PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: Synopsis of 2016 Mains Writing Challenges

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: Synopsis of 2016 Mains Writing Challenges

17th August 2016

Syllabus – “Public Choice Theory”

1.Discuss how the Public Choice Theory promotes the concept of ‘Steering’ and undermines the concept of ‘Rowing’ in visualising efficient and effective administration. (250 words).

Public choice theory believes in competition and envisages governance based on choice, Client orientation and deconstruction of state centrality;

Rowing refers the Monopoly of State institutions in service delivery with Public interest as the motive; While Steering refers to the art of Directing, Facilitating the non-state actors to provide the service delivery.

PCT promotes Steering and Undermines Rowing by –

Acknowledging the inefficiencies of State owned and operated institutions, in the Niskanen thought.
Promoting Principal agent theory – where non-core services are contracted out to the third party – eg. IRCTC for Indian Railways.
Promoting competition among service providers; eg. Maharatna, Navaratna of Indian Govt; Promoting entrepreneurial attitudes, eg. ONGC Videsh;
Minimum Government and Maximum governance approach.
Constitutional Contractionist Approach – By Signing MoUs for better accountability of contracted services;
Allowing non-state actors like Voluntary institutions in participative administration – eg. Akshayapatra runs Mid day meal scheme in villages.

The role of Government is changed from doer and solver to facilitator and from implementer to collaborator.

Other points; From Shreyansh.

Osborne and Gaebler have suggested the idea of steering rather than rowing under their concept of a catalytic govt as a part of ‘Reinventing Govt’.

Steering denotes the idea of producing goods and services thru pvt players by playing an indicative and facilitatory role instead of carrying out the functions directly and single-handedly

Syllabus – Application type question on Nature and scope of Public administration

What are the implications of the post-structuralist perspective on the discrete aspects of Public Administration, coming from its epistemological positions? (200 words)

Epistemological positions of Public administration refer to Subject’s Locus of “Government in Action”; Post-structuralist perspective refers to intellectual movement of 1970s which abandoned structuralism;

Some discrete aspects of Public administration were changed for ever in this era.

New Public Administration questioned Rationalist, Positivist and Hierarchical aspects. It formed the anti-goals of PA which included Anti-Rationalist, Anti-Positivist, Anti-Rationalist thought. Furthermore, Value free nature was changed to Value loaded nature, Status Quoist nature was questioned and PA was to be seen as an Instrument of social change. Social equity and Social efficiency replaced 3Es.
PCT advocated Public choice as opposed to Public Interest; Client orientation replaced Job orientation;
NPM promoted Decentralisation, Debureacratisation, Devolution and Deconstruction; Government was to be entrepreneurial which was to be Community owned, Catalytic, Goal oriented, Mission driven, Enterprising etc.
Effectiveness replaced Efficiency;
Monolithic Government was replaced by Good governance paradigm.
Development administration put PA at the centre of impeding change.

The implications are not full-fledged; Public Administration is slowly coming out of Historical hangover.

Syllabus – Application type question on Governance + Hidden syllabus

“Governance theory and the notion of governmentality have many points of convergence, but they run on parallel lines.” Comment.

Source – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governmentality

Contribution from Banana Bangaru

Governmentality is the all pervasive presence of government in administration, production and provision of goods and services. It essentially furthers paternal governments. State is actively involved in policy making, implementation and regulation. Governance on the other hand is involving network of civil society, pressure groups and people in policy making, implementation and feedback.

Both governmentality have various points of convergence such as :

Serving public interest, involving all the sections of the society.
Efficient and effective provision of goods and services.
Welfare of people.

Yet they tend to run on parallel lines on various aspects:

Governmentality emphasises presence of only the government in these functions. Governance on the other hand is participation of all stakeholders in these functions.
Governance emphasises on withdrawal of governments from areas where government is inefficient, while government promotes its presence.
Governmentality often promotes monopoly, while governance promotes institutional pluralism.

While both governmentality and governance converges on their aims and objectives, they tend to run on parallel lines in their instruments of achieving these goals and the participants.

Another similar Answer.

Government refers to the Institutions and machinery which exercises sovereign power to fulfil common goals and aspirations. Governance is a paradigm in which Government collaborates with non-state actors. “Governmentality” is the art of governing aimed at producing suitable subjects to enforce organised practices.

Points of convergence

Public interest, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Economy, Value-loaded nature and Mission and result Oriented governance systems.

Points of divergence

Governmentality (GY) envisages One way communication with Subjects eg. China – while communication is two way in Governance(GE), eg. India, US, UK;
GY is adaptive – changes happen top down; GE is self-corrective – Changes happen bottom up.
GY believes in centralisation; GE believes in 4Ds – Decentralisation, Democratisation, Deconstruction and debeuracratisation.
GY thrives in secrecy; GE requires Transparency, Accountability; Envisages Social Audit, Freedom of speech and expression and Freedom of information;
GY is Goal-centric; GE is people centric; People are its means and goals too.
Answerability to the Public in GE; Absence of it in GY;
IPC 124 A is an apt example of GY; 73rd Amendment is for GE;

So one can conclude that although their goals are similar, their means are different and run in parallel lines.

Additional points;

GY aspects in India;

IPC 124A Sedition, 377- Against LGBT, 295A – Against blasphemy, 149 – Against assembly – Its All GY;
Fundamental duties in Constitution – GY;
Preventive detention;
Marial law;
Emergency provisions;
A 19(2);

Syllabus – Public Administration – Challenges of liberalization, Privatisation, Globalisation;

Public Administration in the neo-liberal era is government less by the instruments of internal accountability and more by those of external accountability. Elaborate.

Internal Accountability

Supervision, Hierarchy, CVC, Inspection, Performance appraisal;

External Accountability

Legislature – PAC, Committee on Public assurance, Subordinate legislation, Question hour, Zero hour, censure motion, calling attention motion etc.
Judiciary – PIL, Social Interest Legislation; Protection of fundamental rights against arbitrary state action.
Role of Media – 2G, CWG scams, sensitisation, problem identification;
Voluntary organisations – Social Audit, Citizen Charters;
Citizenry – RTI 2005, Elections, PRIs;
Institutions – Lokpal, Lokayuta, CVC, CAG;

2nd ARC report for bettering internal accountability – fitness board, Performance appraisal through theory X and Y;

G.’s Conclusion.

Clearly, the outside accountability is much higher than the internal accountability, though both are necessary. the ultimate power resides in the hands of the public, others are instruments on behalf of the public that ultimately reports their assessments to the public indirectly or directly.

Syllabus – Application question on the First Chapter.

“..it would appear that any definition of this field [Public Administration] would be either so encompassing as to call forth the wrath or ridicule of others, or so limiting as to stultify its own disciples.” Mosher. Critically comment.

Raj’s Answer;

Public Administration, though a field of scientific study, has evaded an all accepted definition. The is because it is the study of ‘government in action’ and government is never static rather its dynamic and rapidly changing over period of time.

Further the various attempts that have been made to explain the discipline are very wide ranging. Some argue that it is the study of the policy implementation arm of the state or study of tools and techniques to bring about the efficiency in production and management etc. This view restricts the holistic approach of Public Administration as a study as it ignores other aspects.

Aspects such as influence of judiciary, parliament, executive in the policy process, importance of effectiveness, psycho-social aspects in administration now a days. Also, the relations and interdigitation between society and administration. However this view blurs the boundary of Public Administration so much so that it is ridiculed to be a subset of political science or sociology or management science.

Nevertheless it should be noted that all disciplines now a days are multidisciplinary in nature and even though Public Administration has much in common with other disciplines, it has a staple core i.e. the ‘government in action’. Thus, while the periphery vacillates the core provides it the identity, distinction and direction.

Another similar answer.

Its about the inability of scholars to meaningfully, Comprehensively define Pub Ad.

Waldo once said each phrase of definition was “Mental Paralysis”.

Approach –

Lacking of Narrow view (Only govt) and Broad view (Covers everything)
Policy implementation vs Entire public policy;
Legalistic approach – presence of non-legal elements;
Process view – POSDCoRB vs Subject matter view – Ecological nature of Pub Ad;
Welfare view – Presence of non-welfare functions;
Various disciplines claimed their stake in Pub Ad; Both enriching PA and degrading it to the step sisters of those subjects.

So that is why Mosher is confused.

It can be concluded that PA is a dependent variable with geographical, Temporal, Cultural, Ecological considerations; No definition can fully justify the nature of Pub Ad comprehensively.

Syllabus – Current Affairs + First Chapter syllabus.

“Minnowbrook Conference III used humanity-centric approach i.e its concerns were global concerns unlike other Minnowbrook conferences which were essentially subject-centric” Critically comment.

Minnowbrook Conferences hold a central role in the evolution of the discipline of Public Administration. There have been three Minnowbrook conferences till now.

M-3 was in the aftermath 9/11, Terrorism, Iraq war, Impeding recession;

Convergence with Previous Minnowbrooks

Value loaded nature, Disempowerment to empowerment, appreciating the limitations of “full welfarism”; Most of the locus, focus was similar in the three conferences;

Divergence

Definition PA – “Human flourishing” as the benchmark;
Comparative administration was given a special focus amidst of Globalisation; Again social, Political etc factors of Humanity were central;
American isolation to International welfarism;
Pluralistic and inclusive approach.
Further safeguarding the interests of poor and marginalised was also a concern in Minnowbrook 3.
MB-3 in a way asked for revival of practitioners pride in new globalised work which was very susceptible to dark forces of the time. Its concerns were more broader and global in nature.

So M-3 was human-centric; M2 and M1 were Subject-centric.

Similar answer from Chacha Chaudary;

MB-3 took place in 2008. This was influenced by global happenings of that time.America was shocked with 9/11 attacks and was heavily engaged in war against terror in in Iraq. Globalization has gripped the world, there was more networking.

MB-3 focused on reviving practitioners pride and asked for a new approach.

It was humanity centric as

– It emphasised on values of accountability, responsiveness and call for human rights preservation

-denounced the wrongs of “dark ages”

– emphasized on a global collaboration for public administrators. It asked for further research in the arena.

In that sense MB-3 was more similar to MB-1(1968) then MB-2(1988). MB-3 in a way asked for revival of practitioners pride in new globalized work which was very susceptible to dark forces of the time. Its concerns were more broader and global in nature.

MB-1 and MB-2 on the other hand focused on a narrow and local aspects of public administration. This was to suit country specific needs and unlike MB-3 didn’t call for a global collaboration.

MB-1 focused on aspects of relevance, equity and role of public administration and thus emphasized on its separate identity from Political science. MB-2 echoed the themes of early globalization that was taking place at that time. It covered areas like managerialism, technological revolution, leadership etc.

Thus MB-1 and MB-2 were essentially subject-centric where as MB-3 was more human centric and global in nature.

18th August 2016

Syllabus – Public Administration – Challenges of liberalization, Privatisation, Globalisation;

1.“Globalisation has transformed the nature and character of State from traditional administrative Welfare State to a Corporate State.” Analyse the changes in the nature of public administration in this context. (250 words)

Welfare state aims at the various aspects of its subjects’ welfare. Corporate state refers to a state which is entrepreneurial, enterprising, mission-oriented and efficient like corporates.

Globalisation improved the reach of welfare state:

International organisations are actively collaborating with the state; Eg. Oxfam in poverty alleviation, Amnesty in preserving human rights, Bird International in preserving environment.
Intergovernmental organisations are working for efficiency is service delivery; Eg. WTO is aimed at “value for money” for customers.
Collaboration with other countries is increasing; Eg. American collaboration in Smart cities, Japanese in DMIC, Germany in clean energies;

Globalisation turned welfare state into corporate state:

International Lobbying – Eg. Big Pharma lobbying to reduce the effect of Indian Compulsory licenses.
Strategic disinvestment and Privatisation; Employment generation as a fundamental goal is being replaced by PSUs; Providing for regional imbalances in investment has also taken a back seat.
Pressure on Subsidies; WTO – Agreement on agriculture and Peace clause.
Obligations without commensurate benefits – Eg. India was forced to sign Montreal Protocol for HFCs without significant tech transfer.
New Localism – AYUSH, Yoga are slowly being internationalised under the corporate state.

It is important for countries to use corporate state as means to the ends of welfare state.

Other changes;

Flat hierarchy; Theory Z;
Strict regulation to liberalisation;
Government -> Governance -> Good governance;
Privatisation; eg. New exploration policy;

Syllabus – Application type question on New Public Management

New public management and post new public management reforms initiatives affected the balance between managerial, political, administrative, legal, professional and social accountability.

Pacify’s Answer.

New public management and post new public management reforms initiatives affected the balance between managerial, political, administrative, legal, professional and social accountability.

New Public Management advocated the assimilation of standards followed by private enterprises into the Public sector units. NPM was consider as a mean for bringing efficiency into the system along with citizen centric approach. Various aspects of NPM affected the balance between many facets of administration in following manner –

-> Managerial – Managerial practices have marked shift from just regulator to facilitators role eg. RBI role after LPG in India

-> Political – Political objectives became client oriented from goal oriented. Eg. Env. Impact Assessment

-> Administrative – Public administration adopted practices like performance management, outcome oriented, competitive, comparative etc.

-> Legal – NPM led to transparency and efficient system of working along with favorable legal structure led to less litigation and tussles.

-> Accountability – accountability of leg, executive, judiciary towards people of country has increased. Eg. RTI, Social Audits, Role of NGO as Dogwatch, PIL etc

-> Citizen Centric – Administrative practices becomes citizen centric with people comes first approach. Eg. Citizen charter, Ombudsman, efficient redressal mechanism.

-> ICT Aspects – To bring down the issues of red tapism and to increase transparency to build people faith in Admin. Eg. Aadhar, PAN, IRCTC, Passport Sewa.

NPM reforms holds the satisfaction of people as primacy and as measure of accountability of administrators. It brings the reforms which are customer oriented, transparent, efficient, effective, outcome oriented with smooth service delivery mechanism.

Additional points;

NPM is a syncretic approach, with “Public” from Public administration and “Management” from Private management. Post NPM strategies were generally aimed at participative de-bureaucratic stakeholder approach to Public administration;

Balance is affected in the following dimensions :

Participatory Approach – RTI 2005, Citizen Charters, Social Audit; Social accountability is means as well as ends in this approach; It compliments Professional audit for instance.
Stakeholder approach; Companies Act 2013 envisages broader accountability to the stakeholder, professionalising the OECD behaviours in Indian settings;
Regulation to Management – Eg. FERA to FEMA act in foreign exchange; Accountability to the administrative machinery changed with this paradigm;
Less Legalistic Eg. Minimum Government – Maximum governance, Monopolies act to Companies act, Labour reforms, Ease of doing business;
Strategic autonomy to Professionals – By signing MoUs, By creating corporate structures out of PSU – Maharatnas and Navaratnas;
Mission mode time bound projects; Managerial accountability replaced social accountability; Eg. Beti Bachao Beti Padao – specific targets are given;

We are in the middle of paradigm shift in accountability paradigms with changing topography thanks to NPM;

Syllabus – Good governance.

“‘Niti Ayog’ is the missing pillar of India’s good governance” Do you agree? Comment on the possible improvements in India’s Good governance.

Sanjeev Kumar’s answer.

NITI Aayog is a renaissance of its earlier version i.e erstwhile planning commission with several upgradations, which pushed it further to minimize the gap of good governance.

Key features empowers NITI Aayog to reach the pre- defined goal of ‘Good Governance’.

1) A platform of co- operative federalism, emphasis on centre- state working together as equal.

2) Decentralisation empowered States to participate equally in policy framework.

3) Erstwhile planning commission was a closed domain, whereas NITI Aayog is an open.

4) No more hegemon of planning commission.

5) Continuous monitoring of policies and schemes as an invigilator.

Post formation of NITI Aayog, India has taken a step forward to reach the milestone of good governance. Though, there are several more to travel .

6) Possible transparency in all government domains by exploring the ambit of RTI.

7) Feasible accountability of government’s policies, schemes etc.

8) Grievances redressal mechanism to minimize corruption and to compel officials to work efficiently.

9) Ease of access to government portals through e- platforms and umbrella programme ‘ Digital India’.

NITI Aayog is an appropriate ladder to reach the destination of good governance. The crux of NITI Aayog, which provides equal representation to all states in policy framework and monitoring, satisfies the slogan of ” Sabka saath, Sabka vikas”.

Some additional points;

Answer for the First part.

1.Transparency has increased; Earlier PC worked under closed curtains;

2.More democratic; PC dominated resource allocation; Now those functions are taken over by finance ministry;

(Madhya Pradesh’s CM fasted once to get perks from PC – thats besides the point)

3.Collaborative federalism – with a NITI as hawk eye;

Second part – Too many here: Actually an essay answer

Improving quantity (Reach) and quality of RTI, Implementation of Citizen charters, Grievance redressal mechanism, Localised versions of Pragati Platforms, More mission mode projects, using e-governance and reducing digital gap, participative administration – Bultoo Radio, Economic reforms – ease of doing business, labour reforms, environmental protection etc etc. – there is no end to this.

Syllabus – Good governance.

“Public administration is not just implementation of laws; it is also a means of social justice and social change”. Comment. (200 Words)

Ankit’s Answer.

The legalistic view of Public administration as advocated by thinkers like Wilson emphasized that administrative studies should be concerned with only implementation of laws and policy. But this is a very narrow view. Public administration encompasses wide range of activities ranging from policy formulation to social transformation e.g. Beti-Bachao Beti Padhao campaign and Polio eradication with the ultimate objective of social welfare.

