1. Case Study: Scheme change with Regime Change
  2. Case Study: “Manthan” for Dairy Cooperative
  3. Case Study: College conference
  4. Case Study: Liking FB posts of wife
  5. Case Study: Selfi with a star

So far we’ve learned the foundational values of civil services under E3 part 1 to 3. Now let’s examine a few case studies related to those values:

Case Study: Scheme change with Regime Change

As the secretary of urban development under the previous political regime, you were instrumental in the design and successful implementation of “Gulshan Grover Gatar saaf karo yojana”.  The salient features of the scheme were as following:

  1. Contractual staff was hired, with stringent provisions of punishment and reward to ensure their dedication to work.
  2. They were given sophisticated instruments designed Tata company for cleaning the sewages.
  3. Robust mechanism for inspection and automation designed by Info-lysis company.
  4. This scheme won many accolades international organizations.
  5. CAG found no errors-mischiefs in its five years of implementation.

E3P4 Case Study civil services neutrality

But, after elections, new political party comes in power. The newly appointed Minister for urban development orders you to divert majority of the staff and budget of that scheme and launch a new scheme named “Prakash Raj Paani Pilaao Yojana”, saying that “sewage cleaning is doing fine, but we now need to focus on drinking water.”

Given your vast experience as a senior IAS who has worked in so many departments, you anticipate/apprehend following motives of the new Minister:

  1. Due to lack of staff in Gulshan yojana, Sewage cleaning will suffer. Ultimately functions will be contracted out to a private agency owned by a businessman who had funded the election campaign of the new party.
  2. Since staff is gone, the Sophisticated Tata instruments will malfunction due to lack of proper up keeping and servicing. Then they’re to be sold to a private agency at throwaway prices and same private agency will then repair and sell them to another company/state at high prices.
  3. Since Gulshan is not ‘abolished’, the Info-lysis company will continue receive annual payments for server-rent and IT support, thereby leading to wastage of tax-payer money. You may try to terminate or reduce the contract with them but company may bribe the minister to ensure steady flow of money.

Answer following:

  1. What policy advice will you give to the new minister?
  2. Suppose he doesn’t agree. You further write to CM. CM calls both of you. You explain your ‘anticipations/apprehension’, while new Minister blames you for “mistaking his genuine interest for water priority as a corruption motive.” Ultimately, CM rules in favour of the minister. Will you seek transfer? Yes/No and Why?
  3. After above scene, suppose you continue to work under the same ministry and same department, what will you do to ensure sewage cleaning doesn’t suffer?
  4. Minister orders you to “design” water provision under Prakash Yojana in such manner that it can also win international accolades like Gulshan Gatar Yojana then how will you proceed?

Case Study: “Manthan” for Dairy Cooperative

Amrish Puri runs a private dairy and also lends money to the needy villagers to buy cattle and arrange social-events, but he exploits them by not giving proper remuneration for their milk and charging exorbitant cumulative interest rates on the loans.
You’re an officer sent by the state dairy development board to initiate dairy cooperative movement in this village, to free the villagers from his nuisance. You’re given three tasks:

  1. Stage-1: Establish a cooperative milk collection center and collect milk from the villagers and offer them remunerative prices.
  2. Stage-2: Generate public awareness about benefits of cooperative dairy operation
  3. Stage-3: Conduct a free and fair election and handover the control of this dairy cooperative to the villagers.

Ethics Case Study Manthan Dairy Cooperative

But, Amrish Puri tries to stall your initiative by following manner:

  • Every morning at 11AM, a freezer van is supposed to collect milk from your center and bring it to the main dairy located 50kms away in big city. But driver doesn’t come on time or doesn’t deliver milk to the city on time. Upon inquiry you realized that he has been ‘bribed’ by Amrish to do mismanagement. You get the driver replaced but new driver also doing the same….Amrish Puri manages to bribe every driver you replace.
  • For village dairy cooperative elections, his known ‘associates’ file nomination papers. They secretly promise villagers desi-liquor, meat, saree and cattle. His associates also giving caste and religion color to the election, thereby Defeating your efforts of conducting free and fair election.
  • You’re certain that after winning elections Amrish Puri’s stooges will deliberately mismanage the dairy cooperative, thereby forcing villagers to sell milk to his private dairy.
  • His men burned the huts of the lower caste villagers. When they retaliate, he gets them all arrested with help of local (and therefore corrupt) Police officials. Then Amrish Puri himself, gets those lower-caste villagers bailed out of jail to portray his ‘benevolent’ image- and asking for their votes.
  • His lawyer comes with an affidavit signed by a village woman which alleges that you sexually exploited her. Lawyer blackmails that he’ll submit it to police and your department UNLESS you (A) work as per wishes of Amrish Puri OR (B) Seek transfer.
  • You make personal visit to district’s collector and SP but they’re too busy firefighting against an ongoing reservation agitation by Hardik Patel.
  • Media shows no interest in this small village and its problems.

