Ethics Value Addition notes

Ethics:

 Ethics can be understood as the systematic study of human actions from the point of view of right or wrong as a
means to achieve ultimate happiness i.e Summum Bonum.
 Eudaimonia - highest human good according to Aristotle through virtuous living
 Moral myopia, moral blindness, moral muteness
 Moral disengagement – not considering ethical values in effectuating some actions. E.g., not hesitant to receive
bribe and every other person is bribed in office – toxic work culture

Mindset

 Yad bhavam tad bhavati,” which means “You are what you think

Means and ends

 Means should be as pious as ends – Gandhiji

o Indian tradition – rejects dichotomy between means and ends
o Both ends and means should be ethical for more successful and sustainable results
o Ends brought by unethical means may not last long
o Violent national movements in Europe during 18th century resulted in formation of nation states
o But it ended up in wars among those states
o But non violent mass movement of India resulted in building India as the largest democracy in world
o Gandhi argued - It is not possible to reap roses if one sows the seeds of Babool. Politics without principle is
a social sin according to Gandhiji.
o According to Kant, the moral guilt of unethical means will trump over the benefit of outcomes
 Ends justify means – Machiavelli
o Western tradition
o Moral considerations cannot apply to means except in relation to ends
o According to Machiavelli, politics is autonomous and he invented the concept of “Dual Morality”
o use of extremist methods by Netaji Shubhash Chandra Bose to gain India’s independence was considered
as moral by him, while the same methods were considered as immoral by Gandhiji.
o Covert operations by intelligence agencies

Business ethics:

 Gandhi ji believed that utilitarianism undermines human dignity and reduces human beings to the level of
“consumer of utilities”.
 Profiteering; corporate corruption issues like the ICICI bank chanda Kochar case
 Trusteeship - Gandhi argues that the rich should be regarded as the trustees of the wealth. The excess wealth
which the rich possess should belong to society and should be used for supporting the poor.
 Sarvodaya – progress for all – inspired from John Ruskin’s Unto This Last
o the good of the individual is contained in the good of all.
o a lawyer's work has the same value as the barber's in as much as all have the same right of earning their
livelihood from their work.
o a life of labour, i.e., the life of the tiller of the soil and the handicraftsman is life worth living.
o Under his gandhiji does not suggest equal pay for equal work but equal respect for all works. It will provide
a life of dignity to the masses and contribute to poverty upliftment.
 CSR under Companies Act 2013
o self-regulating business model that helps a company be socially and ethically accountable to itself, its
stakeholders, and the public.
o 2% of average net profits on CSR activities
o CSR applies to every company fluffing any of the following conditions in the preceding financial year:
 Net worth of more than Rs.500 crore
 Turnover of more than Rs.1000 crore
 Net profit of more than Rs.5 crore
o Tata, Infosys, Mahindra
 o India is the first country to have mandatory CSR provision
 India launched the Social Stock Exchange in order to enable social business enterprises to raise funding to become
economically viable.
 Initiatives like The Giving Pledge by Bill and Melinda Gates foundation led to more than fourteen billionaires
donating more than half of their wealth in order to reduce economic inequality.
 Ethical Corporate Governance: The mandate to include minority stakeholder representatives and independent
directors under Companies Act 2013
 Ancient Subhashit (good message) - Rivers do not drink their water themselves nor trees eat their fruit. The wealth
of the noble is used solely for the benefit of others.

Public service:

