Lack of digitisation at public offices, so they not able to meet private competition
Corruption, Redtapism, endless paper work other such problems in work culture of administration.
Interreference from political leadership

STEPS FOR CREATING HEALTHY WORK CULTURE:

Every organization has its own distinct culture, shaped by its values, priorities, the people who work there.
These factors mix together to naturally form the makeup of a company’s everyday environment – its work
culture. Healthy work culture refers to the one where employees feel valued, safe, comfortable, and flush with
opportunity for growth. A happier workforce makes for more productive employees, and successful managers
are constantly assessing employee satisfaction.

Increase Employee engagement – Employee engagement and having employees who are “emotionally
and psychologically attached to their work and workplace”, is crucial to creating positive employee
relationships and a successful bottom line. In order to increase employee engagement:
Increase Employee retention – Pay hikes, Secure work place for women, upward mobility. Such
conditions retains most of its employees.
Work flexibility – Work at home, five-day work became norm of the day in today’s work culture.
Therefore, employees should be given flexibility to work anywhere and anytime.
Improve communication with employees – Measures like availability, fixed to slot to hear employees’
grievances helps in communicate with employees
Build a strong employer brand – A strong public trust improves organisational brand.

RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE WORK CULTURE IN BUREAUCRATIC:

Second ARC recommended 360-degree performance evaluation to measure its personnel work
performance. This also ensures feedback from employees.
Performance management system- This is the new new Performance Appraisal Report introduced for
All-India-Services provides for regular, participative, detailed, quantitative performance evaluation.
Mid-career training for employees for motivation and reskilling
Regular Feedback from the employees regarding their grievances
Transparency and accountability in public services for ensuring quality service delivery
Guarantee of quality-of-service delivery before the time limit and at the door step
Rewards and recognition to hard working and disciplined employees for example, employees of the
month.
Our administrative system must become more goal-oriented.
A new work-ethic, a new work culture must be evolved in which Government is result-bound and not
procedure bound.
Ethical sensitisation and team spirit are required to develop a work culture that is empathetic to citizens
needs and is resilient to undue external pressures.
Reward and punishment must be related to performance
Delegation changes the work culture, improves job satisfaction, motivation and morale of employees.
Interaction and presentations to higher authorities. Example: PRAGATHI platform where all district
collectors connected.
Grievance redressal mechanism. Examples: CPGRAMS
Accountability in bureaucracy need to be improved. The recent initiatives taken by the government such
as biometric attendance, punctuality are long due towards improvement of work culture. Encourage use of
IT to reduce discretion and bring in transparency and accountability.

WHY PRIVATE SECTOR HAS BETTER WORK CULTURE?

Better communication: All the top corporates believe in wide spread communication of its policies and
decisions to all its employees, while in government sector there is strict hierarchy of flow of
communication, and it generally get filtered in the way downwards.
Rewards: Corporates work on the principle of rewards for the individual efforts and results. While on the
other hand, government departments, so not give enough recognition to the efforts on individual. They
generally have seniority based promotions rather than merit based.
Enabling infrastructure: Most of the top corporates, provide shuttle services, after office relaxation
clubs, creche facilities etc. Infrastructure in government organizations lacks in comparison.
Code of Ethics and code of conduct: Professional code in corporate and code of civil services followed
in government sector.
QUALITY OF PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY

Public service delivery refers to the relationship between policy makers, service providers and consumers of
those services. Service delivery is a mechanism used by an organization to meet the needs and aspirations of the
people it is meant to serve.

AIMS & OBJECTIVES:

Aim of any public Services delivery is to ensure ease of living to citizens.

Public Service Delivery is very important as citizens are now focussed on getting their work done.
To make the system should be made simple and not complicated.
While emphasising on ‘ease of living’ to citizens, Government need not control the delivery of services,
but facilitate efficient, transparent and time-bound delivery.
For optimum use of Information technology to benefit the citizens.
Three aspects of Public Service Delivery are:

1. Citizen-centric administration
2. Transparency
3. Time-bound.

The ability of a government to meet national service delivery needs is a source of credibility on their part
thereof. Conversely, governments face a critical test when they fail to meet peoples’ expectations. At the centre
of service delivery is accountability, value for money, efficient and effective use of resources, improved
communication and decision-making processes. If the accountability process is weak, value for money will
not be realized. Effective service delivery is about providing the services that meet the needs of the users in the
most efficient and effective ways. Sharing best practices leads to effective and efficient service designs and
implementation.

QUALITY OF SERVICE DELIVERY:

Quality means excellence or inferiority at something. It something difference between standard quality and
reality. Quality of service delivery refers to the public service which is delivering by public offices which are as
per meeting public aspirations or fail to meet public expectations. The parameters or guiding principles to
measure to quality-of-service delivery depends on:

Availability: A service should be available at the time and scale that the user needs it.
Deliverability: A service should be delivered regularly and on time.
Usability: A service should be presented in user specific formats so that the client can fully understand.
Usefulness: A service should be designed to respond appropriately to user needs.
Credibility: A service be designed in such a way that the user can confidently and conveniently apply it in
solving his/her problem or need.
Authenticity: A service should be delivered in such a way that entitles it to be accepted by stakeholders in
given decision-making contexts.
Responsive and flexible: A service should directly respond to the evolving user needs.
Sustainability: A service should be affordable and consistent over time.
Expandability: A service should be applicable to different kinds of approaches.
REASONS FOR POOR QUALITY OF SERVICE DELIVERY AT PUBLIC OFFICES:

Lacking in morale towards public duty and indiscipline among public officials
Lack of proper infrastructure at public offices
Not catching up with growing technology
Failed to meet last mile delivery
Arrogancy towards public and sense of lazy attitude among public servants
Some of the Public servants acting as a public master.
Lack of resources i.e., insufficient funds though who committed to work for public cause
Lengthy procedural formalities for example, PMMVY scheme requires 29 pages application form to get
benefits under scheme
Low educational levels among rural people to know their rights

MEASURES TO IMPROVE SERVICE DELIVERY:

Conscious Strengthening of Service Standards in terms of quantity, quality, time and cost of service
delivered.
Uncompromisable Quality of Service to meet consumers’ expectations and satisfaction with the quality
of service delivered.
Professionalism and technical adequacy of contracting firms to degree to which firms providing
services adhere to their ethical and technical competencies.
Effective and rigorous supervision of contracts to the extent to which technical and political leadership
holds service providers to account.
Citizens’ Satisfaction with Service Delivery to ensure that the ordinary citizen is the focus of service
delivery and realizes the value for money.
Transparent and open outsourcing of services to fair play in business and public procurement of service
providers.
Accountable and equitable civil society This refers to civil society taking lead in delivering services in
exemplary manner to all stakeholders.
Good governance-focused institutional framework for good service delivery processes and practices.
Adequate mobilization of resources for service delivery to meet intergovernmental fiscal relations and
local revenue raising mechanisms in local governments.
Efficient utilization of resources to prudent use of available resources by local governments.
Inclusive and participatory planning to make participation of the ordinary people in deciding their
choices of service delivery.
Socio-economic empowerment of ordinary citizens through national and regional programmes. This
refers to effectiveness in implementation of poverty reduction projects that benefit citizens at the local
level.

