Conscience refers to the inner moral compass that helps individuals distinguish right from wrong based on personal values, ethics, and upbringing.

Laws, rules, and regulations, on the other hand, are externally imposed standards that ensure uniformity, order, and justice in society.

Conscience as a More Reliable Guide

• Laws Can Be Immoral or Outdated

  Example: During the colonial era, laws like the Rowlatt Act were legal but ethically unjust. Indian freedom fighters, guided by their conscience, chose to oppose them.

• Laws Often Lag Behind Ethical Progress: Conscience may push individuals to act ahead of legal reforms.

  Example: Whistleblowers like Ashok Khemka or Sanjiv Chaturvedi acted on conscience despite bureaucratic resistance, even when rules didn’t protect them adequately.

• Humanitarian Grounds: When laws/rules create suffering, conscience provides moral flexibility.

  Example: During COVID-19 lockdown, many IAS officers allowed migrant workers to travel or fed them, even if rules didn’t mandate or permit such expenditures officially.

• Conscience Respects Human Dignity Beyond Legal Formalism: Laws can often become mechanical, ignoring human dignity in pursuit of procedure.

  Example: Irfan Alam, founder of Samman Foundation, followed his conscience and mobilized cycle rickshaw pullers into organized cooperatives, even before any policy framework existed to support informal workers.

• Conscience Encourages Ethical Leadership and Empathy: When laws do not demand empathy, conscience does.

  Example: T.N. Seshan, as CEC, reformed the electoral process using constitutional mandates, but his drive stemmed from a deep ethical conviction that free and fair elections were the foundation of democracy.

Conscience NOT Reliable Guide than laws

• Conscience is Subjective and Varies Across Individuals: Conscience is shaped by one’s upbringing, religion, experiences, and biases. What feels right to one may be morally wrong to another.

  Example: Honor killings are sometimes justified by individuals acting according to conscience But Law on the other hand considers such acts as murder.

• Conscience May Justify Immoral Acts: A misguided or poorly developed conscience can rationalize unethical actions if the person believes in a flawed moral framework.

  Example: Terrorists or extremists may genuinely believe they are serving a moral cause based on their conscience.

• Conscience Lacks Universality and Consistency: Laws are meant to be uniform and consistent, applicable to all. Conscience differs even within the same society.

  Example: During COVID-19, some people refused to follow public health norms (masks, distancing) citing personal or religious conscience, risking public safety.

• Conscience is Unenforceable: There’s no mechanism to verify or hold someone accountable to their "inner voice." Law, however, comes with checks, balances, and enforceability.

  Example: A corrupt official may justify bribe-taking to feed a poor family as an act of conscience.

• Conscience May Fail Under Pressure or Fear: In high-pressure situations, individuals might silence their conscience for self-preservation or conformity.

  Example: In the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, many neighbors failed to protect victims, despite knowing the violence was wrong. Their conscience was overpowered by fear or herd mentality.

Laws provide the structure, while conscience provides the soul. While conscience can inspire courageous and just actions, it must be tempered by the discipline and equity of rules.

In governance, a well-developed conscience guided by constitutional morality and a firm respect for the rule of law is the ideal combination for ethical decision-making.