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Foundation values for civil services - Part 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
A combination of religious and democratic values has resulted in creation of a set of universal values. These universal values have been respected by all societies in the world, and guide the behaviour of people, irrespective of religion, race, colour, social and economic background to which they belong. Some of these cherished values are listed below:
- Truth
- Honesty
- Dedication to work
- Non Violence
- Compassion
- Courage
- Perseverance
- Self-discipline
- Loyalty
- Faith
These values do not change through the march of time and are as valid today as they were hundreds of years ago, when they were originally formulated to guide human behaviour and conduct. These values may therefore be termed Eternal Values as well.
2.0 Values for Public Servants
In order that the public officials perform their duties honestly and efficiently and become an instrument of service to the people they need to possess universal values as mentioned above. They need in particular the following fundamental values:
- Devotion to Work
- A sense of Mission and Focus
- Integrity and Honesty
- Fearlessness and Courage
- Spirit of Service and Sacrifice
Commitment and Devotion to Work: In respect to commitment and devotion to work the Fifth Pay Commission had following to say , "Today the government offices is seen as dusty, moth eaten, dingy, paper infested hovel chock-full of babus, which is feudal in outlook, hierarchical in structure, antediluvian in its procedures, dilatory in examination of issues and secretive in its dealings with customers. Despite, being one of the largest providers of services, there is complete lack of customer orientation in various government departments".
We should change the existing work culture in public services and inculcate the philosophy of nishkam-karma propounded by our scriptures. Bhagwad Gita expounds the concept of Karamanyev adhikarste ma phalesu kadachana. For the public servant to be efficient a high degree of commitment is essential. Though the focus is on processes, he has to evaluate the best possible mix of means vs. ends
Sense of Mission: Work should not be done simply for the sake of doing work. There should be clear focus and direction in what one is doing, otherwise it will not be productive and yield results. Today most corporates have a mission and vision statements. This gives clarity about the task to be performed and goals to be fulfilled. But since governance comprises of a wide domain of activites, the resources of the government in a developing country are spread too thin. Hence a clear sense of mission becomes more important in achieving the stated objective. It was a clear sense of mission that was responsible for the success of our space programme, or operation flood which revolutionized milk production in the country. Today Finance Minister, while making budgetary allocation to various departments talks of Outcome- budget, which implies that public services should deliver quantifiable results in term of actual services available to people such as education, health, roads, and power. If public servants are focused on what results they have to achieve and are inspired that they are working for a national cause, there will be quantum improvement in delivery of public services.
Integrity and Honesty: A public servant’s office is held on the basis of two principles; they shall not use public office for private gain, and they shall act impartially and not give preferential treatment to any private organization or individual. Today corruption has become a widespread phenomenon among public officials as they unabashedly use their position and power to enrich themselves personally. How to control corruption is one of the biggest challenges facing the Government.
Public officials should also avoid conflict of interest situations. While a conflict of interest is not ipso facto corruption, there is increasing recognition that conflicts between the private interests and public duties, if not adequately managed, can result in corruption. Thus for example negotiation of future employment by a public official with a firm with which he has official dealings, prior to leaving public office is widely regarded as a conflict of interest situation. This is the reason why in case of many constitutional appointments further service after retirement has not been allowed.
While rules and laws have been framed for severe punishment, if officials are caught in corruption, they do not act as effective deterrence as rules give so many escape clauses. Only when public servants inculcate the noble values of integrity and honesty, a dent in massive corruption problem facing the country can be made.
Fearlessness and Courage: It is often seen that many public officials though honest themselves, succumb to unjust demand of political masters or their own official superiors, out of fear that their CR will be spoiled or they will be transferred to a inconvenient place, or their promotion will be jeopardized. This happens largely due to weak character and lack of conviction that they are doing an honest job.
The Shah Commission which investigated the 'excesses' committed during Emergency (1975-77), found that public servants committed irregular and illegal acts, which caused immense suffering to the masses out of fear of their political masters. The Commission observed, 'they crawled while they were asked to bend'. During the Nuremberg trial the top German army commanders told the War Crime Tribunal that they committed atrocities against the Jews out of fear of Nazi top brass.
P S Appu Director of National Academy of Administration, showed great courage of conviction and stood by his principles and quit his job, when he found that political masters interfered with his demand to terminate the services of an IAS probationer who was indisciplined and indulged in criminal behaviour. One of the charges against bureaucracy is that they play safe and are afraid of taking bold decisions. In the complex and technocratic world of today public servants are required to take speedy and innovative decisions which needs courage. Aristotle had said, "we become brave by doing brave acts".
Spirit of Service and Sacrifice: Spirit of service and sacrifice is an essential ingredient of public services and public officials should feel inspired that that they are working for a national cause. Today it is a common complaint that salary level in top civil services are very low as compared to private sector. While persons in civil services need to be given decent salary, their salary and emoluments can never match with those working in the private sector. Young men who join the army and are prepared to lay down their life in the event of war or are posted in the harsh and treacherous weather conditions of Siachin glacier and brave the hardship as they are inspired by a noble mission that they are serving the country. No amount of monetary incentive can compensate for the sacrifice and hardship they undergo.
3.0 IMPORTANCE AND ROLE OF EDUCATION
The erosion of ethical values among every age group, class and section of the society can .easily be classified as one of the most critical and far-reaching problems of our time. Anti- corruption education is therefore a vital component of any anti-corruption strategy. An informed citizenry is perhaps more crucial than the most sophisticated codes of conduct, laws and regulations in preventing corrupt and unethical behaviour. Anti-corruption laws and institutions are ultimately only as good as the people who uphold their founding principles, adhere to their requirements and report instances of non-compliance. There is no substitute for individual integrity in the fight against corruption and this sense of integrity needs to be inculcated amongst the country's citizens through various stages of their life.
