Probity in Governance

Probity in Governance: Information sharing and transparency in government, Right to

Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizen’s Charters, Work culture,
Quality of service delivery, Utilisation of public funds

Public service
service that would benefit people at large, driven by welfare motive (not profitability)

eg: healthcare, education

characteristics of public service:

government led

citizen centric

values oriented: transparency, neutrality etc

equality

sovereignty (eg: justice, law and order)

obligatory for govt and other actors (CSOs etc)

delivered to people as a group, not individually

vitality of services (education, healthcare): important for realizing full potential of

individual

Probity
governance based on strong ethical values: integrity, accountability, transparency,
objectivity, neutrality, inclusive and participatory etc

philosophical basis: social contract (people pool together some rights, and in return
enjoy public service from ruler/govt)

thus public service must be guided by probity

why?

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 efficient utilisation of limited resources for collective welfare (by checking
corruption)

citizen empowerment through transparency and participativeness

boost citizen-administration trust

improved work culture in administration, efficient processes

welfare of marginalised sections

steps taken:

PCA to deter corruption and punish acts of corruption

CVC, Lokpal to receive complaints of graft, investigate and recommend

punishments

RTI, Citizen Charters: citizens aware and capable of taking actions

independent institutions with security of tenure, appointment by collegium etc

civil servant code of conduct

e-governance

what else to do?

reforms in RTI, citizen charters

public service values made part of code of conduct (ARC2); align recruitment
and training programmes to probity

judicial standards and accountability bill, independent institutions bill

Information sharing and transparency in govt

sunlight is the best disinfectant

significance:

deter misuse of discretionary powers, influence of personal interests in decision

making

people have greater access to information on decision-making → demand

accountability, specific complaints and grievance redressal

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 public trust in administration

culture of disclosures and information sharing → improved work culture,

collective learning from mistakes

pre-empt scams early, prevent them

effective utilization of public money

concerns with transparency:

involvement of too many stakeholders in decision-making

slow down decision-making, as civil servants focus on procedural correctness

deter exercise of civil servants' discretionary powers for welfare for fear of
scrutiny

politicians and administration not in a position to take strong decisions, specially

in times of crises

misused for vested interests (political venedetta, media sensationalism,

frivolous demands)

privacy of those holding public offices (eg: judges uncomfortable with disclosing
assets)

requires public resources to compile and publish information; technological

prowess to manage information

dimensions of transparency: data, decision-making, policy outcome

Right to Information

RTI is the master key to good governance (ARC 2)

tool to citizens to demand information from govt, suo moto disclosure of information
by govt

structure: PIO/assistant PIO receives complaints; appeals to appellate authority;

final appeals to CIC/SIC

importance: refer Significance of Transparency

challenges

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 misuse: political vendetta, media sensationalism, frivolous RTIs filed

crucial bodies still outside RTI: judiciary, NGOs, political parties, BCCI

lack of clarity over which bodies fall under RTI (section 2(h))

delays, non-disclosures

suo moto disclosures limited

lack of awareness of how to file an RTI query

refer Concerns with Transparency

Also refer Right to Information

Citizen charters

CC shouldn't remain pious declarations of noble ideals (ARC 2)

declaration of core values guiding the organisation, promise of standards in service

delivery (quality, deadline, fees etc)

components of CCs (ARC2): mandate of organization, vision and ideals driving the
organization, responsibility of citizens (documents, procedures), commitments of
service quality (fees, timelines, standards), GRM authority

significance:

drafting CC → examine organisation's capabilities, evolve consensus on values

and goals (useful exercise by itself)

organisations and administrators aware of what is promised; moral pressure to

work towards that

citizens aware of promised standards → can demand accountability, improved

quality of services

citizens aware of exact shortcoming → specific and actionable complaints with

GRM

public trust and transparency

checks corruption: money paid for services goes to govt coffers, not to public
servant's pockets

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 manage user expectations → greater consumer satisfaction

challenges:

high sounding ideals and values, with limited practical utility; sometimes sets
impractical targets of service quality (discourage civil servants from trying)

lack legal enforceability and GRM → limited implementation of CC

hurriedly framed and put up; without relevant stakeholder consultation

rarely updated (many organizations using CCs framed in 1990s)

lack of awareness among citizens

written in English language; not displayed prominently

vested interests resist changes to status quo → stall CC implementation

way forward: focus on timely updating citizen charters based on end-user feedback
(ARC2)

decentralized formulation of CC after consultation of relevant stakeholders

(ARC2)

make few promises that can be kept, rather than impractical and lofty
commitments (ARC2)

citizen charter bill: citizens charters with clear declaration of expectations;

grievance redressal authorities in all organisations; state and central
organisations for GRM

DARPG's guidelines to effectively implement CCs

Sevottam model: assessment-improvement framework for excellence in service

delivery; components

proper framing of CC

effective GRM to enforce CC

improvement in service delivery capability based on end-user feedback

Work culture
collective beliefs, ideals that guide decision making within an organization

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 examples of good work culture: ISRO (inclusivity, motivation, zero based
budgeting), Google (employee satisfaction and motivation)

attributes: strong vs weak, positive vs negative

sources of work culture:

history of organization

future goals of organization

management style

societal culture

significance:

greater alignment of employee with organization ideals → employee

satisfaction, greater productivity

greater consensus and uniformity in decision-making within organization

lower need for formal processes and regulations within organization

can promote desired ideals: honesty, integrity, transparency, accountability

how to develop?

