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Civil Service Activism

The civil service, like the society, is in turmoil. It finds itself in a deep crisis of values. The social turmoil will persist and the churning process continues till democracy; secularism, integrity and such values strike roots and proper civil service reforms between democracy and bureaucracy are a workout. While bureaucrats and politicians have to identify their respective roles and work in tandem towards goal realisation. The legally dominant partner is likely to use bureaucracy as an instrument of oppression or exploitation or to promote hidden political agendas. The situation 15 worse with the growth of manipulative politics and the downslide of the political system. Read more to know all things about civil service activism, civil service activism examples, etc. 

These are. not just the days of politician-bureaucrat nexus but linkages or alliances fostered with criminals, mafia outfits and business-houses making for the sleaze sector of the economy. At a time when statesmanship in politics is replaced by petty politicking and the politician has found an ally in the ‘service politician’, does this not amount to a total negation of the concept of civil service neutrality?

Fortunately, there have been civil servants who have had the courage of conviction to stand up and fight for the values they cherish and the principles they uphold. To mention a few, there is A.K. Chatterjee, an IAS officer in Patna, who in 1992 sought voluntary retirement after exposing how the entire politico-. the administrative system had been perverted in Bihar because greedy and power-hungry politicians and corrupt and self-seeking civil servants had both become ‘expensive parasites’ on the system. Then there is P.S. ‘Appu, who resigned from the Directorship of the Mussoorie Institute.

There have been civil servants who have courageously gone public when faced with dishonest decisions. There is GR.Khairnar, who stated in categorical terms: “I am a public servant. My duty is to serve the people. I have seen so much corruption that I have no alternative but to shout against it from the rooftops.” He sought to expose the stranglehold of criminalised politicians and politicised crimimals in the building construction activity. For this, he paid the price of his job. He was suspended from office but reinstated on High Court’s orders in July 1997. There is Arun Bhatia, whose actions over the years against builders grabbing fraudulen7PSI, corrupt district officials and giant transnational companies violating drug manufacturing laws, earned him arbitrary transfers. Sanjay Pandey, a Mumbai DCP, fearlessly threw a coterie of criminal municipal corporators in jail and was threatened with the transfer.

The following are the examples of few honest officers who signify civil service activism:

Arun Bhatia, Pune Municipal Commissioner (March 7-13; 1999)

He demolished illegal structures belonging to the rich and famous, including a leading politician. He has relieved of his post by the then Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government. The citizens protected and moved the court. The court reinstated him in April 1999. But in June, a nonconfidence motion was passed against him by the PMC, after which he was shunted to the state archives. He prefered to stay home, until October when he went on a UN assignment to Malaysia. Bhatia has been transferred 27 times in 30 years. He believes: “Fighting corruption in India is like committing suicide. The establishment is powerful. The threat of physical harm and being framed by the police is very real for the few who dare to fight”.

T. Chandrashekar, Thane Municipal Commissioner (1997-2000)

He took on the challenge of getting Thane in order on the very first day. Within months, the satellite town was transformed. Hawkers were removed from streets and rehabilitated, roads widened and traffic regulated. The biggest opposition to him came from his corporators, with a no-confidence motion passed against him by them. : Arvind Inamdar, Director Genera Of Police; Maharashtra (1998-2000); He was unceremoniously removed as state DGP and posted as advisor-cum-director general of police (systems improvement), a virtual demotion. Later the government also ordered an inquiry against him to probe alleged corruption in purchasing riot control jackets during his tenure.

Khairnar, Mumbai Deputy Municipal Commissioner (1988-1994)

He revealed serious charges of corruption against the then Maharashtra chief minister Sharad Fawar in 1994. Targeted illegal constructions, including those that belonged to underworld dons and influential politicians. Was beaten with sticks: pelted with stones, threatened with swords and even shot at once in 1985 for his ‘daredevilry. Remained suspended for six years before he was reinstated in April 2000 only eight months before his retirement.

Javed Choudhary, Secretary (Ministry of Food, Revenue)

As secretary, sugar and edible oils in the ministry of food, he refused to accede to many of the demands of the powerful sugar lobby who wanted the import duty of sugar to be raised. He was then shifted to the revenue department where he refused to bow down to the pressures of a corporate house not to reduce the import duty on certain items. He was then transferred.

RK Handa, deputy commissioner port division Kolkata police, joint commissioner of police, traffic

As deputy commissioner, he was asked to curb criminal activities but fell out will a minister and was transferred. Later, he was accused by the state government of sharing a public platform with an allegedly dishonest builder.

Bhure Lal, Enforcement Directorate chief (1985-87)

Was transferred to the post of joint secretary, coins and currency, when the government found some of his actions to be ‘inconvenient. Bhure Lal was investigating many politically sensitive cases during his tenure in the ED. His transfer orders were served at his residence around 10:30 PM on March 11, 1987, even as the budget session of Parliament was in progress. He was escorted to his new office the next morning to prevent him from going to the Enforcement Directorate so that he does not have access to the files’.

Vinay Mohal Lal, transport commissioner, Maharashtra (1999-2001)

Taking note of a Public Interest Litigation filed against vehicular pollution in Mumbai, Lal single-handedly cracked down on transporters, taxi-operators, and private vehicle owners for spreading pollution. He also took ( the powerful car manufacturers and the oil industry in the growing fuel adulteration cases.

RP Meena, Vishakhapatnam police commissioner (1995-1997)

He investigated the Vishakhapatnam Port land scam – that saved at least Rs. 20 crore for the state exchequer – and detected that more than the actual worth of the land was being paid by the Vishakhapatnam Port Trust’ to private people. Problems of Meena began after he pointed out the possible involvement of at least three IAS officers in the scam. He was transferred to an insignificant post.

Nand Lal, principal secretary, Maharashtra (1991-1999)

As principal secretary (urban development) he exposed corruption in the Nagpur, Ulhasnagar, Pimpri Chinchwad and Thane municipal corporations. As revenue secretary, he paid the price for exposing illegal, allotment of land. When he was in the state forest department, he filed FIRs against 27 senior forest officials and 13 private landowners, developers and builders for allegedly transferring reserve forest land.

MM Rajendran, Chief Secretary, Tamil Nadu

While he was principal secretary, he was deputed Chairman of SPIC (a joint venture between the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation and the MA Chidambaram Group). At this time, he reportedly protested against the large scale corruption in the organisation. Jayalalitha was known to have dealings with SPIC, which came under judicial scrutiny. His allegations were proved right. Later, when he was due for promotion as cabinet secretary under the tenure of the then finance minister, he was demoted. He was transferred to Delhi as secretary, youth and sports affairs.”

Trinath Mishra, Acting Director CBI (1997-1999)

He ordered raids on a leading corporate house. He was subsequently reported to have received a dressing down by the PMO for having ordered these raids. He was then transferred to the post of director-general of the Central Industrial Security Force.

S.S. Sandhu, Ludhiana Municipal Commissioner

He demolished an encroachment wall of a temple in the city. This attracted the ire of the Bharatiya Janata Party which is a Junior partner in the ruling coalition there. The Issue became politicized as the election to the state assembly were less than six months away.’ Soon Sandhu was transferred.

Sanjay Pandey, Mumbai deputy commissioner of police (1993-2000)

Was instrumental in unearthing various financial scams during his stint in the economic offences wing. His reward was a slew of transfers to inconsequential postings like the police training school in Jalna Subsequently, he quit.

Pros And Cons Of Activism

The pros and cons of civil service activism have been highly debated. Some believe that men like Khairnar and Pandey were simply disgusted with the criminalisation of the polity and the doings of their political masters and in conscience felt that they had to speak out even if thereby they violated their service conduct code. Nani Falkhivala commented: “Khairnar has done the right thing in the wrong way. God forbid that he should learn to do the wrong thing in the right way like our shrewd and unscrupulous politicians”. After all, what alternative did they have? Conduct rules can stifle an upright official and as one official expressed ‘service rules only teach one to support your superiors and how to suppress your subordinates’.

Civil service activism has been hailed by many. J.B. D’Souza is convinced that if you keep to the traditional rule book, you almost confine yourself to a passive observer role. You may state your case for propriety or the course that in your view best serves the public interest and then let your political boss run over you. One has to be an activist which means one has to improvise. According to him, it could take the form of court intervention like Public Interest Litigation, legislative interpellation, press exposure or whatever. For such action, one will have to be ready to. stand up and be counted, but then one has the satisfaction that one has served the public interest. Activism is dictated by the need to circumvent the conduct rules which cloak the abuse of power with the garb of legality and unwittingly make civil servants “partners in a political game by conniving with the wrong-doings of their irresponsible masters. Trying to work within the system only gets the harassed Civil servant punitive transfers and other forms of victimization. So it is best to break out and work for a groundswell of public opinion. Once politicians are criminalised and are seen as doing wrong, bureaucrats can no longer remain neutral or side with their political masters, but seek the support of the people.

However, some feel that no organisation can tolerate -disloyalty and indiscipline in its ranks. When rules are violated in letter’ and ‘spirit’, the civil servant must pay the price. Besides, coming out in the open makes the issue personalised and politicised, An honest and well meaning civil servant could soon become a political pawn in a power game. Another senior civil servant was firm of the opinion that a on who is an art of government cannot turn around and condemn government and extract mileage out of it that he can hope to get is media coverage and the status of a hero, all of which are short-lived.

The point is that civil servants can be neutral and yet an activist within the system for the larger cause and the public good. This is the position taken by men like D.T Joseph and D.S. Soman. If conduct rules are faulty and stifling; they’ll need to be rectified. Otherwise, the only way out is to use internal channels to influence government decisions in the public interest rather than mount a public platform. If one feels very strongly, then the honourable thing to do is to resign and work as a missionary or a public crusader.

Future Of Activism

Civil Service Activism is a sign of the times. How it will operate in the Indian milieu and what are its possible repercussions for democratic governance is not easy to say. But one thing is certain! that an activist is no longer a backroom boy but one who forsakes anonymity for a larger cause, thus making a dent in the traditional concept of civil service neutrality.

Bureaucracy in an over-arching democratic system assumes critical salience. It is expected to be under the control of political masters and, therefore, answerable to the political executive. Yet, it cannot escape responsibility for its actions. It must contribute to policy-making, yet be politically neutral. It is like involving fully in politics of decision-making and yet not getting politicised at the same time. This would mean that a civil servant should take into account, not just the personality factor, but be attuned to factionalism within the ruling party and its’ equation with opposition parties as also the tensions of coalition governments as the case may be. The federal dimension cannot be ignored as also the regional angle which brings in considerations of the ethnic polity. There are the added dimensions of caste, class and religion. There is also the institutional angle represented, for instance, by the Cabinet Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office. All these diverse, lateral and vertical inter-connections represent factors that make for push and pull in the minister civil servant relationship. Hence, a civil servant cannot afford to be depoliticized but he certainly cannot be fully politicised i.e., his involvement must be in ‘policy politics’ and not ‘party politics’. It is because of contradictions and ambiguities built into the role definition of bureaucracy in a democracy that frictions and conflicts arise and senior bureaucrats stray into the grey area of relationships, giving rise to an equation tilted ‘most often in favour of the minister.

Interesting insights in respect of this grey area of work relationships have been provided by men from the field. B.G. Deshmukh, a former Cabinet Secretary, believes that bureaucrats should not play politics but understand how politics works. They should be guided by a self-imposed code of conduct or by some broad principles enforced by a committee of peers. He like others would like a civil service Ombudsman to attend to in-service grievances. Alternatively, the Lok Ayuktas office could be strengthened. S.S. Gadkan suggests that the topmost civil servant be given special powers and position and a constitutionally defined council with final powers to resolve conflicts between the four wheels of government namely political executive bureaucracy, legislature and judiciary be appointed. Hence, quite a few civil servants would still stand b the doctrine of neutrality, vouch of its relevance and find ways and means to strengthen it. Recently, the IAS officers association of Maharashtra passed a resolution that disciplinary action should be initiated against top bureaucrats who don the bidding of political power centres and exert pressure on officers.

Given the fact that there is bound to be some degree of politicization, scholars have offered suggestions on how best to minimize it by restructuring the bureaucracy. While Kuldip Mathur suggested that “key posts in the services should be manned by political appointees’, C.P. Bhambhri would want these men to constitute a ‘Mini Secretariat’ for the minister to serve him when in office. R.D. Pradhan, a top civil servant talks of interposing a political bureaucracy’ as seen in America.

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Good Governance Initiatives

The concept of good governance in India has been progressing ever since the government started focusing on it. For it to progress, formulating good governance initiatives and reforms play a very important role. The 5 principles of good governance are Leadership, Effectiveness, Accountability, Remuneration, Relation with stakeholders. Read on to know about what are good governance initiatives, how are they formulated, examples of good governance, and some of the recent good governance initiatives in India.

In India, efforts are afoot and have also in some respects gained momentum in the direction of Good Governance reforms. The major administrative reforms in our country during the 1950s and 1960s were structural intending to improve the administrative machinery. With the nature of administration changing in the 1990s ( from traditional bureaucratic to responsive, citizen-oriented), the reforms are also now geared in this direction. Evolving a citizen-centred bureaucracy, ensuring transparency and right to information, streamlining the public grievances machinery, providing for Code of Ethics and Citizens Charters are some landmarks in this effort. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments are important reform measures fostering the empowerment and participation of people in the governance process.

The current changes in government under the impact of reinvention are often considered to be the market-oriented Neo-liberal approach, and initiatives towards furthering this are visible in both developed as well as developing countries. The role of the government, which was earlier direct, is now assuming a facilitative and indirect role. Good Governance, as a strategy in the context of managerial reforms, assigns a ‘steering and regulating role to the government vis-à-vis the private sector and a productive partnership between the government and societal organizations.

In India, efforts have been initiated since independence to improve governmental functioning. Several measures were taken in this direction as the then administrative system suited the British governments’ needs of revenue, and law and order administration. The post-independence scenario was more in favour of the Welfare State to ensure responsiveness to the needs of people. The adoption of the Constitution, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles of State policy and Five Year Plans as the means of achieving social and economic development made the reorientation of the administrative machinery imperative. The governance structure and systems had to undergo a major revamping from revenue collection and maintenance of law and order towards socio-economic development, social welfare and citizens satisfaction.

In the 1950s and 1960s, several committees were set up which went into the systematic review of the organizational structure and functioning of the government. These include the Secretariat Reorganisation Committee (1947), Gopalaswamy Ayyangar Committee on Reorganisation of Government Machinery (1949), and Gorwala Committee (1951). In 1953, at the government of India’s request, Paul H. Appleby of Syracuse University, USA submitted two Reports on reforms in Indian administration. Based on their recommendation in 1964; a separate Department of Administrative Reforms was set up in the Ministry of Home Affairs. The most comprehensive set of recommendations including that of administrative efficiency were made by the Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) that was set up in January 1966.

It examined the entire gamut of administrative structure and processes at the central as well as the state levels and submitted twenty major reports during its working of nearly four and a half years. Based on the recommendations of ARC, a Department of Personnel was created in the 1970s, which was later transformed into a full-fledged Ministry of Personnel and Training, Administrative Reforms, Public Grievances, Pensions and Pensioners Welfare.

Several institutions such as the Central Vigilance Commission, Central Bureau of Investigation, Lok Pal and Lok Ayukta have also been created. These reform measures have attempted to look into the structural changes that were desired at that time to strengthened and streamline the administrative machinery.

Since the 1980s, globally many changes have taken place in social, economic and political spheres. Even in India, the realization has dawned that the bureaucracy is inaccessible and indifferent to common citizens, and is more bothered about adherence to procedures, rules and regulations. Hence, there is a need for administrative to be more efficient, responsive and accountable for promoting ‘Good Governance’. It is now perceived that governance structure has to extend beyond traditional bureaucracy and involve citizens, consumer groups local bodies etc.

