Mains Practice Questions

Introduction

Public trust in administration is not built merely through speed, digitisation, or procedural efficiency, but through the ethical quality of governance.

• While efficient procedures improve service delivery, it is value-based conduct, integrity, empathy, fairness, and accountability that gives administration moral legitimacy.
• Trust emerges when citizens feel that power is exercised justly and humanely, not mechanically.

Body:

Role Of Value-Based Conduct In Building Public Trust

• Integrity And Probity In Decision-Making: Honesty, transparency, and zero tolerance for corruption create confidence in public institutions. Citizens trust administrations that place public interest above personal gain.
  • For instance, the introduction of the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) has institutionalised integrity and probity in public procurement by enabling end-to-end online purchasing, price discovery, and real-time audit trails.
• Empathy And Compassion In Service Delivery: Empathetic administrators understand ground realities and respond with humane flexibility. This fosters emotional trust beyond transactional interactions.
  • For instance, During a welfare scheme rollout, an administrator allows flexible documentation deadlines for disaster-affected or migrant families after personally assessing their hardships, ensuring benefits reach the needy.
  • This humane flexibility builds emotional trust, transforming service delivery from a mere transaction into responsive governance.
• Fairness And Impartiality: Consistent, unbiased decision-making reinforces faith in rule of law. Citizens trust systems where outcomes are based on merit and justice, not influence.
  • For example, the recruitment process conducted by the Union Public Service Commission exemplifies fairness and impartiality in decision-making through anonymous evaluation, multi-layered scrutiny, and strict adherence to constitutional norms.
• Accountability And Responsiveness: Owning mistakes, correcting errors, and being answerable to citizens strengthens democratic trust. Value-based accountability goes beyond procedural reporting.
  • For instance, the grievance redressal mechanism of the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) reflects accountability and responsiveness in governance by enabling time-bound resolution, escalation tracking, and direct feedback from citizens.

Why Procedural Efficiency Alone Is Insufficient

• Efficiency Without Ethics Can Alienate Citizens: Procedural efficiency focuses on timelines, targets, and outputs, but may ignore human consequences. Rigid adherence to rules without sensitivity can exclude vulnerable sections.
  • For example, denial of welfare benefits due to minor documentation gaps, despite genuine need, reflects efficient but insensitive administration.
• Technocratic Governance Lacks Moral Legitimacy: Digitisation and automation improve speed but cannot replace ethical judgment. Systems without discretion may appear impersonal and unjust.
  • For instance, automated grievance portals that close complaints without human review often frustrate citizens despite technical efficiency.
• Compliance Does Not Guarantee Fairness: Following procedures does not automatically ensure justice or equity. Ethical governance requires evaluating whether procedures themselves are fair and inclusive.
  • For example, uniform rules applied to unequal social contexts can deepen inequality rather than reduce it.

Synergy Between Efficiency And Values

• Efficiency With Ethical Direction: Procedural efficiency enhances administrative capacity and speed, but ethical values provide direction and purpose to its use.
  • When efficiency is guided by integrity and fairness, outcomes align with public interest rather than mere target achievement.
• Human-Centric Service Delivery: Values such as empathy and dignity ensure that efficient systems remain people-focused.
  • Technology and streamlined procedures, when combined with compassion, make governance responsive rather than mechanical.
• Fair And Consistent Decision-Making: Ethical values ensure that efficient processes do not become arbitrary or exclusionary.
  • Fairness and impartiality help apply rules consistently while accounting for social realities, strengthening public confidence.
• Trust Through Responsible Accountability: Efficiency improves responsiveness, but accountability rooted in honesty and transparency builds trust.
  • When administrations own outcomes and correct errors, efficiency translates into credibility and legitimacy.

Conclusion:

Public trust in administration rests fundamentally on value-based conduct, with procedural efficiency acting as a necessary but insufficient condition. Integrity, empathy, fairness, and accountability humanise governance and give moral legitimacy to state power. Sustainable trust is built not when administration merely functions well, but when it acts rightly for, as Aristotle wisely observed, “The law is reason, free from passion.”