SEVOTTAM MODEL OF PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY

Sevottam is a Service Delivery Excellence Model which provides an assessment improvement

framework to bring about excellence in public service delivery.
The need for a tool like Sevottam arose from the fact that Citizens’ Charters by themselves could not
achieve the desired results in improving quality of public services.
Besides, the absence of a credible grievances redressal mechanism within organizations was also
becoming a major impediment in improving service delivery standards.
Thus, it was felt that unless there is a mechanism to assess the outcomes of various measures, the reform
initiatives would not yield the desired results.
The Sevottam model works as an evaluation mechanism to assess the quality of internal processes and
their impact on the quality-of-service delivery.
The Sevottam model has three modules:

1. The first component of the model requires effective Charter implementation thereby opening up a
channel for receiving citizens’ inputs into the way in which organizations determine service delivery
requirements. Citizens’ Charters publicly declare the information on citizens’ entitlements thereby making
citizens better informed and hence empowering them to demand better services.
2. The second component of the model, ‘Public Grievance Redress’ requires a good grievance redressal
system operating in a manner that leaves the citizen more satisfied with how the organization responds to
complaints/grievances, irrespective of the final decision.
3. The third component ‘Excellence in Service Delivery’, postulates that an organization can have an
excellent performance in service delivery only if it is efficiently managing well the key ingredients for
good service delivery and building its own capacity to continuously improve service delivery.

PUBLIC SERVICES MANAGEMENT CODE:

Public Service Management Codes are codes notified by the Central Government from time to time for the
Public Services and Public Servants. The Government shall prepare Public Services Management Code based
on the following principles:

Public Services is established as a professional, merit-based institution for promoting government

policies and good governance.
Mechanisms and incentives to achieve and maintain high levels of productivity, efficiency and
excellence.
Policies and structures to promote the viability and sustainability of the public services keeping in view
the finances of the government.
The interface between the political executive and the public services based on the principles of
neutrality, professional excellence and integrity.
Public Servants shall be accountable for their decisions or the decision-making process in implementation
of the management of code.

UTILISATION OF PUBLIC FUNDS:

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT:

Finance is the lifeblood of socio-economic development. Financial management relates to the system,
which generates, regulates, and distributes monetary resources needed for the sustenance and growth of
organisations.
Financial management is an important component of public systems management. Financial
management assumes great significance for every government, as most of its activities have a financial
bearing.
It is primarily related to the question as to how the limited resources can be utilised to the utmost and
to achieve the maximum of national objectives.
In many developed countries, accountability is enhanced by independent work on public spending
conducted by civil society groups like NGOs, think tanks etc. In contrast, in developing countries there is
no review mechanism for public spending.
They are missing local capacity to review govt expenditure. If credible domestic groups can be aided to
develop this capability, they can promote greater transparency and foster informed public pressure for
more effective and equitable public programs.
SOURCES OF PUBLIC FUNDING:

Budgetary allocations
Raising money through public through disinvestment, listing on stocks, Issuing bonds etc.
Loans from Multilateral institutions like world bank, IMF, ADB
Aid from foreign countries

NEED &IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE UTILISATION OF PUBLIC FUNDS:

Effective utilisation of public funds is very much important in functioning of sustainable society.
To meet development goals like hunger, poverty, Education, Environmental conservation, health aspects
etc.
Capacity building among unemployed youth
To achieve political, social and economic equality
To meet any unforeseen contingencies like floods, drought, pandemics etc

ETHICAL ISSUES INVOLVED IN UTILISATION PUBLIC FUNDING:

Using public money for loss making PSUs or corporate bailouts

Corruption in utilising public funds
Where most of people suffering with hunger, poverty and malnutrition but govt coming up with new
unnecessary expenses and luxury hotels meetings
Public money for ruling party campaigns

CAUSES OF INEFFECTIVE UTILISATION OF PUBLIC FUNDS:

Irrational freebies
Political rivalry in an act of vendetta
Policy paralysis
Redtapism
Lack of public participation
No citizen centric administration
Social apathy towards corruption
Lack of awareness and low education levels to understand govt financing
Lack of social accounting and social audit

CONSEQUENCES OF INEFFECTIVE UTILISATION OF PUBLIC FUNDS

Misutilisation – Without govt approval, using public assets for private gains, unnecessary expenditure,
capturing public assets by private people and failed to protect such captured assets.

Examples:

1. Purchasing furniture for office whenever there is a transfer to you and occupy a new office.
2. Using govt money for personal trips with family.
 Underutilisation – Procedural and institutional blockades in sanctioning funds, Poor cost-benefit ratio
while sanctioning projects, lack of funding to local bodies, delay in releasing funds, allocating funds to
particular scheme though it’s not necessary i.e. general allocation but there is no specific region-based
funding.

Examples:

1. Central grants to local bodies transferred through state finance ministry. There is delay in releasing funds
to local bodies though centre releasing funds
2. Certain diseases are prone to only north Indian states but central govt allocates funds to every state to
prevent such diseases
3. March rush – Ministries and departments try to spend allocated funds before the financial year without
looking pros and cons.

Misappropriation – Diverting funds to binamis, trusts, societies and blocking projects to get implement
intentionally to get more funds

Examples: MPLADS funds diverts to trusts and societies named on binamis of MP

WAYS TO STRENGTHEN PUBLIC FINANCE MANAGEMENT:

Transparency – Ensure transparency in public expenditure through voluntary declaration of information.

And implementation of RTI act in letter & spirit.

Examples: Jan Soochana Portal of Rajasthan state – the government Information about all the schemes
implemented in the ward / panchayat should be provided in one place.

Accountability – Accountability of officials enhances answerability and enforceability.

Value for money – Every rupee spent by govt should ain at maximum social welfare.
Use of ICT – Usage of ICT in governance i.e., e-governance eases the governance process while awarding
contracts, delivery of services and optimum utilisation of resources.

Examples: Govt e-Marketplace (GeM)- It is a dedicated e market for different goods & services procured by
Government Organisations / Departments / PSUs. This meant transforming to a digital ecommerce portal for
procurement and selling of goods and services.

Evaluation Mechanism – Without monitoring of usage of public finance led to diversion and corrupt
practises. To ensure effective usage of public fund there should be an auditory mechanism.

