PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND PROFESSIONALISM IN INDIA – A HISTORICAL

PERSPECTIVE

MR. IMTI LEMTUR

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

LOYOLA COLLEGE; WILLIAMNAGAR - INDIA

ABSTRACT

Professions and Professionals are an essential part of any given society. Every individual is
usually engaged in one or the other profession not only for their sustenance but also to render
services and settle human issues through peaceful means. It is equally important along with
formal education one needs to develop certain code of conduct in their profession and towards
the society at large. Professionals are respected and honored throughout the world and are
considered as the “Pure fountain of justice”. In order to maintain the standards, every
Professional needs to adhere and adopt certain ethical principles.

For centuries, the world in general has followed and regulated certain ethical norms and
standards of professional conduct. Misconduct in any profession is considered as dereliction of
duty. It may level to certain amount of consequences or punishments depending upon the degree
and nature of breach. India in particular has a long history of professionalism and professional
conduct. Be it in the field of formal education, legal practices and medical sciences. To trace the
historical narrative of professional development in India would help to restore, rebuild and
restructure the entire system which seems to have forgotten or perhaps have become in-efficient.

KEYWORDS: Professional ethics and etiquette, Professionalism, Origin, Development

Introduction

In every given society, man occupies different occupations for their livelihood or for their
satisfaction. These occupations can be broadly divided into Productive and Service occupations.
By Productive occupation, it means that category of occupations wherein the basic motive is to
earn or enjoy a reasonable amount of benefits in return of the activity performed.

The Oxford Dictionary ascribes the meaning of Productive occupation as, “a category of
occupations which focus on employment, self- development, or making a contribution (socially
or economically) to the society”. On the contrary, Service occupations means that category of
occupations wherein the basic motive is not to earn any profits or benefits in return of the
services provided.

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The Longman’s Business Dictionary ascribes its meaning as, “a job that involves providing a
service for a person or company, rather than producing a product, for example the job of a
cleaner, sales person, or lawyer”.

The occupations which require advanced education and special training are called professions
such as Lawyer, teacher, architecture, Doctors, and so on. Their prime objective is to provide
service for other with the intention of making the world a better place. These Professionals are
usually guided by certain principles and value which is why, some considers “Profession not a
craft but a calling”.

Therefore, every professions in a given society posses certain characteristics such as Specialized
knowledge, Service motive, Regulated by professional body, Code of Conduct, Employment,
Work for others, Terms and conditions and Fixed income.

Of all the characteristics, specialized knowledge in a particular field has been considered as the
most important feature of any Profession throughout the world. Society excepts from an
individual when in a profession, certain degree of specialized knowledge in that field, for
example; from Doctors – medicines and ailments, lawyer – law and liabilities and teachers –
education and guidance. Certain codes of conduct are also expected from an individual when in a
profession. In legal parlance, it is called “The Seven Lamps of Advocacy”.

And finally, to work for others seems the only means of self-satisfaction in life. This is the
reason as to why people called teaching, advocacy and doctors as a noble profession.

Professional Ethics

The word Ethics has been derived from the Latin word “Ethos” which means a “Habitual mode
of conduct”. It springs from long habits and customs of an individual. According to Business
Dictionary, Professional ethics are professionally accepted standards of personal and business
behavior, values and guiding principles. Professional ethics as such, encompasses the personal
and corporate standards of behavior expected by professionals.

By personal standards of behavior, it means showing due respect to ones employers and obeying
the set rules and regulations; for example, Hippocratic Oath, Oath of allegiance, Oath of
citizenship and Oath of office.

Codes of professional ethics are often established by professional organizations to help guide
members in performing their job functions according to sound and consistent ethical principles.
It is usually associated with “Etiquette” which refers to a pattern of behavior and the mode in
which a person is required to conduct himself.

Etiquette consist of the following elements namely elegancy, dignity and decency. Thus, for the
purpose of maintaining proper decorum in any profession, ethics and etiquette plays a crucial
role in determining its positive outcome and developing an effective management system.

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From the Applied Ethical point of view, professional ethics means the assessment of the moral
values of an individual towards the classical approaches to occupations of law, medicine and
ministry. By and large, it also refers to the higher education, advocacy, medical and other
occupations that constitute to a professional status. It is mainly concerned with the standards and
moral conduct of an individual which governs the profession and its members.

Precisely, it examines the issues, problems, and the social responsibility of the profession itself
and individual in the light of philosophical and religious principles such as duty and obligation.

Thus, an occupations enjoying professional status by social consent are generally characterized
by the following criteria;

a. Technical training implying generalized knowledge.

b. Both theoretical and practical knowledge in a specific field.

c. Recognition by an issuing authority of the knowledge and skills, and

d. Regulating authority to enforce the knowledge and skills for the service of public good.

