NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra points in the form of background information.
Topic: Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein. Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Reference: Indian Express
Why this question:
The author of the article highlights the Events in Delhi that have taken a high toll recently and he urges that Apex court and government must act urgently to restore confidence, and ensure that minority rights do not remain on paper.
Key demand of the question:
The answer must discuss the inherent implications of the statement of the question and its essence to the ongoing turmoil in Delhi.
Directive:
Critically analyze – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgment.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Briefly explain the basic background of the quote applied to the case of Delhi riots.
Body:
Discuss the context of the question in short – More than 30 people have lost their lives in the violence in Delhi, houses have been torched and an entire market set on fire. Discuss incidences in the past and the lacunae in the systems that have led to such situations. Explain why there is the turmoil? What are the implications of it? Take hints from the article and explain what constitution says about protection of minority rights. Explain the role that the government and judiciary must play to ensure preservation of Democracy.
Conclusion:
Conclude that there is an urgent need to preserve and protect the rights of minorities to ensure the health, vitality and strength of the free State of India.
Introduction:
The Supreme Court has condemned the Delhi Police for its lack of professionalism in the recent violence in North East Delhi which claimed more than 30 lives. The Delhi High Court has also observed that it could not permit a repeat of the genocide against the Sikhs in 1984. Recent increase in hate crimes has also triggered debates about the need for a separate legislation to protect minorities against lynching and hate crimes.
Body:
Importance of recognition of rights of minorities:
- The Indian socio-economic fabric is very complex because it is much affected by caste, religion and all the more regional / linguistic differentials.
- At the same time, the Indian economic, social and political institutions which are persisting since centuries have a historical basis
- These factors have given a unique character to Indian society. It has become a conglomeration of various layers and segments divided and sub-divided.
- The visionary framers of the Constitution were conscious of the insecurities of the minorities and, therefore, provided them the right to propagate and practise their religion freely, and assured protection to their places of worship.
- Mahatma Gandhi went to the extent of saying that the claim of a country to be civilised depends on the way it treats its minorities.
Constitution and protection of minority rights:
- The term “Minority” has not been properly defined anywhere in the Indian Constitution.
- According to the Article 29 of the Constitution, any group living within the jurisdiction of India is entitled to preserve and promote its own language, script or literature, and culture.
- Article 29 has the word “minorities” in its heading but refers to “any sections of citizens having a distinct language, script or culture”. This may be a whole community generally seen as a minority or a group within a majority community.
- Article 30 speaks specifically of two categories of minorities – religious and linguistic.
- The remaining two Articles – 350A and 350B – relate to linguistic minorities only.
- The object of Articles 25 to 30 is to preserve the rights of religious and linguistic minorities.
- Article 51A which is of special relevance for the Minorities
Role that the government and judiciary must play to ensure preservation of Democracy:
- Prime Minister’s 15-point program for the welfare of the minorities.
- The Places of Worship Act is intrinsically related to the obligations of a secular state. It reflects the commitment of India to the equality of all religions.
- the Places of Worship Act is an affirmation of the solemn duty which was cast upon the state to preserve and protect the equality of faiths as an essential constitutional value, a norm which has the status of being a basic feature of the Constitution.
- The court also pointed out that Article 27 would be violated if a secular state contributed towards the repair of religious places.
- USTAAD: The Scheme aims at upgrading Skills and Training in preservation of traditional Ancestral Arts/Crafts of minorities.
- Hamari Darohar: The Scheme aims to preserve rich heritage of minority communities in context of Indian culture.
- Khwaza Garib Nawaz Senior Secondary School: Will be established at Ajmer by Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF) to give a fillip to minority education.
- Nai Manzil: A bridge course to bridge the academic and skill development gaps of the deeni Madrasa pass outs with their mainstream counterparts.
- Nai Roshni: The scheme is envisaged to reach out to women through nongovernmental organizations who will be provided with financial support
- Minority Cyber Gram: The MCG programme seeks to introduce digital literacy skills in identified minority clusters in India
Way forward:
- In order to protect our constitutional values of individual dignity, Equality and liberty we must strive to discourage and remove hate filled messages from our society.
- Political leadership must take a leadership role in disowning hateful elements within their party and uphold their commitment to our constitution.
- A comprehensive anti-hate legislation and policy must be brought to act as a deterrent against hate crimes.
- Recent positive developments like decriminalisation of homosexuality have shown that our society is empathetic towards minorities. A few anti-social elements must not be allowed to jeopardise gains made in this regard.
