Revision summary
Corruption attitudes are beliefs, feelings, and the paying hand; a hoarding does not change them. The programme starts with a baseline of high-bribe services and then shrinks opportunity through e-delivery and published fees. Social learning, local stories, school audits, and fair punishment rebuild the norm that a right is not a fee. Do not shame coerced poor payers or communalise vigilance. Measure days to service and user surveys, not the count of banners.
Model answer
Introduction
- A corruption-free India is an attitude before it is a statute: the belief that a right is not a fee. An administrator cannot sermonise a civilisation in a week, but can run a programme that changes cues, incentives, and examples in a live jurisdiction.
Body
Diagnosis
- Attitudes here are cognitive (everyone takes), affective (shame or swagger about a cut), and behavioural (the hand that pays).
- Change fails if it lectures the clerk and leaves the citizen’s “speed money” habit untouched, or the reverse.
- Example: a city that only hangs a hoarding while files still need a fixer has not begun.
Programme design (12–18 months)
- Name: a district “Right, not fee” mission with a published baseline: average days for five high-bribe services, and a social-audit sample.
- Segment: frontline staff, contractors, students, user groups (ration, licences, police verification), and seniors whose silence is a cue.
Interventions
- Structural first: e-sign, time-stamped queues, Direct Benefit Transfer, published fees, and a single-window so that the attitude has fewer feeding sites.
- Social learning: identify honest natural leaders in each office; public, specific praise; transfer protection for a documented refusal of a bribe.
- Persuasion: short, local stories, not a Delhi film only — a widow paid on day three; a contractor who lost a bid and still got a speaking order.
- Education: school and college modules on public money as trust; a student social-audit internship with a real GP file, not a quiz only.
- Norms: citizen-charter boards that name the officer and the day; a monthly open house where delay is explained, not denied.
- Deterrence with fairness: swift, visible departmental action on a petty demand, and a parallel big-file probe, so the attitude does not become “only the small are caught.”
- Family and peer: a pledge that includes spouses not collecting “goodwill”; staff unions as partners, not as the enemy.
- Example: Hyderabad’s once-reformed registration counters and some RTO e-slots show that when the cue to pay disappears, the attitude rusts.
Ethics of the programme
- No naming and shaming of the poor payer who was coerced.
- No communal or caste targeting dressed as vigilance.
- Measure attitude, not only FIRs: repeat-user surveys, mystery audits, and staff self-reports with amnesty for past petty confession plus a hard stop.
Sustainability
- Budget a grievance officer, not only a launch day.
- Tie the collector’s review to the five-service timeline, not to the number of banners.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD B[Baseline five services] --> S[Shrink opportunity] S --> N[New social proof] N --> D[Fair deterrence] D --> A[Attitude right not fee]
Conclusion
Attitude change for a corruption-free India is cues, examples, and punishment that look fair. The administrator shortens the chance to pay, teaches that a right is not a fee, protects the honest, and measures days and dignity — not posters.
Quick related
Students also ask
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What are the key differences between ethics in private relations (family, friendships) and public relations (business, politics)? Explain.
Next question in the 2024 paper (Q18). View answer →
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Should the programme begin with more FIRs?
Visible, fair cases help. A raid-only launch without easier legal channels can increase fear-bribes.
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Can schools carry the whole change?
They plant a long attitude. The counter the child sees this year still teaches faster unless the office changes too.
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