 Jawaharlal Nehru “Administration is meant to achieve something and not to exist in some kind of an ivory tower
following certain rules of procedures”.
 public services take a bureaucratic attitude instead of a democratic attitude. For example a five year old Dalit girl in
Jharkhand died of hunger in 2020 due to non availability of enough food due to her weak socio economic status
points to failure of administration in ensuring the people’s welfare.
 Delivery of public services should be done in a socially and culturally acceptable manner. For example, the failure of
the population control programme during the 1970s and 80s
 Social contract – legitimacy – governmentality crisis – rule of law – constitutional supremacy
 Traditional ethics - the policy of reservation is based on distributive justice and bringing about equitable allocation
of resources to hitherto marginalised sections of the society.
 Care ethics – welfare state - the social support through pension schemes to widows, people with disabilities and old
age people living below poverty line makes the public services more humane.
o E.g., Gandhian principle of Sarvodaya
 Nolan Committee on Ethics in Public Administration
 The three frameworks for administrative ethics are individual-cognitive, institutional-functional and societal-
normative.
o Individual Cognitive
 Deontological ethics - IAS officer Ashok Khemka unearthed corruption in land dealings in Haryana.
 no supervision from above can be as effective as an automatic control on the minds of those
possessing it and creating standards of efficiency as well as honesty – Otto Kirchheimer
 As Dr. Ambedkar said however good a constitution maybe, if those who are implementing it are
not good, it will prove to be bad.
 Mission Karmayogi
o Institutional functional
 Lokpal, CVC
 As suggested by scholars like Hobbes and Machiavelli that man is self centred and fear is the
common binding thread of society because “covenants without swords are nothing but mere
words”.
 Prakash Singh Guidelines - on security of tenure for DGP level officers would ensure that public
servants carry on their duty without any fear or favour.
o Societal normative
 For example, despite criminalisation of bribery, the “chai pani culture” is still prevalent in India and
has gained social sanction for it.
 mechanism of social audit prescribed by Meghalaya for assessment of the outcomes of the
government initiative.
 Due to lack of grassroot demand and lack of awareness about the “right to service” among the
general public, the general perception towards public service has been that of a charity and not a
matter of right.
 Social sanctions to unethical actions
 values of vasudhaiva kutumbakam (The world is one big family) and Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah
(Prosperity and happiness for all)
 Mission Karamyogi - Rule based system to a role based system
 Governance changed from an endowment based model (State led) to a right based model (Citizen rights based).
 weberian characteristics of being status quoist, elitist and lack of ground connect
  developing democratic attitude and commitment to constitutionalism and rule of law
 A public servant must always keep in mind the words of Gandhiji, where he said “Be the change you wish to see in
this world”. As a change agent
 Society being primary to self
 PRAGATI platform for better monitoring of project implementation – Pro Active Governance and Timely
Implementation – platform developed by NIC and PMO
o Launched in 2015
o 4th Wednesday of every month – PM reviews schemes with Secretaries of GoI and Chief Secretaries of
states
 Kickbacks – Bofors scam, Rafale scam

Good Governance and Ethical Governance:

 For example, if a scheme for providing subsidised houses is executed in a transparent and economical manner it
becomes an example of good governance. However, if a poor old woman comes to demand the benefits but lacks
the relevant documents, then if the administration helps her to get these documents in order to provide her the
benefits, it becomes an example of ethical governance.

Indian values:

 Value of Nishkama Karma – Bhagavad Geeta – Dedication to duty (Deontological ethics) - person must be detached
from the fruits of his labour and perform his duty alone
 OSHA values - openness, spirituality, humanism and aggressiveness
 Value of Kutumb: Creating a family environment in public organizations
 Satya

Quality:

 Reliability - the reliability of the public distribution system in India is high as 80 crore people depend upon the fair
price shops for their monthly ration needs.
 Assurance - the assurance of free medical care given under PM Ayushman Bharat yojna has led to reduction in out
of pocket expenditure on health for the poor section of the society.
 Accessibility - PDS system is considered as accessibility due to not only due presence of numerous fair price shops
but also due to initiatives like one nation one card scheme.
 Responsiveness - responsiveness of government policy during the covid 19 pandemic was according to the
continuously changing ground realities (Agile model of public service delivery).
 Empathy - the exclusion of old age people from Aadhar based ration distribution system due to mismatch in
biometric leads to exclusion errors and poor service quality.
 Proper Funding mechanism - Municipal bonds can be used to gather funds for ensuring better public service
 Right to service legislation by state governments – Right to Service Act 2013 of Haryana.
 Citizen Charter
 Feedback mechanism
 Social Audit
 Sevottam model – model proposed by 2nd ARC (Administrative Reforms Commission) for service excellence in
public Service Delivery
o a quality management framework and service delivery excellence model to assess and improve the quality
of service delivery to citizens.
o Sevottam – Seva + Uttam – Service + Excellence
o Three modules – Citizen Charter, Public Grievance Mechanism, Service Delivery Capability
o Rule based approach to a role based approach
 CPGRAMS – Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System – handled by DARPG

Moral courage as vital competency in civil services:

 Mahatma Gandhi raised his voice against the Tinkathia system of indigo plantation in Bihar in favour of poor and
illiterate farmers and courted arrest against the district magistrate’s order to leave champaran immediately.
 without a strong moral character an individual would be like a ship without a compass.
  senior IAS officers like Ashok Khemka and Durga Shakti Nagpal launched a massive drive against corruption in their
respective jurisdiction for which they did not receive the required institutional support but instead they were
frequently transferred.
 Satyendra Dubey - Indian Engineering Service (IES) officer - Project Director in National Highways Authority of India
(NHAI) - murdered for his anti-corruption related actions in the Golden Quadrilateral highway construction project.

