There is a heavy ethical responsibility on the public servants because they occupy positions of power,…

Question

There is a heavy ethical responsibility on the public servants because they occupy positions of power, handle huge amounts of public funds, and their decisions have wide-ranging impact on society and environment. What steps have you taken to improve your ethical competence to handle such responsibility?

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Ethical competence is built by knowing the codes, practising dilemma analysis and turning honesty, empathy and self-regulation into habits. Studying the AIS (Conduct) Rules, 1968 and the 2nd ARC's Ethics in Governance report (2007) alongside small daily acts of probity forms its core.

**Introduction**

Ethical competence is the capacity to recognise an ethical issue, reason through it and act rightly under pressure. Since a public servant wields power, public money and decisions affecting society and environment, I have trained it deliberately.

**Steps to Sharpen Ethical Knowledge and Judgement**

1. **Studying the Codes**: I have read the AIS (Conduct) Rules, 1968, the Nolan principles and the 2nd ARC's Ethics in Governance report (2007) to know the lines on conflict of interest and gifts.
2. **Learning from Exemplars**: T.N. Seshan, E. Sreedharan and Satyendra Dubey, murdered in 2003 for exposing highway fraud, taught me both the standard and its cost.
3. **Practising Dilemma Analysis**: Using Gandhi's talisman, Kant's universalisability test and stakeholder maps on case studies trains me to name competing values before deciding.

**Steps to Build Character and Habit**

1. **Honesty in Small Things**: As treasurer of my college society I kept open accounts and refused inflated bills, because **probity** in petty matters builds the habit large ones need.
2. **Empathy Through Service**: National Service Scheme work and teaching children in a basti showed me how the poor experience the state.

SKETCH: flow-cycle | My Ethical Practice Loop
- Learn the standard
- Act in small things
- Reflect daily
- Correct course

3. **Self-Regulation**: A daily journal helps me notice anger and bias, the self-awareness at the root of **emotional intelligence**, and modest wants keep me free of temptation.

**Conclusion**

Ethical competence, like Aristotle's virtue, grows by practice: we become just by doing just acts. I intend to sustain it in service through Mission Karmayogi's training and honest asset declarations.

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