The New Public Administration emphasized on making administration value laden, change oriented, equity oriented and relevant to the present needs. Thus making it an instrument for social change and emphasizing on administrators to become flag bearers in the cause of the deprived sections of the society. With schemes like Stand Up India, Nayi Manzil and UDAAN the Indian administration is trying to focus on social transformation and generating self confidence in the deprived sections. Schemes like SUGAMYA Bharat brings social change.

The ultimate motive of administration is always social welfare be it with implementation of laws like Civil Rights Act or with the implementation of schemes like MUDRA Yojana.

Some additional points;

Commenting on various aspects of PA;

Value Loaded aspect- Eg. Equity – Affirmative action, Dignity – Garima;
Economic aspect of social transformation – Eg. Mudra, Standup and bunch of others.
Change through participative management – SHG, Mahila e-haat;
Inclusivity and universal design in service delivery – Sugamya, PDS;
Collaborating with international organisations and Voluntary sector – Milinda Gates, WHO, Akshayapatra MDM;
Mission mode time bound targets.
Use of e-governance for social change;

One can write many others if one brainstorms.

Syllabus – Nature of Pub Ad.

“The study of public administration developed as an offshoot of political science or public law, and until recently administration as an academic subject was the very plain step-sister of these older disciplines”. Peter Self. Examine (200 Words)

Raj’s Answer.

Evolution of public administration as a discipline is a unique case. It emerged from the political science. Reason being political science is the study of state. And state in action is public administration. Therefore in the initial stages the political science claimed ownership over the public administration and nurtured it by generous grants etc.

Nevertheless the public administration matured and was accepted to be a field of study separate from the political science. The reason being that political science deals majorly with the study of philosophical aspect of state and state’s functioning in real time as such is Public Administration.

This rebellion was not welcomed by the political science, and grants stopped. Thus the public administration had to move closer to management science. Both had much in common. For e.g. emphasis on efficiency, rationality, administrative improvement etc. However the Public Administration had to get separated again due to its emphasis on ‘public’ness of administration. That is the emphasis on equity, philosophy, and values.

Therefore till recently the Public Administration was considered an step sister of other disciplines. Nevertheless it has emerged as a fully mature discipline with courses running in various nations. Further steps to improve the discipline by promoting cross national, cross cultural studies should be undertaken.

19th August 2016

Syllabus – Application question on Administrative behaviour;

Is Peter Drucker justified in saying, “Management principles should not tell us what to do, but only tell us what not to do”? Comment

Chacha Chaudhari’s answer + some improvements

Managment is art of getting things done. Within an organization there are many things which need to be done in a proper systematic and planned manner and then there are many things which must be avoided. The latter is as much part of mangeralism as the former is.

Management must tell us what not to do:

Based on behavioural concept where organisational members are assumed to be rational actors
Management must focus on “zone of acceptance” where orders are automatically accepted,thus focus on “what must not be done”..the system will be in a homeostasis in this way
This promotes participative, Theory Y and Likert’s system 4 approach where management is not dictate but accommodative.

However, leaving everything in suo-moto mode and focusing only on “what must not do” has risk of ignoring some vital functions:

POSDCORB functions involve staffing, coordination, budgeting,planning etc which will need an active participation,essentially suggesting what must be done and what must not. For example, in a recession management has to take a call which type of product to promote or which type to keep on hold, how many staff to be retrenched, how many to be hired, how to motivate etc.
Motivation theory – tells us to take care of Maslow’s need hierarchy and Herzberg’s dissatisfies and satisfiers.
Grapevine communication, Espirit de corps, specialisation, unity of command and direction etc of classical thinkers are actually necessary for a sound organisation;

Thus management must be contigent and should involve both type of elements.

Another different take from Pacify

As per Peter Management principle like hierarchy, unity of command, stringent rules, over centralization are the reasons of de growth of certain org. as they put a break on innovative and creative thinking. Peter emphasize on the negative list of management principles i.e. set of rule which should not be performed and things which are unlikely to work.

Such negative restriction amounts to define restrains over one’s power and approach but open the way for –

-> Sense of autonomy

-> Innovative idea to approach the problems

-> Generation of competitive and comparative approach

-> Provide to adopt broad overview to identify, observe and analyze surrounding

-> pave the way to develop way forward through participative approach

Management principles should be just a framework which provides for the broad overview of functioning of organization along with restrains necessary for efficient functioning without tussle.

Syllabus – NPA

New paradigms in public administration do not look at the discipline from a fresh perspective but merely rehash the old concepts.” Critically evaluate (200 Words)

Deepika’s Answer + Chacha’s Answer.

1)Traditional welfare rowing state to entrepreneurial steering state

2)Centralised governance to decentralised and participatory governance

3)State monopoly to institutional pluralism as advocated by PCT

4)Focus on Effectiveness and Economy to Equity as advocated by NPA-I

5)From value neutral of weberian bureaucracy to values and ethics of NPA

6)Public Administration dichotomy to fusion

7)status quo oriented approach to change oriented approach

8)state as central to economy to market as central to economy

9)Non ecological approach to Comparative approach which advocated for cross national and cross cultural studies

10)Opaqueness in Administration to transparency and accountability

11) NPM is adaptation of Taylors’s scientific management with today’s technological and IT revolution.

12)GG and E-governance are new ways to ensure accountability in the system. Almost all major works, from Fayol to U/G has emphasized on accountability and respnosbility aspect of administration. GG and E-governace has institutionalised these aspects

Despite the new paradigms have brought in freshness there are some old concepts included like:

1)Weber’s canon of merit based recruitment.

2) NPM aims at efficiency,effectiveness and economy

3)State role despite reduced always aims at welfare of people.

4)Administrative principles like unity of command,POSDCoRB ,Espirt-de-corps(team spirit) are still relevant and supported by new paradigms.

Syllabus – Application question on Weberian thought.

Do you think that over reliance on rules has sidelined emotive rationality of administrators? Do you think switching over to market oriented approach could change the scenario? (200 Words)

Chacha’s Answer.

An administrator is a part of a system which runs on certain rules and regulations. These are essential to mainatin stability in the sytem and provides a continuity in the system. But at the same time excessive emphasis on rules makes administrators a dispassionate executor which is more concerned with rules then public welfare. This has been one of the biggest criticism of Weberian bureaucracy where rules become an end in themselves. Thus “goal displacement” takes place.

The issue can be anaylzed from Robert Chamber’s model also where he says that administrator sitting in cities got to decide the fate of rural administration. In this case the dispassionate and emotionally drained administrator is more concerned with rules compliance then understanding actual issues at the ground. The call for “putting last man first” and Panchayati raj institutions and social audit system are one way to end this dryness and neutrality of the system.

At an organisational level, a manager trapped in rule and regulations might lose touch with his followers. Thats why McGregor calls for “emotive rehabiliatation” of managers.

A markert oriented approach can be eqauted with institutional pluralism aspect of Public choice theory of contractualisation of New right philosphy. Though it can provide efficiency to the system, yet there is a possibility that the entire exercise will be done considering public as “customers” rather than “citiznes”. Thus emotional rehabilation doesn’t take place, instead corporatism happens. Though not bad in itself government must alwsy be present in certain spheres (NPS..Denhardt) and so there is a need to provide adminsitrtaive discretion in the system. This will ensure that bureucrats are resepcted as well as are effective in the job they do.

Some additional points in the approach.

for the first part.

Over-reliance on rules – displacement of goals(especially the welfare goals) ?
Status quoist – Non-progressive B which is not participative in social change and efficiency.
Rules are rigid – No Positive discrimination? – These aspects cover the emotive rationality.

Some points for the second part

Against:

Market is good at balancing demand and supply; not need and supply. So – non-inclusive.
Rules limit emotive rationality of B; Profit motive limits the emotive rationality of Market; Eg. Dalit Capitalism requires a push of positive discrimination – like Standup India;
Lack of rules can make them unethical – Human trials in India; How many hysterectomies are done which are unnecessary? 🙁

For:

Markets bring efficiency/effectiveness/”Value for money” in service delivery and so emotively rational;
Their profit motive empowers them in emotive rationality to gain customers; Isn’t costly healthcare more emotively rational?

Syllabus – Public Choice theory and Hidden syllabus.

How do you rate the Public Choice’s ‘pleasure pain calculus of individuals’ to Benthamite public interest in public administration. Also explain the challenges faced by the bureaucracy to reorient itself for methodological individualism. (200 Words)

Raj’s Answer.

The Public Choice approach is in sharp contrast to Benthamite public interest focus in public administration to the extent that Public Choice approach argues for viewing citizens as customers and providing them best possible services by following market practices. Since Public Choice approach is restricted to the goods provisioning aspect of the state and ignores the re-distributive justice aspect of the state. Therefore it can be rated as complementary to Benthamite approach.

Methodological individualism argues that individual should always be the unit of decision making and analysis. Challenges for bureaucracy to reorient towards it are:

Democracy requires representative, participative administration.
Individual based decision making is prone to be biased, hasty, and erroneous. This can be avoided by collective approach.
Further in communitarian societies like India, individualism is not viewed as a respectable value.
Group building, collaborative approach is best suited as it promote espirit de corps, informal organisation, and cohesion within the organisation.

Nevertheless for speedy and more accountable administration some level of individualism is required. Therefore a balance must be maintained by using individualism for programmed activities and using a slightly higher collective approach for unprogrammed ones.

Another very different take –

Pleasure pain calculus or Hedonism refers to the approach of maximising pleasure in a context;

In the PCT Hedonism has client orientation; Bentham’s approach of public interest which is part of Hedonism expects maximum good to maximum number of people through PIT.

Goals of both the approaches are similar – But the means or actors exercising choice are different. In PCT it is the Individual; In the Public Interest Theory its the State;

Furthermore, Public interest theory assumes a benevolent state; But the Niskanen thought unearthed the utility maximising nature of bureaucracy and hence PIT ends ups providing a platform for B to self-aggrandise. The failure of B is in total contrast with the success of PCT put in the same context as it envisages competition at the highest level and choice at the lowest level through state minimalism and institutional pluralism.

Methodological individualism(MI) refers to the belief that individual agent’s motivations and actions cause various socio-economic phenomena. Reorientation of B to MI can be done by

Imparting uniform core values like impartiality, Empathy, Accountability, Leadership, Objectivity through code of conduct;
Specialisation based on difference of non-core values and interests – to promote the growth of individual as well as the State.
By imparting Fayol’s value of “Subjugation of personal interest to general interest” to B;

Syllabus – NPM and Public choice theory.

“The state is essential for putting in place the appropriate institutional foundations for markets. Where the foundations are weak, the markets ruin the state”. Substantiate. (200 Words)

Deepika’s Answer.

With the advent of NPM and Public Choice theory which advocated managerial government and institutional pluralism ,minimal state role has emerged. But this has not undermined the state role .It resulted in steering state(regulating and directing) instead of rowing state(production of goods and services).

Ofcourse state is essential for putting in place appropriate institutional foundations.Because state:

1)Prevents market distortions.For example-Seeing the rise of transfer pricing mechanism India has brought Advanced pricing agreements.

2)Prevents market monopoly .Eg: CCI to avoid monopoly.

3)Regulates the markets to go as per sovereign rules.Eg:SEBI guidelines for corporate governace and companies Act 1986 etc.

4)Suggest markets to adopt equity and sustainable practices. Eg:CSR activities.

5)Act in proactive manner to avoid mishaps in future .Eg:RBI’s policies saved market from spillover effect of 2008 subprime crisis.

6)Provide favourable environment like easy clearances, not so rigid labour laws, favourable taxation policies.

7)State also protects stakeholders from illegal practices of market .Eg:Consumer Protection Act 1986.

Considering all the above it can be concluded that state role is very much needed because Global examples like 1929 Great Economic depression, lehman brothers collapse(reason for 2008 crisis) and recent Chinese meltdown show that weak foundations results in markets ruining the state.So there is a need for steering state,catalytic government ,decentralised and participatory government as suggested by David Osborne and Ted Gaebler in their work “Reinventing Government.”

20th August 2016

Syllabus – From the so called Hidden syllabus

1.Waldo’s The Administrative State’ provides a fundamental challenge to some of the orthodox premises. Explain (250 words)

Raj’s Answer.

Waldo criticized the following premises orthodox school of thought in Public Administration:

No difference in public and private administration: Waldo argued that public administration was different than private administration in the way that public administration had to function in a political environment and take part in policy formulation.

Politics administration dichotomy: Waldo argued that there was much in common between politics and administration and ways must be found to foster collaboration to unleash creative potential.

Generic and universal principles of Administration: Were criticized by Waldo as extension of common sense and having nothing scientific about them. Further he question the viability of developing universal principles. He stated that organisations must be designed to meet the purposes and face challenges of situations confronting the organisation.

Science of administration: Waldo considered Public Administration more of an art than science. As the public administration has more to do with the values, social change and equity i.e. the public nature of administration.

Focus on efficiency: Waldo criticized the over reliance on technical efficiency to promote administration. Rather he calls for replacement of technical efficiency with social efficiency. And efficiency to be pursued in overall framework of values.

He also charge the administration to have ignored the irrational and informal aspects of the organisation. For e.g. Weber bureaucratic model over emphasizes functional aspect at the cost of social, psychological and emotional aspects.

Due to such an orientation towards public administration Waldo rightfully headed the Minnowbrook conference which led to the New Public Administration. Which in turn proved to be a new paradigm in history of pub ad and gave a new zeal and direction to public administration.

Another answer.

Waldo’s doctoral dissertation “The Administrative State” was a radical piece of writing which was way ahead of its times and hence ended up challenging the orthodox premises of Public Administration(PA).

His radical ideas include –

Disregarded Politics-administration dichotomy; Propagated PA as politics approach.
Held that universal principles of management were impractical; Hence ecological approach was motivated;
Maintained that Private and Public administration are distinctively different opposing classical approach of Fayol.
He promoted bureaucracy as a protector of democratic principles;
Wilson’s belief of value-free Bureaucracy was criticised.

Yet, he sided with Weber on curtailing the efficiencies promoted by Scientific management by due process and public access;

In toto, his radical approach drove Minnowbrook conference in radical anti-rationalist, anti-positivist, anti-hierarchical direction;

Syllabus – Weber’s Bureaucratic model and its critique

“Weberian model of bureaucracy lacks emotional validity when applied to modern democratic administration.” Comment. (200 words)

Weber’s Bureaucracy(WB) was envisaged to be most efficient, professional, rational; Yet when applied in a modern democratic setup it’s validity is diminished because of –

Over reliance on rules – displaces the goals of democratic setup;
Professional expertise and Emotional quotient are not always correlated; WB lacks EQ;
WB is rigid and not self corrective; lack of evolution means lack of accommodation in diverse democratic contexts;
Anonymity deprives bureaucracy motivation to work;
Neutrality and Impartiality are at loggerheads with constitutional equity, empathy and preference to last man in the last row (Gandhian Talisman)

General criticism of WB (not related to emotive rationality)

WB advocates secrecy – Democracies cherish transparency – without it arbitrariness creeps in.
Hierarchical nature of WB divorces itself with field level democratic realities;
Over centralisation of WB is antithetical to Democratic decentralisation; It leads to anemia in the periphery and apoplexy at the centre;

But Some of its attributes can be used to protect democracy

Apolitical nature – Pakistan has a pseudo democracy because of Political Army;
Rational and professional WB is good at problem solving;
Specialisation is good for social efficiency and equity.

So WB can’t be abandoned; It should be moulded to function with a democratic spirit as an instrument of change using – Flat organisation Eg. Metropolitan Bobby Police, Imparting EQ to the WB and through reforms aimed at entrenching democratic principles.

Syllabus – Wilson’s vision of Public Administration

“While professionalisation was advocated in the management of government, Wilson was well aware of the wider agenda of public administration.” Mohit Bhattacharya.

In the light of above statement evaluate the relevance of Wilson’s ideas in developing countries of 21st century. (200 Words)

Its Relevant

Merit based Civil services; According to Goldman Sachs if India implements merit based promotion its GDP would grow by additional 1%;
No for creating Bureaucratic elite – works well for a democracy; (Think of Pak, Cambodia, Myanmar etc)
Democratic control of civil service;
Administration being business like – Very valid in Post-NPM era;
Cultured and self-sufficient;
Act with a sense of vigour;
Have connection with popular thought; Social audit, RTI, elections, Media, Policy making and monitoring;
Put arbitrariness out of question;

Its not Relevant

Politics – admin dichotomy;
B was thought to be central; Post-NPM centrality had to be ceded;
He felt that public opinion can be meddlesome; Major theories today agree that people are not only goals but also means;

Syllabus – Taylor.

“Taylor’s Scientific management theory belongs to the 20th century. It fails when applied in modern industrial society”. Critically Comment. (200 words)

Taylor’s SM formulated in the backdrop of Soldiering, Unscientific methods of working and distractions of trade unions;

Its still relevant

Development of true science of work can be applied on shop floor of manufacturing;
Scientific selection of employees, training for work and progressive development.
Mental revolution i.e. the collaboration between managers and workers; It improves efficiencies;
Standardisation of tools, Task prescription;
Development of management as science;

Its not relevant

Assumes “economic” man; Forgets human aspect; Non-monetary incentives are completely neglected;
Functional foremanship is against “Unity in command” and “Unity in direction”
SM criticises the existence of trade unions; The trade unions in neo-liberal era give voice to the voiceless;
Work as an individual responsibility – Doesn’t work for non-programmable jobs which require team-building;
SM has patriarchal attitude towards women; (Women should be separated so they concentrate on work)
This degrades humans to Automatons – In the era of IT and services this is particularly dehumanising;

Like most theories, SM can be applied only in a particular temporal, cultural and geographical context. Its application in 21st century is quite limited.