Ethical dilemmas:

 Delivery of services vs ethics

o the policy to remove illegal encroachment from cities to improve administration comes in direct conflict
with forced eviction of slum dwellers which is ethically wrong.
o construction of hydroelectricity projects in himalayas and central india region aims at making india energy
secure, however this leads to large scale displacement of the native population and destruction of
ecologically fragile areas.
o bringing efficiency in public service delivery by use of information and communication technology can lead
to exclusion of rural areas and subaltern sections of the society.
o For example, the biometric based Aadhar led public distribution system led to the death of a five year old
Dalit girl in Jharkhand in 2020 due to starvation because her family lacked proper documents. Here the
public policy aimed at weeding out bogus beneficiaries and restricting black marketing, however this
resulted in exclusion error of eligible beneficiaries
o Clearing habitations in Mathura belonging to Railway land for expansion of meter gauge into broad gauge
 Ethical issues taking precedence and leading to decision delays and implementation deficits
o decriminalisation of IPC Sec 377 (Homosexuality), could not be done for a very long time due to societal
pressure.
o delay in recognising the crime of marital rape (sec 375 exception 2) in india has led to violation of
fundamental right to live with dignity of the women.

Public Trust:

 John Locke, government is a trust and people are its trustees.

 Colonial legacy and Weberian nature of bureaucracy in India, there exists a large information deficit which creates
trust deficit among the general public.
 Under section 4 of RTI act the public authorities need to proactively disclose information

War:

 Violates Kantian categorical imperative of human dignity - mass rapes and killings of civilians by Japanese forces in
China and Pakistani forces in Bangladesh.
 India Bangladesh resolved their land dispute peacefully
 According to Gandhiji, violence belongs to the world of animals and it breeds enmity, hatred among each other.
 India waged war against Pakistan in 1971, however India arranged for the return of close to 90,000 prisoners of war
under international scrutiny.
 India conducted a limited preemptive strike in Pakistan to destroy the terrorist training camps (Balakot Surgical
strike in 2019) – offensive realism
 India defended itself against the Chinese aggression in 1962.
 Russian revolution fought on the ideals of socio economic justice turned into a dictatorship of communist party.
 American Civil War to abolish slavery (1861-65)
 The aim of punishment should be reformative rather than being punitive.
 jus ad bellum – Conditions to use force
 jus in bello - how is a war to be fought – compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) – Contained in
customary international law, Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocols of 1977
o primary objective is to protect civilians and reduce the suffering a war unleashes
o Violation of IHL by Israel and Hamas by inflicting harm on civilians
 Israel is recently accused of using white phosphorus munitions in Gaza in 2023
 Adhering to provisions of Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), Chemical Weapons Convention
(CWC), Biological Weapons Convention
 Sari Nusseibeh – eminent Palestinian intellectual, activist and a true Gandhian – What Is a Palestinian State Worth?
 o In a war if the state knows that it cannot achieve its objective, it will be acting immorally and unethically
o It is obligatory for the state to dilute its war objective and to seek compromise
o Israel and Hamas; Four Point Formula for Kashmir

Human nature:

 solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short – hobbes

 Hedonistic - engaged in the pursuit of pleasure and avoiding pains
 Bentham, the father of utilitarianism suggested that the state must take such decisions which leads to “greatest
happiness of the greatest numbers”.
 The harm principle holds that the actions of individuals (liberty) should only be limited to prevent harm to other
individuals – J S Mill
 According to Dr. Ambedkar, constitutional morality i.e acting with deliberate restraint by every agency of state is
fundamental to the survival of the nation.
 As suggested by Aristotle, human beings are not self sufficient and hence are interdependent on each other.

Developing ethics:

 Value based education by Gandhi (Wardha system of education)

 NEP 2020 – ethical literacy along with alphanumeric literacy

Hota Committee 2004 (Committee on Civil Services Reforms)

 recommended that a Model Code of Governance should be drawn up benchmarking the standards of governance
to be made available to the citizens.
 that each department should lay down and benchmark services to be delivered, methods of grievance redressal
and public evaluation of performance
 recommended that a Code of Ethics should be drawn up for civil servants incorporating the core values of integrity,
merit and excellence in public service
 recommended that certain sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and of the Code of Criminal
Procedure may be amended to protect honest civil servants from malicious prosecution and harassment
 recommended replacing the ACR (Annual Confidential Report) with a system of performance assessment in which
greater emphasis is placed on objective assessment against agreed work plans.

