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Ethics

Discussion on Concepts

Discussion on concepts : Q 1. Introduction

Functionality

RTI & Civil Servants

Does RTI Act actually encumbers Civil Servants

The RTI Act, 2005… An Act to provide for setting out the practical regime

of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

SMART Government lays down SMART goals

/ SMART Government Officials strive to achieve SMART goals

SMART Governance machinery: Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive & Transparent

SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic & Time bound

Right to Information Act 2005 mandates timely response to

citizen requests for government information.

It is an initiative taken by Department of Personnel and Training [Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions] to provide a RTI Portal Gateway to the citizens for quick search of information on the details of first Appellate Authorities,PIOs etc. amongst others, besides access to RTI related information / disclosures published on the web by various Public Authorities under the government of India as well as the State Governments.

The Constitution of India has established India as a democratic Republic;

And whereas democracy requires an informed citizenry

and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed;

And whereas revelation of information in actual practice is

likely to conflict with other public interests including efficient operations of the Governments, optimum use of limited fiscal resources and the preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information;

It is necessary to harmonise these conflicting interests

while preserving the supremacy of the democratic ideal;

Now, therefore, it is expedient to provide for furnishing certain information to citizens who desire to have it.

“Information" means any material in any form, including

records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advices, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, data material held in any electronic form and information relating to any private body which can be accessed by a public authority under any other law for the time being in force;

This law was passed by Parliament on 15 June 2005 and came fully into force on 12 October 2005, which was Vijayadashmi. The first application was given to a Pune police station.

If we understand the true meaning and role of a Civil

servant, then we can conclusively say that it does NOT encumber a civil servant. After all, a civil servant is expected to discharge the role of a facilitator of citizen empowerment and information is indeed a great tool of empowering the masses. This concept has to be clearly spelt out while briefing the future civil servants as well as the existing officials so that they do not see the RTI applications as a burden, but instead as a tool to disseminate the information.

Traditionally, the information held by the Govt

departments has been maintained in a very restrictive manner that has led to a number of problems for the citizens in the form of unnecessary delays, avoidable problems, harassment, avenues for corruption, malpractices etc.

The information dissemination by means of RTI is indeed a powerful tool as the citizens can seek the information which they feel is of relevance to them and which has been projected as a hindrance for them.

However, the fact that at times the information sought

may be tedious to collate and furnish, yet it should be seen as a part of the complex nature of duties that a Civil servant is expected to perform. The job of a civil servant is indeed a challenging one and with the advent/popularisation of tools like the RTI, the challenges have increased manifold. And, it is here that the true mettle of a Civil servant comes to fore.

A Thoughts > Words> Behaviour> Habit> Value>

Destiny

And the common thread is POSITIVITY.

There are 6 levels in the above awesome wisdom that Gandhiji has shared with us. He is drawing our attention upon 6 words: THOUGHTS, WORDS, BEHAVIOR, HABITS, VALUES, DESTINY. Gandhi used the word “positive” in relation with the first 5 words.

Infact, when you focus to keep your THOUGHTS,

WORDS, BEHAVIOR positive then you do not have to work on keeping your HABITS, VALUES and DESTINY also positive. Your thoughts, words and behavior are the cause (the source) while your habits, values and destiny are only consequences.

In the present times, the statement holds all the more

relevance because of the presence of a large number of stressors in the environment, various kinds of inducements that threaten to take us away from our core values and the popularity of unhealthy habits as well which if not checked can prove to be very costly and ultimately may force one to adopt unfair practices to garner illegal money.

So, focussing on Positives is the real ‘mantra’ for long term

and consistent happiness. For example:

Not focussing on negatives

Not complaining

Celebrating small triumphs

Looking for the good in people

Being generous with compliments

Consciously feeling grateful

Savouring joys

Forgiving people

Downplaying life’s little irritations.

Like the GIGO concept of computing, whatever we input will get translated into output. So, if the input from our end is Positivity of the inputs, the output i.e. our destiny is expected to be positive as well.

It’s seems so simple, but it is much more difficult to accept. How we think about ourselves, our life, and circumstances can drastically alter our levels of happiness and stress.

Our attitude can even contribute to or detract from our achievements. A positive attitude, outlook, and overall sense of optimism are building blocks for success.

Ans 3 The Oxford dictionary defines Ethics

as Moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity:

Now ethics are the guiding spirit of our actions with the aim of keeping the actions in tune with the overall morals that govern the society.

