Revision summary
Ethical governance is inspectable, people-centred use of official power. It is relevant because the civil servant turns policy into a lived yes or no. Nolan’s principles and the Second ARC give the working map. Probity is uprightness: no cut, no hidden conflict, no false noting. Without both, skill becomes a more efficient rent.
Model answer
Introduction
Civil service is power on a clock and a file. Ethical governance is how that power is steered; probity is the cleanliness of the person who holds the pen. Both are relevant because a skilled but crooked service can still ruin the citizen.
Body
(a) Ethical governance
- Ethical governance is rule-bound, people-centred, and inspectable exercise of authority: the decision can be explained, the process can be seen, and the weak are not priced out.
- For civil services it is relevant because the officer converts policy into a ration card, a relief list, or a refusal. Without ethics that conversion becomes sale or delay.
- It joins the Preamble’s justice and the Second ARC’s citizen-centric administration: time-bound service, consultation, and a reasoned order.
- Nolan’s principles — selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership — are a compact map of ethical governance in a public office.
- Relevance in the field: a district that publishes hearing lists and follows the same yardstick for every caste and party is practising ethical governance, not decorating a wall.
(b) Probity in public life
- Probity is uprightness in the use of office: no private cut, no conflict left undeclared, no lie in the noting, no gift that buys a silence.
- It is relevant because civil servants sit on licences, land, police, and money. Skill without probity is a more efficient extraction.
- Conduct rules, asset declaration, and the Prevention of Corruption Act assume that private vice will try to enter the file; probity is the habit that stops it at the door.
- Probity is also the courage to record a true dissent and to refuse an illegal oral instruction, which is integrity under hierarchy.
- A service famous for marks and famous for cuts will not be trusted; trust is the cheapest enforcement of any scheme.
How the two sit together
- Ethical governance is the system’s face; probity is the officer’s spine. One without the other is either a poster or a lonely saint.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD E[Ethical governance] --> S[Inspectable service] P[Probity] --> S S --> T[Citizen trust]
Conclusion
Ethical governance makes civil service answerable and citizen-centred. Probity keeps the officer’s private hand out of the public till. Together they turn competence into a public good rather than a private market.
Quick related
Students also ask
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A peaceful protest was being carried out by a group of milk traders. The Superintendent of Police instructs the Police Officials to prevent the group from committing any type of violence. He, however, tells them to ‘teach them a lesson’, if situation warrants. A police official on duty indulges into an argument with a protestor and beats him up. When inquired about his action, he says that he was told to teach them a lesson by the Superintendent of Police. Give your comment on ethical behaviour of both the Superintendent of Police and the Police official in the light of the above-mentioned incident.
Next question in the 2021 paper (Q5). View answer →
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Is ethical governance only for ministers?
No. The file that reaches a minister is built by the service. Ethical governance is daily noting and hearing, not only cabinet.
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Is probity the same as legality?
Legality is the minimum. Probity also refuses the lawful-looking delay that is sold, and the gift that never becomes a case.
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