Nolan Committee on Ethics in Public Administration: Seven Principles of Public Life or the Nolan Principles

 Selflessness – acting in public interest

 Integrity
 Objectivity - decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.
 Accountability - accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the
scrutiny necessary to ensure this
 Openness - open and transparent manner
 Honesty - Truthful
 Leadership - exhibit these principles in their own behaviour and treat others with respect

OCED 8-point charter for corporate governance

Tolerance:

 rise of hate speech over social media (Nupur Sharma and Udaipur beheading incident), rise of son of soil movement
due to increasing regionalism (exodus of migrants from Bihar from Maharashtra or North Eastern Indian students
from Karnataka).
 Terrorist attack after Charlie Hebdo's cartoons on Prophet Mohammad have made France jostling between
freedom of speech and Islamophobia is a classic example of lack of tolerance.
 Muzaffarnagar school teacher inciting students to beat a Muslim student with communal slurs
 Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava (equal respect to all religions) is a concept coined by Mahatma Gandhi that embodies
the equality of the destination of the paths followed by all religions
 Sulh-e-kul and Din-e-ilahi of Akbar; Ashoka’s Dhamma
 Ira Singhal was the first IAS officer to hire transgender employees in her department.
o Ira Singhal first differently abled woman to top the civil services exam – 2014
  A Muslim man (H M G Basha, 65) from Bengaluru has donated land worth Rs 1 cr for revamping a Hanuman temple
 Initiatives
o Bhasha Sangam', an initiative where students would be learning 22 Indian languages in their schools.
o 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Sangam' has been initiated to celebrate the spirit of national integration
o Meditation, emotional intelligence

Principles of Natural Justice: Violation of principles of natural justice in case studies

 no one should be condemned unheard

 No one should be made a judge in his own cause and the rule against bias

Transparency

 Transparency means that the criteria, process and systems of decision-making are openly known to all in a public
manner

Emotional Intelligence:

 During the recent farmer protest in 2021 against the farm laws, a section of protesters were handled with physical
force by a sub divisional magistrate in Haryana. This led to further enlargement of the protestors and a huge law
and order issue emerged due to the perceived high handedness of a public servant.
 Over 940 police personnel committed suicide in the five years till December 2018
 disturbing examples of stone pelting on police and security personnel makes it difficult to maintain mental well
being where emotional intelligence can help.
 Emotional Intelligence is the ability to make your emotions work for you instead of against you
 an IAS officer Divya Devrajan posted in Adilabad district of Telangana learned Gondi language in just three months
(using her IQ) in order to create ground level connection with the tribal population of the area in which she was
posted (Emotional Intelligence).
 Emotional intelligence enables a public servant to understand the human aspect of administration
 the alleged shunted posting of former IPS officer Kiran Bedi in Tihar jail was converted by her into an opportunity to
improve the living conditions of the prisoners and she introduced vipassana meditation in the prison in order for
better rehabilitation of the prisoners.
o Further transfer is a procedural aspect of a public servant’s job profile and every transfer brings new
challenges and opportunities which can help in personal and professional growth.
 esprit de corps among the members of an organisation
o esprit de corps - a feeling of pride and mutual loyalty shared by the members of a group.

Integrity:

 the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. (Google) Quality of being uncorruptible and
consistent in practicing moral values
 according to the Ministry of Personnel is when a public servant “constantly behaves in an open, fair and
transparent manner, honours one’s commitment and works to uphold public service values”.
 Integrity is following one’s moral or ethical convictions and doing the right thing in all circumstances even if no one
is watching you
 Personal integrity - total synchronisation in speech, thought and actions of a person. Incorruptibility in both moral
and material sphere
o a person going back to pay for an article for which the shopkeeper has forgotten to add its cost in the bill.
o despite the presence of institutions of the Lokpal and Central vigilance commission, India is ranked at 85th
position among 180 countries in the Corruption Perception Index 2021 of Transparency international.
o Economic offenders like Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, Harshad Mehta
 Professional integrity - adherence to high moral and ethical values while performing one’s duty.
o Since, according to deontological ethics, duty has to be performed regardless of its consequences,
professional integrity thus defines the professional who consistently and willingly practices within the
guidelines of the mission of a chosen profession under the obligation of a Code of Ethics.
o senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka despite being repeatedly transferred did not compromise on professional
integrity and unearthed the land scam in Haryana.
 oformer chief election commissioner TN Seshan showed the power of a character oriented public servant by
tackling the corrupt practices in the Indian electoral system head on.
o case of former ICICI bank chairman Chanda Kochar.
 Organizational integrity – full alignment in what an organisation thinks, says and does.
o For example, organizations lacking in ethical governance makes it difficult for independent directors to
uphold minority stakeholders interest.
o Few start ups allowing employees to take nap between hours to increase efficiencies