Going by the terms associated in this case,

Professional ethics refers to the ethics that a person must adhere to in respect of their interactions and business dealings in their professional life.

Professional ethics encompass the personal, organizational and corporate standards of behaviour expected of professionals.

Professionals, and those working in acknowledged

professions, exercise specialist knowledge and skill. How the use of this knowledge should be governed when providing a service to the public can be considered a moral issue and is termed professional ethics.

Professionals are capable of making judgements, applying their skills and reaching informed decisions in situations that the general public cannot, because they have not received the relevant training. One of the earliest examples of professional ethics is the Hippocratic oath to which medical doctors still adhere to this day.

Now what is the relevance of ethics at the Professional

front first of all... If there are no ethics at the workplace, then what can we expect professionals or employees to do..perhaps there will be a free run and a total disregard for human values and others’ money or efforts.

So the ethics at the professional front help us to:

* provides explicit guidance to managers and employees so they know what is expected of them in terms of ethical behaviour * provides new employees with ethical guidance and a sense of common identity

* enhances the organisation's reputation and inspires

public confidence * signals to suppliers and customers the organisation's expectation of proper conduct * promotes a culture of excellence by demonstrating the commitment of the organisation to ethical behaviour.

Ethics is a word that can be used loosely, so it’s

important to understand the meaning of this question by first discussing what is meant by personal ethics.

Ethics, which is the practice of becoming excellent at being human according to Socrates, is always conducted with respect to something.

Personal ethics is probably more general, and is simply

“practicing becoming an excellent human being” with respect to people and situations in everyday life (our family, our friends, our community). Professional ethics is probably more specific, and is “practicing becoming an excellent human being” with respect people and situations in work life (co-workers, customers, suppliers, the company).

A classic example to illustrate the concept…. The basic underlying ethical values and commitments

remain the same, but how they are enacted may differ. For example, honesty is a virtue which is vital in both personal and professional settings. However, the amount and type of information which I disclose to my spouse is much different than the amount and type of information which I disclose to my boss, my customer, or my competitor.

Further, the way in which I do so differs. For example,

accurate financial disclosure is a type of honesty. Financial disclosure within my household might mean that budgeting software is up to date and used regularly, but financial disclosure within my company might mean I need to comply with accounting principles and laws. I can use whatever accounting system I like in my household, as long as the bills get paid. I cannot, however, make up my own accounting system for use in a company, because there are specific traditions and laws to be followed in order to demonstrate that I am truly being honest.

Ethics in the private life too have a great validity. Now, ,

Personal ethics refers to the ethics that a person identifies with in respect to people and situations that they deal with in everyday life. Personal ethics determine what an individual believes about morality and right and wrong.

This is usually distinguished from Business ethics or Legal ethics. These branches of ethics come from outside organizations or governments, not the individual's conscience. These branches of ethics occasionally overlap. Personal ethics can affect all areas of life, including family, finances and relationships.

A point worth focusing is that unless a person displays

Ethical behavior, he will not be considered a trustworthy individual.

Importance of ethics is reflected in the individual’s actions as well as reactions to the various stimuli and towards the various people surrounding him.

For example: Honest behaviour is an ideal construct. Now, if we meet two individuals who profess honest behaviour but actually practice it differently, our obvious inclination will be towards the one who actually does practice honesty in his dealings.

In our relationships as well, we will prefer honesty as the basic and uncompromising virtue, whether it is with our spouse, our sibling or our friends. None would trust a person who is dishonest in his personal relations and does not value the efforts or the sentiments of others who stand in close relation to the person.

We may take another example of Friends wherein informal groups are formed of those individuals who behave and think alike under similar circumstances, and at the same time are ready to stand by each other in turbulent times. If one of our friends has a deceiving nature, then we won’t be ready to trust him the second time.

So, what we see that while the professional ethics i.e the ethics in our public dealings are important, at the same time, the practicing of ethics in our private dealings is equally important.

Since basis of any personal relationship is the degree of trust that we lay on the relationship, therefore, Ethics must be considered sacrosanct in personal relationships as well.

Ans. 4 Ethical behaviour can sometimes be in sharp contrast

to practical necessities, but the fact of the matter remains that the ethical behaviour is indeed the right approach to adopt, rather than modifying it for the sake of practical necessity. In such situations, Practical necessity need not be the one that apparently calls for the exercise of ethical behavioiur, rather Ethical behaviour should be the guiding light, irrespective of the fact that the immediate action may be having adverse reaction.