Education is the foundation of a morally sound society as students go on to occupy positions integral to public life. Education spreads awareness against corruption and thus helps in strengthening the moral or ethical values of society. Raising genera! levels of awareness in the population is essential as this establishes citizens' demands for accountability, and education creates a culture of accountability by emphasizing ethical practice and by creating the need for such practice.
Thus there are two basic ways in which education helps - by developing responsible citizens through education and promoting values and ethics within the educational system and by developing a sense of awareness in people so there is a greater demand of accountability and transparency. Curriculum in middle schools should include ethics and anti- corruption issues.
Examples of such initiatives can be found in Hong Kong, where the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) initiated a highly successful "moral education programme" in the early 1980s , which was set to promote integrity and positive behavioral standards through a range of products aimed at teachers, parents and students in Hong Kong's schools and teacher colleges. A different approach was taken with the "Corruption" campaign in Mexico, using its extensive use of the internet to reach younger generations. Children are encouraged to qualify as "00 Corrupcion" Agents, and to promote transparency and integrity through a number of games and real-life exercises. One important attempt in India to educate the public servants was by IIM Bangalore which had commenced a course on Public Policy Management (PPM).
4.0 Culture & Values
The term culture would refer to our social and moral systems and all activity that are carried through generations comprising our beliefs, values, religion and behavior. Culture is the product of civilization, a way of life and establishes traditions and benchmarks for societies. Corruption is counter to culture has the ability to erode the cultural integrity and moral systems of societies. Thus it has a deep and long lasting impact on the continuous evolution of human society. The corruption of different modern cultural manifestations would be the malpractices that have entered educational systems, entertainment and mass media, as also in business and environment.
Cultural change is a necessity at times but corruption directs these changes in negative directions and all cultural products of society from governments, corporations, media, entertainment and education are impacted by and in turn impact corruption. To understand the true value of culture, we also need to understand the long lasting consequences of corruption that have permeated all aspects of modern society.
Since generally accepted social and cultural ruies define and limit behaviour, individuals in India today may believe that it is necessary to work through informal channels to achieve personal objectives. This would induce people to offer or pay bribes and similar dishonest dealings, and it might induce officials to demand or accept bribes. Once corrupt patterns are established, they tend to perpetuate because breaking out of the pattern would create uncertainty. LPG has bought its own set of problems and challenges in the threat to culture.
An effective anti-corruption strategy therefore also needs to address this 'cultural' aspect of corruption and gradually change prevailing norms that have led to acceptance and propagation of corrupt actions.
5.0 Recommendations
According to various experts, reports and recommendations an anti corruption strategy has to focus on the following:
- Ethics Education: This would aim at strengthening individuals in their ethical decision- making. Value conflicts and ethical dilemmas frequently arise in the daily lives of people, for example when family values, . such as loyalty, clash with work ethics, such as impartiality. Ethio. education should provide the skill to identify such conflicts, and instil the motivation for solving them in the best interest.
- Character education is a holistic approach that includes civic education and connects the moral dimension of education with students' lives. Characteristics of socially responsible citizens in a democracy should be emphasized both in the classroom-based lessons and community activities.
- Citizenship and democracy education should aim at strengthening democratic processes and participation in politics, and promote values such as representation, solidarity, participation, responsibility and pluralism. Voter education should build citizens' awareness of electoral processes, should also be considered anti-corruption education. Public and private sector ethics and organisational ethics do have strong anti-corruption components, as they build on values such as accountability, fairness, impartiality and lawfulness.
- Youth anti-corruption education should be integrated in school subjects such as civics or citizenship education. The curricula must implicitly link to cover moral issues and provide concepts such as public good and social justice that are key to understanding the need for fighting corruption. Introducing it within the school system strengthens the whole drive. Youth anti-corruption education should be linked to themes that are particularly interesting to youth, for example by linking ethics with sports: the consequences .of corruption in sports - the disrespect for the value of fairness - are obvious even to younger children. Teaching should build on real life examples so that students can identify with ethical dilemmas. It is particularly important to respect students' values and rights, and to strengthen their capacities for moral judgment without indoctrination.
- Practice is better than theory: Methods should include students' surveys and polls, role plays to facilitate the understanding of differing interests and to promote the ability for conflict resolution, public debates, and i attending parliamentary sessions or visiting public institutions to understand how democracy works. School practice also is itself an important vehicle for transmitting values. The context in which integrity and ethi.cs are taught needs to be free of repression and fear. Those who teach must themselves represent the values they teach.
- Higher education agenda: Universities should include anti-corruption in their governance and ethics classes. From public administration, business, law and economics schools to technical and engineering professions, anti-corruption must be a part of the curriculum.
- Occupational Education: Once a citizen has crossed through the stages of childhood, school education, higher education and enters professional life it is essential that anti- corruption education continue to be imbibed through a variety of means. This is in fact a critical stage of anti-corruption education since it is during one's professional life that one's integrity is regularly put to test. Occupation education is important regardless of the nature of one's profession and must be designed such that it addresses dilemmas specific to different fields of work.
- Organizing public awareness campaigns, exploiting the full power of the media, NGOs, community organizations, schools etc in raising levels of awareness against corruption, while taking precautions to stop them from being misused (eg, for political ends, general denunciation, etc.)
- Giving citizens improved access to information about rules and regulations pertaining to corruption in order to empowerthem to demand greater levels of accountability from public officials while ensuring that they themselves are complying with the same.
- Promoting 'zero tolerance' for corruption culture is an essential component of any anti- corruption strategy. Adequate resources must be allocated for the same.
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