- Only a coalition of the oppressed castes, classes and gender across religions can overcome communalism
- struggle for secularisation has to go along with the resistance to the majoritarian attempt to equate majority and minority communalism
- The scourge and cycle of communal hatred and violence can be stopped only by ending first the history of false equivalences and selective silences.
Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
Reference: Times Of India
Why this question:
Recently the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the setting up of a National Technical Textiles Mission at a total outlay of ₹1,480 Crore.
Key demand of the question:
The answer must discuss the concept of Technical textiles and the initiatives of the government in this direction with special emphasis on National Technical Textile Mission.
Directive:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Briefly explain what Technical textiles are.
Body:
Define technical textiles – Technical textiles are functional fabrics that have applications across various industries including automobiles, civil engineering and construction, agriculture, healthcare, industrial safety, personal protection etc. Explain how Technical Textiles is a high technology sunrise sector which is steadily gaining ground in India. State the efforts of the government in this direction – Schemes for Growth and Development of Technical Textiles (SGDTT), Technology Mission on Technical Textile (TMTT), Focus Incubation Centres etc. Then discuss the salient aspects of the recently launched National Technical Textile Mission, explain the key components, need and significance.
Conclusion:
Conclude by reasserting the significance of technical textiles and their future.
Introduction:
Technical Textiles are defined as textile material and products manufactured primarily for their technical performance and functional properties rather than aesthetic and decorative characteristics. Technical textiles include textiles for automotive applications, medical textiles (e.g., implants), geotextiles (reinforcement of embankments), agrotextiles (textiles for crop protection), and protective clothing (e.g., heat and radiation protection for fire fighter clothing, molten metal protection for welders, stab protection and bulletproof vests, and spacesuits).
Body:
Initiatives of Government to promote technical textiles:
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the setting up of a National Technical Textiles Mission at a total outlay of ₹1,480 Crore. The Mission will be implemented for four years from 2020-2021 and will have four components:
- The first component will focus on research and development and innovation and will have an outlay of ₹1,000 crore. The research will be at both, fibre level and application-based in geo, agro, medical, sports and mobile textiles and development of bio-degradable technical textiles.
- The second component will be for promotion and development of market for technical textiles. The Mission will aim at taking domestic market size to $40 billion to $50 billion by 2024.
- The third component will focus on export promotion so that technical textile exports from the country reach from the ₹14,000 crore now to ₹20,000 crore by 2021-2022 and ensure 10% average growth every year till the Mission ends.
- The last component will be on education, training and skill development.
- It aims to position the country as a global leader in technical textiles and increase the use of technical textiles in the domestic market.
- The Government has also created Special Economic Zones (SEZs), with the objective of attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). There are 14 SEZs in the country that specifically focus on textiles.
Conclusion:
It is estimated at $16 billion which is approximately 6% of the $250 billion global technical textiles market. The penetration level of technical textiles in India varies between 5% and 10% against the level of 30% to 70% in developed countries. India continues to be the preferred destination for textile manufacturing and provides a whole lot of advantages in the area of technical textiles. With growing awareness and consumption of technical textiles, greater innovation in the field and demand from end-use industries, the country is a promising destination with an increasing demographic dividend and consumption scenario.
Topic: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
Reference: The Hindu
Why this question:
At article presents a critical examination of Aadhaar as applied to the public delivery system more so to ensure efficient and effective welfare regime and how far has it been successful in doing so.
Key demand of the question:
Examine the outcomes of Aadhaar applied to the welfare delivery mechanisms in the country and to what extent they have been able to address the issue of leakages in the system.
Directive:
Analyze – When asked to analyse, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start by bringing out the recently published a new working paper in the National Bureau of Economic Research, which details findings from an extensive empirical study of the impact of Aadhaar in reducing leakages and accruing fiscal savings.
Body:
First state the rationale that the Aadhaar was postulated with. Explain how ideally the concept of Aadhaar aimed at improving welfare delivery efficiency. Highlight the challenges before it, why hasn’t it been successful in plugging the loopholes. Discuss the shortfalls existing with application of Aadhaar, take cues from the article and list them down. Suggest what needs to be done to ensure better utility of Aadhaar to welfare mechanism in the country.
Conclusion:
Conclude with way forward.
Introduction:
Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained voluntarily by residents or passport holders of India, based on their biometric and demographic data. The data is collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a statutory authority established in January 2009 by the government of India, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, following the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016.