Intelligence and energy without integrity

 Cause person to orient towards pursuit of self interest; acting without honesty and honour
 Cyber hacking, cyber crime and terrorism by educated intelligent and energetic youth
 Unethical administrative practice by top level bureaucrats

Impartiality and non partisanship

 Impartiality
o Taking decision on the basis of merit and objective standards instead of basis of bias, prejudice or
preference
o Being guided by law, departmental procedures free from personal considerations and affliations
o Jat Reservation Agitation 2016 in Haryana
o Prakash Singh Committee by Haryana – role of officers of civil administration and police during the Jat
reservation agitation
 Non partisanship or political neutrality
o Civil servant performing task without any fear or favour to any political party
o Politicization of bureaucracy is against neutrality principle

Objectivity

 Decisions based on rigorous analysis of evidence and facts

 Objective civil servant providing impartial information and advice to Minister based on evidence and facts

Corruption:

 Corruption is a moral and social sin according to Gandhi

 Corruption in flyover construction and the resultant collapse of it in a busy area of Kolkata led to death of at least
25 people and significant loss to the public exchequer
 Aparigraha - In Jainism, aparigraha is the virtue of non-possessiveness, non-grasping, or non-greediness

Society and ethics:

 Aristotle - man is a social and political animal. Only a beast or god can exist outside the state because nature has
not made man self sufficient.
 Since the state does not arise from oak or rock but is constituted by the people living within it, hence the
community values and ethical standards influences the moral character of a person.
 For example, in Japanese culture the value associated with punctuality and teamwork is very high. Hence, the
Japanese organisations whether public or private have emerged as role models for corporates and public
organisations throughout the globe.
 Exception - Dr. Ambedkar despite living in a society which was caste ridden did not accept caste discrimination as
done by other members of his own community, rather he enabled himself to break this hierarchy through
educating himself and his community in values of liberalism, freedom, equality and fraternity.
 For example, section 377 (homosexuality) was struck down in Navtej singh johar case 2018 by overruling the earlier
Suresh Kumar Koushal judgement – constitutional morality vs public morality

Influence

 Green nudges are gentle persuasions to influence environment friendly behaviour in people
o Rewarding customers green points for no disposable cutlery in food delivery platforms to reduce plastic
pollution
 oIn behavioural economics, nudges are interventions that influence people’s choices to make certain
decisions without restricting the choices available to them.
 One hour of shram daan (voluntary labour) for Swachhata on occasion of Gandhi Jayanthi – cleanliness drive

Conscience:

 Cognitive dissonance and crisis of conscience

 Gandhiji stressed on the fact that each individual must be free from internal impediments like jealousy, hatred and
love for power to achieve internal swaraj.
 Clear Conscience is the softest pillow

Tools to solve moral conflicts:

 Conscience
 Gandhi’s Talisman - choose a certain course of action by judging its impact on the poorest and the most
marginalised section of the society. For the empowerment of the last man standing in line.
 Code of ethics, code of conduct and oath
o Central Civil Services conduct rules 1964. taking any gifts by public servants is barred in central civil service
conduct rules 1964 in order to clearly outline the requirement of being impartial and objective in
conducting the duty of a public servant.
o Public Service Bill 2006 suggests a code of ethics for public servants.
o doctors during the covid 19 crisis used their oaths to boost morale and strengthen their resolve to save
lives for which they have become doctors in the first place putting other people first.
 Laws, rules and regulations
 lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators
 Emotional Intelligence
 Nolan Committee Recommendations
 Constitutionalism and rule of law
 Departmental procedures and following due process of law

Steps to be taken:

 At individual level
 Societal level
o Increase literacy and urbanization
o Empowerment of gram sabha and gram panchayat in rural areas
 Governmental level
o Amartya Sen’s capability approach, investing in capacity building by providing for human capital
development

Morality and law:

