Ethical Decision Making

Prerequisites

• Decision-Making Framework and Problem Solving — the values ladder (“law filters, life leads”) is the backbone of this page.
• Administrative Scenarios — the same district setting, now with pressure coming from inside the system.
• Social Legislation and Human Rights — the RTI, Prevention of Corruption and related laws referred to here.

The Hook: The Envelope in the Tender Box

Why it matters for CGPSC: many decision-making items in Prelims Paper II are ethical at heart — a gift, a relative, a pressure call, a colleague’s wrongdoing. The same reasoning is tested in the Interview and underlies the ethics and values material in Mains (see Indian Thinkers for Gandhi and Kautilya on public conduct).

Dilemma or Temptation?

The first step is to name what kind of choice you face.

The American ethicist Rushworth Kidder (How Good People Make Tough Choices, 1995) described four common “right vs right” paradigms:

The Values of Public Service

The Nolan principles

The UK’s Committee on Standards in Public Life, chaired by Lord Nolan, set out the Seven Principles of Public Life in 1995. They are widely cited in India, including by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission in its fourth report, Ethics in Governance (2007).

Gandhi’s talisman

When in doubt, Gandhi advised, recall the face of the poorest and weakest person you have seen and ask whether the step you are considering will be of any use to them. In CSAT terms: the option that serves the most vulnerable, within the law, usually wins.

The legal scaffolding

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest (हितों का टकराव) arises when a private interest — family, friends, money, future job — could influence, or appear to influence, an official decision.

Five Tests for an Ethical Option

Run a doubtful option through these questions:

graph TD
    A[Option under consideration] --> B{Legal? Within rules?}
    B -- No --> X[Reject]
    B -- Yes --> C{Would I treat any other citizen the same way?}
    C -- No --> X
    C -- Yes --> D{Comfortable if it appeared on the front page?}
    D -- No --> X
    D -- Yes --> E{Does it serve the public and the most vulnerable?}
    E -- No --> X
    E -- Yes --> F{Is it documented and open to scrutiny?}
    F -- Yes --> G[Ethically sound option]
    F -- No --> H[Record it, then proceed]

1. Legality test — does it keep the law and the rules?
2. Consistency (fairness) test — would I do the same for anyone else in the same position?
3. Front-page test — would I be comfortable if it were reported in tomorrow’s newspaper?
4. Talisman test — does it help the poorest and weakest affected?
5. Record test — can it be written on the file and defended?

Solved Dilemmas

All scenarios are hypothetical practice items written for this site, not real CGPSC questions.

Dilemma 1 — The relative’s bid (conflict of interest)

Situation. The hook above: you find that your brother-in-law’s firm has bid in a tender your committee is evaluating.

(a) Continue on the committee, since you will evaluate all bids honestly (b) Inform the competent authority in writing about the relationship and withdraw from the evaluation of this tender (c) Reject your brother-in-law’s bid on a technicality to avoid any suspicion (d) Ask your brother-in-law to withdraw his bid

Dilemma 2 — The festive basket (gift)

Situation. As a sub-engineer, on the eve of Diwali you receive a sweets box with a silver coin from a contractor whose final bill is pending with you.

(a) Accept it, since festival gifts are a social custom (b) Accept the sweets but return the coin (c) Politely return the gift with a note, and record the matter as required by the conduct rules (d) Accept it and distribute the sweets among your staff

Dilemma 3 — The list of names (political pressure)

Situation. As a block officer, you receive a call from an influential local leader asking you to add twenty names to the beneficiary list of a housing scheme. On checking, eight are eligible and twelve are not.

(a) Add all twenty names to maintain good relations (b) Refuse to take any further calls from the leader (c) Politely explain the eligibility criteria, process the eight eligible applications quickly, and inform the leader in writing why the other twelve cannot be included (d) Add the eight eligible names but keep the leader’s request off the record

Dilemma 4 — The colleague’s fudged register (truth vs loyalty)

Situation. As a block-level supervisor, you discover that a senior colleague — also a close friend — has been inflating attendance in a school’s mid-day meal register, apparently to divert grain.