The Conference of Chief Secretaries and Chief Ministers of all the Indian states and Union Territories deliberated on the issue of improving governance, and an action plan was formulated to bring about accountable and citizen-friendly government. In accordance with this, several initiatives were taken by the Union and state governments. Some of the measures are:

Citizens Charters

The concept of Citizens Charters originated in Britain. Citizens charters are formulated by all those public organizations providing different kinds of services to the people. These Charters are statements that provide information to the general public about the nature of services being provided by that organization, procedures, costs involved, mechanisms for lodging complaints in case the citizens are not satisfied, time is taken for their redressal and so on. Many organisations at the Central / State government level(s) in India have formulated citizens charters.

Redressal of Citizens Grievances

The machinery for getting redressal of any grievances that the citizen has against any government organization has been strengthened. A Directorate of Public Grievances has been set up in the Cabinet Secretariat in 1988 to examine complaints relating to various ministries and departments which have direct public dealings. Also, the organizations keep a track of the complaints or grievances the citizens have lodged.

Use of Information Technology

Information Technology (IT) for efficient and effective service delivery. Today due to the increasing use of information technology, many services like railway reservations, driving licenses, registration of birth and deaths are easily accessible. Many states have initiated pioneering innovations in this direction. For example, in the State of Madhya Pradesh, the Gyandoot Programme launched in Dhar District has been a tremendous success. Under this, initially, computers in 31 villages have been set up in Gram Panchayats which provide user- charge based services to the people. The services include agriculture the government programmes. Also, one-stop services are being offered to the people by some state governments whereby the supply of ration cards, registration of vehicles, payment property tax, electricity bills issue of landholding certificates etc. are done in one place. The government of Andhra Pradesh has started many ‘e-seva’ centres. Maharashtra has set up Setu Project in Thane for this purpose.

Right to Information

It has been increasingly felting that secrecy and lack of openness in government operations result in administrations using powers ‘arbitrarily in their dealings with people. Hence, efforts have been on in recent years to ensure ad bring about greater transparency in administrative decisions to enable people to have easy access to information except those related to national defence and security. After several efforts, a Freedom of Information Bill’ was introduced in the Parliament, which aims to provide freedom to every citizen to secure access to information under the control of public authorities. This Bill was passed by the Parliament in 2001, and several state governments including Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka passed their Right to Information Acts. At the central government level, the Right to Information Act was passed by the Parliament on May 11th, 2005 and it has come into force since October 2005 all over the country.

Peoples Participation and Decentralisation

The government is trying to ensure peoples participation in governance through the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments by which Constitutional status has been conferred on rural and urban local bodies These bodies are given necessary powers and authority to function as institutions of local selfgovernment. State governments · have passed the necessary legislation to this effect by providing for the constitution of these bodies, functions, the conduct of elections, devolution of resources etc.

These are, in brief, some of the key initiatives taken by the Indian government in fostering responsive governance. Any reform measure to be effective has to be sustained in the long run. Similarly, Good Governance can bring in results by concentrating on certain key concerns that can ensure its longevity and success.

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Training And Capacity Building In Civil Services

Recruiting the right kind of civil servant and training and capacity building in civil services are equally important for the smooth functioning of public administration. There are different types of training in civil service. The national programme for civil services capacity building is one of the key pillars of training civil servants for being in constant connection with Indian culture and roots. Read on to know more about different employees capacity-building strategies, steps, objectives, and more.

Employee Capacity Building Strategies

New facets continue to emerge in governance such as sustainable development, com technologies, information technology. etc. which need to be incorporated in organizational functioning. To institute the same. capacity-building initiatives are needed. Vapachy Building is the development of an organizations core skills and capabilities such as leadership, management, finance and fundraising to build the organisations effectiveness and sustainability”.

Capacity building has two components, organizational and human. Organisational capacity building involves both technical updating of the organization through periodic reviews and the development of human capital through education and training. Human capacity building is the process of assisting an individual or a group to identify key areas of development and gain necessary insights for fuller exploitations of capacity. Knowledge and experience are needed to solve incident and apprehended problems and implement necessary changes to augment organizational capacity to preempt change as also withstand attendant pressure. To that end, capacity building involves building on the available knowledge base both in technical and human relations fields. For better exploitation of available resources, continuous review and development need to be instituted through Research and Development initiatives (R&D) emphasizing the most vital, human resource.

Human Strategies for Human Rights (HSHR) provides capacity building services centring on the development of effective, efficient and sustainable physical working conditions for the promotion and protection of human rights. It focuses on two areas of development, the employees of the institution and the organization thematic area of work. The objective is to provide training and guidance that facilitates the development of a profession and ensures transparency and accountability of internal operations and processes concerning the environment and internal equilibrium of the organization. There is a need to continually update the knowledge and skills of the employees as part of the process of learning and adapting to – a changing society.

To realize this objective, the Human Strategies for Human Rights (HSHR) works closely with individuals responsible for the management, fundraising, public relations, accounting and human resource on operating activities of the organization.

An organizational capacity building work plan is developed after an HSHR consultant completes an assessment of the organizations working environment. Training takes place over time and on time as per need, taking cognizance of the realities of the employees to work-life in a ‘classroom’ setting. It is essentially an educative exercise with technical overtones. There is a suggestion of education and training which inform human resource development practices in organizations.

Strategies For Employee Capacity Building

Specific strategies for employee capacity building in government organisations include:

Decentralization

Decentralization is more democratic in that decision making is * facilitated at the grass roots which involves more people. Services rendered are also more people-friendly and more in tune with requirements at the local level and employees are empowered with more authority and better ‘choice’ in decision making. ‘Choice’ is widened also for the government by way of cost-benefit comparisons in choosing’ between centralized and decentralized options for a facility, also involving cost comparisons regarding structure, manpower, inventory etc. Wider participation in policy formation and implementation and thereby better choice concerning policy inputs. By creating more choices for all partners involved, that is government, employees and the clientele, decentralization maximizes benefits and minimizes cost both in the purely utilitarian and welfare senses.

Delegation

Better resort to delegation makes processes dynamic and improves communications in an organization considerably. Work is speeded upon and top management is relieved of routine functions. Delegation contributes to employee empowerment. For delegation to succeed there has to be increased emphasis on :

• Ethics and governance from the point of view of responsibility and responsiveness properly.
• Training to acquire necessary skills to carry out delegated tasks Employee capacity improvement is a natural corollary to delegation.

Quality and Innovation

For better effectiveness’ at the level of individual organizations, stakeholders need to adopt a new concept of development that stresses quality and innovativeness to step up capacity building practices. Application of exogenous pressure in the form of interest articulation and lobbying for the same is, therefore, important, especially, in government administration for employee capacity building.

Technical Capacity Building

Technical capacity building in organizations is facilitated through the provision of technical support activities, including coaching, training, specific technical assistance and resource networking. In the present context of the information communication revolution, human capacity building involves bridging the digital divide, and in turn, converting the ‘digital divide’ into ‘digital opportunities’ to benefit all segments of the economy. In the context of e-governance, it is the extent to which the same is pressed for in government administration that will determine the procedural efficiency of government administration in the coming years.

Promoting openness and networking of government organizations promotes capacity building. In the U.K. the citizen’s charters contain specific provisions for promoting – increased openness about the reasons for the decision’s taken by the government. In 1988 certain changes were effected in the official secrets act, 1911 to narrow the scope of official information falling within the ambit of the Act. Besides a white paper guaranteeing a statutory right of access to personal records held by the government has also implemented in April 1994. Canada has access to the information act which gives and Canadian citizens as well as people and corporations present in Canada more access to federal government records that are not personal. Government Malaysia has also taken steps to provide for an inclusive policy formation mechanism. specie measures include publication of reports on public complaints, the progress of administrative efforts undertaken by the government etc.

By the general trend worldwide, towards a more open and transparent government, the right to information act has recently been passed by the legislature in India. Such measures would curtail the growing arena of administrative discretion which has been a point of debate and concern in academic circles and also with practitioners. Transparency is both external (responsiveness) and internal, concerning personnel processes. The Fifth Pay Commission has called for clearly defined criteria for all matters concerning promotions transfers, appointments etc of government employees. “Openness shall also extend to the resolution of disputes among government servants. Instead of following the official channel of reporting the grievance, the sensor official should counsel both parties involved in the dispute to arrive at a mutually acceptable settlement. If a settlement has not been possible, the two people involved should be disassociated’ to avoid further interpersonal problems. Lastly, positive relations should be cultivated with the media. Publicity seeking bureaucrats should be punished as per conduct rule in this regard.

As observed in the Fifth Pay Commission report, “We have a centralized system of government that is premised on distrust. Whether it is the ministry of finance or the ministry of law or the Department of Personnel, the tendency is to centralise decision making. Individual ministries have to refer everything to these nodal ministries. Most important decisions of any consequence are taken either by the cabinet or cabinet committee or the minister or the committee of secretaries”. The Commission has called for a delegation of powers to individual ministries to cut down levels involved and the time take for arriving at a decision.

Steps In Capacity Building

The significant steps in capacity building can be studied as follows:

a) Promoting Overall Human Capacity building: Employee capacity building will not be possible unless the overall human capacity is promoted. It is necessary to emphasise the following activity areas :

Human capacity building within overall social and economic development strategy, recognizing the critical importance of human capital by developing more integrated approaches to capacity building. Develop relevant programmes to enhance entrepreneurial and management skills, particularly among small and medium enterprises to meet the new demands from globalization and the new economy. Develop policies to provide need incentives for the business sector to participate in the development of human capacity building such as providing facilities and infrastructure ensuring that access is maintained for the development of e-commerce etc. Facilitate mutual recognition of professional qualifications in respective countries which should be based on the standard of achievement and outcomes that are mutually agreed on between economies. Enhance industry-academic partnership between businesses as end-users of the workforce as well as providers of financial resources, and universities, educational institutions, and vocational training institutions, as suppliers of the workforce, so that they produce an Information Technology (IT) workforce that is readily available to high-tech businesses. Establish mutual linkage between sectoral networks including business, education, training sectors and government to draw out synergy effect to the human capacity-building. Encourage trade union to develop and implement relevant training programmes, and motivate and mobilize workers to undertake life long learning. Setting up a life-long education and learning society.

b) Making capacity Building a continued process: To build employee capacity on a continued basis, it is felt necessary to set up a lifelong education and learning society to :

Establish accessible, wide and multi-dimensional learning networks to empower the whole community. Endeavour to convert education and training systems that are more supplier centric into consumer-oriented systems that are in tune with demands. Establish a life-long learning system to ensure pre-employment education continual training and upgrading of knowledge and skills for workers, Enhance the skills and responsiveness of government employees to better equip governments to design appropriate policy infrastructure and process in a changing environment and Encourage the opening of education and training facilities, including facilities which transcend national boundaries.

Objectives Of Capacity Building

The following are the objectives of Capacity Building:

1. Prioritising the areas for improvement.
2. Developing specific outcomes to achieve along with strategies and tactics.
3. Identifying resources required to achieve identified outcomes.
4. Implementing
5. Evaluating what worked, what did not and what was learnt in the process.
6. Beginning again including suitable modifications.

Significance of Capacity Building

Through effective capacity building the following merits are gained :

1. Optimum utilization of resources through consistent application of R&D.
2. Preparation of the organization to face the future through assessment of prevailing logistics and the wherewithal of augmenting the same.
3. Helping the organization acquire competitive advantage in identified fields.
4. Facilitating long-term decisions in the organization.
5. Providing training and guidance to facilitate the development of individual careers.
6. Developing a database to measure and evaluate the current working capacity of the organization.

Process Of Capacity Building

The process of capacity building involves the following activities. O Preparing information material to promote the organizations work O Developing and implementing job descriptions. o Developing a formal organizational chart. O Preparing and maintaining a core operating budget O Developing a routine for strategic planning and work plan management.

Developing fundraising strategies and building a donor database and o Developing a database to measure, trend and evaluate working activities.

During the last decade due to changes in the economy all over the world, a need has been felt to enhance the capacity of employees in all respects of sustainable development and organizational effectiveness. Its vitality is now realized by every country.

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Plans And Priorities In Public Administration

Planning and prioritising in public administration are quite important elements in understanding and formulating various policies in Indian public administration. The two different types of planning in Indian administration. Read on to know more about plans and priorities in public administration and issues relating to different types of planning.

Imperative Vs Indicative Planning

The process of economic planning can be classified into two broad heads: Imperative planning and Indicative planning. Under ‘Imperative Planning’, practised by countries of the former Soviet bloc, there is an element of compulsion. This type of planning is characterized by administrative machinery that wields effective powers to dictate investment and production decisions to ultimate economic units. Private enterprises and free-market mechanisms have little role to play in this type of planning, as the crucial decisions regarding investment, production, distribution, pricing and resource allocation are taken by the central planning authority. Imperative planning is incompatible with a democratic society where individual economic agents enjoy a considerable degree of freedom. Indicative planning (as opposed to imperative .) has for long been regarded by many as the most important feature of the French Planning System. ( Under this style of planning, the direction in which the economy ought to go is shown rather than providing specific targets). In free societies, therefore, the indicative version of planning is practised in preference to imperative planning. Under indicative planning, the planning body. sets the broad goals for the economy in terms of GDP growth rates, sectoral growth rate, and investment rate. The realization of the objectives of the Plan calls for an integrated set of macroeconomic policies on the part of all concerned – the government, public and private sector enterprises and financial institutions. Indicative planning also seeks to evolve a consensus and fruitful cooperation among all the “Social partners” in development, namely, the government, farmers, industry, trade unions business enterprises, etc. An indicative, democratic plan is thus a joint endeavour in national development. The success of indicative planning depends on the active participation of all economic agents in the planning process. The role of the government is to create opportunities and enabling conditions for the process of peoples involvement in developmental activities.

Indicative Planning in India – A few Issues

1. Role Of Planning In A Market Economy

Can there be a role for centralized planning in a market economy such as India’s after liberalization ?

The question was debated at some length in the wake of the reforms launched in the 1990s to liberate the economy from licensing and controls. It was realized that after liberalization, planning in the way it was practised in the first four decades after independence was no longer tenable. In due recognition of this reality the Eighth Plan (1992-1997), the first to come out after the initiation of the reforms, stated in its preface: “The Fan is indicative in nature”. That planning now has to be primarily indicative’ and the state can best be a ‘facilitator’ for the private enterprise was reiterated in the two plans that followed, the Ninth and the Tenth.

Following liberalisation, the role of the public sector in the Indian economy has considerably shrunk and is shrinking further. Three-fourths of investments in the economy are now flowing from the private sector. Financial constraints emanating from the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management law coupled with inefficiency and waste in service deliveries have led to demand for the state to vacate even areas hitherto regarded as the responsibility of the government, like education and health. “Public-Private Partnership” or PPP is now emerging as the preferred vehicle for initiatives in development, wherever possible. Given this background can or should there be any role for planning?

The answer has to be in the affirmative. The reason is twofold. One, when resources happen to be limited-and that lies at the heart of the economic problem of objectives, actions must be guided by a well-designed plan. Planning is necessary to provide me with the information necessary as a guide to action and that applies to both the public and the private sectors. In other words, planning has a very useful “indicative” role. Two, it has to be recognised that even in a market economy the state has to play a vital role not only as a facilitator but also as a provider of basic infrastructure, physical, social and financial. In the Indian context, even after the emergence of the private sector as the bigger player in the economy, the public sector plays and will continue to play in the foreseeable future-a vital role as a major investor in several critical areas, particularly infrastructure.

