Ethics Booster

 Integrity   Integrity means that the moral agent acts according to the inner convictions of a person. His conducts should be free from hypocrisy and deception. His actions should be in conformity with his stated values. But it is hard to follow high morals which one proclaims. The British historian GM Trevelyan has … Read more

 Code of ethics Ethics codes are as old as antiquity. Religious traditions and civic cultures have codes as their foundations. The Mosaic Decalogue (Ten Commandments) is the keystone for Judaism, Islam and Christianity. Pericles made the Athenian code the underpinning of ancient Greek politics and culture. In each case codes carry general obligations … Read more

 Ethics in administration: Status and problem The Historical Context India has witnessed a long history of unethical practices in the governance system. Kautilya’s Arthashastra mentions a variety of corrupt practices in which the administrators of those times indulged themselves. The Mughal Empire and the Indian princely rule were also afflicted with the corrupt … Read more

 Accountability and ethical governance Accountability means being answerable for the performance of tasks assigned to a person; if task assigned is selection of beneficiaries for a scheme, then accountability will imply whether the selection has been carried out by applying the criteria, and following the procedures laid down, in the timely manner within … Read more

 Foundational values for civil services Values are the standards on which, we evaluate things. For every situation we don’t have time to ‘test’ the case on ethics theories such as utilitarianism. Values provide time saving short-cut in such situation. Under New public management (NPM), the concept of public services is fast changing. Bureaucrat … Read more

 Universal human values Compassion Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to help the physical, mental or emotional pains of another and themselves. Compassion is often regarded as having sensitivity, an emotional aspect to suffering, though when based on cerebral notions such as fairness, justice, and interdependence, it may be considered … Read more

 Human values Human values have been employed in so distinctively different ways in human discourse. It is often said that a person has a value or an object has a value. Value is “a concept explicit of implicit, distinctive of an individual or characteristics of a group of those desirable traits which influence … Read more

 Quality of life, life expectancy, literacy, standard of living and migration in India Human development—a comprehensive approach Human development is a process of enlarging people’s choices. But human development is also the objective, so it is both a process and an outcome. Human development implies that people must influence the processes that shape … Read more

 Political attitude Political Attitude means the beliefs and values which underpin the operation of a particular political system. These attitudes were seen as including knowledge and skills about the operation of the political system positive and negative judgments about the system. These attitudes determine how people participate, whom they vote for and which … Read more

 Immanuel Kant Towards the end of his most influential work, Critique of Pure Reason(1781/1787), Kant argues that all philosophy ultimately aims at answering these three questions: “What can I know? What should I do? What may I hope?” The book appeared at the beginning of the most productive period of his career, and … Read more