Syllabus – Classical theory.

“Classical theory assumes automatons in the place of people and “rule of thumb” in the place of science”. Substantiate. (200 words)

How classical theory assumes Automatons in the place of people.

Employee is a Cog in the machine; Incentivised only by monetary gains;
Centralisation, Hierarchy, Unity in command, Unity in direction, Scalar chain etc assume an automaton inhumanly following rules;
No emphasis on behavioural aspects like leadership; Informal group dynamics;
Efficiency is the higher goal instead of economics;
Gulik’s 4Ps (Purpose, Process, Persons, Place) Urwiks POSDCoRB do not allow behavioural or humanistic aspects;
Assumes humans to be immune to the organisations and other humans;

Espririt de corps, Initiative are part of Fayol’s principles; They are the modest beginnings of Humans being subjected to humanistic and psychological considerations;

Rule of thumb because

Envisages universal principles in the pursuit of developing management as science;
Lacks empirical validity and scientific vigour; They are the philosophical implications in management theory;
A sense of finality robs the aspect of evolution to the principles;
Incongruence between needs of a mature personality and demands of classical organisation; Making them passive dependent and subordinate – very short term oriented;

Fayol recognised the fact that, there is nothing universal about these principles; Indeed he advised people to cherrypick depending on the context.

21st August 2016 – Sunday

22nd August 2016

Syllabus – Meaning, scope and significance of Public Administration

1.“The term policy implementation is in some respects preferable to the label public administration.” Argue. (200 words)

The study of administration 1887 envisaged Pubic administration to deal with mundane issues of Policy implementation. Since then PA moved through many paradigm shifts; The change to name PI requires following analysis.

PI is a better name:

It is coherent with the epistemological considerations of the subject i.e “ad minster” the public;
Weber’s bureaucracy requires anonymity, impartiality etc which require Politics-Administration dichotomy.
PI is central to the very existence of PA;

NO – PI is insufficient;

Policy making, implementation, monitoring, evaluation have come to become integral parts of PA;
PA is not an executive limb, It has Tribunals, Administrative law, Delegated legislation under its umbrella;
With the PCT and NPM approaches PA is no longer the provider – its a mere facilitator;
Politics-Administration Dichotomy is a refuted paradigm;

Every word/phrase has simple etymological beginnings; As its used and reused it acquires a history, a detail, a description which was once not envisaged; PA gained all that through the struggles since since 1887, No reason is big enough to change its name now.

Syllabus – Taylor’s Scientific management;

“Taylor’s ideas need modification in the context of post-industrial economies in contemporary era.” Justify with reasons.

Raj’s Answer:

Taylor developed his theory of scientific management to meet the demands of 20th century. uch has changes since then and following are the modifications needed:

Application of principles to more creative job is difficult. The techniques eg time and work study need to be replaced with norms and standards.
The assumption that workers are inherently hate work need reconsideration, as proved by theory Y it is job and organisational related factors that determine job-employee equations.
The piece rate wage system needs to take into consideration other motivational factors such as self-actualisation.
Rejection of rule of thumbs need reconsideration as intuitions, irrational factors play considerable part especially in unprogrammed decisions.
Universality of principles needs to be replaced with diverse principles suiting different situations and what will not work rather than what will work.
There is need to realize there may be more than more than one or no one best way of doing work depending on factors such as organisational purpose, environmental factor.

These factors when taken into account will lead to more comprehensive theory well suited to the needs of 21st century.

Syllabus – World Economic Forum and Public Administration;

“Davos Men” or “Stateless elite” see state as a remnant of past amidst globalisation. Analyse the relevance of public administration in Globalisation. Comment on relevance of “Davos Men” to the governance structures of the state. (250 words)

Raj’s Answer

Public administration is still relevant, if not more, in the era of globalization because:

To tackle rising inequity which is a direct consequence of globalization.
To avert market failure. Due to for eg information asymmetry, negative externalities etc.
To do regulatory functions e.g. law and order maintenance, defense, internal security.
Deliver public goods which market is unable to. E.g. rural roads, disaster management etc.
Ensure social cohesion by upholding constitutional values and moral norms.

Stateless elite are the elites which have global businesses networks and view state boundaries as obstacles. Their relevance for structures of governance of state are:

They desire that their views are taken into account for policy formulations. Thus they provide impetus for more participative governance structure.
The relaxed custom procedures, taxation and friendly staff is desired by them. Pointing towards a more supportive governance structure.
They put pressure for more decentralized, flatter structures so as delays are minimized.

To sum up, a Davos men asks for facilitative and responsive governance. These are some positive aspects desired by them with utility for entire society. Nevertheless, tax avoidance, treaty shopping, etc. are also pursued by Davos men with implication of socially harmful crony capitalism. Thus as a pressure group they may be met with good governance but should be treated just another citizen.

Some more additional Points;

Some additions to the first part;

Regulating international non-state actors and finding synergy in working with them; FEMA;
Protectionism – Special safeguard mechanisms;
Bypass markets to deliver goods – Compulsory licenses; TRIPS; Section 84, 92;
Protect citizenry from cross-border threats;
Collaborate with state actors to get better deals for India – WTO, UNFCCC, UNSC etc;
Participate in multilateral intergovernmental institutions – SCO, SAARC, RCEP, BBIN, BCIM etc.

(BTW I asked this to make sure that people know what these Davo’s men from WEF are 🙂 )

Davo’s men are a threat to the State structure:

They prefer trade without borders; Internationalism goes against protecting the poor of a country from shocks of the markets; eg. Public stock holding of India was criticised at WTO;
They may pursue policies which are against state interests; Big Pharma and TRIPS; Free Basics ( should we be this blunt? 🙂 )

No, They contribute:

WEF not only contributes with business friendly reports – like Global Competitive index and Global Talent competitive index; They also publish – Global gender report, Global risks report;
They are for fair play; Growth accrues benefit for all countries; All peoples of countries; They treat inequality as an obstacle too.
Some of them are philanthropist; Gate Milinda Foundation;
contribute with Research – Ford foundation;

Syllabus – Application question on Simon.

‘Policy judgements comprise reality judgements, value judgements and instrumental judgements’ [Geoffrey Vickers]. Elucidate.

Policy Judgements refer to decision making process in Policy making, implementation, monitoring and evaluation; Its crux can be classified into following heads;

Reality Judgements

RJ are the factual judgements in the fact-value dichotomy in Simon’s decision making paradigm;
It is the assessment of Potential, Need and Challenges; A SWOT analysis is a Reality Judgement.

Eg. Kerala’s Athulyam – the total literacy scheme started off with following analysis – What is the current literacy rate (98%), Which age constitutes for illiteracy (Older people), What is our potential (100% literacy)?

Value Judgements

It can either precede or succeed RJ;
It essentially is goal setting based on RJ – Setting 100% literacy rate knowing that 98% is the current literacy rate;
Value judgements can also be ideological/Gut-feel based – Eg.Bihar banned alcoholism;

Instrumental Judgements

These are means to certain ends; Eg. Involving volunteers/NGOs/Adult Schools/School Children for Athulyam;
IJ requires a deep understanding of earlier successes, failures, International experience; eg. International experience shows PPP is not apt for Railways; So Govts generally take the role of service provider;
IJ requires the State to estimate the strengths of Non-state actors, generally in the light of evidence in the NPM age.

Only a consorted effort of the above judgements can make the PJ successful in the world of complex problems requiring simple solutions;

Syllabus – Simon

“Three features characterise Simon’s original view of bounded rationality : search for alternatives, satisfying, and aspiration adaptation.” Elucidate

Vish’s Answer.

Simon criticised the concept of absolute rationality used by Classical theorists, and gave his concept of Bounded rationality. It believes that man is surrounded by many constraints to have all the the information at his disposal and therefore has to take a decision with limited knowledge that could be gathered.

Search for alternatives: A rational man is supposed to explore all the possible options available and take most suitable decision, but in today’s dynamic world it is not possible. for e.g, RBI can’t know exactly what Brexit will result into and therefore can’t explore all options.

Satisficing: An employee in organisation doesn’t strives for achieving the best, he can do in a situation. Rather he will contemplate all choices that could fulfill the demand and will take decision that comes easily to him. It will make him achieve his goal with maximum certainty, targeting for best might make him miss target or bring uncertainty.

Aspiration Adaptation: Among the different aspirations, a person prioritises his options and will try to go for one achievable. It might not be the best choice in due course but due to uncertainty involved in others, he will go for this choice.

Therefore, putting all three concepts together, it could be said that man is limited by his environment, circumstances and priorities of aspirations which limits his choice of knowledge and actions, and therefore he acts with bounded rationality.

23th August 2016

Syllabus – Functions of Executive – Barnard.

“Globalisation has transformed the nature and character of State from traditional administrative Welfare State to a Corporate State.” Analyse the changes in the nature of public administration in this context. (200 words)

Repeated Question.

Syllabus – Dynamic Administration, Mary Follet.

Follett’s work was not directed towards the resolution of the conflict of ideas, but towards the resolution of structural conflicts between workers and capitalists.” In the light of the statement critically evaluate Follett’s idea of dynamic administration. (250 words)

Raj’s Answer + Some improvements;

Structural conflicts between workers an capitalists arise due to excessive bossism, authoritarian ways of practicing leadership, control and coordination etc.

The Follett’s work seeks to address these issues:

Conflict resolution: By an integration process whereby solution is found which safeguard interest of both the conflicting parties.
Order: Should not be given by bosses by virtue of power only. But rather should be taken as flowing from the situation i.e. the necessity of the orders should be explained to workers.
Leadership: should not be by virtue of position but rather be by virtue of knowledge, skills and sensitivity or personality. Giving a chance to worker to lead when desirable.
Power should be cooperative i.e. ‘power with’ the worker rather than coercive i.e. power over the workers.
Conntrol: should not be ‘man control’ or superimposed rather be ‘fact control’ and correlated control. That is, the superiors should also taken into consideration the situations faced by workers and emphasize on facts while practicing control.
Coordination should be maintained from early stages involving the workers in policy making, by direct contact rather than hierarchy, etc

The ideological and practical differences between capitalists and workers were substantial. A similar Idea, “Mental revolution” was abandoned both by workers and managers as it envisages compromise; Unfortunately Follet’s ideas of integration remained untested as they were not appreciated either by academics or by practitioners;

Syllabus – Participative management, Mcgregor;

According to Macgregor, “true professional help is not in playing God with the client, but in placing professional knowledge and skills at the client’s disposal.” In the light of above statement, justify how theory-Y is indicative and not prescriptive. (200 words)

According to Macgregor, “true professional help is not in playing God with the client, but in placing professional knowledge and skills at the client’s disposal.” In the light of above statement, justify how theory-Y is indicative and not prescriptive.

McGregor’s theory-Y is largely descriptive and only peripherally prescriptive. This is because:

McGregor aimed to define perceptions and assumptions of management through Theory Y.
McGregor conducted scanlon plan experiment to find the practical relevance of his theory. Thus, it can be said that prior to the experiment he considered theory only a description of assumptions and philosophies of management.

However the theory is peripherally prescriptive as it proves the Theory – Y as better and one which leads to organisational success. The reason being:

It takes note of cooperative nature and possibility of self control, self actualize by the workers.
It finds the ways by which the workers could be psychologically integrated to their work by bottom up management and transactional influence.
It prescribe a Working through differences approach for conflict resolution similar to Follet’s integration and Likert’s Win Win approach.

In this way Theory Y finds a way for effective and efficient administration by having management not play God rather being selectively adaptable to workers.

Syllabus – Scientific management, Classical theory

In what respects the Taylor’s “Scientific management” theory different from the classical organizational theory expounded by Gulick,Urwick etc ? (200 words)

Deepika’s Answer.

Taylor’s SMT and Classical organisational theory expounded by gulick ,urwick both are classical theories which aimed at increasing efficiency in organisation.But they differ in following aspects:

1.Taylor ‘s SMT focussed on doing things in one best way mostly at shopfloor level of organisation(lower levels).Whereas G&U ‘s theory considered organisation at all levels

2.SMT focussed on scientific training,merit based recruitment etc but G&U’theory lacks it.

3.SMT ‘s functional foremanship contradicts with G&U’s Unity of command

4.Taylor talked about timestudy and motion study for doing things in onebest way whereas Urwick gave his POSDCoRB principles which a manager should follow to get things done.

5.Taylor theory revolves around doing things in onebest way whereas G&U’s theory emphasises more on structure of organisation(line and staff concept and departmentalisation based on 4Ps)

6.SMT didn’t advocate for decentralisation of powers whereas G&U’s theory focussed judicious use of both centralisation and decentralisation

Though there are many differences in their approach their ultimate aim was increase organisational efficieny.Some of them found relevance in today’s society also:

Foreg:1) line and staff concept used in Indian administration(Eg:Directorate and secretariat systems)

2) One best way of doing things is used even now.for instance :e-governace isone best way of service delivery.

Syllabus – Scietific management and its Critique; Hidden Syllabus.

What light does Antonio Gramsci ‘s critique of Taylorism throw on its socio-psychological underpinnings ? (200 words)

Gramsci’s critique of Taylorism is directed by and large towards Taylor’s ‘mental revolution’. Gramsci has argued that with it Taylorism actually aims to:

implant a producer’s consciousness in the worker’s mind. And make them oblivious to the class struggle.
Taylorism secures a voluntary discipline from the workers.
In effect, undermine trade unionism to secure capatalist hegemony over the workers.

Further criticisms of Taylorism supported by the Gramsci are:

Taylorism separates mental work from the physical work= mechanization.
It sees the workers as cogs in the wheel.

How Taylorism creates hegemony?

By providing gap b/w Woker and his thinking abilities. The standadisation of work, Piece rate system, assembly line. high wages are ways to further workers from his true self. This creates a gap between manual labour and the ‘human content’ of work.

In “Americanism and Fordism” Gramsci underlines the passive revolution that is taking place with inception of Taylorism. Yet he is concerned with exploitation of workers under this system.

However Gramsci suggests that once the mechanization is completed it “leaves the brain free and unencumbered for other occupations”. That is, the worker enters a state of mental freedom where he continues to think about his ‘pleasure pain calculus’ while performing assigned repetative tasks. Thus defeating the purpose of Taylorism.

24th August 2016

Syllabus – Miscellaneous

1.“Legislative action is not subject to the rules of natural justice.” Explain the exceptions to the rule of natural justice. (200 words)

Natural Justice refers to the doctrine of “duty to act fairly”; Its two principles include – “Rule against bias” and “Right to fair hearing”;

In the application of law – Legislative action is treated as an exemption to Natural Justice;

Some Examples

Delhi Assembly passed a bill which hiked the salary of MLA’s by 400%; First principle is violated;
Parliament can give itself the constituent power;
“Equality” as a principle is violated in pursuance of Equity – Affirmative action;

Some examples from Raj

The legislators must pursue the policies for the empowerment of weaker section. Some bias towards weaker sections is thus necessary. E.g. Reservation Policies.
The legislation works on the basis of majoritarian decision making. Due to which there is scope that opposition’s argument may not be duly heard or given due consideration. This is one reason for walkouts, unruly behaviour in parliament.
Bias towards particular ideology is taken for granted as elections are fought on the basis of it only.
Bias towards communities, business and elite class has also been a point of criticism against legislatures. For e.g. majority of issues dealt by legislatures are either pro-upper class or pro-middle class.
The final decision of speaker on issue of money bill, anti-defection law is considered final. And it is to be noted that speaker of Lok Sabha is of the majority holding party or coalition.
Emergency proclaimed by the parliament restricts rights of the sovereign public. Further legislation to enforce DPSPs may also curtail FRs of the people.

Following are the exceptions to the natural Justice subject to the limits of Article 14 and 21;

Exclusion in case of emergency – Eg. Zamindari act was not disclosed;
Express statutory exclusion – Eg. Courts can’t ask what advice was given by Council of minister to President;
Where discloser would be prejudicial to public interests – Eg. Secret session for Andhra bifurcation bill;
Where prompt action is needed Eg. Nirbhaya case; JJ Act;
Where it is impracticable to hold hearing or appeal Eg.In cases of Emergency;
Exclusion in case of purely administrative matters.
Where no right of person is infringed – Eg. IPC 377 was upheld citing that not many persons were imprisoned;
The procedural defect would have made no difference to the outcome.
Exclusion on the ground of ‘no fault’ decision maker. Eg. Some accused Bureaucrats in Coal scam;

Natural justice is a cardinal principle of “Rule of Law” – Any exceptions to should be a last resort.