Examples:

1. Budgetary control by Parliamentary committees

2. CAG audit
3. Social audit

ROLE OF CAG – FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY:

Exercise of financial control is one of the principal responsibilities of the legislature. Parliamentary
financial control on government spending is implemented in two stages:

1. Primarily at the time of policy making

2. Subsequently by controlling the implementation of the policy.
 The initial parliamentary financial control is exercised through the Annual Budget Estimates of the
Government for the ensuing financial year, which is presented to the House for approval.
The second stage, controlling the implementation of policies’ is exercised by examining that the funds
voted by the Parliament Legislature have been utilised for the purpose and in the manner in which the
Parliament Legislature had desired. The control is exercised through the Financial Committees in
Parliament and States Legislatures. During the second stage, the Comptroller and Auditor General of
India (CAG) comes to the aid of Parliament and State Legislatures.
Audit is the principal instrument to ensure the financial accountability of the Executive to the
Legislature of the Union and State. The Comptroller and Auditor General in India, has been, made
responsible by the Constitution under article 148 to conduct the audit of the transactions of the Union and
the States and Union Territories with Legislature.

DUTIES & POWERS OF CAG:

Audits accounts of related to all expenditure from the Consolidated funds of India and states and
contingency funds of India and states.
Audits all trading, manufacturing, profit and loss accounts and balance sheets
Receipts and expenditure of centre and states
Audits all transactions related to debt, deposits, advances etc
Advises president in financial administration
Submits audit reports to president/governor who shall in return places such documents before the
parliament/legislature
Aid & Advice to Parliamentary committees.

Though it has powers to audit accounts of centre and states but it has no power to control public finance
allocations. It is purely Advisory and auditory role.

SOCIAL AUDIT:

Social audit generally refers to engagement of the stakeholders in measuring the achievement of objectives
under any or all of the activities of a government organization, especially those pertaining to developmental
goals.

Aim: The basic aim here is to have an understanding of an activity from the perspective of the vast majority
of people in society for whom the institutional/administrative system is designed and to improve upon it.

Various participation techniques are used to involve all stakeholders in measuring, understanding, reporting
and improving the social performance of an organization or activity. The whole process is intended as a means
for social engagement, transparency and communication of information, leading to greater accountability of
decisionmakers, representatives, managers and officials. It can be a continuous process covering all the stages of
the target activity/programme.

Social audit through client or beneficiary groups or civil society groups is yet another way of eliciting
information on and prevention of wrong doing in procurement of products and services for government, in the
distribution of welfare payments, in the checking of attendance of teachers and students in schools and hostels,
staff in the hospitals and a host of other similar citizen service-oriented activities of government. This will be a
useful supplement to surprise inspections on the part of the departmental supervisors.

OBJECTIVES OF SOCIAL AUDIT:

Assessing the physical and financial gaps between needs and resources available for local development.
Creating awareness among beneficiaries and providers of local social and productive services.
Increasing efficacy and effectiveness of local development programmes.
Scrutiny of various policy decisions, keeping in view stakeholder interests and priorities, particularly of
rural poor.
Estimation of the opportunity cost for stakeholders of not getting timely access to public services.

ADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL AUDIT:

Trains the community on participatory local planning.

Encourages local democracy.
Encourages community participation.
Benefits disadvantaged groups.
Promotes collective decision making and sharing responsibilities.
Develops human resources and social capital

CORRUPTION AND ITS CHALLENGES:

Corruption is an important manifestation of the failure of ethics. The word ‘corrupt’ is derived from
the Latin word ‘corruptus’, meaning ‘to break or destroy’.
Corruption is operationally defined as the misuse of entrusted power for private gain or the use of
public office for private gain. The corrupt behaviour would include bribery, fraud, stealing the public
resources favouritism, seizure of public assets for private use, etc.
Second ARC report on Ethics in Governance came up with formula to define what is corruption in public
life.

It is unfortunate that corruption has, for many, become a matter of habit, ranging from grand corruption
involving persons in high places to retail corruption touching the everyday life of common people.

FACTORS THAT PROMOTES CORRUPTION:

The factors or causes that promote the corruption affects both demand side that is public for corrupt acts as well
as supply side public officials of their corrupt acts.
THE FACTORS FROM DEMAND SIDE i.e.
FACTORS FROM SUPPLY SIDE i.e. GOVT.
PUBLIC:
· Bureaucratic traditions

· Regulations and Authorisations · Level of public sector wages

· Rigid Tax system · Penalty provisions

· Certain spending systems · Institutional controls

· Availability of goods and services · Transparency in laws, rules

· Examples set by Leadership

It is not possible to measure corruption but it is possible to measure perceptions of corruption.

TYPES AND FORMS OF CORRUPTION:

Any asymmetry between desired conduct and actual conduct led to corrupt practices. Some of the types and
their forms of corruption are:

1. Political Corruption: Bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influence

peddling, graft, and embezzlement etc
2. Bureaucratic Corruption: Discrimination, Partiality, Political affiliation, Bribery, nepotism, accepting
private gifts, misuse of public funds, violation of rules & regulations etc
3. Economic Corruption: Crony Capitalism, conflict of interest etc.
4. Behavioural corruption: Non-performance of duty, lack of discipline, no respect towards downtrodden
sections of society, no moral and ethical values etc.

CORRUPTION IN SOUTH ASIA – TI’s CORRUPTION INDEX:

Corruption in South Asia occurs up-stream, not down-stream. Corruption at the top distorts
fundamental decisions about development priorities, policies and projects. In industrial countries, these
core decisions are taken through transparent competition and on merit, even though petty corruption
may occur down-stream.
Most of the corrupt gains made in the South Asia region are immediately smuggled out to safe havens
In other words, it is more likely that corruption money in the North Asia is used to finance business than
to fill foreign accounts.
Third, corruption in South Asia often leads to promotion, not prison. In contrast, industrialised
countries often have a process of accountability where even top leaders are investigated and prosecuted.
For instance, former Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi was forced to live in exile in Tunisia to escape
extradition on corruption charges in Rome.
Fourth, corruption in South Asia occurs with 500 million people in poverty. While corruption in rich
rapidly growing countries may be tolerable but in developing countries. Combating corruption in the
region is not just about punishing corrupt politicians and bureaucrats but about saving human lives.
There are two dimensions of corruption.
REASONS FOR HIGH CORRUPTION IN INDIA:

Unfair and opaque political financing

Lack of effective management and organisation.
Lack of economic stability.
Lack of effective leadership.
Usually, corrupt practice creeps in when officials enjoy power and
authority but have lost their self-respect. The causes for loss of self-respect could be various, ranging from
insufficiency of legal remuneration to make both ends meet to constant harassment at workplace by the
senior administrative or political bosses.
An young officer cannot retain his idealism for long if, over a period, he suffers adverse consequences in
his official career because of his honesty and integrity. The honest get demoralised by frequent transfers.
Undue influence and interference in decision-making
Lobbying by powerful corporate interest groups

CONSEQUENCES OF CORRUPTION IN SOUTH ASIAN COUNTRIES:

Poverty: Nepotism, bribery and fraud can cause economic stagnation and deepen poverty. These corrupt
practices siphon off money intended for public services, which often hits the poorest the hardest as they
are most in need of social safety nets.
Investments: Corrupt practices scare off investors who contribute to economic development and
concentrate wealth in the hands of a few.
Economic Growth: Corruption is on the rise in South Asia and failure to tackle it will threaten the
region’s economic progress, as well as efforts to share that progress equitably. Despite 6 per cent average
economic growth in the past 20 years, more than40% of the world’s poor live in South Asia.
Erosion of Public trust on Public offices: South Asia’s corruption epidemic is caused by opaque public
institutions, lack of protection for anti-corruption actors and widespread government interference in the
work of anti-corruption watchdogs.
Corruption is one of the main obstacles to peace, stability, sustainable development, democracy, and
human rights.