Not only there has to be a plan of action to achieve desired objectives, but a central agency with the requisite expertise is also needed to draw up the plan and set the parameters to guide action in all sectors. An agency is needed also to harmonise and/or coordinate the plans of different ministries and government agencies and monitor results. The Planning Commission was created in 1950 to perform precisely these tasks.

Another function of planning is “prescriptive”, that is, influencing the behaviour of both public and private agents to serve public goals through “prescription”, such as by suggesting appropriate tax policy and measures to create incentives for economic agents to save and invest, to protect the environment, promote employment, ensure the smooth functioning of the common market, and so on. Our Five Year Plan documents are replete with “prescriptions” embracing almost all fields of social and economic policy. That they have not always been heeded is another matter. But the Planning Commission can make a valuable contribution in this regard, such as by spelling out the choices in critical policy issues like in goods and services tax.

That planning can be helpful in a market economy by providing “indication, coordination and prescription” has been acknowledged even in countries avowedly market-oriented, like Korea and France. However, there can be no gain-saying that planning in a largely market-driven economy cannot proceed on the same footing as in an economy that is heavily controlled by the state. In the Indian context, this implies that there has to be a clear shift in the focus of planning now as compared to the past.

The three Five Year Plans that have come out in the post-reform era, i.e., ( the Eighth. Ninth and Tenth), especially the last two, took cognizance of the changing environment and sought to evolve a new method of investment planning for the public sector. The sectoral investment targets for the economy were worked out based on the targets of output growth and Incremental Capital-Output Ratios (ICORS), but the targets for the government’s sectoral investments were derived residually from the desired investment programme after estimating the likely pattern of private investment and assessing the likely investment by the states (Tenth Plan). The exercise had its limitations and this was duly acknowledged in the text of the Plan but it was believed to serve a useful purpose as an indicator of the likely investment requirements of various sectors and the gaps in resources sector wise. This indeed is akin to “indicative planning” and retains its value even in a market economy.

To sum up, if public resources are to be used optimally to advance the growth and welfare of citizens, planning is needed even in a market economy. However, as already stated the function of planning in a predominantly market-driven economy has to be indicative, coordinative and prescriptive. There is also a need for a central agency to perform these functions. That justifies

for India’s Planning Commission to engage in the task of preparing development plans for the economy periodically even after liberalisation. However, with control over investment in the private sector beyond its purview, such planning can at best be indicative.

Planners in India seem to be well aware of this reality. The Five Year Plans now drawn up seek to provide an indicative path of development by setting out the imperatives for alternative growth scenarios in terms of macro variables like saving and investment (broken down under public and private), current account balance, projected government revenue and expenditure, and so on. However, the plans also provide requirements of investment for the centre sectorally worked out through elaborate exercises done by working groups set up specifically for the purpose. Even if these exercises are left to be undertaken by the ministries, it would still be necessary for an agency like the Planning Commission to integrate and coordinate the plans of different ministries and undertakings of the central government and bring them in line with the medium and long-term goals while keeping within the budget constraint. However for coordination to be meaningful, budgets must be tailored to the Five Year Plan by appropriate yearly phasing of outlays planned. That calls for moving over to a system of multi-year budgeting on a rolling basis. This has acquired urgency in the context of resource constraints imposed by the fiscal responsibility laws.

The Planning Commission also performs a prescriptive function by making recommendations covering a wide area of public policy. There are several other agencies as well to make policy recommendations to the government, like the Reserve Bank of India, the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, and the think tanks’ financed by the government. Even so, there can be a prescriptive role for the Planning Commission but there should be better networking among these agencies. The interface between the Planning Commission and the Ministry of Finance, in particular, should be strengthened if the Five Year Plans are to be made operational.

2. Redefining The Role Of State

Redefining the role of the Government to reflect the changed circumstances facing the economy must be an important aspect of future strategy. This redefinition is necessary both at the Central Government level and also at the State Government level.

According to Kaushik Basu, “there is need now for India to move more strongly forward with the reforms, allow private firms to enter sectors earlier kept reserved for state-owned enterprises (this is more important than privatisation), open the economy further, and, in particular, allow Indian companies to go for larger acquisitions abroad. But one must be aware that there are no panaceas in economic policy. One has to be prepared for flexibility, to experiment with policy but be ready to adjust, alter, and on occasion even do a V-turn, depending on the evidence coming in. To stick with one policy, unbendingly, is to make the same mistake of policy stubbornness that led India to its present predicament.”

3. The Government, The State And The Market

Although the competing virtues of the market mechanism and governmental action have been much discussed, the comparative merits of the two forms of economic decision are so thoroughly context-dependent that it makes little sense to espouse a general ‘pro state’ or ‘pro market’ view. For proper understanding, the distinction between the state and the government may be of some significance. The state is, in many ways, a broader concept, which includes the government – the legislature that votes on public rules, the political system that regulates elections, the role that is given to opposition parties, and the basic political rights that are upheld by the judiciary. A democratic state makes it exceedingly difficult for the ruling government to be unresponsive to the needs and values of the population at large.

There is close interdependence between markets and governance. In practice and successes of the market, the mechanism can be deeply influenced by the name deeply influenced by the nature of governance arrangements and actions that go with it As Basu puts it “there is no escape purposive, intelligent action from government. Government or good governance, is a concomitant of efficient markets, not a substitute”.

‘Markets can hardly function in the absence of legal provisions and justifiable rights to properly and contractual entitlements. The disastrous results of indiscriminate liberalisation and wholesale privatisation in Russia in the 1990s illustrate the penalties of ignoring the basic recognition that the effective functioning of the market mechanism is highly contingent on adequate institutional foundations.

Also, the government may have a major role in initiating and facilitating market-reliant economic growth. We have examples of such successful capitalist countries as Germany and Japan. More recently, the role of the government has received much attention in interpreting the so-called ‘East Asian miracle’ -the remarkable economic success of the newly industrialising countries in East Asia (in particular South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and more recently China and Thailand). 

Public debates-in India as well as elsewhere-are often dominated by one-sided presentations, reflecting either uncritical faith in the market or blind opposition to it. Indeed, there are signs of both ‘market mania’ and ‘market phobia’ in the sharp exchanges that characterise debates on this subject.

Market mania involves complete faith in the efficiency and other virtues of the market, regardless of context. It calls for indiscriminate deregulation and privatisation. Market mania played a role in Russia’s rush towards a market economy in the 1990s with its catastrophic results.

In India, a common form of market mania is the notion that radical deregulation is all it would take to ‘kick-start the economy. This belief according to Dreze’ and ‘Sen’is naive in several ways. First, it is based on a narrow reading of the impediments that are holding the Indian economy. The relevant failures go much beyond a lack of market incentives, and also include widespread. illiteracy and undernourishment, inadequate infrastructure, the paralysis of the legal system, endemic corruption, dismal public services, to cite a few concerns. Market mania overlooks the lack of preconditions in the Indian economy for the kind of take-off that has followed market-oriented reforms in countries such as China and Vietnam.

There is a deep complementarity between market efficiency and State action. The performance of the market is highly contingent on various forms of State action, from the provision of an adequate legal framework to redistributive policies, One implication of these complementarities is that liberalisation does not necessarily diminish the importance of state action:

This applies even to the regulation itself, in so far as a relaxation of one type of rules often calls for developing new rules of a different type. For instance, allowing private entry into new sectors (such as medical insurance or electricity distribution), which may be considered as a form of deregulation, calls for an adequate overseeing framework, especially if these sectors have features (e.g. economies of scale, information asymmetries, pervasive externalities) that interfere with the efficiency of the market mechanism. Even in western ‘market economies, including the United States, this necessity is well recognised.

4. Cooperative Action

Besides State intervention and the market mechanism, there is the third alternative way of coordinating economic activity i.e. cooperative action.

The development itself opens up new opportunities for social cooperation. The recent expansion of cooperative action on a global scale (involving concerns such as environmental protection, the debt crisis and world peace) is one example of this process.

Just as the State and the market are highly complementary institutions (even though they are often seen in antagonistic terms), a similar relation holds between cooperative action on the one hand and the State or the market on the other. In a democratic society, the priorities and actions of the State depend on organised public demands and other aspects of a broad political process in which cooperative action plays a crucial part. Conversely, what cooperative action can achieve depends to a considerable extent on the opportunities created through State action, e.g. the level of education in the community, the accountability of government institutions, and the legal framework of civic associations.

Thus, cooperative action and market institutions are often compatible or even complementary. For instance, the efficiency of the market mechanism can be greatly enhanced by cooperative social norms that reduce so-called ‘transaction costs. Indeed, markets can flourish more easily when contracts are not typically broken and do not have to be rescued by litigation.

According to Dreze and Sen, the tendency to concentrate on the negative roles of government has contributed to another bias in the liberalisation debate, namely, the neglect of what can be achieved through cooperative action. This neglect is particularly serious if we acknowledge the wide-ranging nature of the reforms that are required in India, not only in economic matters but also in the social and political domains. There is an urgent need not only for more efficient and equitable economic institutions but also for uprooting corruption, protecting the environment, eradicating caste inequalities, preventing human rights violations, restoring the credibility of the legal system, halting the criminalisation of politics (to cite a few major concerns). These different fields of reforms are no less important than the kinds of ‘economic reforms’ that have captured most of the attention in the 1990s. They are indeed best seen in an integrated perspective, where the promotion of human freedoms (rather than just the acceleration of economic growth) is the overarching goal. In that perspective, cooperative action acquires new importance, in so far as it has a major bearing on many of these broader fields of economic and social life where reform is needed. To illustrate, eradicating corruption or protecting the environment are not just matters of sound government policy; they also involve cooperative action of various kinds e.g. public vigilance against bribery and community management of local environmental resources.

According to Dreze and Sen, the liberalisation debate in India in its present form is too narrow in at least three respects:

1. over-concentration on the negative roles of government,
2. over-preoccupation with narrowly ‘economic’ reforms, and 
3. neglect of the role of cooperative action in economic and social reform.

Check out public administration notes in detail.

Philosophical And Constitutional Framework Of Government

If we are to discuss what is philosophy of the constitution, we need to understand the basic framework of Indian constitution. The framework of Indian constitution comprises of three major pillars namely, Executive, legislature and judiciary.  the philosophical foundation of the Indian constitution is, “The constitution declares India a sovereign, socialist, secular, and democratic republic, assures its citizens justice, equality and liberty, and endeavours to promote fraternity”. Here is some Philosophy Of Indian Constitution Notes featuring a detailed explanation about philosophical and constitutional framework of government and factors affecting the constitutional framework of Indian administration like constitutionalism and bureaucracy and the relationship between constitution and public administration.

I) Constitutionalism

Formal legal and institutional arrangements for the governance of India have been laid down in great detail by the Constitution of India. The philosophy and legality underlying the Constitution establish a democratic, federal, secular and welfare State in India. Carl J. Friedrich, in his classic Constitutional Government and Democracy, observes.

Constitutionalism by dividing power provides a system of effective restraints upon governmental action. For studying it, one has to explore the methods and techniques by which such restraints are established and maintained. Putting it in another, more familiar, but less exact way, it is a body of rules ensuring Fairplay, thus rendering the government responsible’.

The Constitutional Democratic State of India is the best example of Friedrich’s picture of constitutionalism. The Indian Constitution has provided for the complex web of checks and balances to ensure accountability and responsibility of every public institution and public functionary. Parliamentary democratic State ensures accountability of the political executive and competitive politics and periodical elections, based on universal adult franchise, are meant to ensure popular control over the political executive. The political executive is dependent on the verdict of the voters and it has to abide by the decisions of the independent Supreme Court which is the Guarantor of the Constitution and the Rule of Law.

Relationship Between The Indian Constitution And Public Administration

The Relationship between the Indian Constitution and public administration is reciprocal: they influence each other. The Constitution. provides the basic framework for public administration. Bureaucracies, the main instrument of public administration, may help the Constitution to survive or undermine it by its actions. This is so because bureaucracies are centres of power in their own right though not the dominant ones. They are at once constraints on action and instruments of action. The nature and purpose of their interfaces with other power centres and their respective clientele and their strategic relationships with external reference groups and the political elites influence their normative framework and standards of professionalism. In this context, the Constitution provides a frame of reference, certainly the most salient one. As such, the character of public administration is influenced by multiple sources and all of them are under the spell of the Constitution.

Constitution And Framework Of Governance

The Indian Constitution establishes a complex web of institutions providing channels of accountability:

1. An administrative system that is responsive to the public and accountable to the elected functionaries and operative within the bounds of the law, the due process in particular.
2. A hierarchical system in which administrative positions are organised in such a way that the top generalist administrators have a dominant role in policy-making; and
3. An expert system backed by a plethora of professional organisations that are interfaced with generalist-based organisations, but subordinate to the latter.

The Constitution provides the normative framework of governance. It sets the rules of the game for the public policy process, for the formulation and administration of public policies. The overall effect of the rules set by the Constitution is to facilitate actions as well as limit the discretionary power available to government officials. Some rules, as in the case of specified rights of the citizen, prohibit officials from acting in a contrary direction. The Constitution also sets several political veto points in the policy process. The federal structure and judiciary set other structural limits. The limits to discretionary power are intended to discourage the self-seeking behaviour of pure officials and the unfair, arbitrary or exploitative use of coercive power against the citizenry. The Constitution also prescribes limits to government power to prevent policy errors ta p unanticipated costs on the citizens. Rules are also developed as a means of coping with uncertainty and to make officials accountable for their actions. The notion that constitutional public administration is extensive, subject to its operation within the framework, needs recognition.

Does a highly centralised administrative state flow from the constitutional imperatives?

The Constitution does legitimise an activist State and one that is highly welfarist, if not socialistic, the latter being a later addition. There is also a clear mandate for solving many public problems emerging in a multi-ethnic society. In the economic and social spheres, it is not expected to be a minimal government. In the social sphere, its role is vital as a consensus-builder. Having gone through the colonial phase of authority and the Independence movement, the framers of the Constitution were not intent upon a centralised administrative state. Consent and consensus were to be the basic ingredients. The Constitution also provides for equity; all parties should have relatively equal access to the decision-making process in public administration. It implies that public administration must be responsive to the public interest in a broad sense. Equality under the law is ensured. So is the centrality of human dignity. The Constitution emphasises a mix of values to guide public administration to ensure that it is human, democratically responsive and efficient. The values are not hierarchically ordered. The goal of trying to make public administration legitimate through the implementation of efficiency measures tends to often conflict with representativeness goals or the imperatives of political and social mobilisation.

The Indian Constitution did not explicitly suggest anywhere the specific option as to whether the government should be an economic regulator, an economic administrator, or an economic player. As a regulator, it is an umpire refereeing the behaviour of competing interests by applying specific sets of rules. The design and application of a particular set of rules would, however, have specific policy outcomes. Controls on monopolies, licensing, imports and exports are examples of such rules. As an economic administrator, the government executes directly some operations, applying particular decision criteria and following set procedures. As an economic player, it pursues specific outcomes on a case-by-case basis, putting together packages of incentives and disincentives, some persuasive and others coercive. In shaping particular outcomes or preferring some sponsors over others, it exercises discretionary power. Over the years, the Government chose to play all three roles. The transformational character of the State provided scope for an activist public administrator.

II) Bureaucracy And Development

After the attainment of independence, a fundamental change was expected to take place in the role of bureaucracy. In the colonial regime before the advent of freedom, the state was described as the ‘law and order state’ or the ‘police state’ or the ‘night watchman state and bureaucracy was, as a result, considered to be an instrument for the maintenance of law and order and collection of land revenue. On the other hand, after the attainment of independence the proclaimed purpose of the state was to usher in rapid economic development and social change for raising the levels of living of the masses of people and therefore, bureaucracy as the instrument of the state, was expected to play a positive role in pushing forward development in all aspects and undertake a large range of functions, a variety of tasks, needed to sustain and accelerate the process of development.