Syllabus – So called hidden syllabus

“Lenin’s concept of Socialist management refers to directing the organisational development of Socialist society.” Explain. (200 words)

Lenin had a tough job of creating an organisational structure with an overall goal of creating a Socialist society; Lenin’s Socialist management included –

Principle of democratic centralism – Lenin used it for Centralised planning, organisation coupled with local initiatives;
Principle of effectiveness and optimisation – to help achieve higher output for a largely poor socialist society;
Principle of Stimulation – Both through moral encouragement; Socialist morality was expected to be the stimulation;
Principle of merit was subjugated to loyalty to socialism;
His science of management was barricaded by empowerment of proletariat;
He propagated two kinds of structure – Highly central “one-man-Management” and “Collegium – Management”
Dissent was permitted as long as it doesn’t jeopardize the socialist structure;

Hence we can see that Socialist management was affected by the ecological conditions of Socialist society and in turn affected it; Indeed, This organisational success enabled USSR to miraculously inch towards modernisation;

Syllabus – So called hidden syllabus

“Karl Marx’s interpretation of bureaucracy was rooted in the history of the nature of the State”. Evaluate. (200 words)

Marx’s interpretation of bureaucracy is that it is an exploitative arm of the state. And state represents the ideological framework developed by the haves to propagate their domination over the have nots.

It is rooted in the history of the nature of state as Marx suggests that rise of bureaucracy is closely linked with the rise of state.

In the primitive society there was no state and no bureaucracy. Bureaucracy got birth when the primitive society got divided into leaders and the led, organisers and organised, managers and managered. Similarly, state arose due to conflict between these two classes, to safeguard the private properties of the organiser class when organizing work and division of labour led to surplus production and their property.

The above case was more or less true for the feudal society. Next comes the modern society, technology advances, population increases, production activities get more diverse and complex ,the division of labour between intellectual work and manual labour deepens, and a fiction of equality before law is propagated. This gives to the bureaucracy scope, scale and status of supreme power over the society.

Here State is a natural result of a particular stage in development of society whereby it has taken the responsibility that the inherent contradictions and class struggle do not consume the entire society fruitlessly.

Nevertheless it also to be realized that it is the material and intellectual wealth of a society that mellows down the age old divisions. Thus promotion of education, economic reforms to boost growth and development, senstivisation of bureaucracy through reforms and training etc is required if we have to avoid a revolution.

Syllabus – Hidden syllabus question

4.the notion of informal organisation is a residual or cafeteria concept of diverse and sprawling contents. How does Gouldner established the need for understanding the interdigitations between the formal and informal organisation. (250 words)

Chacha’s Answer.

Informal organization and formal organization both are needed for an organization. Ignoring one and emphasizing other will only led to an unsustainable organizational culture. In this context IO will become a cafeteria where People will only do things they like and ignore organizational requirements. We need to have complimentarity of both.

This was made clear by Gouldner in his study of a gypsum plant. This plant had good participation of local workers and the manager had good bondings with them. They basically followed a “country club managerial approach” ( Mount & Blake’s)..This led to decline in productivity. Then there was a change in manager. The new manager was a STRICT person and didn’t approve of previous lackadaisical approach. As a result locals were unhappy and didn’t support. The result was again loss of productivity as cooperation was not achieved.

In this context Gouldner emphasized on interdigitations( like fingers of the two hands) of both formal and informal organization.

Syllabus – Simon

”Simon’s identifying decision-making as the core field of public administration appears logically acceptable but his positivist underpinning is problematic.” Critically examine the statement. (200 words)

Simon gives seminal importance to Decision-making as a core field of Public administration; It is logically acceptable because

Every administrative action has either individual or many quanta of Decisions;
Each decision requires – Inputs, Simon calls them facts, Various alternative actions based on the facts and their consequences;
As it is impractical to know the full set of facts, alternatives, consequences – He proposes bounded rationality in decision making;

Simon also propagated Logical positivism which envisages;

Empiricism in theory building and application;
Fact-value dichotomy;

LP faced following criticism in Academic circles;

NPA criticised his logical positivism by comparing it with Politics-Administration dichotomy;
Theory building is severely limited by positivist notions of empiricism;
It was difficult to inculcate “Empiricism” in PA which was more of an art rather than a science; For instance a lot of values may not have empirical attributes – Eg. Constitutional morality and spirit, Gandhiji’s Talisman;

Points from Raj:

Administration is subordinate only to constitution and not political leaders. Thus it is imperative that values e.g. constitutional are taken into consideration in decision making.
Excessive reliance on empiricism, and under emphasis on extra rational factors such as intuitions, traditions, faith etc is both impossible and undesirable.
The fact value dichotomy leads to politics administration dichotomy which is unfeasible in current governance set up.

However while practicing PA, LP should be dealt with as essential ingredient if the “decision making” subscribes to positivist connotations – exceptions to this rule should be articulated. This shall provide necessary limitations on PA which providing commensurate flexibility.

25th August 2016

Syllabus – Theories of Leadership

Do you agree with the view that the charismatic approach of the mid-1970s is a “new version” of the Classical Trait Theory of Leadership? Give reasons. [200 Words]

Charismatic leadership theory (CLT) of 1970 assumes that the charm and persuasiveness are indispensable for a leader; Classic trait theory(CTT) assumes that leaders have commonality in their traits – without comprehensively defining such traits;

CLT is the “new version” of CTT

Both assume commonalities in traits or characteristics of the leader; By definition Gandhiji’s leadership can be understood by both the theories; Gift of grace, eloquence, Heroism, ability to face difficulties, ability to be brave in the midst of grave and adverse conditions, unwavering commitment, discipline etc are the traits of the leader according to both the theories;
They neglect the “law of the situation” – Later theories have shown that different personalities lead in different times;
Both leaders communicate and connect at the emotional level with their audience;
Working towards greater good is emphasised sometimes at great personal cost; Eg. Nelson Mandela was jailed for 28 years, often in solitary confinement;
Both leaders have ability to make the audience/subject work for common good; Eg. Gokhale opined that Gandhiji could make martyrs our of common men and women;

Nevertheless there are some differences in both theories as well such as:

Rather than personal traits, charismatic theory suggest that a person’s vision, attractiveness of that vision and credibility in person’s capability to achieve that vision is what makes a leader successful.
Charismatic theory also takes into account situations that leads to rise of a charismatic leader. For e.g. generally crises.
The leader follower equation is different in both theories.

Both theories have similarities and differences. Still the differences dominate similarities and chrismatic theories can be said to be a new theory and not just a new version of trait theory.

Syllabus – Theory of Motivation;

‘Man’s motives … in different subparts of the same. organisation may be different’ [Edgar Schein]. Discuss. [200 Words]

An organisation can have multiple sub-parts each having its own goals and means finally contributing to the goals of the organisation. So, Man’s motives in the different sub-parts of the same organisations may be different because.

Goals of the different sub-parts are different and in some cases may be incoherent; For instance in allowing infrastructure projects in India, MoEF and Finance ministry can have different motives; Former for conservation and later for development;
Personnel from different sub-parts may have different needs : According to Maslow theory people with different needs can have different motivation; Eg. If person A has esteem needs, his is motivated better by a promotion rather than an increment;
Personnel may be at different paths in their career: As Chris Argyris argues in immaturity-maturity continuum, An employee who just started his career may have needs of infancy and is motivated by “job security” while a veteran may be motivated by “job satisfaction and enrichment”;
Goals of Informal groups may affect the motives too;
Leadership qualities of different leaders in different sub-parts may motivate employees differently; Some leaders are affiliative, authoritative, democratic etc.
Geographical differences can account for different motivations eg.In an MNC some employees can be from US and others here in India; Their motivations may be a function of ecological conditions;

Humans by definition defy cataloging and so, motivations of employees of different sub-parts or same sub-part may be different for various ecological differences;

Syllabus – Maslow theory of need hierarchy.

“Need hierarchy is rigid and limited”. Critically comment on Maslow’s need hierarchy. [200 Words]

SBM’s answer.

Maslows need hierarchy theory argues that human needs are plural and dynamic. These needs can be used by organisations to motivate employees to achieve goal congruency between individual and organisation. However, it is criticised for sequential activation and one need at a time .

Rigid

The theory argues that their is hierarchy in which needs get activated . Accordingly, fulfilment of physiological need is necessary for security need to get activated .However, in reality it is not so.

Ex : for Irom sharmila, it is self actualisation that is driving her to leave her other needs .In fact she has given up the most basic need “physiological”.

However , exceptions would exist in every theory .But when approached in general , his theory holds true even today .

Limited

He expected to have one need at a time . And his wants are limited . But in reality wants never die also wants require replenishment.

Ex:Internet 30 years back was a means for self actualisation, today for many it has become basic physiological need. Also money is a universal prime motivator , and money does shows up in only one level .

In today’s society with Knowledge and awareness an employee seeks plural needs simultaneously.

Syllabus – System-4;

” The successful management leaders are found in Likerts’s ‘System-4′ approach to organizational leadership.” [200 Words]

Straight forward answer. Just talk about System-4;

Leaders ensure the following;

Participative group leadership;
Freedom to choose goals and means;
Greater group loyalty;
Monetary incentives + Self worth + Performance appraisal as a means to develop the career path of subordinate;
Great communication – Three directional – Top-down, Bottom-up, Lateral;
Higher performance goals;
Higher motivation levels; Higher morale;
Success to the organisation;

All this translate into greater loyalty and favourable attitude towards the leader;

(Out of personal experience, when a leader moves from one company to other, his/her entire team moves with him often at similar salaries!)

Syllabus – Revision;

Examine the evolution of conflict management from integration approach of M.P. Follett to remedial approach of participative management. [200 Words]

Conflict is inevitable. Ideas on conflict management elucidated by follet’s Integration of conflict management is based on integration of interests of parties which need greater skill, innovation and intelligence. It addresses concerns of all parties and neither loses. But the inherent flaws like not applicability to all situations (Claim on South China Sea by countries) resulted in limited utility.

Barnard’s Acceptance of authority also tried to reduce the conflict by emphasis on reducing bossism. It is through acceptance of subordinate by superior in organization easier conflict management can be done. Simon’s acceptance zone also more or less tried to define the orders acceptance level of a group. Both tried to establish the concensus between conflicting parties like between subordinate and superior in organizations.

Likert’s participative management has tried to bring the consensual approach established by Barnard and Simon where cooperation, coordination, collective decision making etc will play role in reducing conflict between people. Thus from a very ideal perspective of integration approach to evolution of a generic stable approach in conflict management can be seen over the views from Follet to Likert ideas.

26th August 2016

Syllabus – Application type question on Administrative behaviour.

Read following instances carefully and suggest what specific perspectives on organizational psychology of motivation would help the concerned organization to reconcile the needs of the following four persons with the needs of organization: (75 words X 4 = 300 words)

A comes to his office with clocklike punctuality; does his work with impeccable honesty and integrity; takes orders from above gladly; responds well to overtures by peers; but neither mixes with anyone himself nor seeks anyone’s company. what is more, he seem quite happy in his isolation.
B is an efficient charge hand at the welding shop. He is very outgoing and makes friends fast, but falls out with them very fast too. He is, however, easily pacified when anyone asks him to calm down in the name of the organization.
C is completely happy and absorbed when he is teaching in the classes, and doesn’t at all mind when is workload gets heavier and covers new areas. But he gets angry when the finance section raises objection about his medical bills; and is furious that the higher administration is yet to give him full tenure.
D is a metallurgist in the forge shop of the steel plan, and has received honors for his innovativeness in modifying conventional alloys. He also paints well and values his painting skills far more than his metallurgy and is extremely unhappy that company house journal did not finally carry his water sketch on its front cover.

Mr.A has impeccable professional qualities except that he is a reserved person; He would be a greater asset to the organisation if he can be more social as

he can Instil professionalism in his colleagues;
It could help him in his upward mobility;

So it is pertinent to make him more social; Following strategies can be used.

Organise lunch/dinner meetings, where A can participate in informal groups;
Ask him to mentor his younger colleagues;
Provide him a platform to showcase his professional talent; Eg. Presentations, competitions etc
Involve him with a sociable team;

Mr.B is Social and responsible but can be conflict-prone (Because he can quarrel easily)

Organisation may suffer –

As he may antagonise other employees;
Affect the health of the organisation;

So by following Likert’s take on Conflicts.

Managers should solve the substantive conflicts by win-win strategy;
Managers should ensure that affective conflict would never arise as affective conflicts are difficult to solve;
In an organisation it is not only necessary to be friendly, its also indispensable to be polished; These skills must be imparted to Mr.B through a training on soft skills;

Mr.C is a teacher who loves responsibility; Organisation need to take care of its employees both in hygiene matters and motivational matter; (Hertzberg)

Organisation needs people like C. So it must ensure that

Finance section does not raise undue objections for genuine medical bills;
Should give him full tenure if there is a vacancy; (Motivational factor)
If full tenure can’t be given, then a commensurate hike must be provided; (Hygiene factor)
If even hike can’t be provided, then financial difficulties must be clearly communicated to Mr.C.

Mr.D is an innovative metallurgist whose work-life balance is undermined because his water sketch was not on the Journal cover. Herzberg prefers vertical loading to horizontal loading in his view of Job enrichment;

So the organisation can

Organise a painting competition where Mr.D can participate and vent out his creative frustration.
Can ensure next time that his water sketch finds place in the Journal;
If a school is attached to the organisation, Mr.D can be asked to spend some time teaching children about the concepts of painting;

Syllabus – Theories of Leadership.

Leadership is the ‘influential increment over and above mechanical compliance with the routine directives of the organization’ [Katz and Kahn]. Analyze.

With advancements in socio-economic life in the past century and amid growing organizational complexity, mere mechanical ordering does not ensure effective compliance. This is ensured by sound leadership.

As the functional theory of leadership puts it, leadership has to balance task needs along with the team and individual needs. For, organization is manned by individuals who have a separate existence of their own. By sticking to individual needs, a leader sparks a desire to work and achieves meaningful cooperation. This dimensions of cooperation was unravelled by thinkers like Barnard, Follett etc of post-scientific management era.

Such cooperation to secure compliance can only be achieved if the orders carry legitimacy with them. With the backing of a good leader, a ‘charismatic’ authority is added to the order even as it carries ‘Formal’ authority.

Therefore, this charisma with the formal authority which derives from the partly irrational nature of man, is the influential increment to the order.

Another Take

Various theorists like John Kotter and Robert House have distinguished management from leadership.

While management in their construct has been defined as getting routine things done through generic functions like planning, organising, coordinating etc., leadership has been defined as the ability to cope with changes. The leaders while challenging the status-quo, develop a vision of the future and then inspire their followers to want to achieve the vision.

The leaders therefore create a sense of mission for their followers. They promote intelligence and rationality for facilitating effective decision making. They also provide personal attention to their followers and coach them to aid their growth. In the process the leasers gain respect and trust of their followers.

Thus a leader instils willingness in the followers towards achieving objectives that in turn produces level of efforts and performance that go beyond the achievement through the management approach.

Syllabus – Herzberg.

“Satisfiers and dissatisfiers are not two extremes of one continuum rather they belonged to two different continuums.” Critically comment on Dual Unipolar trait theory in the light of above statement.

The two-factor theory of Herzberg argues of the existence of Satisfiers – factors whose presence can result in satisfaction and Dissatisfiers whose absence results in dissatisfaction.

Furthermore, He proposes dual unipolar trait theory – Through which he explains

Why Employees who love an organisation leave the organisation;
Why employees who hate the organisation remain in it.

He argues that Absence of dissatisfaction is not equivalent to satisfaction; and reciprocally the absence of satisfaction is not equivalent of dissatisfaction; His theory advocated that satisfiers and dissatisfiers are not the extremes of the same continuum, rather they are belong to two different continuum (A diagram at this point is too tempting! )

So employees who love the organisation may leave it because of absence of satisfiers – like company policy, Salary, working conditions, interpersonal relationships etc. Likewise, employees who hate the organisation may remain in it because of presence of hygiene factors;

Hence managers should fulfil the needs of both hygiene seekers and motivation seekers for actualising the goals of the organisation;

Syllabus – Morale.

“Organization morale is more in private enterprises than in public enterprises in India.” Discuss and comment.

Deepika’s Answer

Morale is defined as the willingness to work persistently and consistently for long time.In this neo-liberal era though there is a thin line between public and private enterprises still organisation morale is more in private enterprises than in public because:

1)Renis likert’s System -3 (consultative –views of employees are considered but decision of top management is final )leadership exists in public enterprises whereas System-4 (participative management) exists in private organisations.

2)Rigid rule based and value neutral bureaucracy is absent in private organisations which gives scope for employees to innovate and be creative.

3)Espirit-de-corps(team spirit) of Fayol and informal organisations are highly prevalent in private organisations than in public.This way of interpersonal relationships enhances morale.

4)Seniority based promotion exists in public organisations where as Merit based promotion in private organisations.

5)Performance based pay in private sector boosts morale of employee and make him do his best whereas in public organisations no such.This demoralises them.

6)ChrisArgyris ‘s double loop learning exists in Private sector (i.e if any policy fails then management takes responsibility instead of blaming implementers) unlike single loop learning in public sector(Management blames employees for policy failure).

7)Political interference ,Less autonomy and more accountability exists in public organisation but no such in private organisations.

These are some factors which results in more organisation morale in private organisations which boosts their performance.Ofcourse feeling of serving for society and nation acts as morale booster in public enterprises .But this alone cannot bring significant performance .So Public organisations should also adopt methods of participative management,theory Y leadership of Mcgregor ,considering social and psychological factors etc

Recent initiatives of government like 7th paycommission recommendations implementations, Maternity health bill( 26 weeks leave and crèche facilities like in pvt sector) ,lateral entry for higher posts etc.are in this direction

27th August 2016 – Insights Optional Test – 1;

(Most of us wrote answers on Paper – Its not possible to give complete answers – I will write the approach)

Syllabus – New Public Administration

1.New Public Administration may have neither been the saviour its enthusiasts promised, nor the devil its critics worried it would be. Discuss. (250 words)

Saviour Attributes – Social Change, Social efficiency, Value loaded nature, Against dichotomies, relevance etc.