(a) Ignore it out of loyalty to a friend (b) Warn him privately and let the matter rest if he stops (c) Verify the records discreetly and report the facts to the competent authority through the proper channel (d) Share the documents with a journalist so that the public knows

Dilemma 5 — The missed deadline (justice vs mercy)

Situation. As a district welfare officer, you learn that a tribal student from a remote village missed the online scholarship deadline by one day because the portal was down in her area.

(a) Reject her application, since the deadline is fixed for everyone (b) Enter her application yourself with a back date (c) Check whether the rules or the department permit relaxation for technical failure; with evidence of the outage, move the case to the competent authority and, if allowed, ensure it is processed — and report the outage so that others are covered too (d) Pay her scholarship from your own pocket

Dilemma 6 — The backdated note (instructions from above)

Situation. Your superior asks you to backdate a file note so that a delayed approval appears to have been given within the time limit before an audit.

(a) Backdate the note, as it is the superior’s instruction and nobody was harmed (b) Politely decline, record the actual dates, and offer to add a note explaining the reasons for the delay (c) Report the superior to the media (d) Agree verbally but quietly not do it

Memory Tricks

Don’t Confuse

Common Mistakes

Practice

Level 1: Foundation

1. Distinguish an ethical dilemma from an ethical temptation in one line.
2. Name the seven Nolan principles.
3. What three steps should a public servant take on discovering a conflict of interest?
4. Which 2018 change to the Prevention of Corruption Act concerns the bribe-giver?

Level 2: Prelims MCQs

All items are original practice questions, not real CGPSC questions.

Q1. You are a member of an interview board for contractual teachers. Among the candidates is your niece. What is the most appropriate course of action?

(a) Interview her like any other candidate and give marks strictly on merit (b) Inform the chairperson in writing and withdraw from the board for her interview, or for the whole process if the rules require (c) Give her slightly lower marks to avoid any suspicion of favour (d) Ask her not to appear in the interview

Q2. Consider the following statements about the Seven Principles of Public Life:

1. They were set out by the UK’s Committee on Standards in Public Life, chaired by Lord Nolan.
2. “Loyalty” and “obedience” are two of the seven principles.
3. Objectivity and openness are among the seven principles.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3

Q3. Match the situation (List I) with the “right vs right” paradigm (List II) it best illustrates:

(a) A-4, B-1, C-2, D-3 (b) A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3 (c) A-1, B-4, C-2, D-3 (d) A-4, B-1, C-3, D-2

Q4. As a Naib Tehsildar, you receive a costly mobile phone as a “birthday gift” from a land dealer whose mutation cases are pending in your court. The best response is:

(a) Keep it, as birthday gifts are personal (b) Return it politely with a written note, and record the matter as required by the conduct rules (c) Keep it and decide his cases strictly on merit (d) Donate it to a school in your name

Q5. You find evidence that funds for a rural road were drawn although the work was never done. The officer responsible is senior to you and well connected. The most appropriate action is:

(a) Stay silent, since raising it may harm your career (b) Post the evidence on social media (c) Verify the records and the site, then report the facts in writing to the competent authority or vigilance channel (d) Confront the officer and demand that he return the money

Level 3: Speed Drill — Decide in 60 Seconds

Name the best response in one line each.

1. A contractor offers to “sponsor” your office’s annual function.
2. A friend asks you to share the provisional merit list before it is published.
3. Your father asks you to get a relative’s file “moved” in another department.
4. A poor vendor’s cart blocks a road during an encroachment drive; he pleads for one day.
5. You realise that an order you signed last week was based on a wrong calculation.

Quick Revision Table

Key Takeaways

What’s Next

• Decision Making — Quick Revision — the whole chapter on one page.
• Situation-Based Questions — more practice on the interpersonal side of the same paper.
• Social Legislation and Human Rights — RTI, Prevention of Corruption Act and related laws for Mains GS-V.
• Public Administration — accountability and ethics in administration for Mains GS-I.
• Indian Thinkers — Gandhi and Kautilya on the conduct of those who govern.