Will UK MPs act as trend-setters in Trust-Building?

When I recently went through the news link http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-12-16/uk/45254802_1_courses-public-life-standards , I came to know that Britain’s new MPs will be gitoven compulsory ‘honesty’ training. This will teach them how to behave in a public office after a series of scandals have disillusioned people with politics. It is hoped that ethical courses to be started for Mps would increase their sensitivity to behave in a responsible manner. The practical based training would help them to distinguish between right and wrong.

The above development has a strong trust perspective, more from the public angle. Public trust is determined by the behavior of politicians .If politicians lose sense of ethics then they can not generate trust. I sometimes feel that honesty is a thing which comes from within, why there should be need for training? The logic  here, is that people perceive that politicians are a different breed. People have high expectations that power must not corrupt politicians. So, the ethical expectations of people from the politicians is more. Viewed from this angle, professional ethical training for politicians is important for cultivating new skills in dealing with unexpected situations which demand sound judgment based on high ethical considerations.

In India, there is a huge disconnect between the politicians and the common people. Scandals of corruption, rape, sexual offence involving politicians and other big-wigs are on rise. The Lok Pal Bill which has been passed recently will definitely check the greed of politicians, who will not be able to escape from the clutches of law, However, I feel that training lessons on honesty based on the UK pattern are more needed here. The professional training on honesty will make the Indian MPs more people-centric, and create right awareness for good conduct. These training courses can bridge the disparities in education level of the MPs, and act a big  unifying force  for strengthening the public trust. If the public trust   for  a politician is built through  inner transformation of the politician through this training, then it can have more impact than the regulatory framework.

I hope that developments on UK in this field can act as a trend-setter for cleaning political culture through trust-building.The ethical courses must have strong components on trust-building, more particularly public t