For example taking a very basic common day example.

Mr A jumps the redlight due to some exigency and is hauled up by traffic constable. Now practically he may think of defending himself saying that he is having an urgency or that he did not jump the light [arguments etc]. However, in such a situation , the ethical conduct will be to politely explain the situation to the Enforcement official and offer to pay the penalty. Now, it will be upto the Official to decide upon the merits of the exigency and penalise Mr. A or not. However, on Mr. A’s part, his behaviour will be in sync with the Ethical standards that he may possess.

Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching.

So, if one is able to stick to one’s ideals and do what one instinctively believes in, irrespective of the consequences, only then can he be called truly Ethical or having Integrity. To some, this may appear as impractical or illogical, but then what Gandhiji did on his way to Dandi too appeared illogical to many at the time of his march.

We all may have different examples to illustrate this very point, but the common spirit is that the practical necessities that we have benchmarked our lives with, may indeed be the most easy thing to do, but not the right thing always.

Coming to the point of view of a Civil servant, he may often have

to take decisions that may be offensive to some, and sometimes, to his own belief set, but he still may have to take them to conform to his professional commitments and ethical conduct.

Citing ‘Practical’ reasons, a Civil servant may be asked to perform certain tasks that may not be in the right spirit after all. It is here that the Right-Wrong divide comes to fore, and the Official has to take the decision by weighing the Ethical compulsions as well.

This will make his decisions not only, well, ‘practical’, but also more ‘suitable’ to his own conscience and offer him that extra cushion in case something goes wrong.

Ans 5 The United Nations recognizes the family as the basic unit

of society. Families have been transformed to a great degree over the past 50 years as a result of changes in their structure (smaller-sized households, delayed marriages, increased divorce rates etc.), global trends in migration, the phenomenon of demographic ageing, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the impacts of globalization.

The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State-- Article 16 (3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The impact of family on one’s profession and vice versa

is substantial and long lasting. The family conditions, relationship dynamics etc have a great bearing on the way one handles one’s profession.

If the family is supportive, an individual may indeed be motivated to take on newer challenges in profession with enthusiasm and conviction. Likewise, if the family conditions restrict an employee’s horizon, it will be obviously having a direct impact on profession.

Civil servants are expected to discharge their duties

and perform, irrespective of their personal preferences for particular place of stay.

Now, employees might be constrained to ‘avoid’ transfers due to numerous reasons including, but not limited to, Children’s education, Social dynamics, Comfort zone demarcation, perception of better avenues in terms of professional development etc.

So obviously the interests of the family too are

intertwined in the aspects relating to transfer of the employee from one place to another.

A practical point here is that the question asks that what will be the impact of your family’s reactions on your career? Now whether it is positive reaction or negative reaction from the family’s side, it is left to the individual concerned and to the degree of weightage an individual attaches to such inputs that affect the corresponding reaction of the individual.

Now whether an employee will be feeling bitter at the

end of the day, and whether he should be feeling ‘bitter’ due to this aspect of Civil services, is again a question of practical experiences vis a vis the Ethical standards.

Ideally, Civil servants should not consider the transfers as ‘Punishments’ provided they are in the normal course of their duties and are not effected by any malafide interest.

The right way to handle transfers, as many senior and

successful Civil servants do , is to consider them as another opportunity to explore the nation and serve another subset of populace with its own unique challenges as well as Opportunities.

Now coming to the last part that if a senior politician

assures you of the posting of your choice provided you take good care of the people of his constituency, what will be your course of action, the expected line of action is neither too hard to guess, nor too tough to actually follow.

As a Civil servant, I am anyway expected to take good care of the people whom I am appointed to serve, and whether they belong to the constituency of a particular Politician or not is immaterial.

The promise of the politician to return favour is also

unethical because as a Civil servant it will be my basic duty to take care of the members of public without any fear or favour.

So, I won’t require the lure of any promise or any fear from anyone to do what I am expected to do. I shall walk the talk and perform to the best of my capacity to serve all.

Ans. 6 Introduction about the Sevottam model

Public service excellence and the Sevottam model

Impact of singular initiatives and how the snowball effect.

Introduction about the basics of the topic

WHAT IS SEVOTTAM?

SEVOTTAM is a Service Delivery Excellence Model which provides an assessment improvement framework to bring about excellence in public service delivery. It is a programme for further improvement in system to deliver excellence in service delivery.

