Responsibilities &

Rights of
Professionals

FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES
Abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and
institutions, the national flag, and the national
anthem;
Cherish and follow the noble ideals which inspired our
national struggle for freedom;
Uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity, and
integrity of India;
Defend the country and render national service when
called upon to do so;
Promote harmony and the spirit of common
brotherhood amongst all the people of India
transcending religious, linguistic, and regional or
sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory
to the dignity of women;
Value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite
culture;

FUNDAMENTAL DUTIES
Protect and improve the natural
environment including forests, lakes,
rivers, and wildlife and to have
compassion for living creatures;
Develop the scientific temper, humanism,
and the spirit of inquiry and reform;
Safeguard public property and to abjure
violence; and
Strive towards excellence in all spheres of
individual and collective activity so that
the nation constantly rises to higher levels
of endeavor & achievement.

RIGHT TO INFORMATION
The right to information act was passed in 2005
A practical regime to enforce the right of citizens to
information
Under the Act, citizens may request any information as
defined and permitted under the rules; inspect and study
documents and records; get copies of documents; obtain
certified copies of documents; and request for soft copies
of information.

RIGHT TO INFORMATION
The entities covered under the Act include

All constitutional authorities covering the

executive, legislature, and judiciary;
All institutions established by an Act of the
Parliament or the state legislature;
Organizations owned, controlled, or
substantially financed by the government; &
Non-governmental organizations
substantially financed directly or indirectly
with funds provided by the government.

EMPLOYED PROFESSIONAL
Collegiality
Appreciation of professional expertise
Commitment to profession
Shared vision

Common Goals of Professionals

Promote ethical practices in the profession
Work towards advancement of profession
Promote common professional cause

EMPLOYED PROFESSIONALS

LOYALTY
Loyalty means being faithful or
committed to something
Loyalty to public good is foremost
Loyalty to the profession
Loyalty to the employer
These loyalties may come into
conflict at times

EMPLOYED PROFESSIONALS
Organizational loyalty is the result of
contractual obligations.
Identity loyalty is due to reasons beyond
contractual obligations; your emotional
attachment to the organization and the
group of people you are working with.
Both loyalties will make one perform; but
identity loyalty makes one do better due to
emotional attachment; such employees will
be asset to organizations

EMPLOYED PROFESSIONAL

Misplaced Loyalty
Loyalty to the organization should
not come in the way of professional
or public cause.
Balancing the different loyalties can
sometimes become tricky.
Professional need to keep public
good and professional integrity
above organizational loyalty.

EMPLOYED PROFESSIONALS
Confidentiality
As employee, professional gets a lot of information; some
such information may have to be kept confidential.
The professional has to decide about which information has to
be kept confidential.
Contractual obligations and moral considerations makes it
mandatory for the professional to keep a lot of information
confidential

EMPLOYED PROFESSIONAL
Confidentiality

In the case of organizations, they have the right to

keep some information confidential. This is required
to survive in a competitive environment.
Confidentiality of information is also essential
and an absolute need in some cases. A medical
professional is given private information by a
patient with the tacit understanding that the
information so provided will be kept confidential. This
is accepted as a mandatory requirement of
confidentiality worldwide.
Employees are bound by contractual obligations
about confidentiality, either explicitly mentioned or
otherwise. Some employers may include this as a
part of the contract for employment.

EMPLOYED PROFESSIONAL
Confidentiality
When an employee changes jobs, he has the moral
obligations to keep the information from the previous
employer confidential.
As per ethical theories as well, confidentiality can be justified
as the employer has a right to keep information confidential
for business growth.
Confidentiality is not absolute; Information can shared if it is
in the interest of public good.

EMPLOYED PROFESSIONAL
Respect for Authority
Authority is the organization or the superior
Authority can be positional
Authority due to expertise is more valued
When you are employed in an organization, you are bound by
the rules, regulations, traditions, organizational structure, etc., of
the organization.
You are bound to obey orders issued to you and perform the
duties assigned. You have to report the results or difficulties to
your superiors.

EMPLOYED PROFESSIONAL
Respect for Authority

You have to respect both the authority of individuals

and the channels of communications laid down for
you to communicate vertically and laterally.
All this binding applies as long as the orders do not
command you to do something unethical or against
your best professional judgment. Respect for
authority is, thus, not absolute and may not cover
all situations.
In ordinary situations, you may receive an order and
act accordingly. You may or may not make an
independent judgment of what that order means
and whether it is ethical or not. Most of the times
you may not even consider how ethical a situation
is.

EMPLOYED PROFESSIONAL
Respect for Authority
If there is a conflict between organizational requirement and
what you consider as ethical to do, then you have to go by your
most fundamental obligation of public safety. You must
have the right to show your dissent, vent your objections, and
defy the authority if required.
Public safety and welfare is a prime concern for a professional
and institutional authority should not come in the way of you
ensuring this main obligation.

PRIDE OF PROFESSION
You have to be committed to the profession.
This sense of commitment will enable you to work in
a better way and achieve the objectives of the
profession, the most important of which is public
good.
You will be able to contribute to the development of
the profession if you have this kind of commitment.
The pride of the profession will give you the moral
strength to fight against acts that discredit the
profession.
This sense of commitment will also enable you to be
a useful member of the professional body,
contribute to the professional development, and
bring a better image to the profession.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Your good professional judgment may be affected
because you have a personal interest in the issue and
your sound and unbiased professional judgment is
important for the company you are working for.
A professional should avoid situations where conflict of
interest arises.
The prime criteria will be whether your
professional judgment is affected because of such
interest.

