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.
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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2024 · Q12 · UPGS4 · 12 marks
What should be the nature of civil service values for a public administrator? How can he create a balance between these values in his personal and public life? Explain. -
2022 · Q6 · UPGS4 · 8 marks
“Administration is a moral act and administrator is a moral agent.” Explicate this statement.
More from this paper
Q1 · UPSC Mains 2024 · UPGS4 · 8 marks · Solution
Examine the role of the following in the context of civil service: (A) Moral code of conduct (B) Work culture.
Probity in Governance
A moral code of conduct binds integrity, impartiality and duty through Conduct Rules and Nolan-type public-life standards. The Second ARC wanted values named and conduct enforced, not a wall slogan. Work culture is the office’s real habit of time, truth and courtesy. Culture can confirm or hollow the code, because juniors copy seniors. Flood-relief lists, e-office and heard grievances are tests of both.
Q2 · UPSC Mains 2024 · UPGS4 · 8 marks · Solution
How far are the views of Swami Vivekananda successful in developing the core ideals and values of morality in human behaviour? Discuss.
Ethics and Human Interface
Vivekananda placed dignity, fearlessness and service of the poor at the centre of morality. Man-making education and harmony of faiths still feed public-service values. They work as inner motive when no inspector is watching. They do not replace Conduct Rules, audit or equality before law. Success is high as ideals, partial as a full machine of behaviour without institutions.
Q3 · UPSC Mains 2024 · UPGS4 · 8 marks · Solution
Discuss the various skills by which a public servant may enhance public commitment to the rules of law.
Ethics and Human Interface
Rule of law needs equal application, not mood or patronage. Skills include plain-language legal literacy, consistent hearings, speaking orders, RTI-style visibility, and facilitation that cuts touts. Enforcement must be firm without humiliation. The officer’s own clean file is the strongest lesson. UP examples include fair FIR, equal challan and recorded hearings before demolition.