ETHICS CASE STUDY 7

You are a Block Development Officer. You have been invited by a Panchayat Secretary to attend the Gram Sabha meeting. The meeting has been called to allot houses to the poor with an aim to make this Panchayat free of huts. State government has sent you a strict direction to provide durable houses to all the needy and to make sure no village has a single hut anywhere
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In the meeting a very old widow approaches you and tells you that she is living in a hut which is dilapidated and is about to collapse. She has no one in the village and she is all alone and she is at the fag end of her life. When you are about to recommend her a house out of empathy, Panchayat Secretary reveals that she was allotted an house few years ago and that she had sold the house to pay her husband’s debt. Some villagers who treat her as insane old widow also raise objections to grant her another house.

She is very old and she is almost begging you to help her. Selling her previous house was illegal as per Panchayat rules. She has nowhere to go. As per government’s directive, she can not continue to live in a hut.

In this circumstance what decision will you take? Explain why.

Answer:

The case involves conflict between legality of allotment and society’s larger issue that is poverty. Following ethical considerations are there.

1.Women is old thus require greater protection(Article -14 – equal protection of law)
2.Women is poor with no one to care. (Re distributive justice)
3.She has flouted the rules and sold her previous allotment.
4.It is illegal to give her second allotment plus public opinion is against such allotment.

Course of action:

1. Discuss the problem of old lady with her and try to find out corrective solution by ensuring a pension and benefits under governmental schemes

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2. Discuss the issue of old lady in panchayat and try to build consensus by explaining her pitiable conditions. Further, sensitize villagers towards plight and social security of poor and old.

3. If villagers respond in negative, discuss with people in higher hierarchy to get permission to allot her house second time with a strict warning to not to sell it again otherwise legal actions will be taken.

4.If nothing works, contact an NGO or old age home and make arrangements for her care either at her village or at the home.