GIFTS & BRIBES

These terms are used to indicate a wide range of things from a
harmless small gift to bribery. In between is a grey area that is
difficult to judge.
A professional should not act against his/her professional
conscience or judgment.
He/She should avoid situations that have the potential to force
him/her to act against his/her judgment.
He/She should not accept any material gift of any value from
someone or some agency if he/she has to make a business
decision involving that person or agency
No guidelines can be laid down to clearly indicate the
distinction between a harmless gift and a bribe. A bribe,
essentially has an ulterior motive and is given with an
expectation of return for the material or service given.
A professional has to develop his/her own yardstick to decide
on an acceptable form of gift in a given context.

OCCUPATIONAL CRIMES
The following situations come under this

takes the opportunity of using official

information for personal gains;
has knowledge that he/she provides to
friends or relatives for making profits;
uses such information and sells that
information to others for making profits and
financial or other gains for oneself;
sells classified information for pecuniary
benefits; and
performs some illegal acts for making
profits.

OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES

Avoid

Industrial espionage like selling

industrial secrets for pecuniary gains
Tender manipulation through cartel
when bidders form a cartel to
manipulate prices
Endangering lives Workers
being put into situations that is
hazardous to their health
Insider trading

PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS
RIGHTS AS AN EMPLOYEE

You have a right to get a compensation package

commensurate with your qualifications,
experience, and skills, as per industry norms or
standards. You have a right to get a
compensation package commensurate with your
qualifications, experience, and skills, as per
industry norms or standards.
You have a right not to be discriminated against
in the course of your career, starting from
recruitment to promotions and other employee
benefits.

PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS
RIGHTS AS AN EMPLOYEE

You also have rights conferred on you by the

employment contract like benefits that you
may demand such as paid leave and travel
allowances.
You have the right to pursue some outside
activities that do not interfere with your work
such as a hobby or other interests.
You have a right to be a member of an
organization of employees for collective
bargaining for getting their just rights.

PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS
RIGHTS OF PROFESSIONALS

You have the right to pursue your profession in a free and

fair manner by freely expressing your professional
judgment.
You have the right to perform your professional duties
according to your best professional judgment, without
being coerced into decisions.
You have the right of refusal, that is, the right to
refuse to do anything that is unprofessional or
unethical.
Within the bounds of confidentiality, you have the right to
talk freely about professional matters.
You have the right to pursue your professional
interests, such as higher studies or research,
without hampering your contractual obligations.

PROFESSIONAL RIGHTS
RIGHTS OF PROFESSIONALS

You have the right to be a member of professional

organizations that promote the profession and take
active part in activities related to the profession.
You have the right to engage in activities that
uphold your professional responsibility of public
safety and welfare despite your loyalty to your
employers.
You have the right for recognition of your
professional services, including adequate
remuneration and other rewards.
You have the right to go public with unethical acts
(whistle-blowing).

WHISTLE BLOWING
DEFINITION

Disclosure of information about unethical

acts in an organization to an authority
within or outside the organization that is
capable of taking steps to prevent such
actions or punish those doing such acts
with the motive of ensuring public safety
or upholding morality.
The whistle blower need not necessarily
be an employee

WHISTLE BLOWING
Employee as Whistle Blower

As an employee you have to first explore the normal

channels available to you to prevent any unethical act.
It is only when you find that such efforts do not result in
any action, that you have the moral right to violate the
normal channels of communication within the
organization.
Your loyalty (which is considered a responsibility)
comes in the way of your communication. So the
matter that you choose to disclose must be serious
enough to bypass this responsibility. You have to
seriously consider and weigh your options and only
when you are satisfied that the matter is considerably
important for public safety or morality within the
organization that you must choose to blow the whistle.

WHISTLE BLOWERS PROTECTION ACT

KEY FEATURES

It will protect the whistle-blowers from any

discrimination or victimization in their workplace.
t provides for concealing the identity of a citizen
who discloses information about the misuse of
power and money. Those who reveal the identity of
the whistleblower will be held liable and penalized
by the CVC.(central vigilance commission)
The offenders will be liable for imprisonment up to
3 years and a fine up to `50,000.
There will be penalization in case of delays in
response, under the RTI Act. A fi ne of `250 will be
imposed for every day of delay beyond the set
deadline.
There will be a penalization of officials who try to mislead the CVC .

WHISTLE BLOWERS PROTECTION ACT

KEY FEATURES

The bill provides for addressing complaints

against public sector employees and employees of
the central and the state governments.
The bill also ensures the honest government
officials are not harassed in any way but those
individuals who fi le false complaints and charges
will be liable for imprisonment up to 2 years and
fine up to `30, 000. The public interest disclosure
as defined in the bill includes the following:
Any public servant or any other person including a
non-governmental organization (NGO) may make a
public interest disclosure to a competent authority
(defined as the Central or State Vigilance
Commission).

WHISTLE BLOWERS PROTECTION ACT

KEY FEATURES
Disclosure is defined as any complaint made in writing or
electronic mail against a public servant on matters related to
(a) Attempt to or commission of an offence under the Prevention of
Corruption Act 1988;
(b) Willful misuse of power that leads to demonstrable loss to the
government or gain to
the public servant; or
(c) Attempt or commission of a criminal offence by a public servant.

A public servant is any person who is an employee of the

central government or the state government or any company
or society owned or controlled by the central or state
government. However, no public interest disclosure shall be
accepted against defense, police, and intelligence personnel.
Each disclosure shall be accompanied by full particulars and
supporting documents. The vigilance commission shall not
entertain anonymous complaints.

DISCRIMINATION
Discrimination is considerations other than merit in
recruitment, promotion etc. This goes against the
concept of equality.
Job discrimination is the most common as in
recruitment
Gender discrimination is bias against women in all
walks of life
Cultural discrimination is based on language, religion,
caste etc.