Ethics: July 2022 Current Affairs - UPSC PDF Download

“In looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence and energy. And if they do not have the first, the other two will kill you.” —Warren Buffet

What do you understand by this statement in the present-day scenario? Explain.

This statement emphasises the critical nature of integrity. Without integrity, intelligence and energy can be abused to the detriment of the firm or organisation. Without Integrity, intelligence and energy are worthless. Integrity is a person’s capacity to understand that there is no contradiction between his words and acts.

It is a fine line that separates genius from the thief. Both possess energy and intelligence. What distinguishes them is their integrity. If all of one’s energy and intelligence are not channelled into a single positive, ethical, and beneficent force, only calamity will result! With the highest level of intelligence and energy, combined with the best intentions and honesty, the proper recipe for just outcomes is created.

Integrity is founded on honesty and trust. Honesty and truthfulness are also fundamental tenets of an individual with integrity. Individuals that exhibit integrity attract others because they are trustworthy and dependable. They are principled and can be relied upon to conduct themselves honorably even when no one is looking.

Individuals that operate with Integrity are those who never compromise their integrity and always adhere to their convictions. They consistently offer high-quality performance, outperform stakeholders’ expectations, and keep their commitments. Those that behave with integrity will consistently deliver the necessary level of performance regardless of whether they are observed or not, and can be relied upon to do so. Integrity is about doing the right thing and paying extra attention to the small and insignificant deeds that leave a lasting impact.

People without integrity could be dangerous; just intelligence and energy are not enough even though those two are great qualities of achievers. Without integrity, the other two qualities are problematic.

In the present-day scenario, it means that intelligence and energy without the sobering touch of integrity are dangerous. It could create dangerous leaders, policy makers or civil servants. Integrity or moral soundness is a greater virtue than intelligence and energy. Integrity keeps energy and intelligence in control and puts the latter to good use. People without integrity (but loaded with intelligence) are not be hired or trusted.

A reliable person would be one with integrity. A person without integrity but intelligence could be a potential thief or a fraud. In the present-day context, many financial frauds are often committed by people who are low on integrity but very high on energy and intelligence.

In today’s political, economic and administrative field, policy makers and leaders without integrity would create chaos and danger for society. A person with low integrity would compromise on values and subvert social progress while furthering his or her own progress with his/her intelligence.

Gaining the trust of others takes time and perseverance. One act of betrayal, no matter how tiny, can permanently damage that trust. The theft of a single rupee remains a theft. A person of integrity will not compromise his ideals regardless of the size of the stakes.

To know more information about integrity:

• Integrity

Case Study 1 

A renowned and critically acclaimed producer-director has come up with a new movie based on retelling of the freedom movement. The trailer of this project depicts prominent freedom fighters and various aspects of their personalities. It is a project that involves substantial sums of money and has taken collaborative efforts of 3 years. However, certain political and social activists have objected to what they perceived as negative portrayal of some freedom fighters. As such, they have opposed the release of this movie and issued threats with serious consequences. This has come in the context of increase in the number of instances involving many groups issuing threats against one or the other movie. In such a context you have been designated as the head of a special committee with the broad responsibility of reviewing the film certification process in general as well as the checking the historical accuracy of the events depicted in this particular movie.

Questions:

(a) Who are the key stakeholders you would involve as part of the consultation process?

(b) What are the principles that you would consider while giving your recommendations to the government? Also, provide an outline of a solution that you deem appropriate in the prevailing context.

Answer 

(a) This is a complex subject that involves legal issues and rights of creative production of the filmmakers and can potentially affect wide sections of society. The consultation process should identify public concerns and develop a broad consensus through multi-stakeholder participation. A participatory approach to consultation that harnesses expertise and knowledge of different stakeholders is critical to find a workable, acceptable and sustainable solution. In this case, inputs from the following stakeholders are required:

• Legal experts to understand the complexities of the case.
• Representatives of the film industry who generally are the direct aggrieved person.
• Members of the Central Board of Film Certification which is tasked with regulating the public exhibition of films under provisions of Cinematography Act, 1952.
• Indian Broadcasting foundation as spokesperson of broadcasting industry.
• Civil society representatives to gain an audience perspective
• Members of National Commission for Women, National Council for Protection of Child Rights etc. which are statutory watchdogs for vulnerable sections of the society.
• Renowned historians to check the historical accuracy of the particular movie.

(b) The recommendations to made to the government for the certification process will be based on the following principles:

• Right to artistic expression is part of the fundamental right to speech and expression under the constitution and should be respected as well as restrained as such.
• Difference between a commercial cinema and a documentary must be maintained. The purpose of a commercial film is to make money by portraying history along with commercially appealing elements. Keeping it in a long drawn process will erode its profitability as well as may risk revealing of the plot to audience, thereby further hampering its potential to earn revenue.
• Artististic freedom includes right to portray fiction along with documented history. However, since historical claims are often unsettled, care must be taken to provide disclaimers as and when necessary.
• Film remains responsible and sensitive to values and standards of the society.
• Categorization of films should empower audience to make informed viewing choices.
• A film to be certified should not –
  (i) Threaten the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states,
  (ii) Disturb public order, or is likely to incite commission of any offence.
  (iii) Hurt the decency or involve defamation o Involve contempt of court
  (iv) Violate the existing guidelines towards issues of sex, violence, smoking, discrimination, drugs etc.
  (v) If it claims to be a historical film, should not distort well-established facts.