Professional Associations generally set standards to secure the competence and integrity of its
members engaged in Private as well as Government sector such as medicine and law, and the
structures to monitor their conduct. Over often, the same standards are reinforced by civil law
through a process of examinations and licensing.

Thus, professional ethics not only provide guidelines to govern their relationship with clients, as
in the case of a doctor-patient relationship or a teacher-student relationship, but also define
norms which govern their responsibility to colleagues and the public as a whole, as in the case of
lawyers who are officers of the court and sworn to serve the cause of justice.

The guidelines provided by the American Bar Association and the American Medical
Association governed advertisement by a lawyer or a doctor. They may participate and organize
programs such as medical aid or legal awareness to promote, inform and educate the general
public. Such programmes however, shall be with regards to services available to the individuals
so that they can be in a position to make proper choices regarding the selection of specialists to
address their needs.

It is thus, improper and restricted for advertising to promote a lawyer or doctor at the expense of
others.

Professionalism

The word professionalism was originally applied to vows of a religious order in the past. But by
the beginning of the year 1675, the term had seen secular application and was generally applied
to the three learned professions, viz. Divinity, Law, and Medicine. It was also used for the

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military profession during this period. Thus, Professionals working in acknowledged professions
exercise specialist knowledge and skills.

The quest of as to how the use of such knowledge and skills should be governed when providing
service to the public can be considered as a moral issue and is commonly termed as professional
ethics. It is capable of passing judgments, encouraging positive outlook, and giving reasonable
and logical conclusions pertaining to a situations which the general public seems incapable due
to lack of necessary knowledge and skills. One of the earliest examples of professional ethics is
the Hippocratic Oath to which medical doctors still adhere to this day.

Professional organizations in many countries defined their ethical approach through a number of
explicit elements. These are;

 Honesty

 Integrity

 Transparency

 Accountability

 Confidentiality

 Objectivity

 Respect

 Obedience to the law, and

 Loyalty.

Of all the elements, the element of being honest carry much weight simply because, the quality
of honesty stems from an individual’s veins and is not adopted or inherent. It means the quality
of straightforwardness, freedom from deceit, cheating or stealing and not telling lies. The best
professionals of all generations have been devotees of honesty.

Example for honest character is Abraham Lincoln, who founded his fame and success on what
some called ‘preserve honesty’. The nobleness of professionalism lies in honesty itself.

The element of accountability in any profession speaks in volume about ones character and
personality. To be accountable is to be courageous and industrious towards ones profession and
allow a room for correction.

Cambridge English Dictionary ascribes its meaning as, “the fact of being responsible for what
you do and able to give a satisfactory reason for it, or the degree to which this happens”.

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Thus, it is affirmative to hold responsible for any acts or negligence happening on our watch.
The element of respect also plays a vital role in any profession. Similar to honesty, respect
cannot be acquire or attained through examinations and assessment, it can only be received when
ones starts to respect the other. It is a quality of moral-ethical values which can only be
transformed.

Professional ethics and professionalism in India

Origin

In India, the Professional ethics and professionalism originated during the time of British rule.
There is no clear evidence of the existence of any profession before that period that is during the
Hindu Rule or the Mughal dynasty period. Particularly, during the Hindu Rule the regulation of
professions was based on the caste system wherein a particular caste was confined to a
designated profession. It was a system of hierarchy which professes that “only the prince shall
become the king and not the one who deserves to be”.

Thus, professions under this system were woven into the fabric of the social needs, as in the case
of Brahmins who were the scholars and Priest class and so the Vaishyas who were the framers
and artisans class were not allowed to practice or alter their professions. Therefore, it was fixed
that only a Brahmins can become an educator or Priest. However, during the Mughal period,
professionals such as teachers, doctors and lawyers were promoted following the abolition of
caste-based designed profession.

For instance, the term “Physician” is derived from the Arabic word “Hakim” which means a wise
or learned man, a physician or a doctor used mostly in Muslim countries during the 11th century
(The Physician – Noah Gordan, 1986). Later on, the coming of British East India Company in
India, established a new social group of individuals consisting of the bureaucrats and
professionals like lawyers, teachers and doctors trained in Western countries. In case of doctors,
they were trained in western medicine to heal the ailments and diseases and in case of
bureaucrats, they were educated in England.

The famous remarks of Sir Thomas Babington Macaulay while discussing the English Education
Act, 1835 in British parliament read as follows;

“A class of persons, Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in opinions, in
morals and in intellect who could in their turn develop the tools to transmit Western
learning in the vernacular languages of India”.

