You have just finished your training and joined as a doctor in a very reputed government hospital. One day, while on night duty, you have been approached simultaneously by two patients – an octogenarian and a 5 year old child. Both of them are victims of recently out broken epidemic in the area. Situations of both of them are very critical and both of them need your urgent attention. You know that delay of even five minutes can cost the life of the neglected patient. No one was around there to help you. Three other doctors, who should be available for night duty have marked their attendance and left the hospital.You try to call them, but no one picked the call. So, the onus to save their lives lies entirely on you. But you have not handled any such case in past and you are a naïve in this particular field related with concerned epidemic. Also, you could attend only one patient at a time and that may risk the life of other.

(a) What are the available options with you?

(b) Discuss the emotional dilemma in this case.

You have been recently posted as a SDM in a remote area, where literacy rate is very low. One morning, while you are busy with some file work, an illiterate old man somehow manages to enter directly to your chamber. He is continuously criticizing government policies and public servants in a very loud and irritating voice. His tone is so much loud that whole office is getting disturbed. You at once call your subordinate and ask him the reasons for grieves of old man. Your subordinate tells you that the old man have come several times to know about the details of a currently modified old age pension scheme. He also tells you that the old man has been informed many times about the scheme, but he is not able to understand and in turn loudly abuses staff there. You are busy in some unavoidable work, which needs to be completed that day only as CM wants that file urgently. You also know that making the old person understand the scheme by yourself will take lot of time and your subordinates will not be able to make him understand.

(a) What are the available options with you?

(b) Evaluate each of the options and explain your course of action.

Due to huge power crisis in the state, government had launched a massive dam construction programme in an area as this area has huge untapped hydro-electric potential. In this programme, there would be huge mass displacement of people and large scale submergence of agricultural lands. Although proper resettlement and rehabilitation along with calculated compensation was assured to the people residing in the submergence region, still they were unsatisfied and unwilling to leave their own homes and native lands. Their issue of contention was that the compensation amount was decided without considering the fertility value of the land. Also, they were demanding proper rehabilitation and resettlement and compensation before initiation of the dam construction project, so that they might peacefully shift to some other location and would not be denied their rights.

You are a civil servant, who had been assigned the task of persuading people of your district in support of the government initiative.On reading the required reports, you came to know that the contention of the people was right as the original value of land was much more than the compensation amount. On raising this issue in a meeting with seniors, you were told that the amount of compensation could not be increased any further and your job was to provide all possible assistance in the execution of the programme and right now, your first duty was to persuade the people at any cost.

(a) What are the available options with you?

(b) How would you manage the dissonance between your cognition and behaviour?

ABC Co. Ltd. is a socially responsible company. Its objectives, plans and policies are made keeping in mind the interests of various stakeholders as well as society. It currently decided to launch a new social program for the benefits of homeless poor children of the city, but after cost estimation of the project, it concluded that it cannot afford the associated costs of the program in its current profit level. The other two available options for launching the program are – (i) increase in prices of its products which would lead to increase in profits and (ii) decrease in wages of the employees. Either of the two options is against the concept of social responsibility. The company, therefore, decides to drop the program.

(a) Suppose, you have been recently transferred and promoted as the General Manager of the company and you have been assigned with the task to re-look into the viability of the launching of the program, what course of action do you suggest for the company?

(b) Can the company maintain balance between the interests of various stakeholders in the above situation? If so, how?

You have been promoted as Additional Secretary in the ministry of defence and throughout your career, you have earned great respect because of your integrity. Defence minister trusts you and has given you great discretion in taking decisions. In a deal involving direct government to government contract with a major arms supplier, you are tasked with speeding up the contract agreement and finalize the deal. The manufacturer, who will benefit immensely if the process is expedited, on many occasions has personally contacted you and expressed his frustration in the slow movement of files in the ministry.

(a) What are the available options with you?

(b) Explain the ethical dilemma and cognitive dissonance present in this case.

You are recently posted as an SDM in a remote district. You come to know that the local MLA’s followers of the area, who are mainly small contractors and elected members of Gram Panchayat along with local officials, are misusing MGNREGA funds. You find that they smoothly siphoned off funds using fake job cards and without allocating bilateral cards to the villagers. You also come to know that all this was done at the behest of the local MLA. The state government has taken cognizance of the issue after a media report highlighted the matter and has ordered inquiry into the scam.

You have been given the onus to enquire into the matter. The local MLA is pressurizing you to file a false report. Some contractors and officials have contacted and requested you not to mention their names in the report in return for a hefty bribe. Recently, you have also started getting non – traceable threat calls.

(a) What are the available options with you?

(b) Evaluate each of these options & choose the option which you would adopt giving reasons.

(c) What should be your course of action?

Total sanitation campaign is launched in one of the backward district of Bihar. Due to unhygienic environmental conditions in rural areas many infectious diseases like typhoid, malaria and cholera spread which ruins the health of the people. Women and girls are badly sufferers as they have to wait for darkness for privacy and dignity. There are increasing instances of sexual and physical assault on them when toilets are in remote location. But the rural people, particularly the aged, do not want to change their traditional practice of open defecation. Hence, total sanitation campaign faces daunting challenges of adaptability especially in this educationally backward district. Various villages of other districts have been benefitted by this program of Ministry of Rural Development. The prime aim of this program is to popularize sanitation and hygienic environment in the rural areas. You are recently posted as the Sub-divisional Magistrate in that district. The chief secretary of Bihar is showing keen interest in this project. Considering your past performances, the administration is quite hopeful.

(a) How would you transform the minds of rural people which are loaded with orthodox beliefs?

(b) You have gathered information from various sources and a close review of the performance of the total sanitation campaign in other districts show that a total commitment on the part of key officials can bring out social change. How will you implement it in your district?

In the following questions, carefully study the cases presented and then answer the questions that follow:

Mr. X started as an energy producer in 1990 and later on moved into energy trading. The company that was making huge profits by the year 2000 and was also rated as one of the largest company on the Fortune 500, unexpectedly collapsed in 2008. Mr. X had impressed the public by entering into a unique concept of trading energy, and it deceived the public with false profits.

Also, the company had huge debts, all of which were not shown on the company accounts. To hide these large amounts of debt and losses, Mr. X had made many partnerships with companies that were run by Mr. X’s executives who profited from this deal and deceived the public. It used creative accounting techniques and manipulated its books which kept the investors in dark and led to an all time rise in its stock prices.

But by August 2008, the existing CEO of the company resigned, and it reported huge losses in October 2008. By late 2008, it admitted that the company had been manipulating its books and showing inflated profits. Mr. X in December 2008, filed for bankruptcy and later the matter was investigated and within a short span of time, the company had large amounts of unpaid debt and worthless shares. It was also revealed that the top executives of the company made huge profits by selling Mr. X’s shares at the right time, thereby leaving all the losses to be borne by other investors.

(a) Analyse the above case in terms of importance of corporate governance.

(b) Suppose you have been appointed for the task of auditing the account books of the company, what should be your course of action?

In the following questions, carefully study the cases presented and then answer the questions that follow:

(a) What are the available options with you?

(b) Evaluate each of these options & choose the option which you would adopt giving reasons.

(c) What are the factors you would consider in reaching to the course of action?

You are a police officer and are engaged in anti-terrorist operation. You have come to know that some dreaded terrorists are hiding in a house. You had ordered your forces to take possession of the house and get the terrorists arrested. It is a densely populated locality and you are apprehensive that many civilians might be killed. Suddenly the terrorists start firing and people become scared and nervous. Security forces are also in two minds, as to what to do. How you will handle the situation and restore the confidence of the people.