In recent times, social media has emerged as an important platform for all to share their information and opinions. Many civil servants are also quite active on the social media. Given this situation, there have been calls to revise or update the Civil Services Conduct Rules. Suppose you are a senior IAS officer who is heading a panel set up by the government to bring suitable changes in the conduct rules. Elaborate on how you will respond to the following questions: (a) What are the issues with a civil servant expressing his/her views on social media on various matters? (b) Should criticism of government policies on social media by civil servants be allowed? (c) How should civil servants conduct themselves on social media?

(a) Every Indian has fundamental rights and one of them is Freedom of Expression. However use of social media as a form of expression by civil servants raises certain ethical issues :-

(i) Non-institutionalised manner of communication is important information is shared (ii) Sensitive information may be misused (iii) foreign location of servers, profiling of civil servants and manipulative targeting (iv) Whether to express opinion of self or of the government (v) Creates an image of civil servants as some feudal lords

• Eg pictures of taking salutes, using large cars, foreign vacations, etc (vi) Criticism of government policies may create public dissent (vii) Whether to the freedom of expression is actually upheld (viii) Public may target officials for personal posts on socialmedia. This may affect morale of civil servants (ix) Social media can affect decision making and expose to majoritarian pressures (x) Appeasement posts towards certain sections of population (caste, religion) can put a dent on public servants as being partial and biased. Image of Service can be compromised

(b) While dissent and criticism is central to a vibrant democracy as it creates plural opinions and constructive debates; it can have issues if civil servants criticise government on social media platforms

Benefits of criticism

• bring out challenges in public domain • people will be better informed and can demand changes

Issues

• Political neutrality of civil servant will be questioned • Public trust will be weakened in government measures and policies. → When the implementers are themselves not having confidence in government, how can people feel trust in the policies. → Targeting of civil servants by political leadership for such posts.

Thus any criticism should be through institutional channels like meetings, ministerial consultation.

Public criticism can lead to erosion of public trust in government and create political instability.

(c) Social media conduct should encompass following:- (i) Avoiding political opinion in public domain (ii) Avoiding posts to create an impression of a feudal leader • not put pictures taking salutes, gifts, inside office, etc (iii) Using social media as a tool of public welfare • Share information on goverment measures • Creating handles for quick information sharing • Inviting grievances on social media • Encouraging feedback • Citizen participation through selfies, videos & Swacch Bharat, Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (iv) May create separate handles for official post (eg DM Delhi) and separate for personal and private posts