Thus, the beginning of 1870 witnessed a major change in social life with regards to the rise and
growth of middle-class consciousness. It was then reflected in the aspirations of native
associations started in Madras, Bengal and Bombay Presidencies.

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Sumit Sarkar, an Indian modern historian recorded on the basis of evidence of J.R. Maclane, that
by the year 1880, the total number of English-educated Indians rose to 50,000 and by 1907, the
number of English-educated Indians rose to 5, 05,000 and the circulation of English newspapers
to 2, 76,000.

There is no question about Sumit Sarkar’s data and that western education has provided its
beneficiaries a unique capacity to establish contacts on a country wide scale. It also provided
opportunity to channelized and mobilize public opinion either against or in favour of the
governmental policies.

In addition, western education also created awareness about the global issues and ideologies
which helped Indians to formulate conscious theories of nationalism. Most of the English-
educated elites were thriven by modern ideologies which motivated them with a desire to bring
about change rather than defending conservation or privileges of caste.

These ideologies were based on the principles of reason and social justice. It inspired the Elite
section to made personal sacrifice so as to lead the society on a progressive line of western
outlook.

Thus, some of the English-educated elite emerged as intelligentsia and guided the destiny of
Indian nation by their ideas and principles. The intelligentsia of 19th century in India stood for
social reform and revival of professionalism as in the case of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Dayananda
Saraswati and Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

Some of these intellectuals were impressed by the progressive ideas of the West. They were fully
convinced that the need of the hour for the Indian society is to bring about social change and
acted as catalysts in achieving the desired goal.

But on the other hand, some intellectuals’ resisted total modernization of the society based on
secular values.Thus, the educated-elite class played a critical role in restoring its past glory and
re-writing the destiny of India by their critical and rationale approaches.

Development

Opinions and views differ among scholars with regards to whether British colonization has
benefitted the Indian mass or not. Some scholars argued that, the British has no intention of
developing India, for instances when the British left India, the literacy rate of India at that time
was only at 12% and India’s GDP was at 4% of the world total.

It was raised by the British Whig politician Edmund Burke who in 1778 began a seven-year
impeachment trial against Warren Hastings and the East India Company on charges including
mismanagement of the Indian economy.

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Thus, the development of Professional ethics and professionalism in India began only after the
Independence in 1947 and consequent partition of the nation into two political entities – India
and Pakistan. Appointment of the Planning Commission in 1950 by the Government of India
paved the way for the development of different aspects of life, including education.

The main objective of the Plan was;

i. To achieve universal elementary education.

ii. To eradicate illiteracy.

iii. To establish vocational and skill training programs.

iv. To upgrade standards and modernize all stages of education, with special emphasis on
technical education, science, and environmental education, on morality, and on the
relationship between school and work, and

v. To provide facilities for high-quality education in every district of the country.

Thus, Barbara Ehrenreich, in 1977 also defined a new class in the United States as, "salaried
menial workers who do not own the means of production and whose major function in the social
division of labor is the reproduction of capitalist culture and capitalist class relations”.

Ehrenreich named this group as the "professional-managerial class”. This group of middle-class
professionals were distinguished from other social classes by their training and education and
included academics and teachers, social workers, engineers, managers, nurses, and middle-level
administrators.

He developed the definition from studies by André Gorz, Serge Mallet, and others, of a "new
working class”, which, despite education and a perception of themselves as middle class, were
part of the working class because they did not own the means of production, and were wage
earners paid to produce a piece of capital. The professional-managerial classes seek higher status
and salary and tend to have incomes above the average for their country.

India, in the field of medical practitioners, the development of professional ethics and
professionalism started with the establishment of the Medical Council of India, 1934 under the
Indian Medical Council Act, 1933. The Council was later reconstituted under the Indian Medical
Council Act, 1956 replacing the earlier Act.

Dr. Surendranath Ghosh was the first native Indian doctor to be appointed in PG Hospital. It was
the first Post Graduate Medical Institute in Eastern India in 1957 when this hospital came to be
known as The Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research (IPGMER). It was
inaugurated by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India, on 16th January
1957.

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In the field of legal profession, the development started with the enactment of the Bar Council of
India Act, 1926 and the Advocates Act, 1961 by an act of Parliament. The Bar Council act was
passed to consolidate the various aspects of legal practice and to provide self-government to the
Bars. It was empowered to decide all matters relating to legal education, qualification for
enrolment, discipline and control of the profession.