Concept of Development

To consider the role of bureaucracy in development, it is necessary to analyse the concept of development itself. The economists in the early years tended to consider development as an increase in the gross national product or per capita income. The rate of growth would be determined by the size of the investment. However, even economists came to realise soon that such a view on development was hardly adequate since several other factors other than investment-often called the ‘non-economic factors came into the picture in determining the rate of growth. They included social attitudes such as attitude to work, attitude to wealth, attitude each other-institution, traditional as well as modern economic, social as well as political; development also depended on science and technology and their dissemination.

Above all, development depended on the standard of public administration, otherwise called management in government’ since it was through the medium of ‘administration’ the many tasks of development would be affected.

For administrative purposes, development could not be conceived in the abstract terms of the economics described above. It had to be conceived in terms of concrete tasks of development and these had a wide spectrum because of the comprehensive and planned approach to development adopted by us in the early years after independence. We rejected the laissez-faire approach in favour of the approach to development as one sponsored by the state. In the laissez-faire context, the state and therefore the bureaucracy had only a limited role to play. The state discharged only sovereign functions like currency, coinage or laying down a framework of the law. The actual tasks of development were left to the initiative of the private enterprise spurred by the motivation of self-interest. However, we felt that such an approach to development would not be suitable for India. First, because development through private enterprise would be a long-drawn-out process. India had to accomplish in a few decades what the countries in the west accomplished over a century and accelerated development required a positive role of the state. Secondly, it was felt that in several spheres which are essential for development, private enterprise would not be forthcoming at all viz. exploitation and mobilisation of natural resources and development of basic industries or industries requiring heavy investment with a long gestation period. Thirdly, development might require economic activities not justified in purely commercial terms, for example, development of the backward areas deep in the interior would not be possible without the initiative of the state. Finally, it was argued that development required a structural change whereas laissez-faire policy and free-market operation, would only bring about marginal or incremental change.

As the provider of public services to citizens, public bureaucracies can determine the character of government to a significant extent. They are instruments by which government serves or burdens citizens. Indirectly, the limits on administrative discretion help to limit the discretion of political leaders to impose costs on citizens or in making attempts to enrich themselves.

Sphere Of State Activity And The Scope For Public Administration

The concrete tasks of development which the state had to undertake included modernisation of agriculture, industrialisation and economic diversification, and building upon d om including irrigation electrification, communication, transport, education, health and process science and technology.

Agricultural and Rural Development

In the field of agricultural and rural development, was made in 1951-52 with the establishment of the community development programme and a network of national extension services. Simultaneously, a multi-tier structure of cooperative institutions was also established in the field of credit, supply of inputs, marketing, processing, consumer distribution, rural industries etc. The administrative mechanism set up, for the community development programme soon gave way to the three-tier Panchayati raj system to make rural development administration responsive to the elected representatives of the people.

In the Sixties, it was felt that the general approach towards community development was not adequate and there had to be a special thrust and single-minded approach to agricultural development to deal with emerging food crisis A. number of programmes were, therefore, introduced like intensive agricultural development programme, command area development programme and the new strategy for agricultural development. This approach of intensive development in agriculture ushered in the ‘green revolution in some parts of the country, especially Punjab and Haryana.

In the Seventies, there was another major change when a realisation came that the green revolution approach had benefited only better sections of the rural society and the weaker sections were left out of the mainstream. Several programmes know as ‘anti-poverty programmes’ were, therefore, introduced to specially care for the weaker section of society. These included small and marginal farmers and agricultural labour agency programmes and special programmes called the DPAP for the 70 drought-prone districts in the country like in the rain shadow areas. These programmes were later integrated into the Intensive Rural Development Programme.

To fill in the gaps in rural credit, commercial banks were also asked to enter into the field and a network of rural branches of the commercial banks as well as Regional Rural Banks were established. They became a part of the comprehensive network concerned with rural development.

In the early years, a great deal of attention was paid to land reforms to introduce structural changes in the rural economy. The land reforms were aimed at elimination of intermediaries, protection to tenants making the cultivators the owners of the land, the introduction of a ceiling on land holdings, distribution of surplus land among the landless, co-operative farming and consolidation of land.

Employment programmes were introduced beginning with the crash scheme for rural employment, food for work programme and culminating in the national rural employment programme. The Twenty-Point Programme also contained several points for the poorest section of the society like the liquidation of the rural indebtedness, provision of house sites for landless, and enforcement of minimum wages.

It was left to the bureaucracy to implement all these programmes in the field of rural development. Their success depended to a great extent on bureaucratic performance. Neither political nor social workers, nor any non-bureaucratic agency had much to do with all these programmes. org

The formulation and implementation of these programmes required bureaucracy to play a new role the role of an agent of development or agent of change as compared with the traditional role of the past as the agent of status quo. Furthermore, since most of these were people-oriented programmes. the bureaucracy had necessarily to work with the people. Motivating and mobilising the people communicating programmes to them, eliciting their co-operation, building up grassroots popular solutions-these were the new methods and techniques of administration which bureaucracy had to adopt. They contrasted sharply with the traditional functions of deciding cases according to prescribed rules and regulations. The bureaucrats had to go to people as development workers rather than just passing orders on cases of people approaching them with their grievances.

To undertake these new tasks of development, new types of functionaries emerged in the bureaucratic system-functionaries like the village level workers, extension officers, black development officers etc. At the higher levels also new positions like chief executives of the Zilla Parishads or development commissioners came into being. The bureaucrats had to be programme planners, innovators and change agents.

To enable them to equip for their new functions, programmes of training and new training institutions were also established like the village level workers’ training centre, orientation or study centres, social education officers training centres, Panchayati Raj workers’ training centre etc. Some of these institutions were later wound up and merged with more traditional administrative training centres.

How far has the bureaucracy been able to play a significant role in development?

An attempt to answer this question has been made in some of the empirical research studies.

Pai Panandikar and Kshirsagar in their study “Bureaucracy and Development Administration” concluded that while bureaucracy is not antipathetic to development, there are several structural and behavioural problems that impede their development orientation. In a later study by Pai Panandikar, Bishnoi and Sharine of 36 villages of one district each in the states of Haryana and U.P., it was revealed that the factors for non-adoption of new agricultural programmes were that “nobody advised the cultivators to adopt these programmes.” The researchers, therefore, concluded that there was not only a massive failure of professed extension programmes but also deliberate neglect of the lower strata of cultivating community. The neediest persons were precisely those who were the most neglected ones. Small cultivators under their large number and often inadequate resources were those who needed maximum possible attention and help from the government but officials did not visit villages as stipulated and when they did visit, they visited generally medium cultivators and neglected small ones. In the course of field investigations of small cultivators, there was a complaint of stepmotherly treatment given to them by government officials in attending to their problems and rendering them necessary assistance. The cultivators found the attitude of the officials casual and routine i.e, of the usual bureaucratic and formal character in which people were asked to put in their applications and officials would see what could be done in the matter. The researchers found that in an agriculturally more advanced area like Karnal in Haryana, the bureaucracy had a systematic strategy of reaching agricultural development programmes to the cultivators, delivering the services and maintenance of more effective coordination between different programmes. On the other hand, in Gorakhpur, U.P., such a conscious development and administrative strategy and planning were markedly absent.

In another study conducted by R.B. Jain and P.N. Chowdhry, on “Bureaucracy and Development – a comparative study in orientation and behaviour of bureaucracy engaged in developmental and non-developmental tasks”, it was found that status consciousness, impersonality and system were as much a guiding value to the development bureaucracy as to non-development bureaucracy. The authors, therefore, concluded that a large portion of the officials engaged in development had a bureaucratic attitude which hindered processes of change and development. y-oriented outlook of the officials did come into conflict with the achievement of the development goals.

R.B. Jain and Chowdhry

R B Jain and Chowdhry have quoted some of the earlier studies also to bring out the same point. They have quoted H.R. Chaturvedi who in his study “Bureaucracy and Local Community; Dynamics of Rural Development” has come to the conclusion that the existing bureaucratic organisation developed for the maintenance of law and order and collection of revenue was inadequate for carrying out the task of developmental change. Kuldeep Mathur in his study “Bureaucratic Response to Development-A study of block development officers in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh” concluded that even though the need to fulfil development programmes was most urgent, much of the bureaucratic pursuit was directed towards activities other than the achievement of development goals. c o m

N.K. Singhi in his study “Bureaucracy: Positions and Persons (Role structures, inter-actions and value orientations of bureaucracy in Rajasthan)” found that the present bureaucratic system weighed heavily in favour of routine administrative tasks and concentrated authority and decision making in the hands of elite classes which tended to be power-oriented. It was therefore unsuitable for the achievement of the goals of national development.

Prem Lata Bansal

Prem Lata Bansal in her study on the “Administrative Development in India” found that majority of administrators are developmentalism but the level of their commitment to modernising values is low.

While these empirical studies point out the lack of effectiveness of the bureaucracy as an agent of development, yet it cannot be concluded that the bureaucracy has not played its role adequately in the process of development. The performance of bureaucracy has to be seen in the context of macro indicators like the developments in the level of foodgrains, delivery systems, developing cooperatives reaching out to the cultivators throughout the length and breadth of the country, etc. There are major achievements of the bureaucracy that cannot be overlooked.

The role of the bureaucracy in bringing about economic, social, and political development is expanding. The bureaucracy participates in policy formulation by functioning as a channel of communication, a repository of information, as a group of ‘specialists’ and as an impartial adviser’. It implements a policy by breaking it up into projects and programmes, by planning each programme, by preparing the five-year plans and the budgets, and by executing the programmes. 

Check out public administration notes in detail.

Evolution Of District Administration

The nature and scope of district administration totally depend on the legal definition of District under the government of a particular country. District administration in India involves the management of the list of activities to be performed by the government with the purview of the succeeding authority in the hierarchy of the government. The district administration structure in India is designed wisely depending upon local values and systems.

The functions of district administration in India are

1. Collection of land revenue
2. Law and order
3. Developmental activities
4. Regulatory functions like control, prohibition, excise, etc
5. Citizenship issues and elections
6. Municipality Administration
7. Dealing with emergencies
8. public grievances

The district administration hierarchy in India starts with different assistant commissioners, tahsildar, revenue inspectors, village accountants.

The concept of the District’ as a unit of administration in India, apart from the fact that it has proved a convenient and practical mode of governance and administration, derives somewhat from the pattern of the French Prefecture’, with the District Officer’ as the Prefect.

The first stage during the British period was characterized by the fact that the principal representative of the East India Company in the area marked out as a district was their factor’. As the East India Company’s sway extended further and further towards and into the heartlands of the country, and also as the Company itself became the governing agency of the British government in London, their principal representative in the district became the Collector’ of land revenue. Trading was replaced by the levy and collection of land revenue. And since the army at the disposal of the East India Company could not be present everywhere, and law and order had to be maintained with or without the army, the collector of the district also became the official responsible for maintaining law and order. In the process, the collector became a civil servant of the British government.

The Collector levied and collected the land revenue and other taxes. As District Magistrate, he maintained law and order, and in doing so administered a system of justice which was, because of his British origin, rooted in the great traditions of justice and equity which had been built up there.

To assist him there was a police official, the Superintendent of Police, commonly known as the captain sahib, an appellation that persists to the present day. It signifies the earlier linkage of the police force with the army. Thus a senior Superintendent of Police would be known as the major sahib and the Inspector General of Police, even though he might never have served in the army, would be known as the general sahib. Many of the earlier police officers were indeed drawn from the army. This incidentally is probably one of the reasons why police organization in India is patterned somewhat on army formations,

As time progressed, the need began to press itself upon the government and its agents in the districts for at least some minimal arrangements for medical attention. This led to the creation of the post of Civil Surgeon of the district.

Thus, gradually the district administration grew into a complex apparatus; the collector and magistrate the superintendent of jails, the civil surgeon, then the District judge and then the executive engineer for public works; and thus on to include a district inspector of schools, a district agriculture officer, and the rest of the components of the district administration which exist today.

Introduction Of Local Self Government

The introduction of local self-government institutions and the new system of government were introduced by the British as part of the reforms of 1919 and 1920, soon after the first world district. Created a new situation, and led to a new phase in the arrangements for governance in the district, and the functioning of the district administration. The official apparatus in the district retained its structure for most matters, including, under the constitutional reforms introducing dyarchy, those subjects which were more or less transferred to the charge of ministers responsible to the provincial legislatures (but responsible only in a very limited sense).

District administration under the dyarchy was called upon to function in a way somewhat different from before. A number of matters were also rendered over more fully to the change of the local institutions of self-government. such as the district boards. These included, again in a limited way, education, health, the minor roads and works, and a few other things as an incident of the division of political powers under the system of diarchy, the separate departmental lines began to be established more and more. One result of this was that we former overall cohesion of the district administrative apparatus began increasingly love intermeshed with separate departmental lines, leading also in some cases to a sense o departmentalism, and working in mutual isolation.

The district administration following the reforms of 1919-20. thus came to be somewhat broken up in the method of its functioning. This second period was in many ways administratively the least satisfactory of the patterns of district administration and its functioning, especially in the sphere of economic and social development.

However much one may try to separate, and place in different departmental compartments the different administrative functions and the lines of responsibility concerning each of them, the total administration is one organic whole. We see this characteristic of administration while considering the district administration in its parts, and as a going concern, a dynamic whole.

Despite the division of political and administrative powers and responsibilities under dyarchy, the residuary representation, the total presence of government a whole continued to be contained within the old apparatus of the district administration. This apparatus also provided the main line of communication between the local self-governing institutions, such as the district boards, the municipal committees, the town boards and so on, on the one hand, and the provincial government on the other. The district magistrate was also invested with certain powers of supervision, and with some minor sanctions to make his influence felt in the working of these institutions.

The pattern of district administration continued administration after Independence also.

Check out public administration notes in detail.

Techniques Of Administration Improvement

An administrative technique is a technique used in the planning and management of programs, services and resources in any department relating to administration. If we are to discuss the importance of administrative improvement and what are administrative techniques, the concept of change needs to be understood. Here are the notes on e-governance, information technology, and how to improve administrative techniques using sustainable e-governing practices, and different information systems.

I)  E-Governance And Information Technology

Reinventing government has been a dominant theme since the 1990s, wherein Bandar world over are attempting to improve the systems of public service delivery. The vision is the articulation to transform the way government functions and the way it relates to its constituents. The concept of electronic governance, popularly called e-governance, is derived from this concern. Democracies in the world share a vision of the day when e-governance will become a way of life.

E-governance is the application of ICT to the processes of government functioning for good governance? In other words, e-governance is the public sectors use of ICTs intending to improve information and service ‘delivery, encourage citizen participation in decision making and make government more accountable, transparent and efficient.

The Ministry of Information and Technology states “that e-governance goes far beyond mere computerization of stand-alone back-office operations. It implies fundamental changes in government operations, and a new set of responsibilities for the legislature, executive, judiciary and citizens”. 

According to the Comptroller and Auditor General, U.K. “e-governance means providing public access to information via the internet by government departments and their agencies”.

So in essence, e-governance is the application of ICT in government functioning to bring in SMART governance implying: Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent Governance.

Types Of E-Governance

The e-Governance systems are primarily categorised into three types based on the participating groups in the electronic interaction.

