Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Prologue
So far in the [Ethics] mock-question series
1. UPSCs sample paper for GS4
2. Samples questions based on ethics courses of San Diego and Texas
University
Now this this articles contains case-studies/questions are based on Donald C.
Menzels book Ethics Moments in Government:Cases and Controversies.
For the Essay-ish questions Ive merely lifted statements from the book.
Because UPSC seems to be doing similar thing for Public Administration
(lift sentences from some book and ask the candidate to comment on it).
for the case-studies questions, Ive given Indian flavor to those American
cases and included a few answer key points but by no means theyre
sacred/official/final/marksworthy- theyre only meant to serve as
lighthouse for the utterly confused.
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Answer keypoints
DevAnand made a wrong decision because:
1. It prevents other staff members from carrying out the official order from
StateHQ.
2. It puts his boss in an embarrassing position in front of the StateHQ.
3. If Devs conscience doesnt permit him carrying out a task, he should
inform his boss. But running away with keys, without informing anyone =
irresponsible.
4. Such behavior is not expected from a good team player / a public servant.
government by the end of March 31st. But his colleague Pran suggests following:
1. If we honestly return Rs.1.5 lakh back, then government officials will think
we are amateur, ineffective NGOs and theyll substantially reduce our grant
for next year or even worse- theyll not give us any project next time!
2. We should take help of CA Prem Chopra to manipulate our account books
and show majority of the grant was utilized for education.
3. Many other NGOs do the same thing- there is no problem nobody will
raise any objection, as long as we give 20% of the grant to SDM in charge
of this project.
4. Although it sounds unethical but we wont use this money for personal
needs, well use it on street children only. Hence our act is fully ethical and
moral.
What should DevAnand do with the money?
Answer keypoints:
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Both Dev and Pran are risking themselves to an unnecessary negative publicity
and possible departmental inquiry and punishment for professional misconduct.
Indeed police building needed repairs and should have been given a grant
months ago, but three wrongs dont make a right:
1. Wanton destruction of a public building.
2. Misleading the disaster assessment team.
3. Police officer DevAnand spending his time and energy in such activity
rather than doing rescue-relief-patrolling duty after the disaster.
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Because:
1. A banker must keep his clients data confidential, unless required by the
law to disclose it.
2. GuruDutt didnt even wait to cross verify who else is giving money to
Mrs.Bindu Chopras account. Because if there was a large scale bribe
scam then lot other senior citizens would be making payment to Bindus
account, and not just Mr.Ashok Kumar alone.
3. Even in that situation, Gurudutt had to consult his boss within his own bank
first. He cannot go around giving informal tips to outsiders. This is an
unethical act for a banker.
4. DevAnand too acted in hasty manner. First, he starts investigation based
on an informal tip from a banker who is not supposed to tip him in the first
place. He should have consulted the vigilance department before moving
further.
5. Second, Dev Anand confronts Prem Chopra, without any hardcore
evidence. When youre holding a public office, you cant go around
accusing people in such haste. It breaks the office discipline, destroys the
staff morale and allows the guilty person to cover his tracks.
Political neutrality
Prem Chopra, a civil society activist, has launched a mass-movement to change
Prime-ministerial form of government to presidential form of government. Dev
Anand is an undersecretary in the PMO. Before joining civil service, he had done
Ph.D on the demerits of presidential form of government. He is invited by a news
channel for prime-time debate. The newschannel anchor, Mr.Arnab Goswami
assures DevAnand following:
1. Itll be only an educational-intellectual debate among scholars.
2. No politicians from ruling or opposition party are invited in our show.
3. Youre invited in your capacity as a scholar in political science and not as a
bureaucrat.
Should DevAnand accept Arnab Goswamis invitation for news-debate?
Answerkey point:
No. Because bureaucrats should not voice their opinion about political matters
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4. Therefore, it is best to keep auctions and other money raising activities out
of the workplace irrespective of their noble aims.
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3. This situation is all about the perception of favoritism. The perception may
or may not be true whether DevAnand is giving preferential treatment to
Rosie during annual performance evaluation.
4. To prevent this from happening, DevAnand needs to stop chasing Prem
Chopra and take steps to get his wife posted in another office, or seek his
own transfer to another office.
5. Last but not least, the DevAnand should put to rest the question of the
legality of his marriage to avoid future accusations.
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3. In the given case, goons were armed with pistols and rifles. No unarmed
civilian can be expected to fight with them. In future, might lead to a
situation where a poor man intentionally jumps in the fight, knowing fully
well that hell be killed- but only doing so his family can get Rs.10 lakh.
4. Maintenance of law and order is states responsibility not civilians. Money
is better spent on recruiting more policemen and judges.
For more on case studies & revision notes, visit Mrunal.org/ETHICS
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