The Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) Panjab and Chandigarh (UT) Regional Branch and the Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh jointly organized a Panel Discussion on the theme paper for Annual Members' Conference 2016 of IIPA titled “Strengthening of Ethical and Moral Values in Governance” on September 30, 2016 as a prelude to IIPA Annual Conference. Prof. B.S. Ghuman, Honorary Secretary, Regional Branch while introducing the theme and speaking on corruption opined that in this competitive world capital flows to the countries which are good governed. Ethics and moral values play a pivotal role in the promotion of parameters of good governance like political, administrative and judicial accountability, equity and inclusiveness, and corruption free polity and governance. He further said that corruption promotes inefficiency, leads to parallel economy adversely affects investment by diverting money to foreign banks, truncates quality of infrastructure and services, and also adversely affects social equity. For mitigating corruption it is desirable to initiate systematic re-engineering by bringing political, administrative and judicial reforms; strengthening punitive action machinery, empowering communities and civil society and sensitizing citizens against corruption. Dr. Bharati Garg, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh in her presentation highlighted that inspite of all laws, rules, regulations and codes, unethical behaviors and corrupt practices in governance have increased. We may continue to pass new enactments and build new structures of governance but they are all worthless without a human commitment, character and good political will to implement the reforms Professor Ramanjit K. Johal, Chairperson, Public Administration, in her presentation said that ethics offer some guiding principles for how people can be and belong in their community, society, organization, or even family. She examined the contributions that civil society makes in promoting and nurturing responsive governance.. According to her, the ethics for civil servants, besides being the ethics of power and efficiency, are the republican ethics of the public interest as a goal which must be actively pursued. The bureaucracy must add value to society, advance certain objective standards of public welfare and public well-being The Panel presentations were followed by observations and questions. Prof. Balram Gupta, Mr. Mohammad Sohail, Mr. Paramjit S. Sahai, Dr. Gurvinder Kaur, Mr. Naveen Kuma, Mr. Prateek, Mr. Farhad, Mr. Mansoor and other participants raised questions. A large number of faculty members, members of the IIPA and research scholars and students attended the panel discussion. Shri B.S. Ojha IAS (Retd.) Chairman of the Regional Branch in his presidential remarks emphasized the need to introduce a course on moral values and ethics in educational institutions. He shared that favours extended by administrators without getting money also amount to corruption. Dr. Sudhir Sharma, Treasurer of the Regional Branch proposed a vote of thanks. |
