Integrity is a term which plays a significant role in our lives and, sadly is often ignored. Well, the most surprising thing is that it plays an important role in shaping our personality and who we truly are. Acknowledging this fact, Bikalpa an Alternative, in collaboration with Accountability Lab Nepal organized “Integrity Summit” panel discussion program at Hotel Namaskar in Biratnagar on February, 7, 2020 to discuss about key issues of integrity in Individual, institution and civil society. Individuals from diverse sectors were present at the discussion. The panelist of the program provided several constructive insights into the matter of integrity – A way of life where they talked about quality of being honest, having strong moral principles and living your life according to your set of beliefs.
Following the introduction session, the event moved to a panel discussion. The panel consisted of Dr. Bhes Prasad Dhamala (Former Registrar of Purwanchal University), Mr. Dinesh Shrestha (Founder of North South Collectives, Advisor of Forum for Participatory Democracy and Chairperson of Focus Nepal), Mr. Ganesh Lamsal (Journalist at Naya Patrika) and Mr. Abhinayak Malla (Proprietor of Malla Enterprise, WakeCup Coffee and a young Entrepreneur of Biratnagar). The program was moderated by Mr. Basanta Adhikari (Founder of Bikalpa an Alternative). The event also witnessed the presence of Mr. Mani Aryal (chairman of Nepal rural development society Centre (NRDSC), Mr. Shiv Narayan Chaudhary (Resource Centre Coordinator of Action Aid Nepal) and Mr. Raju Shrestha (RTI Activist) who represented the civil society as commentator.
The panels discussed the following on theme:
Dr Bhes Prasad Dhamala
While talking about integrity during the panel discussion, Mr. Dhamala said that Integrity is important in each sector but is elusive. Integrity doesn’t resemble a person whose actions do not match their words. If person is honest or committed then it can ensure good impact in the society. He also talked about integrity in Public Administration office where he pointed that every bureaucrat were not corrupt and there were civil servants who are honest towards their profession. When a person values integrity, and is able to bring credibility to work they are up to, regardless of the setting, they are appreciated. In such way people will be able to bring positive changes.
Mr. Dhamala further stressed on Integrity in development sector. He said Integrity has three different dimension; Economic, Social and Academic. So, it is important to have integrity in every sector but if we look at the current development scenario then these definitions are futile. Hence the Development of a nation is slow due to lack of integrity. Sharing his personal experience prior to the Education sector, he said “There is a crisis of integrity in education sector. Integrity is on the decline instead of increasing, which is affecting the quality of education and public service delivery“.
Moving forward, he also talked about integrity in business sector. He said social service contains integrity. So, businessmen must be “Man of integrity”. Profit is a good thing but excess profit is a bad thing. We must be responsible for society and must not always think of profit. In conclusion, he shared there should be “Man of integrity” in every sector so that we can accomplish our desired results in each sector.
Dinesh Shrestha
He defined integrity as soundness of moral character, the state of being undivided, consistency, honesty, dedicated and level of living in firmness and truth in all aspect of our lives. But in present scenario, it is tough to find a person with morality and trustworthy in any sectors. He said a person who has openness, trust worthiness and treats equally to all the people is the “Man of integrity”. He also gave different international examples where he highlighted the about the Social movement where integrity in leadership had played a great role. He said that in today’s context, leader who had upheld their integrity have not been able to replicate the same in their behaviors recently. He also stressed that integrity hasn’t completely vanished from the society, rather due to psychological impact, people have paid less attention to it. However if the leaders were to upheld integrity, common people would also start to pay more importance to integrity. He recommended a book titled, “Idea of Integrity “which has mentioned the integrity of many notable personalities of the country. Mr Shrestha concludes by saying unless you analyze social evil critically, you can’t cognize integrity in society.
Ganesh lamsal
He said Integrity means Responsibility. “When Human are social being then they have certain roles in society. While performing this role they have to follow rules and regulation for the betterment of society. Integrity means accepting the positive change in the society.” While taking about integrity in the field of media, he said that journalists need to become whether they are in the media for earning money and fame, or to bring change in the society by unbiased reporting. He also stressed that like in every other sector, there is a threat in the media sector as well. That threat according to him was economic threat. Also he accepted to the fact that corruption existed in the field despite media being the power house of the nation. He also clarified that journalism was not about advertisement. Rather he identified journalist as watchdog of the society who will never tolerate injustice and fight for the truth, in the process riding the society off social evils.
Abhinayak Malla
Mr. Malla started by giving introducing about the definition of business where he defined business as a transaction where individual generates values for the costumers. Instead of profit, he stressed that generating value should be the core objective of any businessman. Values is just like gravity which pulls the profit in the business. He also said that profit was just a byproduct of it. “In business, integrity means delivering the promised service. Value is necessary in integrity. Business should be done for value and not for profit.” he told the audience. Integrity plays high moral role in sustaining of the long run of business. Integrity is long term investment in business .Those business which overshadow their mistake has high chances of losing its ground or may collapse. He also said monetary profit is not only important and personal satisfaction was also a profit. In conclusion he said that it was very important to create an environment for increasing.
In the final remarks Mr. Mani Aryal and Shiv Narayan Chaudhary added the discussion.
Mr. Mani Aryal told that behavior, education, culture and our upbringing has great impact on our lives. He also stressed that education, motivation, beliefs, perspectives from family members and teachers helps a person to differentiate between morality and immorality which leads him/her to be responsible and loyal towards their work. He added, “One should be dedicated and hardworking in order to sustain growth or else it would be difficult to sustain momentum over time.”
Shiv Narayan added that Integrity was a way of presenting oneself on the basis of commitment, work performance, punctuality and determination. He added that every organization has its own rules and regulations where a person’s integrity was evaluated on the basis of their dedication towards their job. He encouraged everyone to ask questions to self as well as raise a voice or question against immoral activities.
At the end, Mr. Basanta Adhikari concluded the summit with a speech of gratitude towards all the panelist and the audience. 54 people attended the summit and it was covered by various local online media.