Sevottam literally is the combination of Hindi words ‘SEWA + UTTAM’, meaning uttam sewa i.e. excellence in services

It has basically three modules - Citizen Charter, Public Grievance Redress Mechanism and Service Delivery Capability. The framework helps Government Departments towards improving their public service delivery.

The 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 seeks to assess an organization on (i) implementation of the Citizens’ Charter, (ii) implementation of grievances redress system and (iii) service delivery capability. This assessment is made through three modules.

The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions has taken steps to put in place Sevottam Compliant Citizen’s Charter and Grievance Redress Mechanism. The Sevottam framework was designed by DARPG in 2006 as an assessment improvement framework for public service delivery.

The Second Administrative Reforms Commission

(ARC) in its 12th Report “Citizen Centric Administration – The Heart of Governance” has recommended that Union and State Governments should make the Seven Step Model mandatory for all organizations having public interface which was accepted by the Government of India. The ARC had made the recommendations after studying the Sevottam model which the Commission felt was a step in the right direction.

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.

The second component of the model ‘Public Grievance Redress’ requires a good grievance redress system operating in a manner that leaves the citizen more satisfied with how the organization responds to complaints/grievances, irrespective of the final decision.

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.

Sevottam targets assessees’ stated as well as implied

needs Sevottam gives framework to understand and address

assessees’ stated needs as well as implied needs.

Sevottam targets stated needs like Timeliness: time norms for specific services are

enumerated in Citizens’ Charter. The services and norms are set as per active discussions with different stakeholders.

Effectiveness: a single window system for service deliverables is targeted for delivery to cut down on assessees shuttling from one desk to another to get services.

Responsiveness: a robust grievance redress system is needed to listen to assessees grievance as well as redress them timely.

Sevottam targets implied needs like

Courteous behaviour: norms for behaviour are described in the Citizens’ Charter and pro-active feedback on service delivery is gathered to judge this.

Information: Facilitation centres and help centres are targeted to meet assesses needs of information.

Empathy: Public grievance officers are needed to listen to assessees in their time of need.

The Sevottam model has been developed with the

overarching objective of improving the quality of public service delivery in the country. The model has three components, and in addition to this overarching objective, there are intermediate outcomes expected from compliance of conditions designed for each of these three components.

Thus, the Sevottam model is a Quality Management

framework applicable to the activities of public service delivery organizations at the point of interface with service recipients. The framework is a tool in the hands of implementing organizations. It guides them through systematic initiatives for sustainable improvements in service delivery.

The framework enables implementing organizations to undertake a systematic, credible and authenticated self-assessment (or ‘gap analysis’) for citizen-centric service delivery. Using this analysis, practical solutions are gradually and systematically incorporated into the organization’s day-to-day routine thereby ensuring sustainable results.

To summarise, the Twelfth Report of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, February 2009 states that:

Seven Steps to Sevottam are:

Define your services and identify your clients

Set standards and norms for each service

Develop capability to meet the set standards

Perform to achieve the standards

Monitor performance against the set standards

Evaluate impact through an independent mechanism

Continuous improvement based on monitoring

and evaluation

Now, can an individual alone do something that can make an impact… Most of the notable achievements that mankind can

remember have essentially been the result of successful team work.

Here, however, it is worthwhile to mention that in a team, the efforts of every individual count.

So, in essence, it is the efforts of the individual which form the building block of the team efforts and successful co-ordination of efforts of all individuals in a team ultimately bring out the overall success.

So, as an individual I shall certainly strive to do the best on

my part and at the same time, I will try to encourage others as well to contribute their best towards the common goal which in case of Civil servants is Public welfare.

Government of India is encouraging Transparency, Responsiveness and Accountability through tools like the Sevottam model and I shall contribute effectively to make it a success by encouraging my team members as well to try and act as a facilitator rather than restricting their role as Regulators and acting in a high handed manner .

Ans 7 Firstly, what does Probity actually stand for, apart from

its literal meaning

Next come the requisites to ensure Probity in Governance

The Oxford Dictionary defines probity as “the quality

or condition of having strong moral principles; integrity, good character, honesty, decency”. It is the act of adhering to the highest principles and ideals rather than avoiding corrupt or dishonest conduct. It balances service to the community against the self-interest of individuals.

Probity in governance is an essential and vital

requirement for an efficient and effective system of governance and for socio-economic development.