Body:
Aadhaar has curtailed leakages of government subsidies. Through Aadhaar, savings worth ₹90,000 crores have accrued to the government– UIDAI’s2017-18 annual report. A new research paper, published in the National Bureau of Economic Research, details findings from an extensive empirical study of the impact of Aadhaar in reducing leakages and increasing fiscal savings.
Findings of the study:
- The study concluded that Aadhaar-based biometric authentication had no measurable benefit.
- Aadhaar-based biometric authentication did not reduce leakages due to elimination of ghosts and duplicates, as widely perceived.
- Increase in transaction costs for beneficiary: On the other hand, they found that Aadhaar-based biometric authentication increased transaction costs for beneficiaries.
- Increased cost: there was an 17% extra cost, that is, to claim ration worth ₹40, beneficiaries in the Aadhaar system incurred an additional ₹7 of costs than those in the old system, because of multiple trips to authenticate themselves and the opportunity cost of time spent.
- This is a whopping 17% extra cost burden of the value of the benefit they were entitled to receive. It denied ration to 10% of genuine beneficiaries and increased costs by 17% to those that were forced to get their ration using Aadhaar.
- To make matters worse, Aadhaar-based biometric authentication also introduced what empirical scientists call Type I error of exclusion.
- Aadhaar authentication falsely rejected genuine PDS beneficiaries who were then denied their ration supplies.
- The study finds that nearly 10% of legitimate beneficiaries were denied their ration either because they did not have their Aadhaar linked to their ration card or due to an exclusion error
Concerns with Aadhar:
- Only the widespread belief among the policy elite that ghost beneficiaries and duplicates were the challenges of India’s welfare delivery was reason enough for the law of Aadhaar to be enacted.
- A robust pilot project of scale to test the accurateness of the long-held belief was not carried out.
- Many recent studies now establish that ghost beneficiaries and duplicates are not a significant cause of leakages.
- A similar mistake was also committed with respect to the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
- Policy economists have always claimed that the previous system of a multitude of State taxes are a drag on inter-State commerce and called for the adoption of a nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST).
- There was no empirical evidence to back the claim of the policymakers.
- Three years after the implementation of the GST, the promise of vastly improved inter-State trade and a two percentage point boost to GDP seem distant while States are hurting badly with sole dependence on the Centre for their taxes.
Way forward:
- Inconsistencies need to be resolved for successful Aadhaar seeding.
- The transitional phase should be flexible
- It is essential to deal with issues of duplication, use less disruptive methods than Aadhaar such as food coupons, smart cards, and last-mile tracking.
- Using other technology to curb corruption like computerisation, SMS alerts, online availability of official records, toll-free help lines and so on.
Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Reference: The Hindu
Why this question:
The article talks about the Climate change impact warnings for Eastern Ghats that underscore the need for forest protection.
Key demand of the question:
One must discuss the threats that Eastern Ghats are facing from climate change and the need for urgent actions to prevent and mitigate the same.
Directive:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Highlight the importance of Eastern Ghats as a key ecosystem of the country; the crown jewels of India’s natural heritage.
Body:
Quote some facts and figures that bring out the importance of the Eastern Ghats. Move onto explain why serious threat from climate change, and temperature variations are a cause for worry? Discuss briefly the role that the Eastern Ghats play as a niche ecosystem. Explain what measures are required to be taken to ensure the ecosystem is conserved and preserved. Discuss the efforts of the government in this direction.
Conclusion:
Conclude by reasserting the significance of preserving such a key ecosystem.
Introduction:
The broken hill-ranges of the Eastern Ghats, spread across Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, are home to unique ecosystems. Though it has over 450 endemic plant species, the region remains one of the most exploited and degraded ecosystems of India.
Body:
Significance of Eastern Ghats:
- The Eastern Ghats are spread across 75,000 sq. km. from Odisha to southern Tamil Nadu.
- The region receives an annual average rainfall of 1,200 mm to 1,500 mm. The discontinuous mountain range is mainly composed of deciduous forests.
- Sustaining biodiversity: The Eastern Ghats are home to about 3,000 flowering plant species of which nearly 100 are endemic, occurring in the dry deciduous, moist deciduous and semi-evergreen landscapes.
- Many animals, including tigers and elephants, and some 400 bird species are found in the region.
- Sustaining the human inhabitants: The Eastern Ghats of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu provide forest produce and ecosystem services to millions of human inhabitants.
- The mountain range has a key role in modulating the climate of the region.
