9.

ETHICS
9.1. GOOD SAMARITAN LAW
Why in News?
 Recently a story was published about a young man who lay bleeding on a road in Koppal, Karnataka while
onlookers took pictures of him and made a video.
Issues Involved
 Despite Karnataka having a Good Samaritan Law that protects bystanders from any harassment or
victimization at the hands of police, hospital staff etc., and incidents like Koppal still occur.
 Decreasing values and care for others in a consumeristic society. Eg. Rather than saving the life of the
victim, the bystanders of Koppal were more interested in posting the video of the incident online.
Ethical Questions Involved What ought to be done?
1. Can a law, rule or regulation on Good  Apart from enacting a law, there ought to be a change in
Samaritan only, help in saving lives due to the attitude in the people to help others in need.
rising road accidents?  Also, Law ought to be enforced strictly to increase people’s
belief in it.
2. Sometimes, Social influence discourages any  If the goal is to save life, an individual ought to help, without
individual initiative that may want to help. fixation on fear from social influence.
What needs to be done?
 Any law that attempts to change people’s perception of a state agency demands a parallel change in the
behaviour of the agency itself. In this case, police investigation and enforcement should be reformed.
 There is need to publicize the names of Good Samaritans to incentivize them to help others.
 A strict enforcement of the guidelines of Supreme Court on Good Samaritan Law by the police
administration and also the hospital staff is also the need of the hour.
 Educating the younger generation and the people by practical examples and curriculum changes is also a
step towards becoming a Good Samaritan.
 Responsible use of social media has to be taught to all to avoid publicizing unfortunate incidents on it.
(For Good Samaritan guidelines, please refer to the Vision IAS PT 365 Social module of 2015-16)

9.2. WHISTLE BLOWING

Why in News?
 Recently a whistleblower alleged that the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is –
o Illegally importing and misbranding kidney cancer drug Torisel in India.
o Selling a steroid called Medrol with an extended expiry date.
o Not testing its pneumococcal vaccine Prevenar as per norms.
 After the whistleblower allegations made to Karnataka State Human Rights Commissions, the application has
been given to NHRC.
Issues involved
 With recent laws like RTI and Whistleblower Protection Act, many whistleblowers have come up to expose
internal problems in an organization.
 Centre State coordination - Central Drug Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) is only concerned with
policy matters. Day-to-day operational activities on drug regulation are taken by State drug regulatory
officials.
Ethical Questions involved What ought to be done?
1. Is whistle blowing right? Is it  Whistle blowing is an alternative to the poor internal complaints mechanism of
a type of freedom of the organization.
expression?  If whistle blowing is done for the larger public interest then it is considered to be
ethical.
 If it is pursued for private interests then it ought not to be done. Eg. Whistle
blowing should not harm company’s interest like leaking of their trade secrets.

78 www.visionias.in ©Vision IAS

2. Accountability of companies  Companies have the moral responsibility to protect and to be truthful to both the
towards the consumers they shareholders and the stakeholders they are serving.
are serving.  In India, Law is supreme. Therefore individuals and even companies are obligated
to follow it.
Impact of Whistle Blowing
 It exposes any corruption or misuse of power occurring in an organization. Eg. NHAI engineer Satyendra
Dubey who exposed irregularities in Golden Quadrilateral project.
 It helps to reveal the truth to the larger public and improves transparency in the organizational operations.
What needs to be done?
 There should be a strict law that protects the identity of whistleblowers and also incentivize a whistleblower
to reveal the malfeasance in an organization.
 The Supreme decision to put up an administrative mechanism to protect whistleblowers should be
implemented by the Centre.
 The stakeholders at large should be involved to a greater scrutiny by employing social audits.
 The government departments should immediately be made to put up legible and easily understandable
Citizen Charters.
 There should also be a severe penalty after an independent enquiry, if the whistleblower is involved in
leaking official secrets of government or trade secrets of a company.
Way Forward
 Recently inaugurated Citizens Whistleblower Forum is a right step towards protecting them. Apart from that
the government should also pass the pending bills related to whistle blowing. There should also be an
improvement in the transparency and accountability of the company so that reliance on whistle blowing is
reduced to a minimum.

79 www.visionias.in ©Vision IAS