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Ethics Assignment
By
Rohit Kumar Singh
Shivika Tandon
Shweta Jatwani
Shruti Sayana
Mohit Yadav
Rahul Kumar
CERTIFICATE
Faculty
……………….
CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION
We hereby declare that the work, which is being presented in this assignment titled
“EHTICAL ISSUES IN TOURISM INDUSTRY” in partial fulfilment of requirement for
award of the degree of MHROD in Department of Commerce, Delhi University .This is an
authentic record of our work carried out under the able supervision of Dr. Gauri Shankar. We
have not submitted the matter embodied in this project for award of any other degree or
diploma anywhere else.
Shweta Jatwani
Shruti Sayana
Mohit Yadav
Rahul Kumar
Acknowledgement
We deem it our privilege to extend the gratitude and appreciation towards all those
who have been directly or indirectly involved themselves in making this assignment.
We wish to express our gratitude to our honourable Faculty Dr. Gauri Shankar for his
prompt and sincere guidance. He stood by us all the way and provided us additional insight
and ideas with painstaking attention to details. His comments and criticism have been
valuable.
Shivika Tandon
Shweta Jatwani
Shruti Sayana
Mohit Yadav
Rahul Kumar
PREFACE
Civil service refers to the body of government officials who are employed in civil
occupations that are neither political nor judicial. The concept of civil service was prevalent
in India from ancient times. The Mauryan administration employed civil servants in the name
of adhyakshas and rajukas. The examination for civil servants in those days too was very
stringent as quoted by Kautilya’s Arthasastra. The expanse of the territory and the need to
hold it intact made it imperative for the Mauryan administration to recruit civil servants based
on merit. The concept of civil service again came into prominence when British in search of
creating a framework to hold the territories of India, created the much coveted ‘Indian Civil
Services’ or the ICS.
Many changes took place in Indian Civil services since Lord Cornwallis
introduced it in India. The Indian Civil services were created to foster the idea of unity in
diversity . The civil service was expected to give continuity and change to the administration
no matter the political scenario and turmoil affecting the country. Indian civil service has also
played the part of giving this continuous support to the nation. But what is appalling and
needs a serious consideration is the element of ‘change’ and ‘ethical values’. It can be said
that the civil service as a whole has maintained its status quo instead of sweeping changes in
social and economic scenario. Some may argue that it is the resilience of the civil service, but
it is an obvious fact out in the street that the Indian civil service was not able to deliver
service based upon the expectations of the people or the founding fathers of the Constitution.
The present paper deals about the ethical problems affecting Indian civil service
and the reform that is needed to make it vibrant and deliver according to the expectations.
The civil service is an integral part of administration and the structures of administration to
determine the way the civil service functions.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. BACKDROP OF INDIAN ADMINISTRATION...................................................................... 8
2. GOVERNANCE AND NEED FOR CIVIL SERVICES ........................................................ 10
3. ETHICS IN PUBLIC LIFE AND CIVIL SERVICES ............................................................ 11
4. ETHICAL ISSUES IN INDIAN CIVIL SERVICES .............................................................. 13
4.1. ASYMMETRIC DISTRIBUTION AND ABUSE OF POWER.............................................................. 13
4.2. LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY .................................................................................................... 14
4.3. POLITICAL INTERFERENCE AND CRONICYSM .......................................................................... 14
4.4. LACK OF INTEGRITY ............................................................................................................... 15
4.5. LACK OF ACTION AGAINST CORRUPT OFFICIALS ..................................................................... 15
4.6. LACK OF PROPER PROTECTION TO WHISTLEBLOWERS ............................................................ 15
4.7. LACK OF PROPER CODE OF CONDUCT FOR PUBLIC SERVANTS................................................ 16
4.8. LACK OF TRANSPARENCY AND SENSITIVITY TOWARDS COMMON MAN ................................... 16
5. MEASURES FOR BETTER ETHICAL CONDUCT OF CIVIL SERVANTS ................... 18
5.1. MEASURES AGAINST CORRUPTION.......................................................................................... 18
5.2. FIXING OF ACCOUNTABILITY .................................................................................................. 18
5.3. TRANSPARENCY ..................................................................................................................... 19
5.4. REDUCING DISCRETION .......................................................................................................... 19
5.5. ENSURING ACCESSIBILITY AND RESPONSIVENESS ................................................................... 20
5.6. CODE OF ETHICS FOR CIVIL SERVANTS................................................................................... 20
5.7. LAW FOR PROTECTION OF WHISTLEBLOWERS ......................................................................... 20
5.8. INSULATING CIVIL SERVANTS FROM UNDUE POLITICAL INTERFERENCE .................................. 21
5.9. PROMOTING COMPETITION ..................................................................................................... 21
6. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS.......................................................................................... 22
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................................... 24
During medieval period the feudal administration of Mughals and Shershah Suri
were meant for extracting revenues for plunder and pleasure. A close examination of their
working would reveal that the entire setup was meant to protect the interests of emperor
rather than the good of masses. The reforms introduced during this period were mainly
for plugging gaps and leakages and improving the system efficiency for revenue
collection.