 Ambedkar on constitution
 despite criminalisation of bribery, the “chai pani culture” is still prevalent in India and has gained social sanction for
it.
 Morality can help in achieving rule of law instead of rule by law. Eg., indiscriminate use of sec 124A of IPC (Sedition)
to curb political dissent.
 Law at times may be used for performing an unethical act, for example custodial rape and torture cases in Manipur
(Manorama case) due to extreme powers to the armed forces under AFSPA act 1958
o Thangjam Manorama was allegedly raped and killed by Indian paramilitary forces in 2004
o Irom Chanu Sharmila - 16 long years of fasting – 2000-16 against AFSPA 1958 – Manipur
 Personal values can help a public servant in resolving ethical dilemmas more effectively to fulfil the spirit of law
rather than always following the law to the letter always.
o For example, a public servant may decide to provide the benefits of a scheme to needy individuals without
having proper documents and help them to access the documents as early as possible.
 Law provides a clear set of do’s and don’t which helps in deciding on legality of an action unlike personal values
which are subjective. For example, the Code of conduct rule for civil services.
  Law helps in achieving a minimum standard of ethical behaviour and to bring uniformity in decision making to
avoid subjectivity.

Value to the life of others – love, compassion, indignation

 As Gandhiji argued all humanity shares the same “Brahman” and the purpose of life is to understand this universal
oneness which can be realised through love, friendship, kindness, compassion and indignation.
 Buddha himself argued that holding anger towards others is like holding a hot piece of coal in one’s own hands,
one cannot hurt others without hurting one’s own self.
 Gandhiji argued that hatred towards others is a form of violence and it creates impediments in self realisation.
(internal swaraj)
 Dr. Sindhutai Sapkal from Maharashtra due to her compassion towards children supported more than 1500
orphans and was known as “Mother Teresa of Maharashtra”.
 Mother Teresa served people who are dying of HIV/AIDS, leprosy through her Missionaries of Charity
 Zakaat – charity in Islam
o 2.5% of an individual’s annual savings and eligible assets
o Given to those in abject poverty and free inmates f jails who have no support systems to pay fines
o By Movement of Peace and Justice

Lying:

 Situational ethics approach argues that lying in certain conditions is not morally wrong if it leads to the greatest
happiness of the greatest numbers.
 Also, according to the doctrine of niti and nyaya as given by Krishna in Bhagwat Geeta, at times speaking truth(niti)
has to be given up in order to achieve the nyaya (justice). For example, Yudhisthira announced the death of
Ashwathama to kill Guru Drona in the battle of Mahabharata.

Ethics and AI:

 Issues of infringement of right to privacy due to increased data collection and use of data mining techniques for
targeted attacks/campaigns. Example, the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
 Issue of “data bias” towards a particular community due to asymmetric data leading to prejudiced decisions and
false positives targeting a particular section of society. For example, data bias against the black community in facial
recognition systems in the USA.
 Issues of high initial cost involved in setting up of such artificial enabled infrastructure for security purposes leading
to diversion of resources from developmental and social infrastructure leading to low human capital development.
 Widening inequality and lack of access to such technologies to subaltern sections
 Issue of artificial intelligence systems becoming sentient i.e acquiring self correcting and self thinking capabilities
making the systems self sufficient making the human control redundant.
 Issue of loss of human touch while using artificial intelligent machines leading to social alienation making
individuals and societies prone to radicalisation, weakens social fabric.
 Issues of artificial intelligence being used for promoting fake news, deepfakes, propaganda (information war and
infodemic) making civil society prone to weaponization.
 Responsible AI for Social Empowerment (RAISE) 2020

Sexual Harassment:

 internal complaints committee of the office constituted under Protection of women from sexual harassment at the
workplace act.

Mindset change:

 I would request the NGO to start screening of movies such as “Swades”, “Mere Desh Ki Dharti” etc on a weekly or
fortnightly basis as these movies show how technology and skill building can help in solving the challenges of rural
areas.
 invite various NGOs to conduct nukkad nataks (street plays) in vernacular language during tribal haats (local tribal
markets)
 regularly attend the gram sabha meetings and provide the rural population with exposure to great works done by
females for betterment of their respective villages.
  Chhavi Rajawat who is an MBA holder and is the youngest sarpanch of India in her ancestral village of Soda in
Rajasthan and has done tremendous work for the welfare of her village.
 Human sentiments affect all the three components of attitude formation (Cognitive, affective and behavioural
component).
 Short term – police; medium term – asha workers and local teachers; long term – NGOs, SHGs and panchayats

Attitudinal bias:

 Religious bias – various human rights activists allege that the police action is deliberately directed against a
particular community during religious riots and demonstrations.
 Caste bias - Caste based social exclusion leads to “De-Democratisation” of society. Public servants colluding among
protestors in Jat Reservation Agitation in Haryana
 Gender bias - various complaints of police not registering domestic violence, marital rape complaints and trying to
convince the victim to amicably solve the dispute
o Women suffers from intersectional discrimination ranging from caste, class, religion and gender etc as
recognised by Honourable Supreme Court in Patan Jamal Vali Judgement 2021.
 Cultural Bias /Value system Bias – public servants coming out of rural backgrounds and posted in urban centers
face this conflict of culture situation.