Devil Attributes – Anti-Behaviouralist, Anti-Hierarchy, Anti-Postitivist, Anti-rationalist thought;

Radical beginnings of MB-1, Pluralism in MB-2, Comprehensive approach in MB-3;

Challenge from NPM, NPS, GG, Development Administration, CPA, E-governance;

Neither a a devil nor a saviour – Just a phase in the development of PA;

Syllabus – Administrative thought

“The design of physical structures, the anatomy of the organisation came first, and was indeed the principle consideration.”

“An organisation is a system of interrelated social behaviours of participants”

Analyse these statements and evaluate the contribution of the respective approach to Administrative theory. (250 words)

Straight forward question;

First statement is Classical Approach;

Second statement is behavioural approach;

Just analyse the statements and write the contributions and critique;

Syllabus – Challenges of liberalization, Privatisation, Globalisation;

In the globalized Public Administration, hierarchy creates more ethical problems than it solves. Comment. (200 words)

Problems solved;

System – 4 leaders in a Hierarchy are good for Organisation and Team members;
Rules/laws/policies are easily enforced, better implemented better monitored using IT- PRAGATI;
Recent Prakash Singh Report on Jat Agitations claimed that “generally” elite in the hierarchy are unaffected by caste prejudices, so hierarchy may be essential in a stratified society; (Of course, later he said that Haryana’s elite police were casteist in their actions in this particular case)

Problems Created;

Hierarchy leads to red tapism;
Long ladder means lot of vulnerable points; And hence leads to more corruption;
Theory X organisation can’t take advantage of community participation; eg. Community policing in India is almost non-existent;
Hierarchy may make administration divorced from Ground realities;
According to Bernard, orders passed get more specialised down the line with the definition of goals becoming more blurred;
In foreign policy India has been witnessing “bonhomie” at higher levels without sufficient follow up action at the lower level.

Syllabus – Good governance.

“‘Minimum Government and maximum governance’ is for advanced countries. India can’t afford that”. Critically comment. (200 words)

Approach

Explain what is MGMG and its context (New right philosophy, PCT, Governance paradigm etc)

Why MGMG is not for India;

Handholding is required;
Non state actors are not matured enough;
Digital Gap exists; Financial inclusion is not sound;
State structures still have the farthest reach; Eg. You have post offices in every corner; That is why people proposed POs as banks/payment banks/kiosks etc.
Need to skill people for “Make in India”, “Digital India” etc;

Why MGMG is for India;

Capital starved; Need investment; Ned to generate employment;
Credit rating agencies look for it;
Ease of doing business is essential for Foreign investment;
E-governance automates service delivery;
NGOs are doing a fine job;
State roll back from the earlier state monopolisation needs to be taken to its logical end;

In conclusion just mention what requires to be changed in MGMG in order to be effective; My thoughts – We need “Sensitive Government with Maximum Governance”

Syllabus – Challenges of Globalisation;

“Even the global village is culturally plural rather than being homogeneous, meaning thereby that though the distances have shrunk, difference have not” Explain. (200 words)

Start with Intra and inter socio economic differences –

Inequality between nations, Inequality within the nations;
Social inequalities like Casteism, Religion, ethnicity etc;
ideological differences – Democracy vs Communist;

How culture of Pub Ad is different –

Big B’cy and Good Governance paradigms coexists;
Parallel state structures exist in many parts of the world against existing Nation-states; While parallel state structures eliminated in countries like US.
Police states like DPRK and welfarist states like Baltic states coexist;
Even in the welfarist agenda – State provision of services coexist with individual provision;

Eg. Cuban Healthcare vs US healthcare;

Theory X organisations of Indian B; Theory Z organisation of Singapore B;
Global-localism paradigm – AYUSH; International Yoga Day;

Syllabus – Application type question from Nature and scope of Public Administration

6.Public administration today stands at the crossroads of public choice theory, pluralism, corporatism and elitism.” Discuss. (250 Words)

Explain these terms and see the convergence; Pretty straightforward answer! 🙂

Differences in these approaches:

Elitism – top down approach; Pluralism – Bottom up approach;
Survival of the fittest in Corporatism vs “Survival of all” in Pluralism;

Synergies:

Elitism brought us the constitution; for Principled intervention of elitism is required to ensure that pluralism survives in a pseudo-feudal social structure;
Institutional pluralism of PCT should be used for the last man in the last row; For instance Govt has Shishu, Kishore, Tharun in Mudra – see the choice here?
Corporatism can be used as means for pluralism – CSR.

Syllabus – Challenges of Privatisation;

7.What according to you are the most important changes brought into public administration by Privatization movement. (200 Words)

(Thanks to Chacha and Thirdeye)

Profit orientation; Eg. Maharatnas;
Bureaucracy to Meritocracy;
Employment provider to the employment generator;
Regulator to facilitator;
Service delivery through non state actors – Contractionist approach;
Stakeholder approach;
PPP;
Neo-Taylorism;
New Public Management; Post NPM contributions;
Entrepreneurial, Enterprising Governance;

Bad effects;

Environmental damage; Nepotism; Welfare fund deficit;
Mention Denhardt – New Public Service; Reinveting Govt;
Reduced accountability in the era of PPP;
More conflict; Singur Story of TATA; POSCO;

Syllabus – Application question on Participative Management + Development Dynamics

“For those who use the euphemism of ‘shared power’ for participation, the appropriate literature for guidance is practical politics and not organization and Management.”

“Stronger state and strong civil society are the need to develop both participatory democracy and responsive government as mutually reinforcing and supportive.”

Bring out the myths and realities associate with public participation. (200 words)

Myth – Public Participation(PP) leads to emancipation; Reality – Elite capture;
Myth – Citizens are ready to participate; Reality – Literacy, inequality;
Myth – PP decides best; Reality – Populist decisions are right decisions are different – Brexit;
Myth – Can’t find social dogmas – Realities – Sometimes they can, Icelanders and gay rights; Sometimes they can’t – India and untouchability;
Myth – Populist decisions don’t have long term perspective; Realities – Sometimes Long term – Switzerland votes against Minimum cash entitlements; Sometimes short term perspective – Brexit;
Myth – Leads to noise; Can’t get anything done; Realities – PP is better than No PP – Eg. Social audit;

Syllabus – Maslow.

“Most individuals reach a level where social need is prepotent and hardly a few reach a level of self actualisation” In the light of above statement comment on the Maslow’s needs of a better administrator. (200 words)

Approach:

Explain Maslow’s need Hierarchy;

Explore the higher order needs of a Better administrator

( Now what are the things a good adminstrator must have: emotional intelligence, cultual sensitivity, passion, emotional stability, good interpersonal relations. These traits can be there if a perosn stays at his second or third level needs. A respect from district people, extended family concpet are the needs which can be catrgorised as love,familial needs but which can act as driver for good administration.)

Explore the why lower order needs like Job security should not be prepotent as it kills the initiative;

Syllabus – Theories of Leadership

“Effectiveness of a leader is dependent on a proper match between a leader’s style of interaction with the subordinates and the degree to which the situation gives control to the leader” [Fiedler]. Discuss (200 words)

(Doing a copy paste – Following is very relevant)

Source – http://publicadministrationtheone.blogspot.in/2012/07/process-techniques-of-decision-making.html

1) Fiedler’s contingency model: It postulates that the leader’s effectiveness is based on ‘situational contingency’ which is a result of interaction of two factors: leadership style and situational favourableness (later called situational control).

Least preferred co-worker (LPC):

The leadership style of the leader, thus, fixed and measured by what he calls the least preferred co-worker (LPC) scale, an instrument for measuring an individual’s leadership orientation. The LPC scale asks a leader to think of all the people with whom they have ever worked and then describe the person with whom they have worked least well.

Situational favourableness:

According to Fiedler, there is no ideal leader. Both low-LPC (task-oriented) and high-LPC (relationship-oriented) leaders can be effective if their leadership orientation fits the situation. The contingency theory allows for predicting the characteristics of the appropriate situations for effectiveness. Three situational components determine the favourableness of situational control:

Leader-Member Relations, referring to the degree of mutual trust, respect and confidence between the leader and the subordinates.

Task Structure, referring to the extent to which group tasks are clear and structured.

Leader Position Power, referring to the power inherent in the leader’s position itself.

When there is a good leader-member relation, a highly structured task, and high leader position power, the situation is considered a “favorable situation.” Fiedler found that low-LPC leaders are more effective in extremely favourable or unfavourable situations, whereas high-LPC leaders perform best in situations with intermediate favourability.

Leader-situation match and mismatch:

Since personality is relatively stable, the contingency model suggests that improving effectiveness requires changing the situation to fit the leader. This is called “job engineering.” The organization or the leader may increase or decrease task structure and position power, also training and group development may improve leader-member relations. In his 1976 book Improving Leadership Effectiveness: The Leader Match Concept Fiedler (with Martin Chemers and Linda Mahar) offers a self paced leadership training programme designed to help leaders alter the favourableness of the situation, or situational control.

CRITICISM:

1)Researchers often find that Fiedler’s contingency theory falls short on flexibility.

2)They also noticed that LPC scores can fail to reflect the personality traits they are supposed to reflect.

3)Fiedler’s contingency theory has drawn criticism because it implies that the only alternative for an unalterable mismatch of leader orientation and an unfavorable situation is changing the leader.

4)The model’s validity has also been disputed, despite many supportive tests (Bass 1990).

5)Other criticisms concern the methodology of measuring leadership style through the LPC inventory and the nature of the supporting evidence.Fiedler and his associates have provided decades of research to support and refine the contingency theory.

6)Cognitive Resource Theory (CRT) modifies Fiedler’s basic contingency model by adding traits of the leader. CRT tries to identify the conditions under which leaders and group members will use their intellectual resources, skills and knowledge effectively. While it has been generally assumed that more intelligent and more experienced leaders will perform better than those with less intelligence and experience, this assumption is not supported by Fiedler’s research.

7)The contingency model does not take into account the percentage of “intermediate favourability” situations vs. “extremely favourable or unfavourable situations”, hence, does not give a complete picture of the comparison between low-LPC leaders and high-LPC leaders.

RELEVANCE:

To Fiedler, stress is a key determinant of leader effectiveness, and a distinction is made between stress related to the leader’s superior, and stress related to subordinates or the situation itself. In stressful situations, leaders dwell on the stressful relations with others and cannot focus their intellectual abilities on the job. Thus, intelligence is more effective and used more often in stress-free situations. Fiedler has found that experience impairs performance in low-stress conditions but contributes to performance under high-stress conditions. As with other situational factors, for stressful situations Fiedler recommends altering or engineering the leadership situation to capitalize on the leader’s strengths. Despite all the criticism, Fiedler’s contingency theory is an important theory because it established a brand new perspective for the study of leadership. Many approaches after Fiedler’s theory have adopted the contingency perspective.

Fred Fiedler’s situational contingency theory holds that group effectiveness depends on an appropriate match between a leader’s style (essentially a trait measure) and the demands of the situation. Fiedler considers situational control the extent to which a leader can determine what their group is going to do to be the primary contingency factor in determining the effectiveness of leader behavior.

28th August 2016 – Sunday

29th August 2016

Syllabus – Organisations and PPP

1.“PPPs serve too many parties and too many interests … to be focussed.” Identify in the context of the statement, the parties involved in Public-Private Partnerships and their conflicting aims (200 words)

PPP is a collaborative effort from the Govt and private parties; Its essentially private capital for public purpose. The statement is the context of conflicting interests between stakeholders of PPP;

Different parties include – Public, Government, Private players – domestic, international, Banks etc.

Conflicting interests and aims

Public – Govt:Public wants cost minimisation; Govt usurps on private property; LARR amendment contained PPP exclusion, which was controversial;
Public – Private Conflict: Private players expect high profits; High user charges are non-inclusive;
Banks – Private Players: Loans are not paid back; High NPA; Public is being crowded out for loans;
Private Parties – Govt: Some private players are unable to stand by the contracts; Exacerbated by lack of exit norms (Economic survey called it Chakravyuha); Lack of guidelines for restructuring; Constructed projects are corruption prone eg.Ring roads of various cities, bad design eg.Kolkata flyover;
Govt – Govt:MoEF clearances are pending; Conservation vs development;

Solutions

3P cell in finance ministry for the collaboration of various projects;
Funding through NIIF – “Fund of funds” to reduce NPA and stress on Banking sector;
Implementing Kelkar recommendations in dispute resolution mechanism, viability grants;
Exploring various alternatives to BOT such as Swiss challenge (Amaravati), EPC, Hybrid annuity model etc for better funding; Reduces user charges;

PPP is envisaged by 12th FYP to fund 50% of $1 trillion required for the five years; Conflict of aims and interests should be solved to make PPP viable, profitable and inclusive

Syllabus – Contingency Theory

How does the Strategic Contingencies Theory of organizational design deal with problems arising from sub-unit centrality and non-substituability?

Strategic contingency theory aims at giving power to the problems solvers; It de-emphasises the personality. Problem solver gains power through his/her cross-sectional knowledge; Each sub-unit under the leader specialises on a distinct field for problem solving and hence becomes non-substitutable; Hence, Sub-unit centrality needs “defined competence and authority” and results its non-substitutability;

Solutions

Tenure system: In Anglo-saxon systems, leaders are moved from one position to other; This helps them acquire knowledge in various domains;
Communication: Communication between various subunits through files, mails keeps the essential knowledge flowing;
Collaboration: Projects where two sub-units collaborate, it leads to cross-fertilisation of ideas and learning in the intersectional subject matter;
Interpersonal interactionGeographical distances reduced; Sub-units can form informal organisations do knowledge sharing;
TrainingTraining should give the sub-unit a hawk eye view of the organisation enabling them to learn the abstract knowledge of various sub-units;
Working against Knowledge monopolisation Can be fought through strict documentation of knowledge and accessibility and availability of that knowledge;

Non-substitutability is a unintended outcome of sub-unit centrality and must be eliminated for the long term health of the organisation.

Additional points from Gifty;

sub-unit centrality=> when sub-unit most central to flow of work in an org. typically acquire powers….and in contingency situation such sub-unit gets unexpected powers which hampers accountability

substitutability => is other unit’s ability to perform activities of a particular sub-system….and in contingency situation it creates problem of overlapping, conflict and non-accountability

Syllabus – Organisation, Regulatory agencies;

Delegation to independent agencies has taken place in an interdependent progress driven by emulation. Discuss in the context of independent regulatory agencies in the modern regulatory state.

Independent Regulatory Agencies are an innovation of American democratic system aimed at solving multitude of problems thrown at the state by ever increasing complexity of state’s domain;

Interdependence along with Independence

Separation of Powers Congress was suspicious in giving President control; So it established IRC, without a super-ordinating power over it; Executive, Judiciary, Congress couldn’t function together and hence IRC were established so they can be executive bodies with quasi-legislative, quasi-judicial powers;
Appointment Staggered appointment by President -so, he won’t have full control;
Removal Only in exceptional cases by President;
Budget Controlled by Congress; Very limited control from President;
Enforcing rules Takes the help of State’s executive;

Emulation

Emulating the Judiciary through adjudication action between various parties; Eg. Federal trade commission solves disputes between states, private enterprises;
Emulating the Executive in Enforcing rules and regulations while being independent of actual executive; Eg.Federal election commission;
Emulating the Legislature in Rule making actions for easier transaction. Eg.Federal Trade Commission;

Hence it can be seen that the Independence and interdependence are rightly balanced through IRCs in the context of separation of powers and Emulation happens in a pseudo form.

Syllabus – Application question on nature of Public administration; Wilson+Weber+Indian constitution;

“Vertical accountability in a bureaucratic setup is very different from popular accountability” Analyse the statement from administrative thinkers’ perspective.

Popular accountability originated with advent of democracy and Republic, where citizen hold responsible ,their elected representatives . This lead to origin of spoils system and thus politics administration dichotomy . But , it’s inefficiencies led webber to on bureaucratic administration that emphasised on vertical accountability .

Kautilya

According to him popular accountability is moral responsibility, where for a king ” his happiness lies in the happiness of his subjects “.

Wilson

Popular accountability is cause for inefficiency in administration hence need to separate policy and administration. He gave the concept of vertical responsibility.

Webber

He implemented the politics administration dichotomy , thus brought in rules and completely separated popular accountability with vertical accountability which is an internal accountability within hierarchies of administration.

Popular accountability has been criticised in Parliamentary democracy where elections are held once in 5 years. There have been call for elected representatives to be called back. Modern day administration, scope of accountability has increased to include diagonal accountability like RTI, social audit etc .

Syllabus – Organisations and PPP.

“To talk about the regulatory framework is to talk about short governance.” Analyze the statement in the context of public private partnership and identify the elements of regulation

Raj’s Answer:

Regulatory framework is a set of laws generally directed towards economic activities of private players. To talk about it is to talk about short governance because the government pulls out from direct delivery of goods and services. And rather ensure that public welfare is met in secure manner.