These are the findings of a Transparency International report analysing 70 key institutions’ vulnerability
to corruption in six south Asian countries – Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. As
long as nobody brings the corrupt to justice, South Asia’s leaders run the risk that future growth only benefits the
powerful, doing nothing to help the half billion South Asians who still live-in poverty.

MEASURES TO REDUCE CORRUPTION:

Economic development: The most honest countries of the world are those which are richest. The least
honest countries are also the poorest.
Simplification of rules and procedure: Complicated rules promotes corruption.
Severe punishment: Expedite the disciplinary proceedings in a time bound manner.
Transparency: One of the main instruments to check corruption in public life is to ensure greater
openness in the decision making process. Transparency in decision making will also eliminate delay.
Delay is one of the reasons for payment of speed money.
 Accountability: All services must be delivered within a time frame. Action against officers who fail to
deliver services in time.
Incentives: Financial rewards, out of turn promotions, performance linked pay for honest officers.
Public campaign: Awareness campaign to change attitude of people towards corruption. Rewards to the
informers/public for giving information against corrupt officers.
Citizens feedback: Independent agency to take feedback from the citizens. Feedback through phone,
email, SMS, etc.
Proactive action: Laying traps, identification of illegal assets etc. needs to be done
Minimum tenure for officers: Reduces political-bureaucratic nexus.
Finally, sanction for prosecution under the Prevention of corruption Act, 1988 should not be with the
Government of the day as the political executive may be subject to political and other pressures.

ANTI-CORRUPTION INTERVENTIONS IN INDIA:

Anti-corruption interventions so far made are seen to be ineffectual and there is widespread public
cynicism about them. The interventions are seen as mere posturing without any real intention to bring
the corrupt to book.
They are also seen as handy weapons for partisan, political use to harass opponents. Corruption is so
deeply entrenched in the system that most people regard corruption as inevitable and any effort to fight
it as futile.
There are two, somewhat contrary, approaches in dealing with corruption and abuse of office.

1. Restoring ETHICS: The first approach is to overemphasis on values and character. Many people
lament the decline in values and the consequent rise in corruption. The implicit assumption is that
until values are restored, nothing much can be done to improve the conduct of human beings.
2. Punishing culprits: The second approach is based on the belief that most human beings are
fundamentally decent and socially conscious, but there is always a small proportion of people,
which cannot reconcile individual goals with the good of society. Such deviant people tend to
pursue personal gain at the cost of public good and the purpose of organized government is to
punish such deviant behaviour. If good behaviour is consistently rewarded and bad behaviour
consistently punished, the bulk of the people follow the straight and narrow path.

BEHAVIORAL FRAMEWORK FOR FIGHTING CORRUPTION:

Second ARC very much stressed about restoring ethical values and behavioural reforms should be
undertaken to improve public service quality and to fight corruption.
One of the most comprehensive statements of what constitutes ethical standards for holders of public
office came from the Committee on Standards in Public Life in the United Kingdom, popularly
known as the Nolan Committee, which outlined the following seven principles of public life. These
principles of public life are of general applicability in every democracy.
Arising out of such ethical principles a set of guidelines of public behaviour in the nature of a code of
conduct becomes essential for public functionaries. Indeed, any person who is privileged to guide the
destiny of the people must not only be ethical but must be seen to practice these ethical values.

1. Selflessness: Holders of public office should take decisions solely in terms of public interest.
Simply put, they subserve public interest as against interest of the self.
2. Integrity: Holders of public office must insulate themselves from external influence in matters
concerning official duties.
3. Objectivity: In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding
contracts or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should
make choices on merit. The choices cannot be allowed to be made on any criteria other than merit.
 The requirement of recording reasons is by itself a great safeguard that inhibits the decision maker
from being subjective.
4. Accountability: Any public office is an office of trust. Therefore, public figure exercising any state
function is accountable for all actions taken in performance of the functions of that office. It
naturally flows from this that every act of commission or omission has to yield to scrutiny, whether
by way of internal or external audit mechanism. Here audit means not just audit of accounts but
cause and consequences of every state action.
5. Openness: There is no better disinfectant than sunlight. Transparency has to be the mantra of all
official acts. Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and
actions they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when
the wider public interest clearly demands
6. Honesty: Those who are working in public service to be honest in dealing with private interests. It
is essential that holders of public office must be obliged to declare their private interests so that they
can always be held accountable in case there has been any conflict involving their public duties.
This also means the assets and liabilities of public functionaries must be a matter in public domain.
The mandatory declaration at the time of entry in public office and periodically, thereafter, would
only ensure the kind of probity we would like to be in place.
7. Leadership: A true leader will always lead by own example. If a leader is honest, sincere and
committed to the task assigned to him, the vibes created percolate down the hierarchy cleansing the
system that he controls.

GIFT Vs BRIBE:

Gift is given to someone without any expectation in return and is given as a token of gratitude or
appreciation. Value of a gift is often based on closeness in relation, time of gifting, economic condition of
giver and receiver.
Bribe is given with expectation of favour toward giver, its economic value is incoherent to closeness in
relation, timing and costly. Timing of such gifts makes them bribe. Suppose a gift from someone just
before you are going to roll out a tender is a bribe and not gift.
Reporting to department about any gifts that is received from whom, value and date details. This part is
already applicable to judges in India.
There should be monetary limits placed on the gifts one can receive. Any gifts above certain monetary
values should be avoided.
No gifts received with brand name should be put on desk as it will tarnish the image of official/public
servant for lenient toward certain brand.
Provision of filing gift tax by receiver. IT department should tally the gift received as mentioned in
department books and filed by receiver. Failure to file tax for gift should be taken seriously.
Scrutiny of gifts received by officials regularly and checking of property declaration regularly. Repeated
gift from same person should be brought under directorate enforcement
Bribes are complex thing for receiver because it puts him into moral dilemma for how to return the
favour and makes them corrupt once they receive.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

A conflict of interest is a situation when there is a clash between person’s public duty and private interests.
Conflict of interest comes under the principle of natural justice and is not codified.

