Identify ten essential values that are needed to be an effective public servant. Describe the ways and means to prevent non-ethical behaviour in public servants. (2021 - UPSC Mains General Studies Paper 4)
The essential values needed to be an effective public servant are:
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Integrity: Consistency in value system, thoughts and conduct.
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Objectivity: Impartial decision making.
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Leadership: Ability to lead subordinate towards desired goal
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Openness: Being transparent and open to scrutiny.
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Responsiveness: Addressing the demands of public.
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Empathy: Feeling and acting towards elevating pain of public.
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Selflessness: Action should not be self-oriented rather other oriented.
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Honesty: Being Fair, trustworthy and sincere.
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Accountability: Assuming responsibility and answerability for actions.
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Courage: Ability to do what is required even if the odds are against.
How to prevent non-ethical behaviour in public servants?.
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Effective laws, rules and regulations that unambiguously define do’s and don’ts along with a mechanism for quick action for unethical conduct.
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Cutting down on discretionary power and minimizing direct contact between citizen customer and service provider to reduce rent seeking opportunities.
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Effective use of transparency and accountability tools like RTI, social audits, e-governance etc. Providing adequate protection to whistle-blowers is also necessary.
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Better personnel management: Selection of candidates with high ethical competence and awakened conscience, promotions based on performance and Periodic training.
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Proper rewards and punishment mechanism in terms of performance-based bonus that encourage hard work and discourage non-ethical conduct.
Sometimes not all the unethical behaviour in public servants can be regulated. The professional ethics and its maintenance can be assured by observing policies of perform perish. There also needs to be the observance of behavioural change. There should be inducement of discipline and working through clear deadlines. The change must come from the bottom and not top. Ethical standards although to an extent be enforced through adequate maintenance of law and policy making but the use of behavioural economics to can be imbibed to prevent going against the effective setup.
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