Answer following Questions:

  1. Enumerate the steps you will initiate, ensure that village cooperative movement succeeds in all three stages against each of the obstacles mentioned above.
  2. Your subordinate’s advice you to use hook-and-crook methods to ensure Amrish Puri’s associates don’t win the election e.g. exposing true character of Amrish in social media and whatsapp, rigging of the ballot-box’ after election is over to make Anti-Amrish faction candidates win…and so on. Given that so far you’ve exhausted all the options without any success, will you consider this alternative?

Case Study: College conference

Suppose, you’re an IAS officer -invited as the chief guest of a competitive exam awareness workshop in a women’s college. Program schedule contains your motivational speech followed by a Q&A interaction with the students on UPSC preparation.

During interaction, students begin asking uncomfortable questions about the lagging health-education-infrastructure of the state, deterioration of law and order, lack of safety for women, and how the ruling party of the state and its administrative machinery has failed to anything about It and recent news report about transfer/suicide of another honest IAS officer.

From your knowledge and personal work experience, you know that participant’s remarks are valid and indeed nothing good is being done. What will you do? And why?

  1. Conclude the program saying “no more questions.”
  2. Reply to the question agreeing with the participant.
  3. Rebuke the observations made by the participant.
  4. something else.

Case Study: Liking FB posts of wife

Javed is a young Assistant Collector. His wife Shabana is an author, activist and blogger. Both are very active in facebook and twitter. At both places, Shabana has been posting her views/photos/links on “State-sponsored” riots, malnutrition, environmental degradation by SEZs and other socio-economic issues of the state. Javed has habit of clicking ‘like button’ on facebook and “re-tweet” button on twitter to all the posts made by his wife, without even reading them, just to keep wife in good humor.
Answer following:

  1. List the foundational values missing in Javed? And why?
  2. Suppose you’re the collector and chief Secretary directly sends an SMS order to you to ‘take care of this mess’, how will you proceed?
  3. Collector sends an office memo to Javed reprimanding him “maligning” the image of government through his social media account and orders him to “cleanup the mess”. Javed feels he is being persecuted for his religion, because even other officers’ wives/relatives are in similar “business” of bashing the state government, but collector never sent them a memo. You’re a family friend of Javed. He comes to ventilate his grievances to you- what will you advise/observation will you make?

Case Study: Selfi with a star

Mimoh Chakrabarty is a young ACP in charge of the security detail at a blood donation camp organized at Gujarat university. Chief minister and Hrithik Roshan – a top Bollywood star are invited as the Chief Guests. After CM leaves at 6PM, and other guests are about to leave- Mimoh asks the Vice Chancellor to take his photo with Hrithik Roshan for uploading on facebook. The VC obliges, photo goes viral on Facebook but

Local media’s criticism against Mimoh Mimoh blogs to defend himself
  1. Breach of protocol and decorum, belittling VC by asking him to take photograph with a Bollywood hero.
  2. Conduct unbecoming of an officer, by acting like a college fan-boy, while in uniform.
  3. Dereliction of duty.
  1. After CM left, the security duty was over and ‘office’ hours were also over. So, there is no dereliction of duty.
  2. I had no intention of belittling the VC. And VC had obliged in a friendly gusto.
  3. Media should focus on more important issues of troubling the society.

But the news is blown out of proportion both in vernacular media and social media. On daily basis local politicians, eminent personalities, page3 celebrities and jholachhap NGO turned intellectuals of Ahmedabad keep making columns. Opposition parties begin citing this episode to highlight deterioration of law and order in the state is because of carefree policemen. Jokes related to this event have become viral on whatsapp.
Answer following questions
Q1. Which foundational values for civil services are missing in Mimoh?
Q2. Suppose You’re the police commissioner, and home secretary calls you up to “do something”, because he feels that whole episode is putting the ruling party and police personnel in bad light. You can do one or more of the following steps:

  1. Transfer Mimoh to a sideline punishment posting.
  2. Verbally reprimand Mimoh.
  3. Send an office-memo to Mimoh
  4. Order him to tender unconditional apology.
  5. Make adverse remark in his Annual confidential report/service book
  6. Issue a circular to all police personnel of the city to maintain decorum while in uniform.
  7. Call up the local journalists and tell them to stop daily coverage of this insignificant news item.
  8. Just wait and watch till issue fizzes out and media finds another cheap-story to cover.

Which combination of the step/steps, will you initiate and why?
Visit Mrunal.org/Ethics for more study material on Ethics.