The guidelines should ensure that the process of certification of films for public exhibition is carried out in a uniform, non-discriminatory manner within the ambit of the provisions of the various laws such as Cinematograph Act, Prevention of Insults to National Honor Act, etc.

To deal with this particular situation, the following steps may be taken

• A central advisory panel should be constituted with experts such as historians to objectively assess the historical accuracy of the film in a time-bound manner.
• A restricted screening should be organized for all key stakeholders.
• Reports from these should be presented to CBFC in a time-bound manner, following which the movie can be released, with edits, if required.
• Adequate law and order arrangements should be made upon release of the movie to uphold the rule of law and freedom.

The essence of a mature democracy is freedom of speech and expression. Organizations and pressure groups should not be allowed to dictate policies or hurt the creative expression of artists. A robust certification process is essential to ensure the creative freedom of filmmakers as well as empower the audience to make informed choices.

Case Study 2

There have been reports of repeat instances of mob lynching in different states of India. It has been pointed out that these presumably faceless mobs gather impromptu on the basis of unverified information on issues that affect the collective conscience of the society such as child trafficking, sexual harassment, cow slaughter etc. Most of the people don’t even regret their action of violating the law and even get away with committing such a heinous crime.

Questions

(a) What are the socio-psychological factors that motivate people to join the mob and kill fellow human beings?

(b) Identify the implications of increasing crime of lynching on society.

(c) Examine the role of social media in recent instances of mob lynching. As a law enforcement officer, how will you prevent such incidents from happening in your district?

Answer 

(a) Specific socio-psychological factors that facilitate individual participation in mob violence and lower prohibitions against violent behavior:

Social:

• Stereotypes and prejudices: developed through child rearing practices, peer effect, social separation and ideological disparity preface such behavior.
• General perception of justice system as slow and ineffective: It strengthens the idea that people should take justice into their own hands.
• Atmosphere of hate and suspicion against certain sections, created through sustained socio-political campaign.
• False belief of threat to one’s culture or community by the out-group strengthened by systematic incitement.
• Immunity and patronage from those in power.
• Vulnerability to misinformation: Often participants in lynch mobs are youth who are un/underemployed and less/uneducated who can be easily swayed.
• Decline in human values like compassion and empathy makes committing such dastardly act as remorseless.

Psychological:

• Deindividuation: participants feel released from normal constraints on their behavior when individual identity diffuses into larger collective identity combined with anonymity.
• A sense of excitement and novelty due to break from routine as well as sense of belongingness to a group.
• A sense of release for a more generalized hostility and a false sense of empowerment owing to sense of, domination, and supremacy.
• Infectious sentiments of mob which can easily arouse and stimulate emotions of an individual.

Answer 2

(b) Repeated occurrences will have following implications for society:

• Weakening of Rule of Law: as people may lose faith in the power and authority of state.
• Social injustice: Most victims are poor and marginalized and their death further accentuates poverty and deprivation of their families.
• Perpetuates hatred and is against unity and cohesiveness of society.
• Breeds anarchy: Instigates a cycle of violence and counter-violence.
• Promotes terrorism and crime: Instills fear and sense of alienation in certain groupsmaking them an easy fodder for terrorist and criminal organizations.
• Reduces accountability of government: Since people’s attention is diverted to emotional issues, government’s accountability is reduced.
• Negative impact on socio-economic growth by negatively affecting business and investment sentiments.

Answer

(c) Lynch mobs are mobilized through misinformation which travels like a wildfire, enabled by social media. Spread of fake news has been particularly pernicious in India where new inexperienced smartphone users send billions of messages a day on WhatsApp, which has more than 200 million users in country. Since, it’s difficult to trace origin of such messages; anonymous individuals with vested interests get away repeatedly after spreading such lies. Further, people cannot verify rumors and most of the times such messages are impregnated with doctored photographs, making people gullible to them.

As a law enforcement officer following steps can be taken to fight the menace:

• A clear message should be sent that charges of ‘murder’ will be framed against all those who participate in lynchings will act as a deterrent. In fact, the Section 302 of IPC does not restrict the charge of murder to one person who carries out the act – it is equally applicable to everyone who aids and abets murder as well.
• Directing social media companies that forwarded messages should be tagged with the originating number, to make it easier to crack down on misuse and discourage users from creating malicious content.
• Group administrators to be held liable for activities on their group and action they took to prevent misuse of group.
• Immediate arrest of anybody involved in malafide rumor mongering.
• Counter the misinformation by aggressive campaigning on social media and local TV channels. Citizen groups on social media could be made that will alert about any rumor mongering to both the people and authorities.
• Employ methods such as hiring street performers, reaching out to Panchayats, NGOs, SHGs, schools, colleges etc. to spread public awareness.
• Promote awareness about sites and links that help to identify hoax.

“Mobocracy” as called by Supreme Court while providing guidelines to the government against lynch mobs, is a threat to democratic and social stability. It is an attack on constitutional values and must be dealt with firmness by all stakeholders including all tiers and branches of government, media, social media companies and citizens.

To know more information

• Ethics Case Studies Compilation