International aid:

 There is a sharp decline in aid for agricultural development and a rising share in total aid outlays of humanitarian
aid in response to emergencies as opposed to long term development points to the lack of respect.
 Gujral doctrine of non-reciprocity and Marshall Plan of USA and Molotov plan of USSR

Power:

 Even Gandhiji argued that unless the love for power does not get changed into the power of love the world would
not know peace.
 Various scams like Satyam Scam, Vyapam scam and corruption in awarding government contracts like 2G spectrum
and coal gate scam
 The issue of appointing kin of board members as independent directors in the corporate sector has become a
major problem in protecting the interests of the minority shareholders

Sources of unethical behaviour:

 duo accused of raping a minor girl in Jharkhand was beaten and set on fire by the villagers because they lack trust
in law enforcement agencies.
 The recent rise of mobocracy and encounter culture (Hyderabad veterinarian rape case encounter) points to
systemic challenges where unethical behaviour is a result of weakness of state institutions and delay in justice
delivery.
 Further, the lack of deterrence i.e., weak law enforcement cultivates a feeling in human beings by virtue of “Broken
Window Syndrome” that they can get away with unethical acts.
 unethical acts such as violent protest during anti citizenship amendment bill, members of a community were
pressured to turn violent in order to show solidarity with the whole community.

Honesty:

 since Gandhiji had an honest heart, he used his knowledge of law and politics for the betterment of depressed
people and through his constructive programmes
 On the other hand, demagogues like Hitler did not have an honest heart, hence he used his knowledge of history
and public speaking in order to kill over six million jews.

Conflict of interest:

 former finance minister Arun Jaitely rescued himself from the vodafone case as finance minister as he was the
lawyer in the case for vodafone when the case was subjudice.
 legislation to make declaration of conflict of interest mandatory similar to the USA model
 Sultan Al Jaber – head of one the world’s largest oil companies, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) – chosen
as President of CoP28 in Dubai, UAE
PM words:

 Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas - Everyone's support, everyone's development; everyone's
trust, everyone’s efforts - together with all, development for all, the trust of all, efforts of all

Seven deadly sins according to Gandhi:

 Wealth Without Work

 Pleasure Without Conscience
 Knowledge Without Character
 Commerce (Business) Without Morality (Ethics)
 Science Without Humanity
 Religion Without Sacrifice
 Politics Without Principle

Poor attitude of civil servants

 Government official in Chhattisgarh drained 21 lakh litres of water from a reservoir to find his phone that fell into it.
 Change in attitude
o Transformation of Ashoka from ferocious warrior to benevolent messenger of peace

Accountability

 Satish Dhawan took responsibility for failure of first SLV mission instead of blaming mission head Dr Kalam

Gender justice

 Women appointed as oothuvars in temple after certification courses in Tamil Nadu

Public disclosure

 Edwards Snowden
o former contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States.
o 2013 - he leaked classified information about the NSA's global surveillance programs.
o He fled to Russia to avoid prosecution, where he has been granted asylum.
o US government argues the programs are necessary to prevent terrorism, while critics believe they're an
unwarranted intrusion into people's lives.
 Julian Assange – WikiLeaks founder – facing trial for publishing secret military and diplomatic files of USA
o Related to Iraq, Afghanistam wars
o raises complex questions about the balance between national security, transparency, and freedom of the
press.
o Now faces extradition case in London

Caste discrimination

 Upper caste stopped getting provisions from a Dalit ration shop owner in Patan district of Gujarat

Discrimination against STs

 Adivasis of Vachathi village in Dharmapuri district at foothills of Eastern Ghats

o June 1992 – Victims were brutally assaulted by police, forest and revenue officials during crackdown on
sandalwood smuggling
o The villagers, women, the elderly and children were beaten up and 18 women were raped
o 2023 – Madras High Court upheld the 2011 verdict of trial court convicting 215 persons of rape and pillage
o The case established that state actors have no right to absolute immunity, but are indeed subjected to the
rule of law
 Issue
o Criminal laws do not provide special procedures and criminal liability for organized crime by state actors
o Absence of principle of command responsibility – holding political executive responsible for organised
violence by state forces
 Way forward
 o Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence (Access to Justice and Reparations) Bill 2001 which has
been lapsed must be tabled