recruitment

training: on recruitment, mid-career

trickle down effect

conversations, team events

bureaucratic work culture: armchair bureaucracy, self-serving, secretive, red-

tapism, weak accountability, status quoist, nepotism, corruption

professional work culture: integrity, efficiency, inclusivity, meritocracy, innovation

driven

reasons for poor work culture in public sector:

high degree of discretionary powers

limited accountability: delayed and limited penalties under PCA

colonial mindset of elitism

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 promotions based on years of service with limited focus on merit and
performance → complacency, will to act dominated by will to not commit
mistakes

focus on hierarchy and top-down orders

govt monopoly over public services → limited incentives to improve and

innovate

job security

limited effectiveness of performance review, civil servants not made

accountable for performance lapse

focus on procedual correctness, implementation of law in letter

resource crunch → limited investment in improving HR capability; ineffective

trainings

govt processes cumbersome and involve too many stakeholders → multiple

avenues to extract bribes

salaries at lowest rungs not commensurate with rising costs of living →

incentive for corruption

political influence in transfers and appointments (ARC2: honest civil servants

rewarded with harsh transfers)

how to improve work culture in public sector?

recruitment: merit, values, motivation

appropriate trainings at entry and mid-career: sensitization, inter-personal skills

etc

foster competition: lateral entry, both performance and seniority for promotions

effective performance appraisal (360º feedback)

check nefarious behavior: streamline enquiry and penalties under PCA (eg:
senior taxmen retired for corruption)

CC, RTI → moral pressure in workspace, citizen awareness

team events, conversations → consensus and permeation of organizational

values

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 3 way transparency: management to employees, employees to management,
among peers; decisions should be made in line with organizational values

senior leaders crucial: role model → trickle down culture of integrity,

transparency, objectivity etc

public hearings, civil servants spend time in field → responsiveness, exposure

to on-ground problems (Hota)

compilation of best practices, publicity and felicitation for high performing civil
servants (civil servants day, letters of appreciation from President etc)

recent administrative reforms:

lateral entry, Aarambh

360º appraisal, transparent Annual Performance Appraisal Report (earlier

secretive top-down feedback)

forced retirement for corrupt bureaucrats

break silos within organization (proposed railway services merger)

Civil Services Board (SC, TSR Subramaniam case), Police Establishment

Board (SC, Prakash Singh), State Security Commission (SC, Prakash Singh)

RTI, CC

e-governance

Mission Karmayogi: rules based → roles based

biometric attendance

Features of work culture

Good work culture Poor work culture

unethical conduct: bribery, siphoning
reflection of ethics: integrity, honesty etc
off funds
3-way transparency: management to employees,
limited, delayed communications
employees to management, between peers

tolerance of dissent and diverse perspectives intolerance

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 Good work culture Poor work culture

inclusivity of employees irrespective of sex, religion, caste discrimination based on sex, religion,
etc; participative decision making based on consensus caste etc; nepotism and favoritism
lip service to organizational values
alignment of decision-making with organizational values
during decision-making
low employee morale and
high levels of employeee motivation and productivity
productivity
performance review and rectification: objective, effective, biases and prejudices in
without prejudices performance review

stagnation in skills and career

skill upgradation and career advancement
advancement

safety and security in workplace (eg: no sexual threats to employee safety (sexual
harassment) harassment)
no respect for punctuality and
punctuality, respect for deadlines
deadlines

Public sector vs private sector

Private sector culture Public sector culture

driven by profitability driven by public welfare
importance on efficiency, innovation and importance on inclusivity, equality, implementation
disruption of law etc
recruitment, promotions based on seniority, merit,
recruitment, promotions based on merit
values, diversity
flat hierarchy; effective communication both
hierarchical; top down communication
ways

merits: innovation, efficiencies, flexibility and

merits: relaxed work culture, justice and equality
autonomy

demerits: worker exploitation, high stress demerits: complacency and inefficiencies, poor
levels, productivity over principles working environment and red-tapism

Quality of service delivery

qualitative measures to determine standards of service delivery (eg: beneficiary
satisfaction, delay, competitive prices, value for money)

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 significance of quality of service delivery:

features of good service delivery:

responsive to citizen's concerns

timeliness

convenience: people should be able to access them without undue

inconvenience (eg: Bihar's sarkar aapke dwar)

quality standards (eg: govt hospitals provide equally effective care)

participative decision making (social audit, public hearings etc)

transparency

equality among beneficiaries, no prejudices

effective and economy

accountability

challenges in service delivery:

lack of direct accountability of administration to citizens

paternalist attitude towards beneficiaries

long delays in service delivery, red-tapism

often poor quality of services

lack of awareness among citizens: service quality to expect, timelines etc

seen as non-responsive to citizen grievances, fail to meet expected standards

prejudices against vulnerable sections: dalits, poor, women

shortage of funds and manpower

poor work culture in administration

recent administrative reforms:

e-governance: evidence based review

Aadhaar, biometrics to curb duplicate beneficiaries

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 CC, RTI: awareness among citizens, moral pressure on civil servants better
quality service delivery

citizen grievance forums: CPGRAMS, PRAGATI

Utilisation of public funds

principles of utilization:

efficiency and economy

public welfare

lawful appropriation

accountability for utilization of public funds

openness and transparency in utilization

sustainability (eg: uncapped power subsidy to farmers)

integrity in processes and civil servants handling public funds

ethical issues in utilization of public fund:

non-utilization of funds (hence March rush)

utilization of funds for other than designated purposes (eg: Rajasthan diverting
CAMPA funds)

limited accountability: guillotine in budget

corruption

non-sustainable models (farm loan waivers, power subsidies etc)

running loss making PSEs (like Air India)

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