“Ethics in public administration is not a luxury but a necessity.” Examine.

Introduction:

The unseen cornerstone of administrative legitimacy is ethics. Public authority must be used with honesty, justice and compassion in a welfare democracy like India. Even effective systems degrade into exploitation and public mistrust in the absence of an ethical compass.

Analytical Dimensions: 

1. Moral obligations that influence administrative behaviour are enshrined in the Preamble and Directive Principles of the Constitution.
2. Integrity, impartiality and transparency are highlighted as non-negotiable characteristics in the 2nd ARC’s “Ethics in Governance” report.
3. The goal of laws like the Whistleblower Protection Act, CVC and Lokpal-Lokayukta is to institutionalise ethical accountability.

Challenges: 

• Politicalization, cronyism and widespread corruption frequently trump moral judgement in Civil services.
• Vested interest pressure and fear of  victimisation highly undermine the ethical decision-making.
• Officers’ moral courage and empathy are suppressed when rules and hierarchy are overemphasised and cage them to decide ethically.

The Way forward

1. Civil-service academies should integrate ethics labs and value-based instruction to train them for that kinds of ethical dilemma in service.
2. There should be due  integrity checks and ethical behaviour scale should be associated with promotions.
3. Social accountability could be increased by using transparent public portals and citizen supervision.

Administrative ethics is a democratic requirement not a cosmetic ideal. Citizens regain faith in government when morality and law are combined, and administration turns into a genuine tool of justice.

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