An important requisite for ensuring probity in governance is absence of corruption. The other requirements are effective laws, rules and regulations governing every aspect of public life and, more important, an effective and fair implementation of those laws.

So why is Probity important.. Government organisations are accountable and subject

to audit and scrutiny.

The Standards of acceptable conduct cannot be compromised. Organisations need to be able to assure the legislature as well as the public at large that they are indeed performing to the best of the capacity. Good governance includes the avoidance of conflicts of interest and corrupt practices

The famous economist, Late Mehbub-Ul-Haq succinctly and

poignantly set out the ill-effects of corruption in a South Asian country like ours. He said:

“Corruption happens everywhere. It has been at the center of election

campaigns in Italy and the United Kingdom, led to the fall of governments in Japan and Indonesia, and resulted in legislative action in Russia and the United States. But, if corruption exists in rich, economically successful countries, why should South Asia be worried about it? The answer is simple: South Asian corruption has four key characteristics that make it far more damaging than corruption in any other parts of the world.

First, 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.

Second, corruption money in South Asia has wings, not wheels. Most

of the corrupt gains made in the region are immediately smuggled out to safe havens abroad. Whereas there is some capital flight in other countries as well, a greater proportion goes into investment. 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. The big fish – unless they belong to the opposition – rarely fry. 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. The most frustrating aspect of corruption in South Asia is that the corrupt are often too powerful to go through such an honest process of accountability.

Fourth, corruption in South Asia occurs with 515 million people in poverty, not with per capita incomes above twenty thousand dollars. While corruption in rich rapidly growing countries may be tolerable, though reprehensible, in poverty stricken South Asia, it is political dynamite when the majority of the population cannot, but to massive human deprivation and even more extreme income meet their basic needs while a few make fortunes through corruption.

Thus corruption in South Asia does not lead to simply Cabinet portfolio shifts or newspaper headlines inequalities. 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. One is the exploitative corruption where the public servant exploits the helpless poor citizen.

Measures required to be taken for ensuring probity in governance As per the Consultation paper on ‘Probity in Governance’ by the

National Commission to review the Working of the Constitution’, for ensuring probity in governance, several measures are necessary, some of which are:

A. Need for enforcing Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988

: the Central Government should enact a comprehensive law on public servants. Such a measure would act as a salutary check-a deterrent - upon corrupt public servants and would certainly be a measure to ensure probity in governance. A law for forfeiture of property of corrupt public servants otherwise then through the route of conviction is absolutely essential. In other words, wherever a public servant is found to have screened the illegally acquired assets, action should be taken under this Act and the Rules framed thereunder, and those assets acquired by State without any compensation.

B. Remedy for Misfeasance {an act that is legal but

performed improperly } in Public Office

The principle on which liability can be placed on public servants must be clear and must also be a fair principle consistent with need to act fearlessly. It is necessary that the principle must promote good governance.

C. Necessity for a law providing for confiscation of illegally

acquired assets of public servants

D. Enactment of a Public Interest Disclosure Act One of the measures adopted in several western countries to fight

corruption and mal-administration is enactment of Public Interest Disclosure Acts, which are popularly called Whistle-blower Acts.

The object of such enactments is to improve accountability in government and public sector organizations by encouraging people not to turn a blind eye to mal-practice taking place in their organizations and to report the same to the specified authority.

The Act provides for protection of Whistle-blowers from dismissal and victimization by making appropriate provisions in that behalf.

The Act is really aimed at improving accountability within

the government and public sector by allowing the employees to inform the appropriate authorities of organizational or individual wrong-doing either in a confidential manner or by a public report.

The Act should provide that the authority receiving such information should be an independent person and not be a part of the concerned government or public sector organization. If any information is received by him confidentially containing some allegations, he must investigate the same without publicly humiliating the suspect or the Whistle-blower.

E. Necessity for enacting a Lok Pal Bill in addition to

the Central Vigilance Commission Act

F. Strengthening of the Criminal Judicial System

Principles of Probity There are several generally accepted probity principles that

serve to maintain the integrity of a process. These are: Accountability: is the obligation to be able to explain or

account for the way duties have been performed. Government should have appropriate mechanisms in place to show that they are accountable for their practices and decisions.

Transparency: It is important that the process is transparent to the maximum extent possible so that all stakeholders can have confidence in the outcomes. Transparent, open processes also minimise the opportunity for, and the risk of, fraud and corruption.