This Can Arise In The Following Situations:

Person’s conscience does not allow him to act in a manner his organisation wants him to act. Ex:
Shooting a person in encounter might be against personal ethics of the officer.
 Religious notions and customs might come against his professional course of action. Ex: A religious
judge, who opposes gay marriage, encounters a gay marriage case in a country where it is legalised.
Person’s selfish motives might supersede organisational goals. Ex: Son of public servant working in an
organisation where govt. has majority stakes.
The malpractices of organisation might not be acceptable to the employee. Ex: He might resort to
whistleblowing.

Arguments Against Conflict Of Interest Law:

While the intention is correct, framing a law is fraught with dangers. For criminal conduct, criminal
intent must be proved. This is however very difficult if not virtually impossible in such cases.
The legal provisions of conflict of interest are already codified in conduct rules of the many services. So,
no need to create another law.
What should be done instead is to codify the principles which need to be followed by officials in cases of
conflict of interest.
For example, Canada has laid down a conflict of interest and post-employment code while in the UK,
MPs need to declare pecuniary interests in a register of financial interest.

Ways to deal with Conflict of Interest:

Public interest above private interest: A public servant should always work in public interest. In
situations involving conflict of interest he should take a principled stand.
Voluntary disclosure: A public servant should voluntarily declare in situations involving conflict of
interest. It will help in taking suitable steps for avoiding the conflict. It is often done by judges to resolve
conflict of interest.
File noting: Public servants should always mention the reason for taking particular decision, in the
files. This ensures greater degree of transparency and accountability.
Identifying risk-areas: It will help in providing clear cut guidelines to the public servants, in order to
tackle conflict of interest in those situations.
Developing organisational culture: It will help in addressing such situations in a better manner. It will
also help in motivating public servants to disclose the potential conflict of interest.
Asset and interest disclosure: Civil servants must report assets and liabilities when first appointed and
provide updates on transactions above a certain amount. These are not made public and so far have not
been accessible under the RTI Act. However, some states are working to make some information public.
Disclosures are not audited, but are open to scrutiny from the CBI and CVC.
Regulation of gifts: Officials shall be penalised for accepting gifts while discharging duty with
imprisonment and fines. The Rules prevent lavish or frequent hospitality from any individual or firm an
officer has official dealings with.
Incompatibility provisions: Officers should not speculate in any stock, share or other investments,
participate directly or indirectly in business or trade, among other measures. Civil servants are barred
from taking up commercial employment for a year after retirement.
Political neutrality: No Government servant shall be a member of, or be otherwise associated with,
any political party or any organisation which takes part in politics nor shall he take part in, subscribe in
aid of, or assist in any other manner, any political movement or activity.

POLITICAL AND ELECTORAL REFORMS:

Participative democracy
Decriminalisation of politics
 Reducing money power in elections – State funding of elections should be studied
Political parties should be brought under RTI
Institutional autonomy – Recently Election commission of India highly criticised for being partial to
ruling govt. We should maintain autonomy for this institution
Elections are a huge economic burden on state exchequer. Therefore, simultaneous elections to both
parliament and state legislative assemblies should be studied.
Strengthening of Anti-defection law where power to decide on matter related to disqualification lies with
election commission.

Election and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act, 2003:

Parliament in 2003 unanimously enacted the Election and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Act in a
spirit of bipartisanship.
It took into consideration the recommendations of the Committee on Electoral Reforms (Dinesh
Goswami Committee, 1990), the Committee on State Funding of Elections (Indrajit Gupta
Committee, 1999) and the Law Commission of India (170th report on Reform of Electoral Laws,
1999).
The Act contains the following key provisions:
Full tax exemption to individuals and corporates on all contributions to political parties.
Effective repeal of Explanation I under Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act. Expenditure by
third parties and political parties now comes under ceiling limits, and only travel expenditure of leaders of
parties is exempt.
Disclosure of party finances and contributions over Rs.20,000.
Indirect public funding to candidates of recognized parties – including free supply of electoral rolls
(already in vogue), and such items as the Election Commission decides in consultation with the union
government.
Equitable sharing of time by the recognized political parties on the cable television network and other
electronic media (public and private).

Second ARC recommendations to fight Political Corruption:

A system for partial state funding should be introduced in order to reduce the scope of illegitimate and
unnecessary funding of expenditure for elections.
The issue of disqualification of members on grounds of defection should be decided by the
President/Governor on the advice of the Election Commission.
Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 needs to be amended to disqualify all persons
facing charges related to grave and heinous offences and corruption, with the modification suggested by
the Election Commission.
The Constitution should be amended to ensure that if one or more parties in a coalition with a common
programme mandated by the electorate either explicitly before the elections or implicitly while forming
the government, realign midstream with one or more parties outside the coalition, then Members of that
party or parties shall have to seek a fresh mandate from the electorate.
A collegium headed by the Prime Minister with the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Leader of Opposition
in the Lok Sabha, the Law Minister and the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha as members should
make recommendations for the consideration of the President for appointment of the Chief Election
Commissioner and the Election Commissioners.
Special Election Tribunals should be constituted at the regional level under Article 323B of the
Constitution to ensure speedy disposal of election petitions and disputes within a stipulated period of six
months. Each Tribunal should comprise a High Court Judge and a senior civil servant with at least 5 years
 of experience in the conduct of elections (not below the rank of an Additional Secretary to Government of
India/Principal Secretary of a State Government). Its mandate should be to ensure that all election
petitions are decided within a period of six months as provided by law. The Tribunals should normally be
set up for a term of one year only, extendable for a period of 6 months in exceptional circumstances.
Appropriate legislation may be enacted under Article 102(e) of the Constitution spelling out the
conditions for disqualification of membership of Parliament in an exhaustive manner. Similarly, the States
may also legislate under Article 198 (e).

POLITICAL PARTIES UNDER RTI ACT, 2005:

The PIL was filed in the Supreme court arguing that political parties registered with Election
Commission to be brought under section 29A of Representation of People Act, 1951 to be declared as
‘public authority’ under the RTI Act, 2005.
Six national parties – the BJP, the Congress, the BSP, the NCP, the CPI and the CPI(M) were brought
under the ambit of the RTI Act by a full bench of the Central Information Commission in 2013.
(Trinamool Congress was also recognised as the seventh national party in 2016). However, the political
parties have refused to entertain the RTI applications directed at them.
Several activists have approached the Supreme Court on the grounds of non-compliance of the CIC order
and the matter is pending.

ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR ARGUMENT AGAINST

· Need to ensure Transparency in Funding · Obstruct party functioning – Political

parties cannot disclose their internal
· Sprouting and deepening of crony capitalism functioning and financial information under
in political discourse. the Act as it will hamper their smooth
functioning.
· Black money – According to ADR, 34% of
the donations have been received with no · RTI can be a tool of misuse – RTI can
address or any other detail of the donor. become a weak spot and rivals with malicious
intentions may take advantage of RTI.
· Illicit foreign contributions – National
parties have been accepting foreign · Not ‘public authorities’ – Political parties
contributions despite The Foreign Contribution are not established or constituted by or under
(Regulation) Act (FCRA), 1976. the Constitution or by any other law made by
Parliament. Even the registration of a political
· Political parties are vital organs of the party under the 1951 Act was not the same as
State – According to CIC, critical role played establishment of a government body.
by these political parties point towards their
public character. · Transparency provisions for parties
already exist in the Income Tax Act, 1961,
· Political parties are public authorities – and Representation of the People Act, 1951,
The CIC held that political parties enjoy which demand “necessary transparency
various benefits directly or indirectly like land regarding financial aspects of political parties.
for offices of political parties on concessional
rates, allotment of free time on · Information in public domain –
Doordarshan/All India Radio and supplying Government holds the view that required
electoral roll copies free of cost during information about a political body is already in
elections. the public domain on the website of the
Election Commission.
· Larger Public Interest – The disclosure of
the information is in larger public interest.
· 170th report of the Law Commission of · Not envisaged in the RTI Act – According
India on reform of the electoral laws to the Department of Personnel and Training
recommended to introduce internal democracy, (DoPT) when the RTI Act was enacted, it was
financial transparency and accountability in the never visualised that political parties would be
working of the political parties. brought within the ambit of the transparency
law.

CONCLUSION – Considering the role played by the political parties in our democracy, it is important that their
working be transparent in such a manner that induces trust in the whole election process. Given the fact that
existing laws have not performed upto the mark in regulating the working of political parties, bringing them
under the RTI with certain safeguards seems to be a logical step.

JUDICIAL REFORMS – RESTORING JUDICIAL INTEGRITY:

Independence of the judiciary is very much essential and vital in ethical governance. An independent judiciary
enjoying public confidence is a basic necessity of the rule of law. Any conduct on the part of a judge, which
demonstrates a lack of integrity and dignity, will undermine the trust reposed in the judiciary by the citizens.

RESTATEMENT OF VALUES OF JUDICIAL LIFE:

The Supreme Court of India in 1997 unanimously adopted a charter called the ‘Restatement of Values of
Judicial Life’, generally known as the Code of Conduct for judges. It contains following provisions

The behaviour and conduct of members of the higher judiciary must reaffirm the people’s faith in the
impartiality of the judiciary.
A Judge should not contest the election to any office of a club, society or other association. Further he
shall not hold such elective office except in a society or association connected with the law.
Close association with individual members of the Bar, particularly those who practise in the same court,
shall be eschewed.
A Judge should not permit any member of his immediate family, such as a spouse, son, daughter, son-
in-law or daughter-in-law or any other close relative, if a member of the Bar, to appear before him or even
be associated in any manner with a cause to be dealt with by him.
No member of his family, who is a member of the Bar, shall be permitted to use the residence in which
the Judge actually resides or other facilities for professional work.
A Judge shall not hear and decide a matter in which a member of his family, a close relation or a friend
is concerned.
A Judge shall not enter into public debate or express his views in public on political matters or on
matters that are pending or are likely to arise for judicial determination.
 A Judge is expected to let his judgments speak for themselves. He shall not give interviews to the
media.
A Judge shall not accept gifts or hospitality except from his family, close relations and friends.
A Judge shall not hear and decide a matter in which a company in which he holds shares is concerned
unless he has disclosed his interest and no objection to his hearing and deciding the matter is raised.
A Judge shall not speculate in shares, stocks or the like.
A Judge should not engage directly or indirectly in trade or business, either by himself or in
association with any other person.
A Judge should not ask for, accept contributions or otherwise actively associate himself with the
raising of any fund for any purpose
A Judge should not seek any financial benefit in the form of a perquisite or privilege attached to his
office unless it is clearly available. Any doubt in this behalf must be got resolved and clarified through the
Chief Justice.

SECOND ARC ON JUDICIAL REFORMS:

A National Judicial Council (NJC) should be constituted, in line with universally accepted principles where
the appointment of members of the judiciary should be by a collegium having representation of the executive,
legislature and judiciary.

The Council should have the following composition: The Vice-President as Chairperson, PM, Speaker
of the Lok Sabha, Chief Justice of India, Law Minister, The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha &
Rajya Sabha.
In matters relating to the appointment and oversight of High Court Judges, the Council will also include
the following members: The Chief Minister of the concerned State and the Chief Justice of the concerned
High Court
The National Judicial Council should be authorized to lay down the Code of Conduct for judges,
including the subordinate judiciary.
The National Judicial Council should be entrusted with the task of recommending appointments of
Supreme Court and High Court Judges. It should also be entrusted the task of oversight of the judges, and
should be empowered to enquire into alleged misconduct and impose minor penalties. It can also
recommend removal of a judge if so warranted
Based on the recommendations of the NJC, the President should have the powers to remove a Supreme
Court or High Court Judge
Article 124 of the Constitution may be amended to provide for the National Judicial Council. A similar
change will have to be made in Article 217. Also, since the Council is to have the authority to oversee and
discipline judges, further changes will need to be made to Article 217 (Clause 4)
A Judge of the Supreme Court should be designated as the Judicial Values Commissioner. He/she should
be assigned the task of enforcing the code of conduct. Similar arrangement should also be made in the
High Court.

THE JUDICIAL STANDARDS AND ACCOUNTABILITY BILL 2010:

This bill introduced in parliament to bring judicial integrity among the judges.

The Bill seeks to:

1. Lay down judicial standards

2. Provide for the accountability of judges
3. Establish mechanisms for investigating individual complaints for misbehaviour or incapacity of a
judge of the Supreme Court or High Courts.
 It also provides a mechanism for the removal of judges.
The Bill requires judges to practise universally accepted values of judicial life.
Judges will also be required to declare their assets and liabilities, and also that of their spouse and
children.
The Bill establishes two authorities to investigate complaints against judges. The Two authorities are:

1. National Judicial Oversight Committee – Initial complaints will be made to the Oversight
Committee, and they will be referred to the Scrutiny Panel
2. Scrutiny Panel – A Scrutiny Panel will be constituted in the Supreme Court and every High
Court. If the Scrutiny Panel feels there are sufficient grounds for proceeding against the judge, it
shall report on its findings to the Oversight Committee. If proved, motion for removal of judge
introduced in Parliament after investigation.

RECENT JUDGEMENTS OF SC RELATED TO RTI:

In the Central public information officer, Supreme Court of India vs Subhash Chandra Agarwal case a five-
judge Constitution Bench of Supreme Court (SC) declared that the Office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is
a ‘public authority’ under Section 2(h) of RTI Act, 2005.

INFORMATION CAN BE DISCLOSED INFORMATION CANNOT BE DISCLOSED

· Information about personal assets of judges and · Reasons cited by collegium for recommendation of
CJI is not a violation of their right to privacy. judges

· Names of judges recommended by the Collegium. · Information protected under Section 8 of RTI Act

LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR FIGHTING CORRUPTION:

The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988:

Definition of Corruption: The act does not provide a definition of corruption so act should be
amended to define what is corruption and what acts does come under corrupt acts. Indirect definition of
corrupt practices is paradoxically restrictive and detrimental to public interest.