In the context of PPPs the elements of regulations are:

Quality regulation: To ensure that the quality standards of the project is being met. E.g. healthcare.
Security regulation: To ensure the security of the people and the workers during the project e.g. construction of bridges.
Cost and time overrun regulation. To ensure the compliance to the agreement.
Risk sharing: whereby the risks such as inflation, low traffic are need to be taken care of.
Other issues such as re-negotiations, inability of private players to deliver due to non material reasons etc are also taken care by regulatory bodies in PPPs.

PPPs and regulatory bodies are both the reality of today and are here to stay. We must improve the governance structures and patterns to get most of both.

30th August 2016

Syllabus – Citizen’s Charter; Precariat = Precarious Proletariat;

“Right from the days of the ‘Peoples’ Charter’ to the new concept of `Precariat Charter’, the concept of Citizen’s Charter and its scope is constantly evolving.” (200 words)

Citizen’s Charters(CC) are rights given to the citizen in pursuance of learning and governance.

The evolution of CC

People’s Charter – Bare minimum rights in a Monarchy

People’s charter was the innovation of 19th century in Britain. It gave right to vote to all men (removed income as a basis – women excluded); Gave salaries to the Members of Parliament so that common man can participate in election. PC represents the modest beginnings of CC.

Equality in a Welfare state

Many constitutions like India, France, South Africa gave fundamental rights primarily based on the “bill of rights” of US. Universal Adult Franchise and constitutional protection to the rights was the notable aspect in this phase.

Internationalism – Human rights Charter

Establishment of UN unearthed internationalism in Human rights after WW2; HRC was passed with socio-economic and political aspects to it. Human dignity is protected under HRC.

CC – Citizen orientation in a Corporate State

Citizens are treated as clients in the New right philosophy and hence client orientation was envisaged with attributes of Responsiveness, Quality, Value for money, Preparedness, Transparency, quick and decisive Grievance redressal etc.

Precariat Charter in Neo-liberal precarious existence

This is a result of Prof.Guy Standing’s research on the precarious existence of proletariat in the era of disguised and seasonal unemployment with meagre salaries and little job security. For now, Precariat charter remains a theory – Its application requires self-abnegation from capitalistic tendencies, away from automation and capital intensive technologies.

Hence we can conclude that nature of CC has been changing to be more inclusive and participate and scope of CC has been increasing with the complexity of the state domain.

Syllabus – RTI

The right to information is not all about citizens empowerment, it essentially redefines the concept of accountability. Discuss. (200 words)

SBM’s Answer;

Information is lifeblood of any organisation. RTI hailed as master key of good governance not only empowers citizen, but essentially tames bureaucratic power and brings citizen back in administration.

“Not all about citizen empowerment” indicates , it does have a part of role in empowerment. Information acts as antedote in the hands of citizen that makes him a “micro institution” in keeping vigil on administration , holding them accountable through “whistle blowing” , fire alarm etc . So empowerment becomes prerequisite for seeking accountability .

Accountability is answerability for one’s action and behaviour . It involves both answerability dimension and ethical behaviour of decision maker . RTI seeks direct answers from administration . It is Right and not just freedom . It’s universal nature and nominal cost makes it a hall mark of accountability.

RTI unlike classical conventional accountability devices which mainly sought vertical accountability this seeks vertical , horizontal and diagonal accountability . This external device has made administrator to pro actively disclose information and in some instances audit by citizen is incorporated in schemes .

Ex: MGNAREGA comes up with inbuilt social audit mechanism .

However , lack of knowledge in rural areas , attack on activists , trust defecit due to not applying for political parties despite CIC warning , frivolous RTI has left tool to reap it’s maximum benefits .

Syllabus – Digital India + Citizen and Administration;

“Digital India is the new fad in connecting Citizen with Administration” Critically comment.

SBM’s answer + Some improvements;

If you see the statement – it is sarcastic;

So essentially – you talk how Digital India Succeeds and Digital India fails;

You can use the WB vocab of Digital components and Analogue components to throw light on your perspective

Digital India has come up to deepen the e- governance . Digital Infrastructure is major component of the scheme , which tries to reduce digital dividend from both infrastructure point of view and capacity building thus taking citizen closer to administration.

Unilateral Platform : “Bharathnet” aim to connect all the Panchayats with broadband connections would bring every Gram Panchayat on same platform . This will make information dissemination easy , accurate . ” PRAGATI” has already delivered positive results on bringing various players on same platform .
Deepening e governance :

Digi locker : Goods and services available hassle free .

My gov : citizen and administrative interaction to raise grievances , ideas incorporated into policy formulation and implementation. Acts as feed back mechanism .

DBT: PAHAL scheme benefits have pushed governments to avail it’s benefits to other scheme as well .

Widening e governance : By setting infrastructure like kiosks , “bangalore one” , free wifi facility at railway stations , mobile applications like UJALA, meri sadak , etc

Governments ambition towards more transparent governance through JAM trinity is laudable however illiteracy , Greater digital divide , lesser banking infrastructure could hold back from achieving maximum .

Additional Points;

Two way communication – MyGov
Financial Inclusion; Will remove inelastic problems of inclusion and exclusion in service delivery – JAM
Public participation in Policy making – TRAI OTS (Free basics)
Popular accountability – Garv for Gram jyoti Yojana;

In the analogue components you can mention.

Physical Infra is required. NOFN; Gram Jyoti, Reliable Power, Connectivity;
Health, Education, Sanitation, Poverty reduction;
Disaster management – Information dissemination problem is solved by Digital India but mitigation, preparation etc require field work;

Syllabus – Concept of Accountability + Current affairs;

“Administrative accountability is Indispensable for the success of ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’ and ‘Standup India’ “. Discuss

Raj’s Answer

Administrative accountability refers to the enforcement of responsibilities of administration. It is indispensable for the success of programmes such as Make in India, Skill India, Standup India because:

These programmes’ success lies in efficient working of administration towards the achievement of goals.
Unless there is accountability it will remain hard to ensure that potential is being achieved for e.g. the potential capacity of skilling youth is getting achieved.
There is huge outlay for these programmes and given the level of corruption accountability is much needed for success.

Nevertheless there are other factors as well which are needed for success:

Debureaucratisation: to promote an atmosphere conducive for entrepreneurship, business and skill development.
Delegation of authority and decentralization: to ensure speedy decision making much needed for ease of doing business.
Predictability and stability: in laws, rules, regulations to foster investor and businessmen confidence.

This way we will be able to ensure the success of these programmes and give a long lasting boost to employment and manufacturing in India.

Some Additional keywords which can be used:

“Mission mode – With constant feedack”, “War footing”, Accountability in the era of ease of doing business (Small state but strong state paradigm) Vs Difficulty in evading the law, Dealing with Corporates which are into money-making etc

You could say why accountability should also be limited.

Accountability should not kill initiative; Eg. Bureaucrats of Coal ministry are incarcerated for their decisions;
Accountability should not mean too many laws, it should mean reforms in existing laws;
Hierarchical accountability must be complimented with other forms of accountability.

31st August 2016

Syllabus – Intersection of Administrative Ethics and Accountability;

“Administrative ethics is a process of independently critiquing decision standards, based on core social values that can be discovered, within reasonable organisational boundaries that can be defined subject to the personal and professional accountability.” (Denhardt). Explain. (250 words)

The statement about Admin ethics is a combination of the following.

Standardising Conduct based on Social values – (Talk about simon fact-value dichotomy here)
Performance monitoring with social values as a standard (Outlays vs Outcomes budgeting);
Objectivity in Decision making and Policy monitoring;
Sphere of Competence (Weberian Idea)
Personal accountability (Detached spirit – again a Weberian idea)
Professional accountability – you know.. 🙂

Just explain them in that order and you are done.

Syllabus – Voluntary organisations

Voluntary organizations have become tools of sensitization of governmental agencies. comment.

Raj’s Answer;

Voluntary organization refers to associations of citizens organized around some common cause or interest. They have become tools of sensitization of governmental agencies because:

They bring to knowledge of the governmental agencies the ground realities. E.g. ASER report of Pratham.
They act as interface between the government and citizens. Thus making aware the government of the needs of people, challenges faced by people in accessing government services etc.
They help sensitize government of the issues, voice of minorities which otherwise may go unheard.

Nevertheless there are some issues facing the voluntary organizations:

Funding from foreign nations with nefarious intentions such as Anti-development, radicalization, etc.
There are cases of elite capture by means of voluntary organisations.
Economically strong voluntary organisations able to influence policies more than weak NGOs. E.g. Relaxation of CRZ regulation due to business lobby weighing above environmental lobby.

Way forward:

Transparent fund monitoring via objective guidelines for VOs.
Punishing VOs strictly that aim to influence against larger public interest.
Nurturing VOs especially those with weaker members.

This way the VOs will be effective tool of sensitizing the government.

Additional Points;

Sensitisation of public of governmental agencies- SHUDDI NGO for SBM;
Rights dissemination – Garima + Safai Karmachari;
Intermediation – Association of Democratic reforms between SC, EC and Political parties;
Social Audit;
Service delivery through NGOs – Akshayapatra and MDM;
CSE – sensitising public about Governmental obligations; (All envi NGOs can be added here)

Syllabus – Social Audit, Participative management, Decentralisation, Financial Inclusion,

“Not only did the MGNREGA heavily contributed to welfare, It forced a change upon us” Discuss and substantiate.

Some Important changes brought upon us by MGNREGA

1.Rights based approach(Rights not Charity) – Forests rights, Right to food, Education etc followed.

Social Audit – biggest contribution of MGNREGs; Village resource persons, District resource persons to audit the accounts of MGNREGs for falsifications.
Financial inclusion – DBT was first introduced in MGNREGs; Bank accounts were made mandatory.
Demand-driven approach; First of its kind.
Empowerment of marginalised sections – Women, SC/STs; It changed the power structure of households, villages and towns;
Using tech for accountability – Geo-tagging of MGNREGs assets – collaboration with ISRO;
Connection with Sanitation – some 10K toilets are built before SBM;
Bargaining power for labour – improvements over and above the statutory Minimum wage regulations;
Decentralisation – PRI led and PRI owned assets;

You can also briefly talk about negatives – “dig up, fill up”, CAG on rampant corruption;

In the end use WB’s report – “Stellar example of rural development”

Syllabus – Citizen’s Charter

‘Citizen’s charter’ is the most important innovation in the context of promotion of customer-orientation of administration”. Discuss.

SBM’s Answer;

With focus on citizen centric administration and mounting pressure on government’s world over for finding ways and means to deliver goods and services with economy, efficiency and effectiveness , citizen charter came as a boon .

Continuous improvement and better quality: unlike in the past where improvement in means to provide goods and services came periodically , citizen charters with continuous feed back from citizen better the quality .

Ex : After writing entrance exams in an online mode , they seek review to further improve quality and close the gaps .

Innovate, develop at decentralised level : In traditional case this would have required long chain of hierarchy.

Ex : Bangalore citizen card has improved efficiency and has empowered citizen to seek better services .

Higher participation and Mayo: more trust in government because of early delivery of results , thus ” client orientation ” is truly achieved . As Mayo’s GAT indicates , when you socialise administration you gain more participation .

citizen charter as a tool by public organisation to declare and deliver standard performance lacks enforceability . Indian citizen charter exercise has been criticised over lack of proper design and inadequate ground work in preparation and execution . Though it has no legal enforceability , however moral commitment of government drives it

Some Additional Points;

Maintaining Standards.
Transparency in standards and their achievement;
Participation and Consultation while setting targets;
value for Money; Quality service delivery;
Providing choice (Yes it is also a part – I am surprised too)

Use perspectives from Sevottam Model;

1st September 2016

Syllabus – Role of Media

1.How far do you agree with the view that the growing influence of media comes in the way of agenda-setting by the Government. (200 words)

Apporach;

Helping Govt;

Giving voice to Voiceless – “Mai Bhi Bharat” – Rajyasabha TV programme on Tribals;
Suggestions by Experts – and their dissemination to Govt and Public;
Debate and contemporary issues – Free Basics debate.
Identifying loopholes in Governance – “Latur Disaster”
Sensitisation of Public about Policies, implications and consequences; Aiding in Pre-Legislative scrutiny;
Unearthing scandals – 2G, CWG;

Coming in the way:

Warmongering in international affairs – Especially with Pak;
Rightist views about Kashmir marginalising Kashmiris and increasing distance between Delhi and SriNagar; (Like supporting Pellet guns);
Scandals;
Creating and aggravating Law and order situation – e.g. NE students fled from Bangalore; Polarisation in Communal riots; “Being the Eyes of terrorists” in 26/11;
Sensationalism and lack of sensitivity – Jusleen Kaur case;

Syllabus – Application question; E Governance vis-a-vis Citizen and Administration;

“E-Governance creates a direct relationship between the Citizen and the State.” In this context, explain the changing role of the elected representatives.

Raj’s Answer and Some improvements;

Elected representative acts as the linking pin between state and the citizens. As they make the administration sensitive to public concerns.

E-Governance – the new link between Citizen and State;
Applications like MyGov. is making the government aware of the views of the public.
Various portal are disseminating administration related data to the public. Thus playing the role of accountability holder.

Earlier role of Elected representatives(ERs) – You should mention the Parliamentary control here, Questions, Motions, Resolutions, Committees, Standing Committees etc; (Briefly)
Now, how is it changing –
1. ERs becomes Data aggregation points – eg.Digital MLA of Maharashtra;
2. Data analysis points eg.One MLA- one Innovation and Data filtering points;
3. You can mention Simon here. He predicted this some 50 years back!
4. Giving voice to voiceless; CNGSwara, Bultoo Radio;
5. Project monitoring – PRAGATI platform;
6. Single window clearances;
7. Financial inclusion – DBT, JAM;
8. Project monitoring by Public in the mission mode projects;

Syllabus – Civil Society

Define the term ‘civil society’. How does civil society influence the public policy? (200 Words)

Civil society is an umbrella term that refers to those organization which are not part of the market, state or counter civil society group with common interests and collective activity;

Participative E.g. Lokpal Bill agitation, Kisan Mazdoor Sangastha for RTI;
Cogency Eg. Academics and CSE for instance in CAMPA;
Informative/monitoring – ASER Pratham;
Implementation – Akshayapathra, MDM;
Adversarial – Kudankulam, Narmada Bachao, JJ amendment;
Link between State and Citizens (TRAI OTS)
Activist role (Association of Democratic reforms);

Nevertheless there are some issues as well such as:

Help elite capture as dominant sections of society may form their own influential groups.
Corruption may be prevalent, the officials siphon of the money meant for the poor.
Act as tools of neo liberalism: by propagating foreign nation’s interests.

These concerns need to be tackled by both the civil society and the government in cooperative and harmonious way.

Syllabus – Revision; Good governance.

Oxford Martin Commission for future generations report focused on the risks of short-term approach to Governance. What in your opinion are such risks? [150 words]

Just the Approach:

It points out to the fact that Countries with “diminishing” Stake have disproportionate power to take decisions – While many NGOs and Voluntary sectors, deving countries sit around.
G-20 level playing field * Montreal Protocol – Successful targets in shared interests.
Myopia in Governance – More frequent Opinion Polls, Lobbying, unnecessary criticism. governance systems are not able to see beyond the electoral terms.

the report expresses a doubt on the suitability of present day institutions to deliver results in the future with new threats and opportunities;

Syllabus – Civil Society and Administrative accountability.

Comment on the role of Civil Society in facilitating administrative accountability. [200 words]

Thirdeye’s answer:

Civil society role is significant in administrative accountability through following aspects.

Acting as whistle blower to bring out the irregularities in the system or related to maladministration Ex: Vyapam Scam
Enforcing the authority to justify the elements of accountability mentioned in Citizen’s charter while service delivery.
Growth of technology like mobiles, social media penetration etc made publishing of procedural irregularities easier enforcing process accountability.
Problems ranging from service delivery to foreign policy to sanitation are being discussed openly through authorities making them aware of common man difficulties.
Issues of bureaucratisation of politics, politicization of bureaucracy are being dealt through media with civil society as channel of communication.
Fiscal accountability being enforced through public debates and influence over policy making ex: recent roll back of EPF taxation after maturity.
Program accountability is being done through Social Audit Ex: MGNREGA in AP.

Administrative accountability is being facilitated by growing awareness, improved technology and literacy, interaction of goverment and citizen, E-governance etc and civil society playing key role in every aspect of it.

2nd September 2016

Syllabus – Delegated Legislation Straight Question;

“Delegated Legislation is a necessary evil.” (200 words)

Raj’s Answer;

Parliament generally passes a framework of laws and leaves scope for by laws, rules to be filled by the executive. This consequent laws are known as delegated legislation.

It is necessary because:

paucity of time: with the legislators due to huge workload coupled with limited time for legislation.
Lack of technical skills: with the legislators to meet the growing complexity.
Flexibility: A delegated legislation can be changed easily to meet the changing realities.
Not all the scenarios can be envisaged in which the law will work, some scope for new rules is required.

It is evil because:

Gives rise to new despotism. As executive may make rules violating rule of law.
Bypasses the scrutiny of the legislature for a considerable amount of time.
Violates separation of power, leads to centralization of power. Especially when coupled with administrative adjudication.
Lack of due deliberation, lack of participation of people may lead to biased law making.

Way forward:

Strengthening of parliamentary committee on delegated legislature.
Making provision for mandatory deliberation, citizen participation should be there.

This way we can mitigate some evilness of the delegated legislature.

