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Public Service Ethics & Accountability

GS-IV: Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude

Useful for: UPSC Civil Services

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Overview

Public service ethics is codified in conduct rules and enforced through accountability mechanisms that make officials answerable for their actions.

Key points

All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968 and Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964 govern official conduct.
Accountability types: political (to ministers and legislature), administrative (hierarchy), legal (courts), social (citizens, media).
Responsibility is the duty to act; accountability is answerability for results.
Whistle Blowers Protection Act, 2014 aims to protect people who expose corruption.
Ethical dilemmas arise between loyalty to superiors and loyalty to the public interest.
Social audits make local spending accountable to the community.

Practice MCQs

From the perspective of definition and scope, which one of the following statements about Public Service Ethics & Accountability is correct?
1. Public-office ethics combines legality, public interest, impartiality, stewardship and answerability.
2. Personal honesty alone is enough to guarantee ethical governance even when institutions lack accountability.
3. Public Service Ethics & Accountability is unrelated to institutions, processes or real-world applications.
4. Public Service Ethics & Accountability has no exceptions or limitations in exam analysis.
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Answer: (a) Public-office ethics combines legality, public interest, impartiality, stewardship and answerability.. Public-office ethics combines legality, public interest, impartiality, stewardship and answerability.
Consider the following statements on Public Service Ethics & Accountability, focusing on definition and scope: 1. Public-office ethics combines legality, public interest, impartiality, stewardship and answerability. 2. Personal honesty alone is enough to guarantee ethical governance even when institutions lack accountability. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2
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Answer: (a) 1 only. Statement 1 is correct; Statement 2 is a common misconception.

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Notes and questions are written by Kundali IQ for practice. They are not official papers; always check the latest official notification for the syllabus and pattern.