1. G2G: Government-to-Government;
2. G2B: Government-to-Business and/or its reverse; and
3. G2C: Government-to-Citizen and it is reverse (C2G) – Citizen-to Government,

In the context of Public Administration, the G2C model occupies the most important place as it focuses on citizen-centric services.

Pre-requisites For Developing Sustainable E-Governance Programmes

To offer hassle-free access and render, effective services to the public by designing and developing sustainable e-Governance programmes, certain inputs are vital. The prerequisites for structuring the e-Governance programmes by the changing expectations of the citizenry are 3C’s-Connectivity, Community participation, and Content. Of course, the other 3C’s, viz., Capital, both human and financial; Committed leadership; both political and administrative; and Components evaluation to restructure and update the content and services, serve as the nuts and bolts for successful implementation of e-Governance. But, this necessitates ascertaining the prerequisites for an effectual e-Governance.

Connectivity

Connectivity with reliable ‘information infrastructure facilities for rendering timely, uninterrupted access to Public Information Systems and Services (PIS), thereby, ensuring and encouraging usability, is vital for effective e-Governance. Information Infrastructure (II) denotes the processing and communication networks and their associated tools (hardware and software) that support information accessibility and interaction and collaboration among people, institutions and organizations.

Governments need to formulate ‘Information Policies’ to ensure needed Information Infrastructure for incessant and equitable access to PIS. The absence of Information (infrastructure) Policies and apposite implementation strategies would make it unfeasible to deliver the technology-enabled services effectively and efficiently. National Information Infrastructure Policy needs to ensure infrastructure facilities for secure broadband and hosting facilities by allocating appropriate funding for fostering equitable access. In addition to the availability of necessary infrastructure, the involvement of the local population serves the preset purposes.

Community Participation

Designing and developing effective e-Governance systems necessitate community involvement and participation, crucial right from the conceptualisation stage. Community participation, involving the citizens in the “analysis of needs” helps to a greater extent in raising awareness about “the potential technologies and the associated tools and services.” The outcome of the needs analysis serves in deciding on the content, context, language, level of service and manpower needed for designing and developing the modules necessary for meeting the diverse information needs ranging from education, livelihood, employment, communication, and so on.

To make an e-Governance programme effective, a ‘demand-driven approach’ (planning and designing the services that are important and in-demand locally) is most suitable because the needs of the citizens vary with the context and meeting those needs reinforces the utility of e-Governance. Say, for instance, registering for a passport, or a driving licence online might serve the purpose of urban dwellers, whilst, information about agriculture – credit facilities, current market prices, forecasting on marketing trends, post-harvesting techniques, such as storage and transactional methods; health services and education are the priorities of the rural people,

Involving the local community at an early stage optimistically serves the purposes of sensitising, motivating and mobilising the populace to the desired degree and extent. Unless and until communities are sensitised about “how ICTs and ICT-enabled projects such as e-Governance can boost development,” designing and developing such programmes would be futile. Moreover, active participation of stakeholders in community affairs enhances needed transparency and efficiency in Government administration, consequently, minimising corruption and enforcing accountability.

Taking into consideration the varying needs of different target groups, content in the native language, Embedded in a user-friendly interface with well-designed modules, facilitating easy navigation is equally important for enhanced usability. Moreover, developing content relevant to public needs; organising it in an easily utilisable form and format; and its timely provision, and duly updating is necessary to make it appealing and alluring.

Above all, financial support, committed leadership, monitoring and evaluation and appointment of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) to ensure successful implementation of e-Governance are called for. The CIO’s task essentially is to bridge the gap between the e-Governance administration and technology management and to enable the public to reap the bench training and development of CIOs to upgrade their skills and cope with the incessant technological advances that are essential for improved interactivity between the Government and the public. Furthermore, statutory reforms are mandatory to prioritising and promoting e-governance resume and strategically.

Stages Of E-Governance

The development of e-governance can be delineated into the following five stages:

1. Networked
2. Transactional
3. Interactive
4. Enhanced
5. Emerging

Stage 1: Emerging

Government online presence is established through a website and/ or an official portal linking the various ministries and departments; archiving information such as messages of the Head of the State, mostly a static presence with some options for citizens. Interaction is unidirectional i.e., from Government to Citizens (629).

Stage 2: Enhanced

Enhanced presence of the government providing access to both archived and current information of public policies, laws and regulations, reports, newsletters and even downloadable databases, thus making the portal and information more dynamic with search options for citizens to retrieve the needed documents. The interaction is unidirectional i.e., from Government to Citizens (G2C).

Stage 3: Interactive

The G2C services are made interactive for enhancing the convenience of the citizens by download forms for either tax payment or licence renewal and the like; facilitating email communication with the officials of the various departments; updating the portal at regular and preset intervals to keep the information current.

Stage 4: Transactional

The C2G interactions aiming at two-way interaction with options for online paying of taxes; applying for ID cards, birth certificates, passports, land records; renewal of driving licence; e-purchase, e-tendering or e-bidding and other C2G interactions that are free of time and space barriers.

Stage 5: Networked

The integration of G2G, G2C and C2G interactions to bring forth the “Networked Governance” for effective implementation of e-services across the various administrative jurisdictions. It implies the integration of the various Government departments for cooperation and coordination and understanding the concept of collective thinking and decision-making with the focus on citizen needs. Then the various systems and subsystems could function to an optimal level and transform the whole network into “Seamless Governance”. With the single input of information, multiple purposes across the different Government departments can be served, thus avoiding duplication of efforts to a larger extent. Moreover, seamless interaction encourages inclusion i.e., encouraging citizen participation through a two-way open dialogue with the aid of Web polls; Web comment form; online consultation mechanisms; citizen views and choice on public policy and law-making; decision-making.

Promoting E-Governance In India

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances presents National Awards for eGovernance every year. The awards are instituted to: 

• Recognise and promote excellence in e-governance initiatives and achievements to the anticipated level by the public.
• Propagate knowledge on innovative and effective methods used in designing, developing and implementing e-governance initiatives in a sustainable manner.
• Promote horizontal transfer of successfully implemented and evaluated e-governance.
• Share views and exchange experiences, negative and positive, negative to resolve issues and problems involved ineffectual implementation and positive experiences to serve as prototypes to other initiatives planned for.

II) Management Information Systems MIS

In recent times.’ a great emphasis is being put on public management systems and efficiency in service delivery. ostensibly under pressure from increasing public and demands. The enforceability of accountability is gaining currency and the stakenouch an increasingly becoming vocal. Consequently, the tasks of public service managers are under greater scrutiny. They have to respond to challenges efficiently and take judicious decisions. Information is a critical factor in decision-making. Sound managerial decisions are not made in a vacuum. They are to be made with an awareness of general conditions, competition, public policies and above all with adequate knowledge of management information. In modern information has become an important resource.

Why do Public Service Managers need Information? Public service managers need the information to:

1. Decide the mission and objectives of the organization.
2. Determine the plan of action for achieving the objectives of the organization.
3. Implement the plans and programmes.
4. Evaluate the performance and
5. Facilitate feedback, to enable the modification of plans/programmers if required.

Types of Information Systems

There is a need for effective information systems to be put in place. An information system has been described as “a system consisting of the network of all communication channels used within an organization”. Kroenke (1992) puts forth the following fundamental types of information systems:

Transaction Processing System (TPS)

These support day-to-day functions and help organizations to conduct their operations and keep track of their activities. The TPS programme generates two types of output. It sends messages back to the ope terminal and it generates printed documents. On-line transaction processing systems is a type of TPS. On-line interactive systems or simple online systems involve a direct connection between the operator and the programme.

Decision Support Systems (DSS)

These are interactive computer-based facilities for assisting decision-making in less structured environments, DSS differ from TPS or MIS in that they do not always support an ongoing process. Often DSS are created to solve particular problems on an ad hoc processing basis and are not needed regularly,

Office Automation Systems (OAS)

OAS are information systems that create, store, modify, display and communicate information, Computers, the internet, facsimile machines, electronic bulleting boards etc. are part of OAS. There are various models and as such a generic architecture is not possible.

Executive Support Systems (ESS)

The information systems that support the information needs of senior executives are called ESS, They summarise and present data at the highest levels of aggregation. Usually, they involve a presentation of reports in standard formats, often involving graphics as shown below :

Management Information System

Conceptually, MIS is a level above TPS. It is not concerned with day-to-day operations, but rather with the management of activities that do support operations. MIS are typically computer-based information systems, that are used within an organization. Peter Keen (1978) defines MIS as “the effective design, delivery and use of information systems in organizations”. MIS has a much larger perspective and is not intended solely for managers. It includes all the people in the organization and the structure and design of the organization as well. The goal of MIS is to enable managers to make better decisions by providing information.

Evolution Of Management Information System

The evolution of the Management Information System can be discussed into two parts.

First Generation Management Information System

The first generation MIS involved the capture of information and experience so that it was easily accessible. An alternate term was “knowledge capture”. Managing this capture allowed the system to grow into a powerful information asset. Technology had primacy in this phase. Accordingly, MIS was an issue of information storage and retrieval. It used ideas derived from systems analysis and management theory. It typically involved developing sophisticated data analysis and retrieval systems with little thought as to how the information they contained would be developed or used. This led to organizations investing heavily in technological fixes that had either little or a negative impact on how knowledge was used.

Under the influence of econometric standards, managers treated information as if it were a commodity, forgetting that information is not a commodity but a process. Learning and doing became a black box that was not subject to management, the best that could be done was to make tacit knowledge explicit. Its failure to provide any theoretical understanding of how organizations learn new things and how they act on this information meant that first-generation MIS was incapable of managing knowledge creation.

Second Generation Management Information System

Faced with the theoretical and practical failure of fist generation techniques to live up to their promise, theorists began to look more closely at how knowledge is created and shared. At the same time, there was a realization that organizations are capable of learning, and so a link grew between learning theory and management. At the same time, hierarchical models or organizational structures were replaced by more organic models, which found effective organizations as capable of bringing structural change in response to their environment.

Second-generation knowledge management gives priority to how people construct and use knowledge. It derives its ideas from complex systems, often making use of organic metaphors to describe knowledge ‘growth. It is closely related to organizational learning. It recognizes that learning and doing is more important to organizational success than dissemination and imitation.

Characteristics of Management Information System

Some of the important characteristics of modern MIS are given below :

1. MIS is management-oriented, where the management concerns all the employees of the organization. The system is designed from top to bottom. The development of the system starts from the appraisal of organizational needs and their objectives.
2. The management actively directs reviews and participates in the system development efforts to ensure that the implemented information system meets the requirements of the organization.
3. An integrated system and MIS are not synonymous. However, the integrated concept is a necessary characteristic of MIS.
4. Due to the integrated nature of MIS, it is prudent to capture relevant data close to the source where the event occurs and use it throughout the functional areas.
5. The common data flow concept supports several tenets of systems analysis avoiding duplication, combining similar functions and simplifying necessary functions wherever necessary.
6. MIS needs to be planned carefully and it evolves in due course of time.
7. While the integrated approach makes it appear a single entity, it is broken down into desirable sub-systems.
8. MIS should be developed with flexibility so that future changes in the organizational needs may be accommodated in the system. ob MIS includes every type of system that gives information, whether it is a formal or informal system.

Structure Of Management Information System

Management Information System is a system designed by an organisation to collect and report information on a programme, and which allows managers to plan, monitor, and evaluate the operations and the performance of the whole programme. To be successful, an MIS initiative must address both the ‘hard’ knowledge in databases and the ‘soft’ knowledge in people’s minds. MIS addresses their problems by providing a mechanism to capture, retain and distribute knowledge assets within and between organizational agents (e.g., employees and information systems ). Information has several phases namely identification, acquisition, development, dissemination, use and preservation of knowledge.

Components Of Management Information System

There are five components of MIS:

Hardware

This includes the physical equipment used in computing data.

Software

This comprises the set of instructions that control the hardware. People: In the early days of the introduction of computers, the people directly involved tended to be programmers design analysts and a few external users. Today, everyone in the organization is involved with the information system.

Procedures

These are instructions that help people use the systems. They include items such a users manuals documentation and procedures to ensure that backups are made regularly.

Databases

These are collections of related data that can be retrieved easily and processed by computers. Data is a statement accepted at face value. Raw data are numbers, characters, images or other outputs from devices to convert physical quantities into symbols in a very broad sense. Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs) help in representing information systems. They are designed to show how systems are divided into smaller portions and to highlight the flow of data between those parts. The basic elements of a DFD are : 0 TL 200

1. External Entities: These are some components in the environment that communicate with the system.

2. Process: In a DFD, a process is an activity that involves data. There are two important rules involving processes. First, a process cannot invent data, which means every process must have at least one flow of data entering it. Second, a process cannot be a black hole- every process must transfer data somewhere else.

3. Data Store: A data store or file is simply a place to hold data for a length might be a filing cabinet, a reference book or a computer.

4. Data flow: The data flows represent the inputs and outputs of each processor subsystem.

An MIS structure may be discussed in terms of three separate but related classifications.

Operating Elements

The components of MIS make available all the relevant information on a needs basis. These transactions, maintain master files, produce reports and process, interactive support applications.

II) Programme Evaluation And Review Technique PERT And Critical Path Method CPM

Programme Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) was developed by the special project office of the U.S. Navy in 1958. Almost at the same time, engineers at the Du Pont Company U.S.A. also developed the Critical Path Method (CPM). Though there is some difference between PERT and CPM, both utilize the same principles. The basic difference between the two is that CPM assumes the duration of every activity to be constant, therefore, every activity is either critical or not. In PERT, uncertainty in the duration of activities is allowed and is measured by three parameters. – most optimistic duration, most likely duration, and most pessimistic duration. PERT/CPM is used either to minimize total time, minimize total cost, minimize cost for a given total time, minimize the time for a given cost, or minimize idle resources.

 Process of PERT/ CPM

A programme. consists of several activities and sub-activities. To complete the programme, these activities, sub-activities should be completed in a proper sequence and in the allotted time. Since some of the activities can be taken simultaneously, a network is developed to show the sequence, time taken, and the time of the start of particular activities. The whole process involved in the preparation of PERT/CPM is as follows :

Identification Of Activities

Activities represent jobs that should be performed to complete a programme or project. Each activity · takes some specific time under given conditions.

Sequential Arrangement Of Activities

There is always a technological sequence in the various activities of a project. Predecessor events are those which should be completed before a particular event can start. Successor events are those that immediately follow another event. 

Time Estimates Of Activities

All events are associated with a definite point of time and as such events provide a basis for measuring the progress of a programme. Hence, there should be a correct estimate of the time taken by each activity. However, the activities are performed in future and it may not be possible to forecast the future happening correctly, consequently the correct time estimate of activities. To overcome this problem, three-time estimates’ are taken; viz, optimistic time showing the least time of activity; pessimistic time showing the maximum time of activity, and most are then probable time which lies in between the two. The expected time of an activity is calculated.

Network construction

All activities of a programme are connected from a network known as the PERT network.

Determination Of Critical Activities

Based on the analysis, critical activities are determined. These are represented by a critical path which shows that if activities on this path are not completed in time, the entire project will be delayed by the amount the event is delayed. Thus, based on estimates, the earliest or latest start time of an activity can be calculated.