Syllabus – Administrative Tribunals;

Administrative tribunals and judicial review are not only instruments of interpretation of law but also safeguards against administrative weaknesses and excesses. Comment. (200 words)

Raj’s Answer.

The administrative tribunals refers to executive adjudicating bodies. And judicial review refers to examination of various laws by the judiciary. Both deals with the interpretation of law to do justice, adjudicate on any conflict therein etc.

They are also safeguards of administrative excesses because:

The acts of excesses, arbitrary exercise of power, unjust decisions etc, can be called to question and remedies may be given to the litigant. TRAI’s decision on penalty for call drops was declared illegal.
There decisions acts as precedents by which the administration abides.

Safeguard against administrative weaknesses:

The judiciary may suo motu take up cases of maladministration and pass the directives by which the administration has to comply. E.g, the case of Medical Council of India reforms.
The cases of corruption, nepotism, and bad policies etc which leads to administration weakness may be looked into by these bodies and directives be given for reforms. E.g. Supreme Court ruled that all orders should be taken by administrators in written and there must be fixed tenures for administrators.

This way both administrative tribunals and judicial review act as upholders of good governance by the administrative bodies.

Additional Points:

For the weakness:

A 142 should find a mention when it comes to weaknesses – SC appoints committees, commissions based on these; Moreover One could mention Electoral reforms (Lily Tomas, NOTA, Police reforms (Prakash Singh), Civil Services reforms, Vishaka guidelines etc; (These are part of broader meaning of Judicial Review)
NGT activism for Administrative weakness in protecting Environment – Yamuna flood planes etc;

Against Excesses;

Writs MUST be mentioned! 🙂
A13, 31 Must also find a mention;
US SC comment on Executive bombings in Yemen under the pretext of “Potential threat” (We should not limit ourselves to India) where one of its own citizens died.

Syllabus – Administrative Tribunals;

Discuss the view that “tribunals should have the same degree of independence from the executive as that enjoyed by the supreme court and the high courts, especially for those tribunals that took over the functions of high courts.” (200 words)

Administrative tribunals refers to executive adjudicatory bodies. They need as much independence as enjoyed by supreme court or high court because:

They will lack the required credibility among the people unless there is high independence in their functioning.
They are generally manned by the executive and look over functions of executive. Unless there is independence, conflict of interest, peer pressure may lead to biased adjudication.
They are involved in interpretation of law to ensure objectivity, impartiality in laws and rule of law in general. This can be possible only when there is arms’ length distance between them and the executive.

Nevertheless there exist counter views as well:

They should remain under the high courts unless the litigation against their decisions will be filed in supreme court only, leading to over burdening of SC and defeating the purpose of fast and cheaper justice.
They may evolve as fourth power center in the State.
Lack of total control may lead to lack of checks and balance, or cumbersome process to ensure the same.

Thus there is balance between the autonomy and accountability that needs to be strike by the government. Further appointment of outside specialists, experts from different domains, training etc also needs to be ensured.

Some additional points for Giving the context;

IPAB provisions were called by Madras HC as unconstitutional because it was headed by The then secretary of IPP;
Mention the case of Union Govt vs R.Gandhi;

Another important but unrelated point;

National tax Tribunal was held unconstitutional as it took away the jurisdiction of HC;

Syllabus – Revision; First chapter;

“The field of Public Administration is a field of business.”(Woodrow Wilson) Comment. (200 words)

The statement emphasised on politics administration dichotomy , calling for adopting more business like approaches to administration to be more efficient . The view taken by woodrow Wilson was so encompassing and deepening that public administration was considered akin to management .

Traditional view

It called for complete dichotomy of politics and administration. The emphasise was on management principles . Taylor’s scientific management ,Gullick and Urwicks POSDCORB , Webber’s hierarchy , impersonal , written document and emphasis on rules became part of most of government functionaries .

Dichotomy in question

Simon called for disbanding dichotomy theory and described how values impact decision making. Management principles were criticised and were no more part of public administration.

New public administration approach furthered this view and called for working towards social equity and change .

Modern business like approach

Public choice approach created institution pluralism . Thus , it brought privatisation into public realm within framework drawn by public .

New public management brought management tools like performance evaluation ,Management by objective , PPBS budgeting , TQM. Even , in policy realm tools like PERT were brought to run like business.

Woodrow Wilson however was not completely for dichotomy , for achieving efficiency ,means should be business like , but ends must be political in nature . Such concept is fostered even in today’s administration.

Syllabus – Dicey on Administrative Law;

“Dicey was wrong not only in his concept of the rule of law, but he also overlooked the significance of the administrative law”. – Comment.

Dicey had developed a rigid understanding of the ‘Rule of Law’

based on equal treatment before the law, no discretion provided to administration and that laws flow from traditions and customs. According to him administrative law which

proposes separate rules and institutions for administrative jurisprudence is in

violation of the rule of law. It can be seen that Dicey lacked understanding of

both ‘Rule of Law’ and ‘Administrative Law’. In the French system of Driot

administratif, it was not that administrator were not held accountable, only a

separate mechanism had been designed to hold them accountable. In fact greater

justice was provided to the citizens from the administrative machinery through

such an institutional mechanism. Dicey also failed to explain the technical

inconsistencies in his model “Rule of Law’ administration in the United Kingdom

which lacks Judicial review and where the Parliament is supreme. Even though

Administration comes under a unified system, yet legislative excesses have no

checks and balances.

Whereas in practice, Rule of Law cannot exist without

administrative law, since it spells out the responsibility of the

administration in order to enforce the laws of the land. Eg. Lokpal Act can be

passed but until the rules and regulations for operationalising are not put in

place, the Rule of this law will not be complete. Therefore administrative law is

a sine qua non for Rule of Law, since without it, it will become directionless.

The delegated nature of administrative law must have adequate checks and

balances in place to uphold Rule of Law and curtail arbitrariness eg.

Parliamentary Committees, Judicial review etc

3rd September 2016

Syllabus – Administrative law

“The conceptual division between administrative and constitutional law is quite porous, and that along many dimensions, administrative law can be considered more constitutional in character that the constitutions.” How would you justify the statement? (200 words)

Administrative Law (AL) deals with Rule making action, rule application action and rule adjudicating action of Administration. Constitutional Law(CL) originates from the letter and spirit of Constitutions.

Porous nature of boundaries between AL and CL

CL can include AL eg. Article 309, 310, 311 of Indian constitution;
AL’s prime motive is to give effect to CL; AL is the means and CL is the Goal; For instance Indian AL is motivated by Directive principles of State Policy;
AL upholds the Constitution while not infringing on constitutional obligations; Eg. US has IRC and the law governing them was the manifestation of interdependence between whereas Organs;

AL is more constitutional than CL

Adjudication of AL is more affordable, better accessible and hence more effective and inclusive.
AL upholds the social obligations of the state which are constitutional;
AL uses the framework of CL to provide service delivery, making administration accountable;
AL has better reach; Becomes the first saviour for an administrative overreach or lethargy.
AL is temporally and spatially more dynamic; CL’s rigidity limits its own constitutional spirit;

While AL may be less constitutional as they limit the rights of citizenry, promote administrative elite’s domination, provide for arbitrary discretion etc.

Syllabus – Administrative Tribunals;

“Judicial review of administrative tribunal’s decisions defeats the very objective of establishing tribunals.” (200 words)

Tribunal Adjudications are Reviewed by Judiciary as “Special Leave Petitions” and are constantly defeating the purpose of Administrative Tribunal(AT) in Anglo-Saxon and Indian systems;

Justice from AT is no longer Speedy, Accessible or Affordable;
AT’s don’t set precedents; But Judiciary does and hence AT’s are bound by Judicial pronouncements; Takes out flexibility;
Technically demanding verdicts require expertise and Judiciary lacks it. Eg. SC in the era of Green benches wondered if its the right forum for environmental adjudication. Later NGT was established.
Rights and obligations of a private party can’t be better enforced. eg.HC reversed the decision to Tax tribunal in Vodaphone case.

But Judicial Review(JR) is essential

Constitutional obligations are upheld;
ATs are in direct conflict with Writ jurisdiction of Apex courts; Indian SC called Tribunals as “Assault on Constitutional Scheme”
SC held in R.Gandhi that Expertise doesn’t automatically mean Judicial wisdom;
ATs depend on Parent ministries for men and material and this is against Natural Justice; Without Judicial review, claimants may not have “right to appeal” against this clear deviation;

Hence it can be argued at JR is absolutely essential for proper working of ATs; But SLP should be allowed only when there is a substantive question of law to not defeat the very purpose of ATs.

Syllabus – Delegated Legislation;

How far can delegation of decision-making authority help in improving motivation? [200 words]

Thirdeye’s Answer + Various other answers;

Delgation improves the motivation in the following way.

Establishing a sense of respect for decision of subordinates and bringing sense of achievement according to Herzberg Motivation-Hygeine Theory. e.g..Railway minister has delegated most of his powers to Minister of state Railways and most tender related works to General managers . We can see railway performing fairly well .
It is a way to satisfy the individual higher order needs of esteem and self actualization as per Maslow Hierarchy Theory.
As per Victor Vroom’s Expectancy theory, Motivation of employee depends on his belief on worthiness of goals of organization which inturn depends on delegation of authority to him.
Edwin Locke’s goal setting theory states that employee motivation depends on the challenges in the goal being set and delegation of authority must be based on the challenge assigned.

Improvement of motivation is a function of both delegation of decision making authority and the extent to which individual needs are in congruence with organization needs according to Argyris. It is individual needs which also must be looked into for bringing the intended level of motivation for achieving organization goals.

Nevertheless there are certain situations whereby greater centralization of the decision making leads to higher motivation. The situations pertains largely to those jobs where skill required to perform the job are complex and worker is a beginner, a great task clarity is needed to perform the job.

Syllabus – Delegated Legislation;

‘Delegation is less flexible than deconcentration.’ [200 words]

Raj’s Answer + some Improvements;

Deconcenration devolves the authority to frontline workers whereas delegation is assigning the functions to a third party via a contract.

The reasons why delegation is less flexible than deconcentration are:

The devolution of power can be rolled back more easily in deconcentration when situation demands, whereas in devolution one may have to abide by the contract.
The control over the functionary is higher in deconcentration as compared to delegation, making monitoring and course correction easier.
The easier communication is facilitated between the frontline workers and the higher positions as compared to third party and the leaders. This makes the cooperation and coordination with other spheres of administration easier giving more flexibility in functions.

Nevertheless, the flexibility is not sole criteria of determining which one to choose. Both modes have their pros and cons. Devolution allows benefit of more specialty, domain expertise, low cost, civil society empowerment(if it is involved), freeing up state to focus on core functions etc. But at the cost of less control, less flexibility.

Thus both should be appropriately be used. While delegation should be first priority. Deconcentration also be done wherever possible.

Additional points for the view that “Deconcentration is less flexible”

Delegation gives more responsibility and hence more autonomy; MoUs is a shining example;
Delegation is better to fix accountability – Otherwise – everyones’ responsibility is no ones responsibility;
Delegation is the embodiment of “One size doesn’t fit all”
Delegation has an inbuilt mechanism of accountability whereas deconcentration provides for autonomy and decision making.
Delegation is done for more technical, non-programmed tasks, whereas deconcentration is for more routine tasks.
In delegation the authority does tasks on behalf of the delegating authority which can be a different branch of state, whereas deconcentration deals with execution in the same wing of state.

4th September 2016 – Sunday

5th September 2016

Syllabus – Hidden Syllabus; Asked in 2014;

How does Ferrel Heady rationalize the three stages of development in comparative administration? (200 words)

Couldn’t get the answer after googling for a long time! If someone knows this please mail me!

Syllabus – Riggisian models of comparative administration

Critically examine the Riggsian concept of differentiation in context of post-globalisation era. (200 words)

Raj’s Answer.

Differentiation concept of Riggs states that as an underdeveloped society develops, there is emergence of separate institutions for performance of separate tasks.

Nevertheless there might be some cases whereby this may not be the case:

Economy of scale may be preferred. E.g. SBI consolidation.
Problems of coordination may occur. E.g. Ministry of external affairs was merged with ministry of overseas Indians.
A single body is able to take a broad view of the sector. E.g. FSLRC recommended a single regulator for different sectors.

All these factors have become much relevant in post globalisation era where multi skilled talent, dynamic administration, meta policy making due to withering away of traditional boundaries is becoming the norm.

Syllabus – Comparative administration

“….in most cases….newly independent states, of the nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America, despite their differences…are in transition.” (Ferrel Heady). What common features are indicative of characteristics of their Administrative patterns (cultures)?

ThirdEye’s Answer.

Post WWII the newly independent states are in common phase of development and their common features can be seen as,

Heterogenity: Existence of divergent systems, practices like traditional and modern buildings, beliefs.
Formalism: Gap between reality and appearance. Laws in statute different from their diluted implementation with corruption, nepotism, favouritism
PolyNormativism – Eg.Khap Panchayats run parallel to Indian Judicial system;
Complexity in administration due to influence of traditional beliefs, ethos, customs etc in policy making.
PolyCommunalism – Presence of Clects; Eg.Dinka and Nuer tribes in South Sudan, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, Military and ISI in Pak, Madhesis and Pahadis in Nepal;
Neopotism ;

Post WWII independent nations have resorted to imitation of western administrative practices but their failure led to emergence of administrative thought relevant to local cultures along with applicable global practices like NPM etc and the transition phase still in progress with tilt towards globalized administrative practices and patterns.

Syllabus – Revision; Barnard;

“Barnard’s contribution-satisfaction was an embryonic stage of Systems view” Do you agree? Comment.

ThirdEye’s Answer.

Barnard was father of ‘Social system’ who propounded the ‘contribution satisfaction Equilibrium'(CSE). He says that the contribution of employee in an organization depends based on satisfaction of his needs. THis can be elucidated as, employee accepts authority only if he feels the worth of goal being achieved and is in congruence with his personal goals. And it is through acceptance of authority employee contribution can be fully productive.

Taking cue from Barnard’s Ideas Simon wrote his Adminstrative Behaviour and described that employee rational decision making based on Zone of acceptance inturn on satisfaction of employee needs.

Socio-psychological approach of Mc Gregor, Argyris and Maslow have also emphasized that satisfaction of social needs of employees is required for efficiency and better growth. Thus organization is viewed by these social scientists as various group of systems with ‘social system’ as part of it focusing on the informal and formal relations, Management-Employee communication etc as parameters. This social system interacts with environment to impact the overall growth of the organization which can be viewed as the Systems Approach or Systems Theory propounded later. Thus Barnard’s CSE can be rightly concluded as the preliminary stage of Systems view.

6th September 2016

Syllabus – Ecology and administration;

Discuss the importance of ecological factors in decision making.[200 Words]

Raj’s Answer with some improvements;

Decision making is a process under which an administrator seeks to solve a problem by using various methods. Ecological factors refers to the surrounding factors on administration like society, economy, political culture, family etc.

Their effect on decision making:

Society determines the social conditioning of the administrators, gives various inputs in policy, responds to different stimulus differently, has its own taboos and culture. All this has huge bearing on the decision making in administration. Eg.Hindu code of bill, A17, Secularism etc
Polity: can be balanced or unbalanced. The political leaders may dominate and force the decision making to be biased towards their constituencies’ favour. Similarly bureaucrats may dominate and lead to a decision making in their group interests. Eg.Historical familiarity is the main reason why we chose Parliamentary democracy
Economy: has its own pulls and pushes. Different sectors’ needs often are in contrast. E.g. Steel manufacturers and steel product manufacturer related controversy.
Temporal Context – We are a federal state with strong centre; We made that decision because of Partition and other fissiparous tendencies;
Geographical Context – Japanese govt has to do whale – policy making in the context of its fish eating population;
Technological context – Decision making can be based on better tech; Eg. Garv for DDU-GJY;

This way ecological factors act decision making. Thus an efficient administrator is one understands and balances these nuances well and leads the administrator towards public welfare.

Syllabus – Ecology and administration;

“Even the most developed nations have prismatic features” Explain and substantiate. [200 words]

Riggisian Prismatic structure was criticised as even the diffracted societies have prismatic features which Riggs condoned as Market imperfections and failures while criticising Prismatic societies for their Norm-lessness and rituals;

Some Prismatic features in Developed Nations

Formalism: Refers to the incongruence between what is prescribed and what is followed; Eg.Many developed countries like US, Britain, Japan have “dynasties ruling in a democracy”;
Heterogeneity: Refers to simultaneous presence of various structures and various ways of legitimising those structures; Eg.Drug Cartels in US coexist with state structures; Generally US doesn’t tolerate parallel state structures, but in its foreign policy it intervenes into the sovereign affairs of other nations;
PolyNormativism: Refers to to the non-crystallisation of norms and values; Eg.Switzerland has one of the most transparent Bureaucracy and one of the most opaque banking institutions;
PolyCommunalism: Refers to the presence of clects which are mutually hostile interest groups; Gun Lobby, Jewish Lobby, Big Pharma etc lobby for their interests at the cost of general interest;
Demarcation of de facto and de jure authority: Eg. Crony capitalists fund the contesting candidates and gets support in quid pro quo in US, Germany, France, UK etc often acting as de facto authorities;
Bazar-Canteen Atributes: Refers to the existence of differential pricing based on ascriptive attributes; Eg.Different Visa security deposits for different countries US to control immigration;
Nepotism: Partiality towards kin and kith in decision making; Eg.Power structures are often linked with family ties; In the Recent Panama leaks many such ruling families were exposed;

Hence it can be said that Prismatic features are universal and any blanket classification becomes an over-simplification of complex phenomenon called society;

Syllabus – Revision; NPM;

“The advent of the concept of “roll back of the state” since the nineteen eighties has been altering the role of Public Administration but certainly not diminishing its central place in human society.” (200 words)

Raj’s Answer.

