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Ethics is for engineers too: Vittal

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, SEPT. 13. Engineering has a value dimension and it is essential that engineers follow `Swadharma' or professional ethics, according to N. Vittal, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner.

Speaking on `Ethics in engineering' at a function organised by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Madras section and the IEEE-Power Engineering Society recently, Mr. Vittal said the Ten Commandments were good examples of values that would lead to a healthy and developing society.

Corporate governance was nothing but a reiteration of the ancient wisdom that honesty was the best policy. The dramatic collapse of some of the Fortune 500 companies such as Enron, Worldcom or Anderson showed that even successful companies could ultimately come to grief, if they did not practice the basic principles of integrity. For every profession "we would think of a code of conduct or a set of values, which has a moral content and that would be essence of ethics for that profession." Besides professional skills, engineers should have values, and be on a continuous quest for perfection, such as quality, productivity without wastage and intellectual, moral and financial integrity, he added.

In the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, recently-built buildings collapsed while older buildings withstood the quake, indicating the less than professional conduct of the engineers. To decide on the ethical attributes, one should apply a three-way test -- Is it legal? Is it fair and is it according to one's conscience? There should be transparency in operations leading to accountability, which should ensure safety and protect the interest of all stakeholders -- consumers, suppliers, employees and society.

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