The various steps of PERT can well be understood by the following example: project for manufacturing 5,000 T.V. sets per annum in an organization. The whole project has been divided into the following activities:

1. Acquiring land
2. Applying for and the receipt of the letter of intent. Lorem
3. Applying for an import license, issue of licence and release foreign exchange.
4. Call invoice for import equipment, select suppliers and place orders.
5. Select suppliers for indigenous equipment and place orders.
6. Select suppliers for raw materials and components, place orders. 
7. The delivery time is taken for imported equipment up to the port.
8. Advertising for the dealership and the receipt of applications.
9. Customs clearance, etc, and the transportation of imported equipment at the site
10. The hiring of technical staff, chief engineer.
11. Receipt of indigenous equipment:
12. Construction of building.
13. Election of dealers.
14. Training of dealers.
15. Receipt of raw materials and components.
16. Hiring of assemblypersons.
17. Development of TV circuit and TV design.
18. Training of assemblypersons.
19. Start commercial production.
20. Develop advertising campaign in consultation with dealers and start advertising.
21. End activity

Advantages Of PERT

PERT is a useful and convenient tool in the hands of management particularly for the top-level manager who has the overall managerial responsibility of a project. Moreover, it helps solve problems of scheduling the activities of the one-time project, that is, the projects which are not taken on a routine basis. Some fields of application PERT / CPM are the construction industry, planning and launching a new project, Istana and debugging a computer system, scheduling ship construction/repairs, most. countdown procedures, and end of the month closing of accounting records. As a tool for planning and control, its specific contribution is as follows.

1. It forces managers to plan because it is impossible to make a time-event analysis without planning and seeing how the pieces fit together.
2. It also forces planning at lower levels because each manager has to plan the activities for which he is responsible.
3. It focuses attention on critical activities because a delay in their performance will delay the whole project unless managers can make up the time by shortening some future activities.
4. It presses for the right action, at the right point, and at right time in the organisation.

Limitations Of PERT

PERT has certain limitations

1. The basis difficulty comes in the way of time estimates for the completion of activities because activities are of non-repetitive type.
2. It is not useful for routine planning of recurring, events, such as mass production because once a repetitive sequence of events is worked out, no elaborate continuing control is required.

Check out public administration notes in detail.

Development Dynamics

The development dynamics meaning, science dealing with the study of factors determining development processes and dynamics producing growth or a change in a public system, is one the important factors determining public administration. The study of development dynamics in public administration involves the study of concepts like anti-development thesis, counter development thesis, self-help groups, the impact of liberalisation, etc. The development dynamics notes are here to help you learn these concepts.

I) Anti Development Thesis

In general, public administration has been overly concerned with ‘bureaucracy’ and the change the people seem to have been out of the purview of the administration. Therefore people must be accepted as actors in administration, particularly, develop administration. This role of the people as ‘participants’ in administration is to be given importance.

In the 1960s and 1970s disappointment at the failure of the trickle-down effect of economic development inspired some social scientists to think of an alternative non-western practice.

The concept of counter development was formulated as an alternative, the basic idea of which was a group of poor people, organized on a self-help basis and aided to some extent by change agents, could agree on collective action and operate cooperative economic projects for the benefit of their members.

It was posed as a challenge to normal or conventional development which took care of the interest of the capitalist and theoretical conviction of counter-development exponents came from field experience and the disenchantment with society-wide structural change that failed to bring any real relief to the poor. They argued that at the level of a relatively small group it was perhaps possible to reconcile contradictory development goals, to combine aggregate growth with consensual, non-market rules for the distribution of benefits, to make good use of individuals outstanding managerial skills without shifting members participation.

According to David Korten, Counter Development Thesis (CDT) is a people-centred vision and similarly, Human Development Report 1993 also commented that people participation is becoming a central issue of our times.

South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation Report 1992′ also pointed out the shift from state-led development to local community-based development after being disillusioned with the working of the political system and administrative machinery and the constraints within the state.

The focus of the Counter Development Thesis is on the development activities of locally rooted, particularly micro-development organizations. At the formal level, this shift is evident in the increasing attention being paid to village officers and non-government organizations in asserting the positive values of participation of the poor in developing and bringing social changes within a democratic political framework.

Counter Development Thesis

In the counter-development thesis participation of people is defined as a ‘socially vibrant grass root process whereby people identify with the process as their own, with occasional help from facilitators’. The process is inherently educative i.e., learning by doing leading progressively to a higher level of consciousness which evolve through newer experiences of facing reality. They are then able to participate as active subjects in the development process rather than as passive objects.

The conventional development research by attaching importance to the technical knowledge of the outside expert over the indigenous knowledge of the people being studied or helped has become “anti-developmental” because it prevents people from thinking and acting for themselves.

Counter-development thesis expectation has been that the poor would be able to investigate into the causalities of their deprivation and evolve their science of systematic thinking, to improve their lot and to negotiate from a position of strength with an advisory group. 

According to the counter-development thesis, there are different forms of community organization representing collecting action by underprivileged people.

1. They can be grass-root organizations that are economic undertaking income-generating activities with the help of internal resource mobilization supplemented by resource ad knowledge support from outside. 
2. They can also organizations that engage in ‘pressure group’ activities. They resist oppression by other groups, assert economic, social human rights including women’s · rights or demand services.
3. Some organizations may act in specific areas like health, education, and culture.
4. Some aim at the promotion of holistic life by way of activities that integrate spiritual advancement with economic and social development.
5. Some organizations function to promote ecologically oriented development such as organic agriculture social forestry, coastal fishing etc.
6. Some perceive participatory action research to develop people’s thinking about their living conditions and environment.

The counter-Development thesis emphasizes community participation rather than popular participation. The former connotes direct involvement of the people especially the poorest and more disadvantaged section of the population in local developmental affairs while the latter is related to appropriate mechanisms through which people are involved in the political, economic and social life of a nation.

The counter-Development thesis emphasizes authentic participation rather than pseudo participation. Whereas former involves the community as a whole in all the process of local development decisions in an autonomous fashion while the latter limits community and to a mere implementation or ratification of decisions already taken by external agencies:

Also, counter development thesis recognizes spontaneous participation rather than coerce and induced participation which banks upon the use of force, allurement etc. While spontaneous participation is characterized by peoples voluntary and autonomous actions Unaided by government or external agencies. But it is extreme care. Therefore in practice, at least, initially the leadership push from an external agent be it a social worker or political leader is resorted.

Such an act helps to rebuild community cohesion and instils a sense of dignity into the community. People gain confidence and steadily emerge as real actors in development drama. It brings the possibility of equity into resource distribution.

But the critics point of following limitations

1. Conflicts and rivalries are not uncommon even among the poor and underprivileged. Therefore the romantic vision of frictionless, harmonious community life does not tally with ground reality.
2. Autonomous local community participation for grass-root development is conceived as an antidote to top-down benevolent development.
3. In reality, external intervention, be it social activists or political leaders has been found necessary almost everywhere to organize the local community and to mobilize local people against the oppression or for the articulation of local demands.
4. Community mobilization cannot on its own correct the basic social imbalances that have their roots in deeper socio-economic layers of society.

Therefore State has to intervene but in a participatory mode and not in manipulative mode and incremental mode. Under participatory mode state has to ensure genuine participatory involvement, resources are provided to local bodies and bureaucracy is sensitized through training and directives to facilitate participative development. Within on overall developmental planning framework, central, regional and local developmental policies are sought to be orchestrated, organized and harmonized.

II) Impact Of Liberalisation On Administration In Developing Countries

Globalisation, Liberalisation and Privatisation are increasingly changing the character of the state and the nature of Public Administration. Responding to challenges posed by globalization and liberalisation has not been an easy issue for Public Administration. Several strategies have been adopted by scholars and practitioners to cope with the pressures of liberalization. These need to be discussed in terms of the paradigm shift that is tending to change the nature and character of Public Administration. The impact of globalization / Liberalisation is observed in the following areas:

Public Service Reforms

One of the dominant reasons which compel consideration for public service reforms is the adoption of a free-market economy in the 1980s in the UK and other Western countries and in the 1990s in Indian, which is also known by different names, viz. New Economic Policy, Structural Adjustment Programme, privatization, liberalization, deregulation and contrasting out. The impact of the free market economy on the concept of government, structure of government and also on the way of governance are on the agenda of discussion world over. It is based on the perception that private is good and the public is bad. The consequences of free-market reforms on government and governmental business are generally described as the new way of governance, government by the market, reinventing government, new public management, sharing power, slimming of state, hollowing out of state and so on.

Reinventing Government

New Public Management (NPM) has had the most significant impact on reshaping public administration to cope with the challenges of globalization. The policies of developed and developing countries are being increasingly influenced by NPM and reinventing government prescriptions. These are: privatization and deregulation, establishing market-like mechanisms, decentralization and debureaucratisation. The recent thinking revolves around the fact that the business principles need to be introduced and effectively adhered to in conducting public business. It has been stated that by New Public Management and reinventing government advocates the government should not only adopt the techniques of business administration but also adopt the values of the business. The basic principles for reinventing government are: steering rather than rowing; empowering rather than serving; injecting competition into the service delivery, transforming a rule-driven organization, meeting needs of the customers not be bureaucracy; from hierarchy to participation and leveraging change through the market.

The New Public Management focuses on management, not policy and performance appraisal, and efficiency. It deals with converting public bureaucracies into agencies on which deal with each other on a user-pay basis. It also uses quasi-market and contracting out to foster competition. It is a style of management that aims at cutting no cost, reducing public expenditure and a style of management that emphasizes output and providing monetary incentives to increased performance and empowering let is managers.

Entrepreneurial Government

Efficiency and productivity, the hall-mark entrepreneurial government are two areas where considerable changes have resulted due to the constant pressure of globalization. Public sector organizations are now under worldwide pressure to enhance their productivity by increasing efficiency. Along with cutting down waste and increasing output, the public bureaucracies are trying to simultaneously facilitate better delivery of services.

Changing Role of Bureaucracy

The process of economic liberalization in its basic conceptual formulation seeks a reduced governmental intervention in the economic sector, thus implying a reduced role for the bureaucracy in the process of development. There has to be a realization that with the switch over globalization, liberalization and privatization, the bureaucracy will have to play its role of catalyst for change. In the new economic order, the bureaucracy has to function as a helper, an accelerator, a booster.

Good Governance

The key items on the development agenda of the 1990s have reform of public administration and issues of governance amongst their priorities. ‘Governance’ deals with the capacity of the government to design, formulate and implement policies, and in general to discharge their functions. Good governance is more than a mere word that implies efficient public administration. It is the process of building and enduring bridges between the state and the society at large through effective and people-oriented mechanisms of administration.

The concept of good governance was conceived in 1989. It was found mention in a World Bank Report on Sub-Saharan Africa. It defined good governance as efficient public service, a reliable judicial system and an administration that is accountable to the public. Good governance is associated with efficient and effective administration in a democratic framework.

It is equivalent to purposive and development-oriented administration which is committed to improvement in the quality of life of the people. It implies a high level of organizational effectiveness. In simple words, good governance can be considered as citizen-friendly, citizen caring and responsive administration.

E-governance

A search for alternative delivery systems has always attracted the attention of experts in public administration. Since the 1980s, many scholars have been advocating privatization as well as e-governance as such solution e-governance is the application of IT to the process of government functioning to bring Simple, Moral Accountable, Responsive and Transparent (SMART) governance. The speed and transparency associated with e-governance have the potential to make public administration responsive and efficient.

Bringing the State Back

Globalisation is perceived as the spread of liberalization on a universal scale with liberalization essentially meaning the process of freeing the economy from state control. In other words, the economy operates as per the market forces and not as per rules/regulations laid down by the state. Now the big question is: how and where does the state figure in the backdrop of globalization. As a consequence of globalization and indeed, according to increasingly accepted views as a precondition, the state has been withdrawing / retreating / abstaining from many areas of the economy. A liberalizing state is focusing on the core areas such as defence and foreign affairs leaving other areas open to private players, both au and foreign. At the same time, precisely because the state is retreating. enterprises, as well as the non-state actors such as voluntary agencies, groups and community-based organizations, are automatically filling the vacuum.

The current trend is toward the blatant capitalist subjugation of the globe in the garb of neo-liberalism so far as the Third World State is concerned, the issue is not State versus Market, but changing the character of the state so that a vital power shift can take place from the bourgeoisies-feudalism bureaucracy combine to a genuine peoples democracy. The market-friendly and marginalized state would pave the way for capitalists. world development, whereas the Third World, needs an altogether different model of development that will assure the general welfare of the masses and an equalitarian social life free from exploitation and deprivation. The World Bank-sponsored ‘rethinking the State’ is on close inspection a fraud on political theory, including theories of public administration.

The World Bank touted State – minimalism and market-friendly approach to Third World development pose serious problems for the State led development efforts in countries like ours, where the government has to mobiles social efforts to struggle against poverty, ill-health, malnutrition and the forces of inequity and injustice in a feudal capitalist social regime. As Paul Streeten has forcefully argued: “the issue is not to get the government off our backs and let there be market; the real issue is: to have a strong State with an expanded agenda, though a different one, differently implanted from that which the State has commonly adopted in many developing countries.

It could be viewed that while ensuring that the state is not deprived of its regulatory function, it is not such a bad idea if the state withdraws or at least, substantially withdraws from the non-essential sectors of the economy. It should, however, continue to maintain a visible presence in social sectors like education, health and so on.

Empowering citizens

Globalisation from below has also witnessed the rise of grassroots, people active participation at the local level in areas such as women’s empowerment, education for all human rights including the rights of the poor, consumer – rights, environmental protection and decentralization. Thus, empowering citizens has been a key component of the recent reform wave surrounding public administration.

Conclusion

Thus, due to globalisation public administration seems to be moving more towards the protection of citizens rights accountability, ethical values, research and training. Emphasis has shifted to good governance, E-governance and corporate governance as the framework of administrative analysis. The concepts of work, authority and role of the state are changing. The accent on participation, transparency, decentralization and accountability is urging the scholars to revamp administrative structure and process to meet emerging challenges. A basic requirement in the context of economic reforms is the dismantling of the regulatory structure. Besides, it is also necessary to shake off the sloth of public administrators to provide a vigorous response to the challenges posed by the economic reforms.

III) Women And Development – The Self Help Group Movement

When a group of poor or disadvantaged people voluntarily come together with the clear objectives of bringing about positive changes in the situation in which they find themselves through self-help and self-reliance, such a group is called a Self-Help group

Self-Help Groups (SHG) can be of different types. However, they have become synonymous with savings and credit groups. A saving and credit group is specialized group members who agree to form themselves into a group and function in an ongoing manner with the specific objective of pooling their savings to give credit to its members for meeting their consumption and production needs. The main objective of these groups 15 is to improve the economic and social status of the members in terms of their needs and interests.

Salient Features Of Self Help Groups

1. A self-help group is a small voluntary association of poor people preferably from the same socio-economic background. The objective of the group is to come together to solve their common problems through self-help and mutual help.
2. It normally comprises poor people who do not have access to formal financial institutions. The self-help groups act as the forum for the members to provide space and support to each other.
3. The self-help group promotes small savings among its members. A common fund is created in the name of the self-help group.
4. Usually, social workers, village level workers and non-governmental organizations help in the formation of self-help groups.

Pre-requisites For The Success Of The Self Help Groups

The following are considered as the pre-requisites for the success of Self-Help Groups:

1. The membership should be homogenous i.e., the Self-Help Group should as for as possible comprise people from a comparable socio-economic background.
2. The membership should be limited to 15 to 20 members to enable meaningful participation. However, the membership should not be too small which makes the financial transactions insignificant.
3. Total participation in regular meetings is necessary,
4. All financial and non-financial transactions should be transparent in the self-help groups. Maintenance of books of accounts as also other records like the attendance register are important.