Collusive Bribery: Need to dealt with by effective legal measures so that both the bribe giver and bribe
taker do not escape punishment.

Sanction for prosecution – Act provides that previous sanction of the competent authority is necessary
before a court take cognizance of the offences defined under various sections of the act. The objective of
this provision is to prevent harassment to honest servants through malicious complaints.
 Public servants should be made liable to pay damage for causing loss to the state or citizens by their
corrupt acts. But Adequate safeguards should be provided so that bonafide mistakes should not end in
award of such damages, otherwise public servants would be discouraged from taking decisions.
Speeding up trails under the act and fix a time limit for various stages of trail.
Private sector corruption should be addressed by effective enforcement of regulations on corporate
governance. Brining private sector corruption within fold of PCA,1988 is neither desirable nor practical.

The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 & Amendment act 2016:

A benami who acquired the property in the name of another person from claiming it as his own. Assets of
any kind — movable, immovable, tangible, intangible, any right or interest, or legal documents are considered it
as benami transactions. As such, even gold or financial securities could qualify to be benami.

· The new law amends the Benami Transactions Act, 1988

· The law provides for up to seven years’ imprisonment and fine for those
indulging in such transactions.

Provisions of the new act: · The amendments aim to strengthen the Act in terms of legal and administrative
procedure.

· As per the Act, properties held benami are liable for confiscation by the
government, without payment of compensation.

· An appellate mechanism has been provided under the act, in the form of an
adjudicating authority and appellate tribunal.

Protection to Whistle-blowers:

The Whistle-blower Protection Act, which was passed in 2014 after an inordinate delay, lays down the rules that
protect whistle blowers in non-corporate cases. Under this Act, the Central Vigilance Commissioner has to
receive complaints, review public disclosure requests and ensure that the complainants are protected. The Act
stipulates imprisonment of up to two years and fine of up to ₹30,000 if the complaint is false. The government
has proposed a few amendments to these rules still under parliament scrutiny. Whistle- blower may himself seek
transfer in case he apprehends any victimisation in the current position. Govt yet to set a mechanism to
implement the act.

Serious Economic Offenses:

Economic offenses became high gain low risk activity. Second ARC felt that provisions in the Banking
regulations act, 1949, SEBI act 1992 and companies act 1956 are not strong enough to prevent large scale
fraudulent practices so there is need to define “Serious economic offence” Under a statue and prescribe
punishment for it.

A Serious Frauds Office (SFO) should be set up (under the new law), to investigate and prosecute such
offences. It should be attached to the Cabinet Secretariat. This office shall have powers to investigate
 and prosecute all such cases in Special Courts constituted for this purpose. The SFO should be staffed by
experts from diverse disciplines such as the financial sector, capital and futures market, commodity
markets, accountancy, direct and indirect taxation, forensic audit, investigation, criminal and company law
and information technology. The SFO should have all powers of investigation as stated in the
recommendation of the Mitra Committee. The existing SFIO should be subsumed in this.
A Serious Frauds Monitoring Committee (SFMC) should be constituted to oversee the investigation
and prosecution of such offences. This Committee, to be headed by the Cabinet Secretary, should have
the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Home Secretary, Finance Secretary, Secretary Banking/ Financial
Sector, a Deputy Governor RBI, Secretary, Department of Company Affairs, Law Secretary, Chairman
SEBI etc as members.
In case of involvement of any public functionary in a serious fraud, the SFO shall send a report to the
Rashtriya Lokayukta and shall follow the directions given by the Rashtriya Lokayukta
In all cases of serious frauds, the Court shall presume the existence of mens rea of the accused, and the
burden of proof regarding its non-existence, shall lie on the accused.

Parliamentary Privileges

NCRWC recommended Article 105(2) may be amended to clarify that the immunity enjoyed by the MPs
under parliamentary privileges should not cover corrupt acts committed by them in connection with duties in the
House or otherwise.

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

Lokpal & Lokayukta:

First ARC recommended the establishment of Lokpal. After several attempts in introducing the bill, it
became an act only in 2013.
The Lokpal is the first institution of its kind in independent India, established under the Lokpal and
Lokayuktas Act 2013 to inquire and investigate into allegations of corruption against public functionaries
who fall within the scope and ambit of the above Act.
The Lokpal of India is committed to address concerns and aspirations of the citizens of India for clean
governance. It shall make all efforts within its jurisdiction to serve the public interest and shall endeavor to
use the powers vested in it to eradicate corruption in public life.
India is a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The commitment of the
Government to provide clean and responsive governance is reflected in passing of the legislation and
creation of the body of Lokpal, to contain and punish acts of corruption.

Central Vigilance Commission (CVC):

Central Vigilance Commission the principle agency for preventing corruption in the central govt. It was setup
by the recommendations of Santhanam committee. It is the only designated agency to take action against
complaints making motivated or vexatious complaints.

Role and functions of CVC: Even though detection and punishment of corruption and other malpractices are
certainly important, what is more important is taking preventive measures instead of hunting for the guilty in the
post corruption stage. Therefore, the role and functions of CVOs has been broadly divided in to two parts, which
are (I) Preventive and (II) Punitive.

1. On The Preventive Side:

To examine in detail the existing Rules and procedures of the Organisation with a view to eliminate
or minimise the scope for corruption or malpractices
To identify the sensitive/corruption prone spots in the Organisation and keep an eye on personnel
posted in such areas
To plan and enforce surprise inspections and regular inspections to detect the system failures and
existence of corruption or malpractices
To maintain proper surveillance on officers of doubtful integrity
To ensure prompt observance of Conduct Rules relating to integrity of the Officers, like the Annual
Property Returns, Gifts accepted by the officials, Benami transactions, regarding relatives employed
in private business etc.

2. On the punitive side:

To ensure speedy processing of vigilance cases at all stages.

To ensure that charge-sheet, statement of imputations, lists of witness and documents etc.
To ensure that there is no delay in the appointment of the Inquiring Officer, and that no dilatory
tactics are adopted by the accused officer or the Presenting Officer
To ensure that the processing of the Inquiry Officer’s Reports for final orders of the Disciplinary
Authority is done properly and quickly
To scrutinise final orders passed by the Disciplinary Authorities subordinate to the
Ministry/Department, with a view to see whether a case for review is made out or not;
To see that proper assistance is given to the C.B.I. in the investigation of cases entrusted to them or
started by them on their own source of information;
To take proper and adequate action with regard to writ petitions filed by accused officers;
To ensure that the Central Vigilance Commission is consulted at all stages where it is to be
consulted and that as far as possible, the time limits prescribed in the Vigilance Manual for various
stages are adhered to
To ensure prompt submission of returns to the Commission
To review from time to time the existing arrangements for vigilance work in the
Ministry/Department for vigilance work subordinate officers to see if they are adequate to ensure
expeditious and effective disposal of vigilance work
To ensure that the competent disciplinary authorities do not adopt a dilatory or law attitude in
processing vigilance cases, thus knowingly otherwise helping the subject public servants,
particularly in cases of officers due to retire
To ensure that cases against the public servants on the verge of retirement do not lapse due to time-
limit for reasons such as misplacement of files etc. and that the orders passed in the cases of retiring
officers are implemented in time
To ensure that the period from the date of serving a charge-sheet in a disciplinary case to the
submission of the report of the Inquiry Officer, should, ordinarily, not exceed six months.