Concerns faced:
- The forest protection policy has failed dismally with respect to the Eastern Ghats. The Eastern Ghats have shrunk by 16% over the past century, and just one region, Papikonda National Park, has lost about 650 sq. km. in two decades from 1991.
- Reduced productivity: New research findings note that the Ghats may be facing a serious threat from climate change. The temperature variations are the major cause of worry.
- A disruption of the annual average temperature and diminished rainfall would drastically decrease the productivity of these deciduous forests.
- This implies lower biomass production in the region.
- Reduced ability to store carbon: The decreased productivity would imply the forest’s reduced ability to store carbon.
- This would affect the carbon budget of the country and further aid Climate Change.
- The reduced ability of the critical region of Eastern Ghats to store carbon would severely disrupt India’s Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) targets and plans.
- Disrupt the life of human inhabitants: The reduced carbon-storing ability would reduce the availability of wood, a major subsistence material for the human inhabitants.
- Affecting Biodiversity: Existing data also reveals that areas experiencing rainfall deficiency and higher temperatures have witnessed reduced plant species diversity with herbs dominating the trees.
Way forward:
- Human needs have led to extreme pressure on the limited forest resources.
- Relieving the pressure on forests can be done through policies that reduce extraction of scarce resources and incentivise settled agriculture. The government should help the inhabitants pursue a different occupation and more sustainable lifestyles.
- Given that India is committed, under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes through enhanced forest and tree cover, afforestation is a policy prerogative for India.
- India, however, needs to focus on scientific afforestation.
- Schemes for the restoration of forest peripheries through indigenous plant and tree species could qualify for international climate finance and must be pursued.
- Moreover, improving tree cover nationally will also confer other benefits, like the modulation of the monsoons, improved air quality and wider spaces for biodiversity to persist.
- Schemes for restoration of forest peripheries through indigenous plant and tree species, matching national commitments, could qualify for international climate finance, and must be pursued.
- At a broader level, the response to the warnings issued by researchers from IIT Kharagpur, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and the University of Hyderabad in a recent publication on changes to temperature and rainfall calls for decisive steps to mitigate carbon emissions.
Conclusion:
Improving tree cover nationally is certain to confer multiple benefits, including modulation of the monsoon, improved air quality and wider spaces for biodiversity to persist. Given the multiple role Eastern Ghats play, it is necessary that government take necessary steps to preserve it.
Topic: Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
Reference: The Hindu
Why this question:
The controversy surrounding the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) report of November 2019 on drinking water status has politically prioritized the issue of water quality in India, thus the question.
Key demand of the question:
Discuss in the answer why water should be treated as an urgent concern for public health and the ecosystem of the country in detail. Explain with relevant data and justifications.
Directive:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must look into the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Initiate the discussion by highlighting the importance of water as a public good, its importance for life in general.
Body:
Discuss that India is on the verge of a severe water crisis. India has witnessed a gradual reduction in per capita availability of water due to the rising population on the one hand and also the reducing availability of potable water, on the other hand, owing to rising and unchecked pollution in the country’s rivers and water bodies. Quote data to substantiate such as – A 2018 Report of the NITI Aayog has observed that currently, 600 million Indians face high to extreme water stress. By 2030, the country’s water demand is projected to be twice the available supply, implying severe water scarcity for hundreds of millions of people. Discuss the problems associated with water, explain why it can be a cause of public health concern? Suggest what needs to be done? Highlight the efforts of the government in this direction such as the Jal Jeevan mission etc.
Conclusion:
Conclude that Water should be treated as an urgent concern for public health and the ecosystem of the country. Notably, the Jal Jeevan Mission has begun the important work of gathering information on the scale and scope of the problem and making it available in an open and transparent manner and there is the need to further enhance technical knowledge on measurement and regulation of water quality in India.
Introduction:
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) report was released in November 2019 on drinking water status for 21 major Indian cities, in keeping with the objectives of the ‘Jal Jeevan Mission’, which aims to provide safe piped water to all households by 2024. The study is scheduled to cover all districts in the country within a year. The Union Government wants to make BIS Standards mandatory for Tap Water so as to ensure quality drinking water for all households.
Body:
Current situation of drinking water in India:
- More than 163 million Indians – higher than the population of Russia – do not have access to safe drinking water.
- Irrespective of the source of water, in most parts of rural India, availability of water decreases dramatically in the summer months as the water levels drop and surface sources may dry up.
- India’s estimated per capita availability of water in 2025 will be 1,341 cubic metre. This may further fall to 1,140 cubic metre in 2050, bringing it closer to becoming water-scarce.
