(a) "Corruption is the manifestation of the failure of core values in the society." In your opinion, what measures can be adopted to uplift the core values in the society? (b) In the context of work environment, differentiate between 'coercion and undue influence' with suitable examples.

(a) Corruption as failure of core values, and how to uplift them

• Core values in public life include honesty, integrity, impartiality, empathy, and respect for the Constitution and for other people’s property.
• Corruption is the use of entrusted power for private gain, whether as a bribe, a favour to kin, or a cooked tender.
• When those core values fail, the officer treats the counter as a shop and the citizen as a customer who must pay extra.
• Laws can punish the act; they cannot, by themselves, create the habit of not asking.
• Family and school must treat a stolen rupee as shame, not as cleverness, because the first map of honesty is drawn before the first posting.
• Civic education should teach that tax and a clean tender are duties, not optional virtue.
• Leadership example matters: a minister or secretary who lives simply and refuses a gift sets a visible standard that a circular cannot.
• Institutions that reduce discretion reduce the market for bribes: e-procurement, direct benefit transfer, published queues, and the Right to Information Act, 2005.
• The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, and the Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014 supply investigation and protection so that a honest junior is not alone.
• Training must use live cases, not only slogans, so that an officer practises refusal before the first envelope arrives.
• Social shame and social honour still work: a community that celebrates the bribe-giver as efficient will keep producing corruption even after a new Act.
• Uplift of core values is therefore simultaneous: character at home, example at the top, systems that make honesty easy, and punishment that is real.

(b) Coercion and undue influence at work

• Coercion is forcing a person’s will by threat of harm: transfer, dismissal, violence, or a false case.
• In contract language, Section 15 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 treats coercion as committing or threatening to commit an act forbidden by the Indian Penal Code, 1860, or the unlawful detaining of property.
• At work, a superior who says “sign this false muster or I will ruin your annual appraisal” is using coercion.
• A contractor told that the bill will never be paid unless a percentage is returned is under coercion, even if no one raises a hand.
• Undue influence is quieter: one party dominates the will of another because of a real or apparent authority, or a fiduciary relation, and uses that position to obtain an unfair advantage.
• Section 16 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 defines that relation; a doctor, a guru, a bank manager, or a reporting officer can occupy it.
• At work, a boss who does not threaten firing but uses a junior’s fear, gratitude, or isolation to extract unpaid personal work, political canvassing, or sexual compliance is using undue influence.
• A loan given to a subordinate on terms the subordinate cannot refuse, because the same person writes the promotion, is undue influence even if the paper looks voluntary.
• Coercion is the stick in the open. Undue influence is the stick hidden inside trust and hierarchy.
• Both violate dignity and Article 14 equality in a public office. The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 treats a quid-pro-quo demand as harassment whether it arrives as a threat or as a “favour”.
• The Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964 require courtesy and forbid conduct unbecoming; they cover both the shout and the soft pressure.
• The ethical response is the same in structure: name the power gap, record the request, refuse the unlawful act, and take the matter to a competent authority rather than bargain in private.