Strengthening Investigation And Prosecution:

Prosecution is a weak link in the chain of anti-corruption law enforcement and there are instances where
prosecutors have facilitated the discharge of a delinquent officer. It would be desirable that the lokayuktas/ State
Vigilance commissions are empowered to supervise the prosecution of corruption related cases.
SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE:

Citizens’ Initiatives – Citizen charter, school awareness programmes, assessment and maintenance of
ethics in public offices very effective in bringing about attitudinal changes in society.
False claims act – Existing provisions in the IPC not adequate to enable interested citizens and civil
society groups to approach courts for recovery of proceeds of corruption and provide share of proceeds.
There is need for legislation on the lines of US false claims act, which will make it possible to seek legal
relief for the recover of the proceeds of the corruption cases. Such law would help in curbing corruption
where the fraud has been committed in collusion with a public servant. But more important, such a law
would help in building a culture of fair play in private and public organisations.
Role of Media – Free media crucial role in the prevention, monitoring and control of corruption
Social audit – Should be made operational guidelines of all schemes.

SYSTEMIC REFORMS:

Promoting competition – Element of competition in the provision of public services is thus a very useful
to curb corruption. However, deregulating one area may increase corruption elsewhere. Therefore,
regulating mechanism to ensure performance as per prescribed standards so that public interest is
protected.
Simplifying transactions – Most of the procedures dealing with permissions, licenses and registrations. A
single window clearance of all requirements or one-stop service centres is a step which can cut down
corruption as it simplifies procedures and reduces layers.
Use of ICT – There are successful stories of e-governance like railway ticket booking. Therefore, lack of
good infrastructure and inadequate capability of the personnel have proved to be major bottlenecks in the
spreads of e-governance. They should be reskilled and familiarize the relevant processes.
Integrity Pacts (By Transparency International) – It is an agreement between the public agency
involved in procuring goods and services and the bidder for a public contract to the effect that bidders
have not paid and shall not pay any illegal gratifications to secure the contract in question. This pact
involve oversights and scrutiny by independent, outside observers. It will help in promoting transparency
and creating confidence in public.
Reducing discretion – There are large number of activities where discretion can be totally eliminated. All
such activities could be automated and supported by IT.
Ensuring Accessibility and Responsiveness – Concentration of tasks within few hands should be
avoided as they are prone to corrupt activities. As far as possible, they are broken down into different
officers and Public interaction should be limited to head of office or some designated officers. This can be
supported by single window front office for providing information.
Monitoring complaints – We are having complaint monitoring system but that system rarely do its job.
Setting up deadlines to solve such complaints and end results should be achieved within time frame.
Intelligence gathering – A supervisory officer should gather the intelligence and asses the integrity of
his/her subordinates based on his/her handling of cases, complaints and feedback from different sources.
Vigilance network – There are large number of disciplinary and criminal cases relating to corruption
pending with various authorities. It would be desirable to create a national database of such cases, which
should be in public domain. CVC may take the lead in establishing such a networked database.
Audit – Along with CAG and AG audits, forensic audits should be conducted to monitor irregularities.

PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTIONS:

Theme Question Year

 What do you understand by the term ‘public servant’? Reflect on the
Concept of public service 2019
expected role of public servant.
Philosophical basis of What do you understand by probity in governance? Based on your
understanding of the term, suggest measures for ensuring probity in 2019
governance and probity government.
“Non-performance of duty by a public servant is a form of
Challenges of corruption 2019
corruption”. Do you agree with this view? Justify your answer.
Information Sharing and
There is a view that the Official Secrets Act is an obstacle to the
transparency in
implementation of Right to Information Act. Do you agree with the 2019
government, Right to
view? Discuss.
Information.
Explain the basic principles of citizens charter movement and bring
Citizen’s Charters 2019
out its importance.
Codes of Ethics, Codes of Distinguish between “Code of ethics” and “Code of conduct” with
2018
Conduct suitable examples.
What is meant by conflict of interest? Illustrate with examples, the
Challenges of corruption 2018
difference between the actual and potential conflicts of interest.
Information Sharing and
“The Right to Information Act is not all about citizens’
transparency in
empowerment alone, it essentially redefines the concept of 2018
government, Right to
accountability. Discuss.
Information
Conflict of interest in the public sector arises when (a) official
2017
duties, (b) public interest, and (c) personal interest are taking priority
Challenges of corruption
one above the other. How can this conflict in administration be
resolved? Describe with an example.
Discipline generally implies following the order and subordination.
Work culture 2017
However, it may be counter-productive for the organisation. Discuss.
Corporate social responsibility makes companies more profitable
Citizen’s Charters 2017
and sustainable. Analyse.
2016
Codes of Ethics, Codes of Discuss the Public Services Code as recommended by the 2nd
Conduct Administrative Reforms Commission.
Some recent developments such as introduction of RTI Act, media
and judicial activism, etc., are proving helpful in bringing about
Information Sharing and greater transparency and accountability in the functioning of the
2015
transparency in government. However, it is also being observed that at times the
government, Right to mechanisms are misused. Another negative effect is that the officers
Information are now afraid to take prompt decisions. Analyze this situation in
detail and suggest how this dichotomy can be resolved. Suggest how
these negative impacts can be minimized.
Today we find that in spite of various measures like prescribing
Information Sharing and codes of conduct, setting up vigilance cells/commissions, RTI, active
transparency in media and strengthening of legal mechanisms, corrupt practices are
2015
government, Right to not coming under control. A) Evaluate the effectiveness of these
Information measures with justifications. B) Suggest more effective strategies to
tackle this menace.
Public servants are likely to confront with the issues of ‘Conflict of
Interest’. What do you understand by the term ‘Conflict of Interest’ 2015
Challenges of corruption and how does it manifest in the decision making by public servants?
If faced with the conflict of interest situation, how would you resolve
it? Explain with the help of examples.
 What do you understand by ‘probity’ in public life? What are the
Philosophical basis of
difficulties in practicing it in the present times? How can these 2014
governance and probity
difficulties be overcome?
It is often said that poverty leads to corruption. However, there is no
2014
dearth of instances where affluent and powerful people indulge in
Challenges of corruption
corruption in a big way. What are the basic causes of corruption
among people? Support your answer with examples.

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