- NITI Aayog’s Composite Water Management Index 2018, India ranks 120 out of 122 countries.
- India is ranked 13th among the 17 most water-stressed countries of the world.
- According to the Ministry of Urban Development, 80% of India’s surface water is polluted.
Challenges faced:
- Climate change, increasing water scarcity, population growth, demographic changes and urbanization already pose challenges for water supply systems.
- By 2025, half of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas.
- Re-use of wastewater, to recover water, nutrients, or energy, is becoming an important strategy.
- Increasingly countries are using wastewater for irrigation – in developing countries this represents 7% of irrigated land.
- While this practice if done inappropriately poses health risks, safe management of wastewater can yield multiple benefits, including increased food production.
- Options for water sources used for drinking water and irrigation will continue to evolve, with an increasing reliance on groundwater and alternative sources, including wastewater.
- Climate change will lead to greater fluctuations in harvested rainwater.
- Management of all water resources will need to be improved to ensure provision and quality.
- No binding to the BIS standard in India.
- The solid waste which is dumped around, toxic industrial waste, and sewage among other factors contribute to pollution of the groundwater.
- The dissolved solids cannot be removed by chlorination.
Impacts of poor water quality:
- Contaminated water and poor sanitation are linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid, and polio.
- Reduction in tourist inflow.
- Bottled water gives rise to plastic pollution due to its demand
- RO water is totally deprived of essential minerals and salts which is necessary.
- Reverse osmosis during water purification also results in wastage of water.
Way forward:
- This is the first time such a data is made public and attempt has been made to study drinking water at consumer level and we should do this very frequently.
- Citizens should be sensitized about the issue.
- The consumers, the service providers and the government should all be equally responsible of their responsibilities
- Long-distance supply of water should be avoided.
- Compliance to Bureau of Indian Standards for water quality should be made mandatory for local bodies.
- Data based decision taking system.
- Pipelines should be maintained properly.
- Rainwater harvesting should be done.
- Treatment plants have to be set up
- We need to manage underground reservoirs.
- Sampling methodology should be proper.
- Boiling of water is good to just kill bacteria and is not effective towards dissolved solids and require additional chemical treatment.
- Therefore, there has to be a holistic approach towards water supply and demand.
Topic: Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems; ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in international relations and funding; corporate governance.
Reference: Ethics by Lexicon Publications
Why this question:
The question is based on the premise of – conscience as source of ethical guidance.
Key demand of the question:
Explain what is meant by conscience as source of ethical guidance in detail.
Directive:
Illustrate – A similar instruction to ‘explain’ whereby you are asked to show the workings of something, making use of definite examples and statistics if appropriate to add weight to your explanation.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Define what ‘conscience’ means.
Body:
Conscience is a capacity, intuition or decisions that help to distinguish right from wrong. In psychological terms, conscience is defined as leading to feelings of remorse when a human commits actions that go against his moral values and feelings of pleasure and well-being when our actions, thoughts and words are in conformity to value systems of people. Move on to explain how conscience can act as source of ethical guidance – this part of the answer can be best explained with examples. Highlight the importance by quoting the assertions made by various moral thinkers upon the significance of conscience.
Conclusion:
Conclude by reasserting the significance of conscience as an ethical guide.
Introduction:
Conscience is the inner voice of a person which guides the right and wrong. Conscience aims to make moral decisions in ‘overwhelming forces of inescapable situations’ despite the risk of adverse consequences. If conscience goes, then everything collapses, conscience is central to our identity and it is as component in the moral decisions making process. The concept of Enlightenment, Nirvana etc. are associated with highest stage of development of human Conscience. Gandhiji’s civil disobedience movement was true to his conscience although it broke the law.
Body:
Example: Concept of Enlightenment, Nirvana etc. are associated with highest stage of development of human Conscience. Gandhiji’s civil disobedience movement was true to his conscience although it broke the law.
Conscience is the intrinsic intuitive capacity to discriminate between right and wrong. “Inner Voice” is important especially in democracy as it has various participants such as citizens, NGOs, corporates to be administered by the politicians who are elected by them only.
- Individual level: every person has conscience which assists them to take important decision. Thus it can act as strong tool to evade away the individual self-centred thinking. Political Level: Conscience can help to lesson corruption, nepotism and profit seeking behaviour. Thus provoke them to act in benevolence of society at large and uphold the constitution principles. At each and every decision they should keep in mind that they were elected to serve the citizens and not to serve their own needs and greed.
