OECD identifies 8 components of an ethical framework
- Political commitment
- Effective legal framework
- Effective accountability mechanism
- Workable code of conduct
- Professional socialisation mechanism
- Supportive public service conditions
- Existence of central ethics coordinating body
- An active civil society
Nolan committee (a committee on standards in public life appointed by the British PM in 1994) suggested following values that should be followed in public administration.
- L-LEADERSHIP
- O-OPENNESS
- H-HONESTY
- A-ACCOUNTABILITY
- S-SELFLESSNESS
- I-INTEGRITY
- OBJECTIVITY
Other values are:
- Dedication to public service
- Empathy and compassion
- Tolerance
- Responsibility and accountability: Responsibility refers to the public servant’s adherence to the public will (saying that no one has died because of lack of oxygen is irresponsible), whereas accountability denotes specific methods and procedures to enforce the public servant’s duty (scams like 2G scam are examples of lack of accountability).
Responsibility is subjective and works from within, while accountability is objective and works from outside. Public accountability and responsibility are hallmarks of government institutions in a democracy. An administrator should not hesitate to accept responsibility for his decisions and actions. Moreover, he is also accountable to higher authorities and people who are the ultimate beneficiaries of decisions and actions.
- Lal Bahadur Shastri resigns as the Indian Railway minister after the infamous Ariyalur rail accident.
- E. Sreedharan offered resignation as Delhi Metro chief after bridge mishap.
- Amstrong Pame pooled in crowdfunding to construct a road in Nagaland.
- Sitting on the files, ill-treatment toward the general public in government offices, and hospitals shows that public servants lack work commitment. Work should not be considered as a burden but as an opportunity to serve and constructively contribute to society like:
- Soldiers give their lives for protecting the nation.
- Parmeswaran Iyer, Secretary of the Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation, himself cleaning toilets to demonstrate
- an excellent administrator ensures the highest standards of quality in administrative decisions and actions and does not compromise because of convenience or ease.
Components of Excellence:
a) Efficiency – Optimum utilisation of resources.
b) Economy – Minimum use of resources to accomplish a task.
c) Effectiveness – Achievement of the desired objective within the time limit.
Eg – ISRO has achieved excellence in the area of space science. But in most of the government schemes we can see that there is a lack of excellence, it is visible in the failure of almost all schemes in achieving their targets like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, make in India, stand up India, and smart India.
How excellence can be achieved
Fusion of one’s own goal, organisational goal and social goal: E.g. Satyendra Dube was murdered for seemingly exposing serious corruption in the Central Government’s Golden Quadrilateral Highway construction project.
Responsiveness: A public official should respond effectively to the demands and challenges from outside as well as from within the organization. Armstrong Pame – People’s Road.
Empathy and Compassion: A civil servant without violating the prescribed laws and rules should. demonstrate compassion towards weaker sections of society. Prashant Nair hunger-free district.
National Interest: universalistic in orientation and liberal in outlook, a civil servant, while performing his duties should keep in view the impact of his action on his nation’s strength and prestige. This automatically raises the level of service rendered and the products delivered like T. N. Seshan for pursuing electoral reforms in India, and Ajit Doval – handled insurgency operations in Mizoram, Punjab and Kashmir.
Transparency implies openness, communication, and accountability. Transparency is operating in such a way that it is easy for others to see what actions are performed. The common man is the most important stakeholder in the government organization as he is the one who is most influenced by the policies and programs of the government. Therefore, he has the right to know. Implementing RTI law in letter and spirit.
Why there is the erosion of values in administration
It is majorly due to changes in perception about human needs, in the world of materialism and consumerism people gave priority to lower needs as compared to higher needs, human needs can be categorised into three categories.
Changing nature of public service
- Privatisation and marketization
- Reducing the role of the state
- Increasing demand for quality service
- The increasing role of the third sector
- Increasing multi-stakeholder collaboration
Rising relevance of ethics in administration.
- Material and resource difficulties due to the growing population.
- Emergence of new rights i.e., right to services, right to education, right to clean environment etc
- Globalisation and internationalization. Eg: Actions by world organisations in cases of crime against humanity are not
- IT revolution & rise of social media.
- Competition from the private sector. Eg BSNL.
- Demand for more participation and decentralisation.
- Spread of intellect and sensitivity towards rights among the masses.
Measures to ensure ethics in Politics
- Audit political donations
- Political donations mandatory by digital means
- Internal democracy in political parties
- Voluntary Periodic disclosure of education, assets and criminal history of members of political parties
- Bring political parties under RTI
- Promote ethics of political members.
Ways to ensure ethics in the Legislature
- No foul language
- Parliamentary privileges not to shield unethical acts of members
- Speed up proceedings of criminal and corruption cases against members
- Prohibit defection
- Separate bench to hear an election petition
Ways to improve ethics in the political executive
- Immersion programs
- No criminal charges against- a precondition to becoming a minister
- Independent body to investigate corruption charges against ministers
- Mandatory periodic reshuffling of ministerial portfolios
- Mandatory 360-degree review of ministers
- Forum for the public to lodge complaints against ministers.
Ways to improve ethics in regulators
- No conflict of interests
- Objective selection of functionaries
- No post-retirement posting
- Concise regulation
Ways to promote ethics in permanent executive
- Integrity pact
- Minimal public interface with government servants
- Public disclosure of assets and liabilities of public servants
- Call centres to receive complaints against civil servants
- Simplification of rules
- Ethical training of officials,
- Ethical use of technology like robot nurses,
- E-courts and ethical considerations in governance.
- Aligning conduct rules with the need of our time
