Revision summary
The seven principles are selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership. They come from Nolan, 1995, for public office generally. Indian servants are bound by AIS/CCS Conduct Rules, which are penal codes of behaviour. Nolan is the ethics layer that interprets those rules and covers ministers too. They fail if they stay a poster without vigilance; they succeed when a noting can cite them against a silent cruelty.
Model answer
Introduction
- The seven principles of public life are Nolan’s 1995 list: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership. They are the moral grammar of office. They are not, by themselves, the Indian civil servant’s legally binding Conduct Rules, but they feed those rules and judge them when the book is silent.
Body
The seven named
- Selflessness: public interest, not private enrichment; no decision whose first beneficiary is kin or a donor.
- Integrity: no obligation, gift, or hospitality that could buy the next noting.
- Objectivity: merit, evidence, and published criteria in appointments, contracts, and benefits.
- Accountability: a speaking order and an audit trail; office is answerable, not merely busy.
- Openness: reasons given unless a lawful secret; sunlight as a default, not a leak.
- Honesty: true facts on the file; no cooked figure to please a dashboard.
- Leadership: hold oneself and others to these standards; a silent senior is a permission slip for the rest.
Are they codes of conduct for civil servants?
- In origin they are UK Committee-on-Standards principles for all public-office holders, not a gazette of the DoPT.
- Indian civil servants are bound by AIS Conduct Rules, 1968, CCS Conduct Rules, 1964, and state analogues: gifts, politics, criticism of government, sexual harassment, and courtesy are legal duties with penalty.
- Nolan is therefore a code of ethics in the ARC sense: values that interpret the Conduct Rules and fill gaps (for example, a lawful but cruel delay).
- Some Indian instruments already echo Nolan: citizen charters (openness), RTI (openness and accountability), asset declarations (integrity), and the Central Civil Services (Conduct) courtesy clause (leadership at the counter).
- The Second Administrative Reforms Commission asked for a code of ethics plus a code of conduct; Nolan sits closer to the ethics layer.
Evaluation
- Strength: seven words a young officer can recall in a live conflict, when the Conduct Rule on “gifts” does not name a minister’s pressure.
- Strength: they apply beyond the gazetted servant — to ministers, boards, and local bodies — which a service-only rulebook misses.
- Limit: they have no automatic penalty in India; without a vigilance file they become a poster.
- Limit: “leadership” can be twisted into loyalty to a person rather than to standards.
- Limit: openness collides with official secrets; the officer still needs the RTI public-interest test, not a slogan.
- Fair judgement: they are not a substitute code of conduct; they are the spirit that makes Conduct Rules more than a gift ceiling. A servant who keeps the rulebook and breaks Nolan (secret, biased, dishonest) has already failed public life.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD N[Nolan seven] --> E[Ethics layer] C[Conduct Rules] --> L[Legal duties] E --> F[Live file] L[L] --> F[F]
Conclusion
Nolan’s seven are the public-life compass. Indian civil servants are legally tied to Conduct Rules, not to a British report. The honest evaluation is that the seven are the ethics those rules exist to serve, and they should be taught, cited in notings, and backed by punishment when broken.
Quick related
Students also ask
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You are trying to become a P.C.S. officer and after clearing various stages you are now eligible for the personal interview. While on your way to the interview you see an elderly man walking with his grand-daughter. Suddenly the old man suffers a heart attack right in front of you and the grand-daughter pleads with you for help. What will you do? Discuss in detail.
Next question in the 2019 paper (Q15). View answer →
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Can I be punished only for violating Nolan?
In India, punishment usually needs a Conduct Rule, PCA, or service-law hook. Nolan still guides a charge-sheet’s moral description and a HOD’s expectation.
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Is honesty different from integrity here?
Honesty is truth on the file. Integrity is not placing the office under a bought obligation. A truthful officer can still be captured by a gift.
Same topic · past papers
UPPSC has asked this before
These previous-year questions sit on the same topic. Open one to practise the earlier ask.
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2018 · Q12 · UPGS4 · 12 marks
“Kant’s ethics is formalist and rigorist.” Critically examine this view and evaluate the importance of Kantian ethical principles in moral life. -
2020 · Q12 · UPGS4 · 12 marks
Which of the five principles of the code of conduct will be given priority by you and why? Explain. -
2025 · Q12 · UPGS4 · 12 marks
In the age of digital governance and big data, public officials rely increasingly on algorithms and automated decision-making systems. Critically examine the ethical risks involved in algorithmic bias, opacity and lack of accountability and suggest guiding principles for responsible use of such technologies in public administration. -
2023 · Q16 · UPGS4 · 12 marks
What are the major principles of public life? Discuss with suitable examples. -
2024 · Q9 · UPGS4 · 8 marks
Explain your suggestions to promote tolerance and compassion among civil servants to serve better the weaker sections.
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