Andhra Pradesh – A Fore Runner In Self Help Groups

Many states have attempted to promote self-help groups. Andhra Pradesh is at the forefront of the formation of Self-Help groups and is a shining example of “Women as an agent of change and development for the needy at the grassroots level. Initially, it was started as an experiment to promote the habit of thrift among women from Below Poverty Line families. By the year 2008, over 6 lakh Self-Help Groups were covering approximately 87 lakh, women, with a corpus of over Rs. 3,000 crores amongst them. The government has also implemented an innovative scheme of providing bank loans to Women self-help groups at a cheaper interest rate of 3.% as against the existing interest rates of 12 % in the commercial banks. The State government pays the differential rates of interest to the banks under a unique scheme supported by the centre to revive the economic activity in the villages. The scheme has been very successful and as of November 2007, the commercial banks had advanced Rs. 8,779.77 crore as loans to the women self-help groups. The collection of arrears was as high as 97%.

Andhra Pradesh success has been a model for many other States and is worthy of emulation. American President George W. Bush remarked, ” I wish this model of Andhra Pradesh in utilizing the mothers, sisters, and housewives as tools of development is emulated worldwide”.

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Comparative Public Administration

The concept of public administration is applicable across different countries and their respective governments. therefore comparison between different countries is important for better administration. The nature and scope of comparative public administration are wide and to study it thoroughly one needs to understand the challenges of comparative public administration. Check this out to now different models of comparative public administration including the relationship between administration and politics in different countries, and Ferrel Heady’s contribution to

Administration And Politics In Different Countries

Man is a comparing’ animal: he compares himself with other fellow beings. He has always been curious about how others live and act and behave.

The resultant comparative interest stems from three basic desires:

i) to know how others are and act.

ii) to discover similarities and dissimilarities between oneself and others, and us gain an enriched perception of one’s self; and

iii) to accept what is perceived to be the best in others – a reformist motivation, in other words.

What is true of man is also true of man’s creations; and Government is certainly among the best, if not the best among such formations. Comparative government (politics and administration) has become a field of growing importance in all countries.

Today, geographical boundaries have disappeared. They are many occasions where an individual comes in contact with the political and administrative systems of various countries. There is a visible interest in acquiring some knowledge about how other political and administrative systems work. In short, comparative politics and administration assist a citizen to gain knowledge of other politico-administrative systems and thus become more self-enriched and mature.

The interest in the study of foreign politico-administrative systems flows from a desire to get new ideas for the development of one’s institutions. Likewise, knowledge about ones owns institutions may help others. But higher reasons are pointing to the need as well as the desirability of studying comparative politics and administration i.e., to raise the study to a scientific level. The students of comparative politics and administration collect, classify and interpret data about a given topic under study and thus they generate generalizations and abstractions. They use the empirical method of research and build up theoretical knowledge of the political phenomena. (This was the desire which made ‘Aristotle’go comparative in his study of revolutions. By studying the 158 constitutions of the Greek city-states, Aristotle arrived at the generalization about what caused instability and what promised stability).

No less is the significance of comparative politics/administration for policy formation and implementation. For instance, it may be possible to predict trends by a careful study of the politics of foreign countries and further to analyse their implications for one’s own country. (The pioneering work in this connection in ‘Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America’ in which the author analyses what the pushing wave of democracy would mean for his own country, viz. France).

Today, there is an increasing interest on the part of the people to know more and more about others political life. While many efforts have been made towards developing comparative studies, the contribution of Ferrel Heady is pioneering and noteworthy.

The Contribution Of Ferrel Heady Study Of Administrative Systems

Ferrel Heady in his book “Public Administration a “Comparative Perspective’ has conducted an elaborate study of various administrative systems across the world. His basic postulate can be summarized as follows: “Public Administration of a country is influenced by political and constitutional set up of that country Even when a similar type of administrative system is adopted by two countries, it functions quite differently because of varying political and constitutional systems”.

Ferrel Heady’s study categorizes countries across the world into ten broad categories of meaningful study. They are :

• France and Germany
• Britain And America
• Japan
• Soviet Union
• Traditional Autocratic Systems
• Bureaucratic Elite Systems, Civil And Military
• Polyarchal Comparative Systems
• Dominant Party: Semi Competitive Systems
• Dominant Party Mobilisation System
• Communist Totalitarian Systems

The first four countries fall under the category of developed countries and the remaining six have been placed in the category of developing countries. They are briefly described below:

France and Germany

Ferrel Heady refers to France and Germany as ‘classic’ administrative systems. For the last two centuries, both these countries have faced a situation of political instability. Far-reaching and violent changes have taken place but in both countries, there has been remarkable administrative and bureaucratic continuity. In these countries the administrator is not considered a ‘public servant’ but as a public official…… “speaking for the State and acting on its behalf, the bureaucrat considers himself as possessing a bit of sovereignty which entitles him to respectful attention and this view is also shared by the citizenry”. Public administrators join the civil service at a comparatively young age and continue to hold their positions till they retire. They are given extensive training. Their representatives sit in the committees which take disciplinary action against them, They are consulted in matters of promotion and change of status, The public servants actively participate in politics.

Britain and America

Almond and Verba referred to the political characteristics of Great Britain and the United States as the ‘civic culture’. They describe the culture’ as “participant and pluralistic, based on communication and persuasion, a culture of consensus and diversity, a culture that permitted change but moderated it”. The political and cultural background of both these countries is almost similar — they enjoy political stability and a well-established constitutional system. The political system in both countries has gradually evolved and so also the administrative system. In both, countries senior civil servants and administrators are actively involved in decision-making. Bureaucracies in both countries are under social pressure and the citizens contribute extensively in public administration activities.

Japan

Ferrel Heady refers to the administrative system of Japan as Modernising Administration’. ( Japan had undertaken a mammoth programme of modernization which converted it into a highly modernized and developed country. In this transformation the bureaucracy, both civil and military had played a leading part). All government servants are regarded as representatives of the society as a whole and not of any particular group or category. Senior public service administrators take an active part in political decision-making and remain actively associated with public activities. After retirement from service, a public servant can hold any elected political office and start a new career.

Soviet Union

After the revolution of 1917 changes of far-reaching importance came in the country. The Communist Party was all-powerful and monopolised all the powers of the state; Every administrative activity was dominated by political ideology and was taken up as per the dictates of the party bosses Political party units looked after the work on any administrative unit and organization. Even at the local level, public servants were accountable to local party leaders for all their activities. Public servants were supposed to promote communist ideology. The Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991 and more administrative systems fielded to a new one. The hold of the Communist Party over administration has relaxed but the public administrators still have a stronghold over administration.

Traditional Autocratic System Countries

In this category have been included some countries of near east such as Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Morocco etc., and South American countries such as Paraguay and Peru etc. Some of these countries are large and densely populated. Their administrative system is traditional, Administration is headed by a hereditary ruler or the aristocracy but in either case, the people have no share in it. These societies are not yet modernized though change is promoted. There is no room for competitive politics. Political parties and interest groups do not exist here. Privileged classes T do not start any political movement or take interest in spreading a political ideology. It is believed that awakened political leaders can create problems for rulers and ruling classes so no efforts are made to propagate education. Ruling classes look after their interests only and for this purpose use both civilian and military agencies. All activities are undertaken by the administrative system but its effectiveness is reduced because of its traditional characteristics and problems. Efforts are made from time to time to remedy it.

Bureaucratic Elite System Countries

Developing countries are surrounded by statęs where political power is in the hands of military rulers or public administrators. This category includes countries like Myanmar, Indonesia, Iraq, South Korea, Sudan, Syria and Thailand etc. The influence of traditional powerful elites has very much reduced to a great extent The military leaders claim that they are trying to bring modernisation but the masses are not convinced by their claim. People do not participant in administration. Opposition is not tolerated in these countries and even political parties which support the government do not have any solid programme. The vacuum thus created is filled by public administration. Its main aim and activity are to maintain law and order and to provide protection to the people. Those in power in these countries try to consolidate their power and position.

In this system, military officers play a more important role than public administrators. They have sufficient resources to have a hold over politics and civil administration, To capture political power both military and civil administrators reach an understanding. This develops a professional outlook, encourages collective loyalty and inspires activity. The relationship is established between nation-building and economic development. This system has its weaknesses. It has no faith in political relations and fails to develop any clear ideology or theories. No systematic efforts are made to educate and enlighten the masses.

Polyarchal Competitive Systems

In this category counties like the Philippines, Greece, Malaysia, Chile, Costa Rica, Israel, Lebanon, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Turkey etc. are included. They have political systems almost similar to those which prevail in Western European countries and the U.S.A. these countries have organized political parties which try to capture power. But these do not exactly function on the same pattern on which political parties in West European countries function. Political leaders appeal

to the masses to win their cooperation and also make several promises. Political principles change very quickly depending on the circumstances and past experiences. Pressure groups very often influence the activities of the government. The programmes and policies of the government are prepared to keep short-term objectives in view. Objectives of social service areas like education welfare and health etc. are so set that these are easily understandable and are very much appreciated by the people. Economic and social reforms planned on a long term basis remain ineffective here. In this political system, the government does not have enough power to implement laws and levy taxes. The administration itself becomes a cause of competition between rival poetical groups.

Dominant Party: Semi Competitive System

In a dominant party semi-competitive system, one party has held a monopoly of actual power for a substantial period of time, but other parties are legal and do exist. The dominant party has a record of overshadowing all other parties and is victorious in virtually all elections. It is nondictatorial. The most clear cut example of such a dominant party is Mexico’s Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). The PRI has been able to monopolise the electoral process and control all branches of the federal government and state government. In such a regime, the most significant political competition takes place among ideological, regional, and interest-oriented factions within the dominant party. There is pre-eminence of executive leadership in both the political and administrative spheres. (India and Malaysia have also been considered as examples of dominant party regimes, however with contrasting features to Mexico).

Dominant Party

Mobilisation System Scholars have placed Algeria: Bolivia, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea. Male and some other West African countries under this system. The countries in this category differ from those placed in the previous category In politics here there is less obedience and more possible suppression. Only the powerful political party is legally recognized. If some other political parties are allowed to function, many restrictions and limitations have been imposed on them so that these remain weak and their position is only in name and not in effect. In it, ideology is venerated and the masses are made to appreciate – “that everyone is expected to be loyal to the state which in effect means government”. The youth are highly urbanised, educated and lean towards secularism and progressive nationalism. Any influential and active (Charismatic) person can become the leader of the movement. But he has no fixed tenure and his future is always insecure and he always tries to get mass support in his favour so that he can remain in power for both as long a period as he can.

Communist Totalitarian System

All communist countries including USSR can be put under this category It is controversial it all the countries included in this category can be called developing. Considering the large size of China and its prestige in the communist world, it can be placed in a category of its own East-European countries that were also sufficiently developed. Communist regimes in Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Albania and collapsed by 1991 and these countries shifted to western-style democracy. Their status is not lower than Span or Portugal. Only North Korea, North Vietnam and Cuba etc. may be classed as developing countries like the communist countries of Africa Asia and Latin America. Though the level of development differs from one country to another, the most important common feature of all these communist countries is that they all subscribe to the philosophy of Marx and Lenin and their approach is totalitarian. This ideology dominates everything else and repression and suppression are considered essential methods of bringing about social change. Being totalitarian states the communist party dominates the whole political show and none who opposes this domination is tolerated. In this system, every aspect is governed by the dominant political party and all the centres of the preceding independent authority are crushed out of existence.

Current Status And Future Of Comparative Administration

As a subfield, Comparative Public Administration cannot claim a long history. S o me writings of Aristotle, interest in comparative governmental systems has been a no of academic and practical enquiry. Nations have been interested in organizing their executive branch of government, and as they tried to innovate administratively they studied and adopted practices of other countries. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, revolutionaries and reformers in Europe looked across boundaries for institutions to copy or reject. Undoubtedly the most important comparative research was earned out between 1895 and 1920, not by comparative law professors or participants in an international congress, but by a sociologist, Max Weber. We owe to Weber the core concept of the field bureaucracy – as part of a comparative typology of the forms of domination: tradition, charisma and legal rationality. Since then major comparative studies in the USA had been made by European – trained scholars whose central focus was: the role of bureaucracies in modern government.

Comparative Public Administration has been widened and deepened by scholarly interest in the administration of third world countries, especially after World War II. But the field had its earlier cultivators in Europe and America (e.g. Finer, Carl Friedrich).

Comparative Public Administration is interested in cross-cultural Public Administration. The founding fathers like Leonard White thought that cultural factors did not make any difference in administrative settings, as in their view, there were universal principles’ applicable to situations anywhere and everywhere. But, writers like Robert Dahl and Dwight Waldo pointed out that cultural factors could make public administration in one nation different from that in another. As Dahl has explained, “The comparative aspects of public administration have largely been ignored, and as long as the study of public administration is not comparative, claim for a ‘science of administration sounds rather hollow.

Comparative Public Administration got its real impetus in 1962 when the Comparative Administration Group (GAG) of the American Society for Public Administration received fairly lavish funding from the Ford Foundation at a time when the Cold War was at its height.

Ford funding was terminated in 1971, as the research activities were oriented more towards theory-building rather than empirical and practical problem-solving.

The Comparative Administrative Group was disbanded in 1973 and merged with the International Committee of the American Society for Public Administration. Reflecting on the gradual decline of CPA, Golembiewski wrote “Public administration should take note of the fact that comparative administrations failure rests substantially on a self-imposed failure experience. It set an unattainable goal, that is, in its early and persisting choice to seek a comprehensive theory or model in terms of which to define itself.

Future Prospect Of Public Administration

Lack of financial support, for a time, reduced academic interest in comparative administrative research. The real work of public administration has, however, presented many opportunities, in recent times, for innovative comparative studies. For instance, there is today increasing inter-state, interactions due to globalisation’ and liberalisation policies dictated by international economic transactions. The interactive efforts in the performance of states can thus be a good theme for comparative analysis. The issue of human rights is currently engaging the attention of international institutions and national governments. Comparative studies of human rights’ enforcement could be another major area of comparative study. There is yet another trend noticeable in governmental circles-the co-production of results in the public sector. Public bureaucracies private firms, voluntary agencies and community-based organisations are coming together more and more, blurring the distinction between public’ and ‘private’ management. Now in different situations, the nations are promoting co-production and creating a climate of networking cf ‘governance’. All these go to constitute a new thrust toward comparative governmental analysis. This optimistic climate of comparative administrative studies has been aptly described by Robert Fried in the following words: “The international interdependency of bureaucracies….. the universalizing of demands for human rights; the crucial role of publics in resisting or promoting reform; chancy the nature of status as a member of first, second or third worlds – all of these present students and practitioners of comparative public administration with unexpected challenges to understanding, unexpected opportunities for research and conceptual development, unexpected excitement”.

It seems CPA is poised today for resurrection, as the situation worldwide is getting more and more propitious for comparative administrative analysis.

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Accountability And Control

The accountability and control definition is different for different disciplines of study. To define the concept of accountability and control in public administration, one needs to understand the concept of the role of media in accountability and control, social audit as well as public accountability and control. Let us now look into each topic in detail.

I) Role Of Media

Mass media, such as newspapers, magazines, films, radio and television, facilitate “one-way communication from one to many”. They transmit a message “from a source to reach a large and often widely dispersed audience”. The twentieth century has been blessed with the “trenchant” growth of the mass media. Films and television are most effective as they combine audio and visuals. To Bertram Gross, “Television has changed the role of mass media by making non-face-to-face communication as practical and efficient and in many cases a face-to-face relation”.

The use of satellites brought about a revolution in the field of communication systems. Thanks to this communication revolution, it is now possible “to bring the people from remote corners face-to-face with a new reality”.

Role of Mass Media In Influencing Administration And The Policies

There are three types of roles which the mass media can play in influencing policies and administration. These are the Information role, Orientation role and Suggestive role.