Confidentiality: As a condition of employment, all

public servants are under a general obligation of confidentiality to their employer. All Government advisors, members and any other third party that is privy to commercially sensitive information must provide a formal undertaking to Government that they will keep this information confidential.

Management of Conflicts of Interest: A conflict of interest arises where an individual associated with the process is, through their particular associations or circumstances, influenced, or perceived to be influenced, to obtain an unfair advantage for him or herself or another party. Conflicts of interest are often unavoidable. However, provided they are identified early and dealt with effectively, they need not prejudice the process. Policies to deal with potential conflicts of interest should be established at the outset, rather than attempting to manage such issues on an ad-hoc basis as they arise.

Information Sharing And Transparency

The ability to seek, receive and impart information is crucial for respect of human rights. One way of looking at “Democratisation of Information” is the ability of every person to get the information they need to make their lives better as it helps them in effective decision-making.

Another dimension to this is building an information-driven society which has access to all services and facilities with minimum bureaucratic and procedural formalities. An information-driven society leads to transparency and accountability. This provides impetus to programmes aimed at improving the processes and systems of public bodies thereby improving service delivery.

The Supreme Court had given certain directions in the case

of Vineet Narain vs. Union of India (AIR 1998 SC 889) for conferring statutory status upon the Central Vigilance Commission and to insulate the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate from political control and pressures.

In the said decision, the Supreme Court referred with approval the recommendations of Lord Nolan Committee

on Standards in Public Life in the United Kingdom. The following principles of public life, of general application, were commended by the court:

The Seven Principles of Public Life: Selflessness: Holders of public office should take decisions solely in terms of

the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends.

Integrity: Holders of public office should not place themselves under any

financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organizations that might influence them in the performance of their official duties.

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.

Accountability: Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to

the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

Openness: Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions

and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.

Honesty: Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating

to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.

Leadership: Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by

leadership and example

Probity & Good Governance Thus, a well-functioning civil service helps to foster good

policy making, effective service delivery, accountability and responsibility in utilizing public resources which are the characteristics of good governance.

Governance reform tends to refer to the improvement of legal and policy frameworks to create proper decision making environment; participatory systems for elements of civil society to become actively involved in policy and programme formulation and their implementation; and an effective and transparent system and process for control and accountability in government activities.

The challenge lies in finding and linkages among the governance, civil service and civil society components, determining which require priority attention.

Ans. 8 Dedication to Public service vs Personal Goals

Public service calls for a great degree of commitment and zeal from the Civil servants in terms of time, resources, passion and degree of involvement.

A Civil servant may have to slog continuously for long hours, running into several days at a stretch on certain occasions and has to be on his toes as a matter of rule, rather than exception.

Dedication to Public service may involve putting in

more productive hours, Proactive learning, Assisting the other officials in their work areas etc.

All this indeed requires tremendous efforts and time on part of the Public Servant concerned. So, the trick here is to not let the Personal goals take a backseat, since that would mean faster burn-out, increasingly reduced interest in professional commitments, lopsided personality development etc.

While Goal-setting is an essential part of a successful

Career, setting professional goals may be exciting for a considerable period of time, but after that it may lose its sheen if the goals remain just Professional goals.

This is why it ís so essential to consider personal goals along with your professional goals. It is the personal goals that give lasting passion and drive to professional achievement.

We need goals for advancement in our personal lives as

much as we need them in our professional lives.

When personal goals and professional goals are well-integrated, each one helps in achieving the other. Your personal life fuels your professional life, and vice versa. There is more momentum in both areas, and the individual is able to accomplish more with greater success.

So, the key is to set our personal goals in terms of

tangible definition like Success, Long term happiness, Stable income, Upgradation of professional skills, Higher education, Sound Health, Family members’ progress etc.

Now, all these can effectively be achieved while remaining dedicated to the Civil services and by having a sound balance.

Dedication to Civil service thus does not mean putting the

personal goals on the backburner.

Rather, it may infact act as a catalyst to achieve them more fruitfully. Be it better compensation, happiness or one’s skill upgradation zeal, the approach of contributing dedicatedly to the Civil services will take along all these and many more personal goals as well.

Working hard for public welfare as a Civil servant will not only ensure professional welfare and job satisfaction, but at the same time, overall contentment of delivering effectively and open up avenues for personal progress of self and family as well. The family members too shall be exposed to newer avenues, better growth opportunities, learn the importance of hard work and excellence in whatever one takes up.

For Case studies, classroom discussion points on

related topics may be referred.