Later, The Advocates Act, 1961 took this initiative further such as admission, practice, ethics,
privileges, regulations, discipline and improvement of the profession as well as law reforms
became significant. These acts prescribe punishments against professional misconduct and
Contempt of Court. It not only recognized and regulated the legal profession but also abolished
the difference between an advocate and Vakil.

Accordingly, a candidate in order to become a Vakil, must be a graduate, must have good
common over English language and must pass a Vakil’s examination. But from 1940, a Vakil
must be a graduate with an LL.B. from a University in India along with three other certificates.

These certificates should prove that;

 He had passed in the examination.

 Read in the chamber of a qualified lawyer, and

 Was of a good character.

Thus, Sir Sunder Lal, Jogendra Nath Chaudhary, Ram Prasad and Moti Lal Nehru were all
Vakils who became an Advocate.

Education has been the cornerstone for the development of professional ethics and
professionalism in India since independence. The establishment of the University Education
Commission, 1948 – 49 paved the way for progress and development. It was constituted under
the Chairmanship of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, which was intended mainly for the improvement of
higher education.

It was observed that the standards of theory courses offered in various teacher training colleges
were competent , but the practices followed needs to improvised, and thus, recommended for
remodeling of teacher training programmes giving more time to school practices and more
weight to practice in assessing students’ performance.

The Secondary Education Commission, 1952 – 53 under the chairmanship of Dr. A.

Lakshmananaswami Mudaliar, also presented one of the most important educational documents
of free India. It recommended dynamic methods for teaching and suggested that the teaching
should be shifted from verbalism and memorization to learning through ‘activity method’ and
‘project method’.

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Education Commission, 1964 – 66 under the chairmanship of Dr. D.S. Kothari, an eminent
Indian educationalist, constituted a Commission with eleven Indian members and five others
each from France, Japan, U.K, U.S.A., and U.S.S.R.

It recommended for;

i. Removing the isolation of teacher training

ii. Improving professional education, and

iii. Measures for improving the quality of training institutions.

Thus, based on the recommendations of the Kothari Commission, M.A. degree in education has
been introduced in universities like Aligarh, Kurukshetra and Kanpur.

National Commission on Teachers, 1983 – 85 was appointed by the Government of India under
the chairmanship of Prof. D.P. Chattopadhyaya. It recommended for the improvement of
educational process regarding the selection of trainees for the teaching profession.

The Commission further suggested that a professional must have;

 Good physique.

 Linguistic ability and communication skills.

 A fair degree of general mental ability.

 General awareness of the world

 A positive outlook on life, and

 Capacity of good human relations.

Conclusion

The Delors Commission Report, 1996 proposed an integrated vision of education based on two
key concepts namely ‘learning throughout life’ and the four pillars of learning - to know, to do,
to be and to live together. It was by no means the blueprint for educational reform, but rather the
ground for reflection and arguments about what alternatives should be enforce while formulating
educational policies.

The report argued that it is the choice of our human society that determines the kind and nature
of educational system. Therefore, beyond the immediate functions of education, it considered the
development and formation of an individual to be an essential part of the purpose of education.

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It was closely aligned with the moral and intellectual principles that underpin UNESCO, and
therefore its analysis and recommendations were more humanistic and less instrumental and
market-driven than other education reform studies of the time.

The Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the 21st century
“Learning the Treasure within” recommended that the University education should prepare
students for;

 Research and teaching.

 Provide them highly specialized training courses adapted to the needs of economic and
social life, and

 To be open to all, so as to cater for the many aspects of lifelong education in the widest
sense and to render International co-operation.

Thus, the foundation of ethics, etiquette and professionalism are rooted in ones educational
system as it deals with the extraordinary expansion of knowledge and the human’s capacity to
assimilate it.

REFERENCES

1. Komow B, Khanna Raghav and Sharma R.K - Journey of Higher Education in India: An
analysis of post independence era. Asian Journal of Multidimensional Research Vol.1 Issue 1,
June 2012.

2. Reshma Khatun and Nasir Ahmed - Teacher education in India: A historical perspective.

3. Vikram Rana - Rise of Professional Classes in British Colonial Rule of India.

4. Saikat Majumdar - A brief history of the modern Indian university. November 24, 2016.

5. Short History of Indian Economic Policy. Website; https://www.wider.unu.edu

6. Economy of India under the British Raj. Website; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

7. History of the legal profession. Website; https://www.lawctopus.com/academike

8. G B Reddy & Mohd Suhaib – Constitution of India and Professional Ethics.

9. Ram Swarup – Education system in ancient India before the British Raj. Website;
https://www.sanskritimagazine.com

10. Sheikh Mustafa – Institute of Advanced Studies in Education. Historical Development of

Teacher Education in India, Website; http://www.gcoekmr.org

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