InsightsIAS Ethics 70 Days Plan
Day 53
Case study – 1
You have secured a top rank in civil services exam. You had opted for IAS as your first preference. From information available to you, it’s sure that you will be getting a posting in your home state itself. Your parents, relatives and friends are elated by this news.
Some of your friends keep telling you that they would be calling you if they want to get some work done in government offices. Many around you are implying that they would use your ‘influence’ to get works done faster, or seek favour whenever it’s required.
Some of your relatives are so elated that they are dreaming that you would one day become District Collector to districts where they are living now. Amidst the euphoria of result and possibility of getting home cadre, you are sensing that you are losing your focus on your fundamental reasons to join civil services. You want to neither disappoint nor encourage your friends and relatives to seek favors from you in future. If you choose to talk less to them, they would accuse you of having become arrogant after tasting this success. On the other hand, bureaucrats you have met at various functions have hinted that you should be pragmatic and not be idealistic. They have told you that it’s not possible to change status quo in the system and you should focus more on climbing the success ladder by networking well with influential people. It is implied that you should strive more towards career opportunities rather than focusing on service to the public.
- Examine the ethical issues involved in this case.
- What are your fundamental reasons to join civil services? If there is an opportunity, would you choose a state other than home cadre to serve people – to escape from pressures from relatives and friends? Justify.
- When your would be seniors make such statements, would you counter them? Justify.
Case study – 2
You are the head of a private educational institution. You are providing quality education at very affordable fees to talented students from both poor and rich families. Your institution has consistently delivered good results both in academic and competitive exams. Thanks to these results, the demand for admissions into your institution is ever increasing. Due to huge demand you are now facing financial difficulties to build good infrastructure and recruit quality teachers. Due to low fees and obligation to meet objectives under the Right to Education act (RTE), trust members of your institution are pressuring you to increase capitation fees to generate more revenue. They fear that institution might lose its reputation if they do not recruit more and more qualified teachers to meet increasing demand. Some members also suggest you to cut admissions made under RTE to admit more students under management quota.
- In this situation what dilemmas are you facing? How can you overcome them?
- It can be argued that as long as you provide quality education, increasing fees is ethical and justified. Do you agree? Substantiate.