The colonial power, which entered India in search of business and profit did not
destroy the basic structure but improvised it to suit their own purpose. Colonialism,
because of its mission, deepened and sharpened the coercive apparatus of the state in the
process of extraction of the surplus, gradually destroying the productive processes. To
legitimise their roots, the colonial masters introduced educational and legal system, which
oriented to produce clerks and lawyers for administration to keep the administrative and
judicial system going. It created a class of people who were ‘black in colour but European
in thought’. All attempts of reforms were aimed at perpetuating the existing system,
rather than altering it in anyway. However, they created a new set of officers who not
only wielded power and worked as a source of power, but were also agents of the
supposedly welfare regime.
The civil services setup designed by British to rule our country has been
tweaked time and again through various administrative reforms commissions to suit our
requirements, but still it is beset with many problems.
Thus there is a need for an effective and efficient Public Services Institution for the
growth and welfare of a state.
Ethics is a set of values and principles that helps guide behaviour, choice and action.
Organizations as well as individuals have certain ethical standards. In democracy, every
holder of public office is accountable ultimately to the people. Such accountability is
enforced through a system of laws and rules, which the elected representatives of the
people enact in their legislature. Ethics provides the basis for the creation of such laws
and rules. Also, in a democracy any person holding a public office derives his authority
and power because of people.
Civil servants have a special responsibility because they are entrusted with
managing resources on behalf of the community, delivering services to the community
and taking decisions that affect a citizen’s life. The community, therefore, must be able to
trust the integrity of the civil service decision-making process. Civil servants are expected
to maintain high standards of professionalism, responsiveness and impartiality. One of the
most comprehensive statements of what constitutes ethical standards for holders of public
office came from the Committee on Standards In Public Life in the United Kingdom,
popularly known as Nolan Committee, which outlined following Seven Principles of
Public Life:
(i) Selflessness
Holders of public office should act 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.
(ii) Integrity
Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other
obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might seek to influence them in
the performance of their official duties.
(iii) Objectivity
(iv) 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.
(v) 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.
(vi) 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.
(vii) Leadership
Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership
and example.
Today the Indian Civil Services are facing a large number of ethical issues and most of
them, directly or indirectly, are related to corruption. Corruption is an important
manifestation of the failure of ethics. The word ‘corrupts’ is derived from the Latin word
‘corruptus’, meaning ‘to break or destroy’. The word ‘ethics’ is from original Greek term
‘ethicos’, meaning ‘arising from habit’. It is unfortunate that corruption has, for many,
become a matter of habit, ranging from grand corruption involving persons in high places
to retail corruption touching the everyday life of common people. Various ethical issues
faced by our civil services are:
life and property. This also encourages unethical and corrupt practices in public
services.
Apart from these ethical issues there are various other issues which are ailing our
civil services setup. Some of them are as follows:
• Lack of professionalism and poor capacity building.
• Outmoded rules and procedures that restrict civil servants from performing
effectively.
• Systemic inconsistencies in promotion and empanelment.
• Arbitrary and whimsical transfers- insecurity in tenure impedes
institutionalization.
• Ineffective incentive systems that do not appreciate upright and outstanding civil
servants but rewards the corrupt and incompetent.
In view of above facts and issues regarding ethical conduct of civil servants and its
importance in nation building and larger welfare of citizens of a country, it is necessary to
adopt various measures to set things right. Some of the measures which can be adopted
are:
5.3. Transparency
The Right to Information Act, 2005, is one of the most concrete steps towards
increasing transparency, in its statement of objectives it recognizes that ‘democracy
requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information, which are vital to its
functioning and also to contain corruption and hold governments and their
instrumentalities accountable to the governed.’ There is widespread consensus that
good governance must be participatory, transparent and accountable. The present
system in India, however, is firmly grounded on mistrust. This system of mistrust has
to be removed to achieve better results in working of our civil services. Media can
also play a key role in highlighting the prevalent corruption and in creating negative
public opinion against tolerance of corruption.
introducing strict accountability for action. There are large numbers of governmental
activities where discretion can be reduced or totally eliminated. Wherever it is not
possible to eliminate discretion, then the exercise of power should be bound by well
defined guidelines to minimize discretion. Reducing discretion paves the way for
preventing arbitrary decisions.
5. Concluding Observations
6. Bibliography