Elements of Good Governance – 8 elements according to UN

 Participation
 Rule of aw
 Transparency
 Responsiveness
 Consensus oriented
 Equity and inclusiveness
 Effectiveness and efficiency
 Accountability

Abortion rights

 Pro life (life of the child) vs pro choice (reproductive autonomy of woman) debate
 Woman’s choice is paramount – right to reproductive health included right to an abortion
 Foetus is dependant on mother and cannot be recognized as an individual personality from that of its mother as its
very existence is owed to the mother
 On termination of 26 week pregnancy of a woman suffering from post partum psychosis – SC declined the plea of
married woman
 Court is averse to ordering doctors to stop the heart beat of foetus when medical reports say she will give birth to a
viable foetus
 When a foetus becomes viable and is capable of surviving outside the mothers’ uterus, the woman’s right to
choose can be undermined barring specific conditions outlined in MTP Act 1971
 Court’s recognition of a woman’s autonomy cannot eclipse the “rights of the unborn child”.
 Woman cannot claim an absolute overriding right to abort
o Especially when multiples reports from AIIMs medical board has confined that the pregnancy was not a
cause of immediate danger to her life or foetus
 According to Section 5 of Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act
o Medical termination after 24 weeks is warranted only if it is necessary to save the life of pregnant woman
o Only if pregnancy poses an actual, physical and immediate danger to a woman’s life and health according
to medical experts
 Court also embraced the rights and well being of the unborn child
 X vs Government of NCT of Delhi 2022
o Right to privacy enables individual to exercise autonomy over their body and mind and allowed women
complete freedom to make reproductive choices
 However the women suffered from post partum depression after the birth of her second child
o In international law, there is no right of the foetus or right of the unborn child

Political corruption

 1951 – H G Mudgal, MP of Provisional Parliament was found guilty of promoting the interests of a business
association by putting questions in the interests of the latter
 2005 – Parliament expelled 10 MPs of Lok Sabha for accepting money for putting questions up
 Ethics Committee of Parliament – set up in 1997 in Rajya Sabha and 2000 in Lok Sabha
o To examine every complaint related to unethical conduct of MPs

Campaigns

 Mera Pehla vote Desh ke liye

 Give it up movement – launched in 2015 - encouraged well-to-do households to voluntarily surrender their subsidy
on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). The goal was to divert those funds towards providing free LPG connections to
poorer families, particularly in rural areas
 Selfie with Daughter campaign
 Swachh Bharat
 Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
PM’s words

 Amrit Kaal - 25 years succeeding to 2047

 Viksit Bharat - developed India by 2047
o Per capita income, Inclusive growth and social inclusion, United India – free of terror, Global standing,
modern and reformed mindset
 Bharat as Vishwaguru (global teacher)
 Bharat as Vishwamitra (friend of the world)
 This era is not of war
 Bharat loktantra ki matruka (India - Mother of Democracy)
 Jan Andolan - people's movement
 Jan Bhagidhari - people' contribution
 Panch Pran –
o developed India by 2047, to remove colonial mindset, to be proud of our traditions, to dedicate whole life
for unity and integrity, and, to awaken a sense of duty in the mind of every citizen.
 3Ds of India - Demography, democracy and diversity; Fourth D – Development
 3Ds of international relation - Democracy, Diaspora and Dosti (Friendship)
 Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas - Everyone's support, everyone's development; everyone's
trust, everyone’s efforts - together with all, development for all, the trust of all, efforts of all
 Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan (knowledge and science) and Jai Anusandhan (research)
 Ek Bharat Shreshta Bharat (One India, ultimate or best India)
 Vanchit ko Variyata (preference to the underprivileged)
 Union Budget 2023 - Saptrishi or seven priorities to guide India’s vision during Amrit Kaal
o inclusive development, reaching the last mile, infrastructure and investment, unleashing the potential,
green growth, youth power and financial sector
 progress of youth (Yuva), poor (Garib), women (Mahilayen) and farmers (Annadatta)
o Garib ka Kalyan, Desh ka Kalyan
 Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam from Maha Upanishad – One Earth One Family and One Future
 New India – Economic Growth, Digital Transformation, Social Inclusion, Stronger Global Standing, Infrastructure