Book Review: Prabhat Kumar, Public Service Ethics-A Quest for Naitik Bharat

Abstract

Prabhat Kumar, Public Service Ethics—A Quest for Naitik Bharat. IC Centre for Governance, 2021, 225 pp. : Ethics, which has no universally agreed definition, when linked with public service and public life in India, invariably touches upon the multidimensional gamut of a fundamental element of Indian ethos. ‘Ethics in Public Service’ and ‘Ethics of Public Service’—one that refers to public servants discharging their duties to the best of their ability; the other that invokes doing what is right with an intrinsic sense of service to the people—is what encompasses the most relevant aspects of Prabhat Kumar’s monograph, ‘PUBLIC SERVICE ETHICS, A Quest for Naitik Bharat’. While brilliantly and deftly bringing out these issues of right and wrong when public servants frame policies aimed to benefit the common man, the book delves into the practical aspects of the ethics of public service in India. Highlighting the multiple dimensions of a very crucial element of human character, the practice of ethical principles as a way of life, the author eloquently argues how public servants need to be innovative, imaginative and empathetic to the needs of people.