Day 60 – Q 4.Suggest various means that can strengthen ethical and moral values in governance.

4. Suggest various means that can strengthen ethical and moral values in governance. 

विभिन्न साधनों का सुझाव दें जो शासन में नैतिक और नैतिक मूल्यों को मजबूत कर सकें।

Introduction:

Ethical and moral values are essence of governance. Various ancient and modern texts has emphasised on ethical and moral values in governance –

• Arthashastra urged the ruler to remain compassionate towards his subject. It says about the king, “In the happiness of his subjects lies his happiness; in their welfare his welfare”.
• “The Republic” of Plato talks about the “Philosopher King”, statecraft and administration based on ethics and morality.
• Indian constitution has made India a ‘welfare state’ with the obligation of safeguarding fundamental rights and liberty of citizens.

Body

Various means that can strengthen ethical and moral values in governance 

• To strengthen value based administration, 2nd ARC has recommended foundational values of civil services which include empathy, compassion, tolerance, impartiality, non-partisanship among others.
• Ethical training will help in inculcation of such values. As suggested by Prime Minister recently, senior officials must visit the district of their first posting and observe the changes made thus far. This will inculcate emotion and dedication in bureaucrats.  
• Transparency in functioning of political parties will inspire honesty and integrity among politicians. 
• Quality service delivery like Sevottam Model
• Identifying ethically vulnerable areas in governance like bidding and contract allotments and using tools like integrity pact.   
• Use of technology to create more transparency and to reduce scope of corruption. Eg – online bidding process, geo tagging of NREGA, online income tax filing etc
• Strengthening accountability  in governance through RTI, external audit, social audit, citizens charter etc
• Mass awareness to participate in governance process and ask questions to representatives and officials. 
• Strengthening framework of corporate governance as per the recent recommendations of SEBI, Uday Kotak committee etc. 

Conclusion

“We need a government,” writes Peter Drucker, the father of modern management, “which knows how to govern and does so. Not a government which ‘administers,’ but a government which truly governs”. This cannot be done without ethical and moral values in governance.