- Bureaucratic Level: The crisis of conscience is important whether to just mere follow the orders from superior’s v/s to follow the right path of judgement. The intrinsic voice of serving the nation maintaining highest standards of honesty and probity is important as they are link between citizens and political figures.
- Citizen Level: Collective and individual conscience of inhabitants is very important because it describes the existing society conditions such as keeping surrounding clean, actively contributing in elections, dissent to undemocratic principles. Therefore, adhering to it will also control mass prejudice such as riots and lynching of offenders.
Conclusion:
Furthermore, it is important to dynamically excel and improve at individual and institution level. Thus if everyone acts and adhere to their principles values, the moral degradation can be controlled and faith in governing institutions can be reinstituted. Swami Vivekananda once said “Whenever there is a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart”, hence conscience is the voice of heart and it is often right which helps us to sail through ocean of dilemmas and help us to find the direction.
Topic: Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration: Status and problems; ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in international relations and funding; corporate governance.
Reference: Ethics by Lexicon Publications
Why this question:
The question aims to examine the positive effect that Accountability and moral competence have on ethical leadership in organizations.
Key demand of the question:
The answer should discuss the positive effect that Accountability and moral competence have on ethical leadership in organizations.
Directive:
Elaborate – Give a detailed account as to how and why it occurred, or what is the particular context. You must be defining key terms where ever appropriate, and substantiate with relevant associated facts.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Briefly define the terms accountability, moral competence and ethical leadership.
Body:
Start by explaining the relationship among accountability, moral competence, and ethical leadership in general. Explain that accountability is a construct that involves an assessment of an individual’s beliefs and feelings and an assessment of the behavior of others. Moreover, accountability involves monitoring and evaluating the performance and behavior of self. From here explain how it influences positively the ethical leadership. Explain that to help sustain ethical leadership behavior, organizations and leaders may want to consider utilizing accountability as an instrument to promote ethical behavior. The level of moral competence in a leader may play a critical role in moderating relationships among ethical leadership behavior, self-accountability, and other-accountability.
Conclusion:
Conclude with way forward.
Introduction:
Accountability refers to taking ownership for outcomes (successes or failures) while addressing performance issues fairly and promptly. The ability of citizens to demand accountability and more open government is fundamental to good governance.
Moral competence refers to the affective orientation to perform altruistic behaviours towards others and the ability to judge moral issues logically, consistently.
Body:
Effects of accountability on ethical leadership:
- Accountability is very important for supporting ethical leadership in today’s global economy and is one of the central constructs to protect business and organizational ethics.
- Leaders with accountability provide attention to the development of ethical perspectives within organizational components.
- Leaders need to make ethically accountable decisions in rapidly changing business environments and within these spheres, they face decisions and implement actions to create an ethical environment and promote a community’s interests.
- Accountability has the potential to sustain ethical and personal development.
- When an individual becomes aware of the accountability condition, the specific coping strategy relevant to the condition is embraced.
- An individual who is held accountable is likely to be aware of the accountability requirements in order to be compatible with the expectations of the accountable.
- Thus, the individuals are likely to behave in an acceptable manner.
- self-criticism and effortful thinking (i.e., self-accountability) will be selected most often when individuals are aware of the accountability conditions. The individuals are likely to engage in a wide assessment of their behaviours and judgments.
- when individuals were notified that they would be held accountable for their decisions regarding stereotype change and generalizations, both information processing and judgment vigilance increased.
Effects of Moral competence on ethical leadership:
- Moral competence is critical for supporting ethical leadership in today’s global economy. A leader’s character should be based on a strong foundation of high ethical standards.
- This is vital in today’s global economy where leaders must embrace ethics, as well as leadership effectiveness (e.g., expertise, techniques, knowledge), to be successful.
- Moral competence is a cornerstone of the moral developmental cognitive family. Moral cognition of a leader is depicted as an antecedent of effective leadership.
- When leaders are able to demonstrate a high moral judgment in their decisions, they will have greater opportunities to exhibit ethical leadership behaviours to their employees.
- leaders are responsible for identifying the levels of organizations’ moral environment where these levels are reflected by the moral development of the leader.
- Therefore, leaders’ moral development has an important impression on an organization’s ethical climate.
- Enhancing the ethical climate within organizations would be effective with leaders who fully utilize their moral development through translating their capability for moral competence into moral actions.
Conclusion:
In today’s rapidly changing business environment, leaders must make ethical decisions on a regular basis. The increase in the importance of ethics in business and management has led many scholars to focus on ethical leadership behavior.
