Be Mains Ready

• Briefly explain the term integrity
• Bring out the causes of erosion of integrity in civil services
• Discuss how these can be addressed
• Conclude by stressing on the importance of integrity in the civil services

Answer

Integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one’s actions. It is the practice of being honest and showing consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In other words, one’s actions must be in conformity with one’s professed moral principles.

There are various causes of corruption that result in a lack of integrity. These can be discussed under the following headings:

• The causal relationship between incidence and intensity of corruption and the complex nature of work methods needs no elaboration. Elaborate hierarchies not only breed complex work methods but also cause diffusion of responsibility.
• Most public services in India are provided by the government in a monopolistic setting. Such a situation by its very nature is conducive to arbitrariness, and complacence with a high probability of a section of functionaries taking advantage of the ‘departmental hegemony’ for corruption.
• Lack of incentive to work diligently and efficiently and no adverse consequences of shirking duty, or failing to achieve an acceptable level of efficiency.
• At present, not only is there no performance audit but even the old system of awareness of an officer’s strengths, weaknesses, and reputation seems to have become a thing of the past.
• People do not report to the government against corrupt officials. Instead, they offer bribes to get their illegitimate claims accepted.
• Article 311 of the Indian Constitution provides considerable protection to civil servants. The reluctance of higher officials to take disciplinary action against corrupt officials due to their collusion with them has further aggravated the situation.

Integrity is essential for building strong institutions and assuring citizens that the government is working in their interest, not just for the select few. Integrity is not just a moral issue, it is also about making economies and societies more productive, efficient, and inclusive. Integrity is one of the key pillars of political, economic, and social structures and thus essential to the economic and social well-being of individuals and societies as a whole.

• The introduction of an element of competition in the provision of public services is thus a very useful tool. Steps such as lateral entry could potentially jolt the relaxed bureaucracy
• It is high time that a robust system of performance audits to periodically monitor and objectively evaluate the performance of officers is introduced for every level of the civil service.
• The veil of secrecy and opacity could be lifted through Information sharing and Right to Information, as much as they would afford a degree of clarity to the literate service user.
• Integrity pacts could be promoted to raise transparency and create confidence in public contracting. It means an agreement between the public agency involved in procuring goods and services and the bidder for a public contract to the effect that the bidders have not paid and shall not pay any illegal gratification to secure the contract in question.
• Discretion should be curtailed as it invariably gives an individual opportunity to hoodwink the law and reap benefits out of it.

The administrative system should be transformed so that at every level of the civil service, there is a clear assignment of duties and responsibilities with structured and interlocking accountability in which the government servant can be held accountable for the manner in which he/she performs his/her duty. A holistic approach for combating declining integrity would require an optimum mix of punitive and preventive measures