Information Role

Mass media reflect the real-life problems, needs and aspirations of various classes and groups of society. Such information provides valuable inputs to policy formulation. Mass media enlighten the policy-makers with information relating to the latest scientific and technological achievements, and also with their coverage of significant events and processes in other countries of the world. Mass media also present public reactions to government policies. Such information is very useful for the evaluation of policy outcomes. This evaluation may lead to major or minor changes in an existing policy.

Orientation Role

In a country like India, where a sizable proportion of the population lives below the poverty line, any policy is not directed towards attacking the problems of poverty. is unlikely to have spectacular results, A mass-oriented education policy, for instance, has no meaning if it is not supported by a mass-oriented economic policy. The choice, therefore, lies, between van oriented policies and mass-oriented policies. Mass media can either assist the former or the latter In any system of government, the ruling elites, by their position in the power hierarchy, play a dominant role in policy-making. It is quite natural that as policy-makers these elites would lean towards elite-oriented policies rather than mass-oriented policies. By lending support to mass-oriented policies, the mass media can play a significant role in bringing about spectacular change in the attitudes and approaches of the elite.

Suggestive Role

Democratic values are essentially pluralistic. Consequently, the policy-makers in a democratic system are always left with a multiplicity of choices, and policy decision involves a rigorous exercise of making a particular choice from multiple options. Mass media not only stimulate discussion of the various choices available but also make specific suggestions in favour of one particular choice or the other. For example, editorial articles of newspapers, discussion programmes on the television etc. not only make critical comments on government policies but also suggest alternative policies or measures. Such comments and suggestions make the policy-makers tasks easier. It enables them to arrive at a particular policy decision and to amend or reverse wrong policy diagnoses and decisions.

Mass Media and Public Opinion

Public Opinion, as Charles Steinberg has defined it very aptly, “is the collective expression of the opinions of many individuals bound into a group by common aims, aspirations, needs and ideals”. According to him, the power of public opinion, in terms of its social efficacy, acts in two directions. First, the opinions of a group or public are formed and influenced to a large degree by those in authority, They use their authority to maintain and solidify these opinions. The press and other mass media are voices of authority to which the public pay heed. On the other hand, these so-called authorities are influenced in a democratic society by the power of public opinion. It reveals, therefore, that the use of mass media to influence public opinion is not unilateral but operates on a system of “healthy checks and balances”.

In India, the media grew as a powerful institution during the national struggle. In postIndependence India, it has played a creative role in articulating the interests of the developmental state as well as the grievances of the people. Indian democracy, over the decades, has strengthened its roots with support from the media.

In the era of globalization, the media has enlarged its scope in a big way, Liberalisation has reduced the role of the state over the media and the media can play an independent and enriched role in the present day. Needless to say, the media has a major role to play in providing good governance to its citizenry in the days to come.

II) Social Audit

Social audit as a term was used as far back as the 1950s. It is based on the principle that democratic local governance should be carried out, as far as possible, with the consent’ and understanding’ of all concerned. It is thus a process and not an event.

A social audit is a way of measuring, understanding, reporting and ultimately improving an organization’s social and ethical performance? A social audit helps to narrow gaps between vision/goal and reality, between efficiency and effectiveness. It is a technique to understand, measure, verify, report on and improve the social performance of the organization.

Social auditing creates an impact upon governance. It values the voice of stakeholders, including marginalized /poor groups whose voices are rarely heard. Social auditing is taken up to enhance local governance, particularly for strengthening accountability and transparency in local bodies.

Objectives of Social Audit

The following are the main objectives of Social Audit :

1. Assessing the physical and financial gaps between needs and resources available for local development.
2. Creating awareness among beneficiaries and providers of local social and productive services.
3. Increasing efficacy and effectiveness of local development programmes.
4. Scrutiny of various policy decisions, keeping in view stakeholder interests and priorities, particularly of rural poor.
5. Estimation of the opportunity cost for stakeholders of not getting timely access to public services.

Advantages of Social Audit

The following advantages are visualized from the process of social audit :

1. Trains the community on participatory local planning.
2. Encourages local democracy.
3. Encourages community participation.
4. Benefits disadvantaged groups.
5. Promotes collective decision making and sharing responsibilities.
6. Develops human resources and social capital.

Prerequisites for the effectiveness of Social Audit

To be effective, the social audio the right to :

1. Seek clarifications from the implementing agency about any decision man scheme, income and expenditure incurred by the agency.
2. Consider and scrutinize existing schemes and local activities of the agency; and
3. Access registers and documents relating to all development activities undertaken by implementing agency or by any other government department.

This requires transparency in the decision-making and activities of the implementing agencies. Ma way, the social audit includes measures for enhancing transparency by enforcing the right to information in the planning and implementation of local development activities.

Appropriate Institutional Level For Social Audit

The most appropriate institutional level for social audit is the Gram Sabha, which has been given watchdog’ powers and responsibilities by the Panchayati Raj Acts in most States to supervise and monitor the functioning of panchayat elected representatives and government functionaries, and examine the annual statement of accounts and audit reports. These are implied powers indirectly empowering Gram Sabhas to carry out social audits in addition to other functions. Members of the Gram Sabha and the village panchayat, intermediate panchayat and district panchayat through their representatives, can raise issues of social concern and public interest and demand an explanation.

The Gram Sabha should have the mandate to inspect all public documents related to budget allocations, list of beneficiaries, assistance under each scheme, muster rolls, bills, vouchers, accounts, etc., for scrutiny; examine annual statements of accounts and audit reports; discuss the report on the local administration of the preceding year; review local development for the year or any new activity programme; establish accountability of functionaries found guilty of violating established norms/rules; suggest measures for promoting transparency in identifying, planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating relevant local development programmes; and ensure opportunity for rural poor to voice their concerns while participating in social audit meetings.

Social Audit Committees

The social audit can also be used for auditing the performance of all three PRI tiers with a social audit committee at each level. These committees should not be permanent but can be set up depending on the nature of programmes/schemes to be audited.

Social audit committee members can be drawn from among programme stakeholders. It is advisable to use the services of retired functionaries of different organizations, teachers or persons of impeccable integrity living in the Zilla Panchayat / Block“ Panchayat / Gram Panchayat ). jurisdiction. Both facilitators and social audit committee members can be trained by social audit experts.

Social Audit can be used as an effective tool to make administration more responsible and responsive. Regular evaluation of the tool of Social audit should be conducted and measures should be initiated to improve its effectiveness.

Examples Of Social Audit

Given below are some of the examples of Social audits:

Social audit in Jharnipalli Panchayat, Agaipur block, Bolangir district, Orissa

In October 2001, the Gram Sabha members of Jharnipalli Panchayat conducted a one-day social audit of development works carried out in the panchayat over the preceding three years. This audit took place with the active participation of many individuals and agencies, including block and district administration officials, MKSS (Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan), NCPRI (National Campaign for People’s Right to Information) and Action Aid India. The audit found many discrepancies in the utilization of funds, appointments of contractors and non-generation of the required man-days of work as per the rules.

Micro-Development Planning As Part Of Social Audit

A voluntary development organization ‘Samarthan’ and PRIA’ (Society for Participatory Research in Asia) collaborated in a participatory micro-planning exercise with local officials, panchayat members, members of different castes, etc. The process was a way to bring resources to the local community and to increase its involvement in Gram Sabha meetings which took place four times a year.

This led to the identification of several goals. One was to construct a drain. Inspired by the participatory local planning process, the community contributed half the cost of the drain (Rs 50 000). Those who could not give money offered their labour. The rest of the money came from the district office and was mobilized by the Gram Panchayat and its pro-active. woman president, the Sarpanch.

Every member of the Gram Sabha developed a sense of ownership of the project. The Gram Sabha monitors the work. Gram Panchayat representatives also hold regular ward-level meetings. The relationship between people and their local representatives developed quickly into one of mutual support.

SDM Of Schools For ‘Rehabilitated’ Child Workers, Jamtara District, Jharkhand State, India

In 1995, the non-governmental Child Labour Elimination Society (CLES) initiated a project to set up 40 Vidyalayas (schools) in three blocks with a high incidence of child labour in the Jamtara district. The funds for the project were provided by the Ministry of Labour, Government of India.

To supervise the schools, three-tier committees were formed at the district, block and panchayat/village levels, with the district-level committee having the Deputy Commissioner as its ex-officio chairperson. At the block level, the Circle Officer (CO) is the nodal officer entrusted with the responsibility for the smooth functioning of the schools. The committee at the panchayat and village level includes members who were active during the mass literacy campaigns in the district. However, most committees at the lowest level are either defunct and not functional or not properly constituted. Visibly, this particular weakness has resulted in the diminution of an important forum of citizen interaction, reflection and action.

Check out public administration notes in detail.

Organisations In Public Administration

The discipline of public administration is a lot more than just policy implementation. The importance of organization in public administration is as important as implementing government policies. Here are the notes for different types of organisation in public administration, characteristics of organisation in public administration, regulatory authorities, public-private partnerships, etc.

I Regulatory Authorities

The last few decades have seen significant changes in the way in which governments manage societies. The governmental decision-making process in many countries has now become transparent and participative. Committees drawn from elected representatives in legislatures closely scrutinize new legislation and budgets and question government functioning. New global standards of governance are emerging every day. Citizens of developing countries are demanding better performance on the part of their governments and policy-enforcing public institutions, and they are increasingly aware of the costs of poor management and corruption. The media has become vigilant and is playing a proactive role in scrutinizing government policies and suggesting alternative methods of governance.

In this changed scenario, the traditional style of regulation which involved decision making by bureaucrats and ministers in a closed environment’ (and through selective consultation ) is no longer considered appropriate. A new style that imbibes openness, consultation and transparency is the need of the hour. This ‘new-style regulation has taken the form of Regulatory Authorities’ or Regulatory Commissions. w

“A Regulatory Authority or Regulator is a government agency that regulates an area of human activity by codifying and enforcing rules and regulations, supervision or oversight, for the benefit of the public at large”. It usually has statutory authority to perform its functions. Regulatory authorities are commonly set up to enforce standards and safety, oversee the use of public goods and regulate commercial activities.

Independent Regulation

Independent regulation has developed into an alternative form of governance especially in infrastructure and financial services. Its origins are in the U.S.A. but it has been successfully used in the U.K. for electricity and gas and has extended itself to many others

Elements Of The Regulatory Process

The regulatory process has three basic elements:

• Ensure that the exercise of regulatory power is rule-based.
• Regulated agencies have an effective means to defend ineffective means to defend themselves against unauthorized or arbitrary requirements or liabilities.
• The wider interest group have the means to have their views considered and addressed in administration decisions.

Mechanisms Used By Regulatory Bodies

To ensure that it does fulfil its role, a Regulatory body uses mechanisms such as the following:

• Transparency of information and decision making.
• Procedures of consultation and participation.
• The requirement is that administrators give reasons explaining their actions.
• Requirement that administrators follow principles that promote non-arbitrary and responsive decisions.
• Arrangements for review of administrative decisions by courts or other bodies

II Public Private Partnerships

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) combine the resources of government with those of private · agents (businesses or not-for-profit bodies) to deliver societal goals. The development of these relationships between state and private actors gives rise to a new form of hybrid organization that has both ‘public’ and ‘private’ features.

Five different forms of public-private partnership can be distinguished. The different forms are :

Public Leverage

Public leverage occurs where governments use their legal and financial resources to create conditions that they believe will be conducive to economic activity and business growth. This is also called the “leader-follower” approach since the government is encouraging and inducing private sector decision-makers to align with public policy goals. Public leverage has a particular significance in regeneration strategies for disadvantaged localities. Governments around the world have packaged together infrastructure improvements, financial incentives, business support services, and other measures to promote economic regeneration in a locality. Place marketing within an overall policy to attract footloose capital often supports this approach. This strategy may make sense from the perspective of a single jurisdiction, but there is a danger of over-supply of government inducements at the regional, national and global level as localities compete between themselves. Public leverage also occurs where the government wishes business or not-for-profits to be the means of realising a goal that might otherwise be achieved through public bureaucracies.

Contracting-Out and Competitive Tendering

Contracting-out involves separating the purchaser of service from the provider. Government concentrates on the former, defining what services are to be available and to what standard, and then contracts out the provision to a business or not-for-profit organization. Contracting-out is the logical outcome of a competitive tendering or market-testing process in which the public provider is deemed not to offer the best solution. Fiscally prudent politicians and academic advocates of rational choice theory identified possibilities for efficiency gains by competitively tendering municipal services such as refuse collection, street cleaning and road maintenance. Cost reductions were expected to arise from changes in working practices, employment conditions, and management overheads as a result of exposing the de facto monopoly of the public provider to contestability. 

Franchising

Franchising involves government awarding a licence to a business or ‘not-for-profit organization to deliver a public service in which the provider’s income is in the form of user fees.”

Under franchising, the government is reallocating its monopoly rights to a private entity. The process of allocating these rights may be undertaken competitively and require potential providers to bid a cash value to acquire the franchise. This was the position with the provision of train services in Great Britain after denationalization. The government auctioned franchises to operate bundles of routes for a fixed time period. The successful train operating companies were then responsible for providing rolling stock and delivering a service subject to price and performance regulation. The customer revenue stream flowed to the franchise holder, but there were also public subsidies to maintain services on socially desirable routes.

Franchising has a particular benefit in the case of a monopoly public-interests service whose revenue is sourced from user charges and where the government does not want to us operate the service directly itself. The monopoly features of the service make privatization ? of ownership into the market), undesirable. Franchising provides a means of operational responsibility to the business sector, with the government taking on the role of a length public-interest regulator. In the case of a new service or facility, franchising also cares some risk to the private sector.

Joint Ventures

Joint ventures occur where two or more parties wish to engage in a command project in a way that retains their independence. They enable the coordination of important decisions by independent actors in respect of a project that is close-ended in terms of its scope and the commitment of partners’ resources. The joint venture may be managed through a partnership agreement or a separate corporate entity-a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). Joint ventures are now used extensively to realize public goals for infrastructure provision and renewal, including schools, public transport, ‘hospitals’, roads’, ‘air traffic service’, ‘economic sectors’, and ‘Prisons’. These are typically referred to as public-private partnerships in the European context and as motivate Finance Initiative (PFI) in the UK. The generic nomenclature is DBFO (Design-Build-FinanceOperate).

DBFO

involves government stating its intentions in output terms and then entering into a long-term contractual relationship with a company or consortium who undertake to design) finance, and build the facility, and manage and deliver some of the services associated with it (typically, maintenance) cleaning, and security). The government pays for the output over the medium to long term through a shadow toll or other revenue formula. The particular solution in any individual case will be a permutation of these DBFO elements and their lesser variants-e.g. DBF (design-build finance) and DBO (design-build-operate). For example, the private partners might design, finance, and build a facility, which would then be redeemed by the public sector through a long-term debt arrangement (the turnkey method).

Strategic Partnering

Strategic partnering between public and private agents involves a situation in which there is boundarylessness in terms of the distinctions between the constituent parties and where there are “permeable organizing practices that are intended to yield mutually beneficial outcomes”. The dominant features are the open-ended nature of strategic partnering’, the full sharing of risks and rewards, and the evolving substantive content of the action that arises. Strategic partnering emphasizes the primacy of trust over legal instruments. From a theoretical perspective, strategic partnering provides a means of reducing the transaction costs of service specification, supplier procurement, and regulation that can arise under contracting-out.

The Institutional form of the PPP has emerged as a highly preferred model of public service delivery as compared to the traditional ‘Bureau model”. Though the roots of the PPP’s can be traced to the 19th century, yet as an institutional form, it is yet to evolve and take shape. The challenge is to combine and retain ‘business efficiency along with democratic control.

Check out public administration notes in detail.