Roll back of state is emphasized by the neo-right paradigms such as NPM, New public choice school of thought.

How it altered public administration:

It paved way for adoption of market principles such as user fee, contracting out, value for money etc.
It paved way for more competition by letting private bodies also operate to deliver goods and public services.
It paved way for downsizing, rightsizing etc in personnel administration. Thus reducing the size of public administration.

Yet the public administration is and will remain central in maintaining and changing society.

It is needed to regulate the functioning of the market. And ensure competition, safety, meeting of norms.
It needs to still operate in certain areas which the market find find unviable or unprofitable such as rural roads, atomic energy research.
It needs to be an upholder of values and agent of change.
It needs to ensure regulatory functions such as national security etc are carried on smoothly.
A central body is needed to ensure pan national synergy, representation of national interest in international forums etc. Public administration has a role here.

Syllabus – Application question on Ecology and Administration;

The theoretical evolution of Public Administration is essentially ‘ecological’. Elucidate

According to Riggs, Ecology affects the Administration and in turn is affected by it; The evolution of Public administration is essentially ecological – Following is the elucidation.

Kautilya’s Arthasastra envisages derivation of power from the Devine King as it was written in an Aristocracy; Same can be said of Machiavelli’s Prince;
Affected by the negativities of Spoils system, Wilson promoted Public administration which was business like and envisaged Politics – administration dichotomy;
Being from a society mired with soldiering, strikes etc Taylor aimed for the efficiencies on the Shop floor and devised scientific management which envisaged “metal revolution”;
Impressed by the solidarity of Bureaucracy(B) while it was suffering from pejorative connotations Weber theorised B as the legal rational and most efficient of all forms of authority; Weberian emphasis on capitalism and spirit of Protestant ethics as precondition for need of bureaucracy is ecological in nature;
Distressed by the lack of universal principles in the era of “Unified theories in Science” Fayol, Gullick and Urwick proposed Classical theory;
Western industrialism and need to push for efficiency led to ignorance of human values, ultimately resulting in low morale and loss of productivity in some factories. (Mr.Ford famously said All I need is two pair of hands, but I get a human with it) Mayo gave humanistic element after other structuralists failed to take human aspect into consideration;
Rigg’s comparative administration was the result of the then enthusiasm in rebuilding the world after WW2 and in the backdrop of generous funding from Ford foundation;
Public Choice approach developed only when existing public interest theories failed in service delivery;
New Public administration was radical for giving relevance to PA in the era of step motherly treatment for PA from Political science fraternity;
NPM was the result of rightist governments;
Good Governance and NPS were theorised in an attempt to understand the relevance of PA in delivering goods while balancing rights of citizens and duties of the state in the neoliberal era;

Hence it can be concluded that the Public administration was thoroughly affected by ecology in its evolution;

Syllabus – Factors affecting administrative systems;

What in your opinion are the Historical and sociological factors affecting administrative systems; Explain with examples. [250 words]

In my opinion following are the historical and sociological factors affecting Administrative systems;

Long years of rule by foreign powers; Eg.India’s protectionism was because of this.
Despotic Kings Eg. Nepal underwent many transitions because of despotic monarchy; Saudi Arabia follows despotic welfarism to obviate revolutions;
Culture based on Consensus (US, UK and to an extent India) and Conflicts(Central African Republic, South Sudan, Kosovo)
Anarchy (Egypt and Tunisia during Jasmine transition)
Violent disruptions during the transfer of power. (Communist Chile became democratic Chile, Shaw was deposed off during the Islamic revolution in Iran)
A culture of affirmative action to bring inclusivity (India, South Africa, US)
Centralising(After partition) and decentralising(cooperative competitive fedaralism) trends in Administration.

7th September 2016

Syllabus – Current status of CPA;

“Truly comparative administration studies are empirical, nomothetic & ecological.”(Riggs). In this perspective, examine the current status of comparative public administration. [200 words]

Theoretical underpinnings of Comparative PA(CPA) were rarely put to practice and were rarely based on objective data. It tried being Nomothetic in its approach and yet lack of its application meant the absence of scientific vigour. Ecological beginnings were appreciated but it had a distinct western bias;

Contemporary CPA is more

Empirical :-

Theoretical emphasis was abandoned;
Empirical approach with logical positivism as a compass for decision making;
More data is available in the era of post modernism empowered with digital technologies and Internationalism through WB, IMF, Transparency International, WEF, UN specialised agencies, WTO etc meant that Objective analysis is now done by International forces without American funding and perspective.

Nomothetic :-

Theory aimed at generalisation in CPA after comparing it with various systems in the era of globalisation.
Succesful models are replicated by learning from each other. For instance Bharat stage standards on air pollution are replication of Euro standards;
Yet, some of the local examples are replicated in New Localism paradigm. Hence specialisation and generalisation run hand in hand in CPA. AYUSH, PRI etc serve as examples.

Ecological :-

Pluralism is being slowly internalised in CPA against its “unidirectional” approach. The raise of Communist China is case in point.
“One size fits for all” is being slowly abandoned even at “intra” level giving raise to cooperative federalism;
Non-state actors are increasingly replacing state actors and hence bring “New Localism” into the picture;

Although Comparative Administrative Group had its demise, CPA continues to thrive with cross fertilisation of ideas in an increasingly interconnected world of globalisation.

Syllabus – Riggs;

“Riggs’ ecological approach is non-ecological.” Comment [200 words]

Riggs aimed to undertake an ecological approach towards studying and arriving at a final theory for different administrative stuctures in various nation. That is he tried to explain the interrelationships between the society and the administration.

However there are certain criticisms that explains how he could not be truly ecological:

He took the characters of developed societies as diffracted for granted. He did not studied prevalence of prismatic factors there.
He did not studied the dynamics of developing societies fully, for ex when the heterogeneity can be beneficial for the stability and democracy in a nation like India.
The fused societies that are self sufficient and do not need diffraction as a standard of development, For ex tribals enjoying self governance in India, may become a better model of sustainable development in era of climate change.
Riggs’ view of integration as a result of penetration and participation is also problematic. Other factors such as strong leadership, unity of interests, communication also becomes important.
Riggs can also be charged to have ignored the basic core of public administration that is equity and welfare that all systems must be aiming at the ideal stage, and also during an ideal transitional period. Thus empiricism is also non ecological during the present era of good governance.
Unidirectional transition was assumed! This is not ecological as well

Nevertheless the contribution of Riggs is seminal in Public administration as it helps understand different administrative structures around the world.

Some additions can be.

American centric in Nature; Took other systems as primitive;
American failures were “Market imperfections and failures”; Sala’s failures were because of “Normless ness and rituals”
Riggs opposed formalism; Gandhian Talisman or Affirmative action can be considered Positive formalism – and can be useful for “equity” as against “equality” emphasised by Riggs;
Unidirectional transition was assumed! This is not ecological at all;
Interrelationships between various subsystems in the ecological model is completely neglected;

Syllabus – Prismatic Sala model;

The prismatic sola model “enables us to cope with many problems of transitional societies….” (Riggs). What are these problems and how can this model enables us to cope with them. [200 words]

Raj’s Answer.

The various problems highlighted by the prismatic sala model of the transitional societies are;

Unbalanced polity: the bureaucracy dominates unmatured political leadership. The reasons are historical i.e. during colonial rule the administration develops and polity lags behind.
Over-centralization of authority happens due to lack of skilled personnel. This also leads to power misuse, low morale, and slow adaptation to change in environment.
Formalism leads to delay.
Clect formation also hampers efficient and effective functioning of administrative systems.
Bazar-Canteen approach adopted by administration leads to exploitation of poor masses.

These problems can be solved by endogenetic change from the society. That is, as the polity gradually matures, education spreads, awareness raises. The administrative structure gets more differentiated and integrated by the forces of change led by participation of the people.

Syllabus – Riggs;

‘Riggs approach and models may be considered as more sophisticated tools for describing and diagnosing administrative situations.’ [200 words]

Riggs approach and models may be considered more sophisticated tools as:

They are not just prescriptive but are descriptive and help diagnose the issues of administrative structures more critically as well.
Unlike previous models they aim and succeed to considerable extent in arriving at generalizations and theories defining different administrative structures across the world.
They are ecological as they also aim to give analysis of dynamics of relationship between society and the administrative structures.
The use of structural-functional approach, ideal model further sophisticates the models and approach of Riggs.

Thus Riggs model can be said to be a great improvement over previous models.

Some additional points

Comparisons lead to cross-fertilisation of Ideas; For instance our NJAC for instance was a modified British model. Helps in diagnosing and solving;
Prismatic described problems of third world in nomothetic model – these are broad generalisations and they point to simplistic solutions;
Classification is actually helped; For instance, it is obvious that solutions that can be prescribed for China can be useful in ASEAN and India;

8th September 2016

Syllabus – Woman and Development;

Show in what way the Gender and Development approach differs from the Woman and Development approach.

From the French revolution’s Declaration of Rights of Women by revolutionary women Olympe de gouges to Rani Laxmibai’s fight,growth of Gender and development approach has bearing fruits in modern day through women succeeding in almost all fields of human endeavour. This led to moving closer to the inclusive, empowered, liberal, equity based society. But denying gay rights in societies like India has led to set back to Gender and development approach[GDA] which is central to reaching the real inclusive society.

GDA Bringing a perspective of entire humanity(men, women, LGBT etc) whereas Women & Dev Approach[WDA] is still a partial one.
GDA is seen usually through constitutional legal means whereas WDA is seen through cultural and traditional means in even in various societies.
GDA progress is still in ‘fight for rights’ whreas WDA progess is ‘upholding rights’
GDA is attached to improving morals but WDA is connected more to ethical behaviour.
GDA will be faster in contemporary society of rational thinking whreas WDA passed through phase of critical nature due to problems of illiteracy, ignorance.

Development of society with all encompassing nature having attributes of equality and liberty can be achieved through progress from WDA to GDA.

Additional reading Material – Courtesy Chacha;

In 1972 Ann Oakley, was able to distinguish the difference between sex and gender. Gender refers to one’s sexuality based on masculinity and femininity and sex refers to the biological features of one physiology.

Women in development (WID) approach, was originated as a result of three major feminist moments/waves concerning feminine conditions. The first two were due to the feminist waves. The first wave also known as women’s suffrage movement, originated in the North America back in the late 19th century, when women fought for the equal right to vote and participate in politics. The second-wave of feminism sought to deal with the remaining social and cultural inequalities women were faced with in everyday affair i.e. sexual violence, reproductive rights, sexual discrimination and glass ceilings. The second wave was very controversial however the women’s movement was very influential that the UN organized the first global conference on women back in 1975 at Mexico. The conference sought to address nations role on fighting gender inequalities and support women’s right. The third was influenced by Ester Boserup (1970) publication on “Women’s Role in Economic Development”. “The book sent a shock wave through northern development agencies and humanitarian organization” (pg 93). She states and gave empirical results of how increasingly specialized division of labor associated with development undermines or neglects the value of women’s work and status especially in the developing world. As it explains why women were being deprived an equal share among men in social benefits and economic gains. Boserup book had an influence on making women more visible in development approach and as a specific category when addressing women in development. In 1973, the US congress implemented a bill, which required the USAID to include women in development programs. The WID approach helped to ensure, the integration of women into the workforce and increase their level of productivity in order to improve their lives.

The women and development (WAD) approach originated back in 1975 in Mexico city, as it sort to discuss women’s issues from a neo-Marxist and dependency theory perspective. Its focus was to “explain the relationship between women and the process of capitalist development in terms of material conditions that contribute to their exploitation” (pg 95). WAD is often misinterpreted as WID, however what sets it apart is that, WAD focuses specifically on the relation between patriarchy and capitalism. The WAD perspective states that women have always participated and contributed towards economic development, regardless of the public or private spheres.

The Gender and development approach originated in the 1980s by socialist feminism. It serve as a transitioning point in the way in which feminist have understood development. It served as a comprehensive overview of the social, economic and political realities of development. It origin relates back to the Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) network, when it was first initiated in India. The DAWN program was then officially recognized in 1986 during the 3rd UN conference on women in Nairobi. The conference brought about activist, researcher and development practitioners globally.

Syllabus – Changing profile of development administration; Antidevelopment thesis; Bureaucracy and development;

“Adaptive, problem-solving, temporary systems of diverse specialists, linked together by coordinating executives in an organic flux-this is original form that will gradually replace bureaucracy”. Discuss, in the light of this statement, the ‘end of bureaucracy’ thesis and its strengths and limitations.

Raj’s Answer + Some improvements;

End of bureaucracy thesis argues that bureaucracy is not suitable for development. It is more suitable for maintaining status quo due to its rule boundedness character. Whereas the development requires affecting rapid change and also adapting to rapid change.

Strengths of this thesis:

It exposes weaknesses of classical bureaucracy in terms of its suitability to bring rapid development in rapidly changing societies.
It propose new models as solution which empirically are successful especially in private sector.

Limitations

It ignores the need of stability, predictability and continuity in administration that are served by classical bureaucracy.
Certain features of classical bureaucracy will remain relevant to public administration forever such impartiality, rationality, scientism etc.

Therefore a middle path for new administrative structures need to be struck. The ideal model with Weberian features such as those mentioned in the weaknesses and new features such as innovativeness, sensitivity, participative etc needs to be evolved and adopted.

Syllabus – Bureaucracy and Development

Many African and Asian countries have inherited the colonial idea of civil service as a privileged elite. Hence, the social status of the civil services is an important aspect of the bureaucracy’s unsuitability for change. Comment.

ThirdEye’s Answer.

Weber’s bureaurcratic Model of domination is prevalent initially through complete control on decision making, imposing rigid rules, hierarchy which is process oriented but post colonial countries inherited in addition a practice of domination through behavioural aspects like social status, privileged position and high-handedness, self aggrandizement. This led to its inability to change in modern societies dut to its initial impact.

Using positional authority to personal benefits in prismatic societies.
Using social status leading to nepotism, corruption etc
Dominance in policy making which impact marginal societies Ex: exploitation of economic means like agricultural land etc
Creating work for themselves as per Parkinson’s Law to uphold social status and career advancement.

Bringing Likert’s participative, consultative approach of leadership in bureaucracy, Kautilya’s view of benevolent authority, Barnard’s Social system and authority acceptance etc into bureaucracy will help in bringing harmony of societal expectations and bureaucratic purpose in modern societies. Social status of Bureaucracy make Administrative giants but ethical infants and bringing compassion, empathy,and integrity will help in bringing expected change.

Syllabus – Woman and Development;

“SHG-way is the Do it yourself model for development” Discuss the statement with special reference to Mahila E-Haat;

Deepika’s Answer + Some improvements;

Kofi Anan has rightly said :There is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women .One of the proven best ways to bring in economic and social empowerment is through SHGs.

SHG are the small village groups aims at building credit and savings which are used for their economic and social development. Each member contributes to form a corpus which revolves among them at smaller interest rates.

It helps in:

1)Economic independence of women and employment generation

2)Regular meetings of groups acts a platform to discuss and act on social issues like health,nutrition,domestic violence etc.

3)Financial inclusion:Bank linkage SHG program started by NABARD helps in achieving this.

SHG enables women to get finance and make products but they are facing problem in finding market and selling them.To overcome this,

Recently launched Mahila-E-Haat program is a good step.It is an online marketing platform to facilitate women entrepreneurs to sell their products to buyers.

1)It encourages more women to become entrepreneurs; It connects potential customers with potential producers;

2)Online platform ensures wide participation which increases competition and there by rise in quality of products.

3)Inclusive growth is possible.

4)Gives boost to local products – Localism at work. Handicrafts can also gain from GI tags;

To gain more from this initiative, Government,NGOs ,media etc need to create wide awareness about this platform

9th September 2016

Syllabus – Changing profile of development administration;

The term development Administration can be used only in a broad sense to mark the variety of approaches and point of view. Discuss

Development Administration refers to administration of policies, programmes, and projects in a way that leads to socio economic development of a nation as a priority.

Variety of approaches:

Epistemological: It is administration of development as separate from administration of regulatory functions. The drawback here is that both are interrelated.
Organizational: that is establishment and sound functioning of weberian administrative structures. But this view ignores social development.
Broader or Ecological: Most accepted view. It argues that development is an ongoing process of increasing autonomy, independence, choices with the people.
Fundamentalists view development as going back to the mystical glorious past. But the present has already progressed in many ways over the past.
Environmental: approach talks about the meeting needs of not only the present generations but also the future generations, that is, sustainable development.
Feminist: talks about mending the gender bias in the development process. By recognising the role and scope of involvement of women.
Good Governance talks about enabling the governments across the nations to carry out the rapid socio-economic growth.

The point to be noted here is that development means different things to different people. Thus rather than adopting one best top down approach the focus of public administration should be empowering and enabling the people to develop as they wish.

Syllabus – Women and Development , The SHG movement.

Self-help groups have not only empowered women, but have also brought about attitudinal change among all stakeholders towards women development. Discuss

Self help groups are affinity based homogeneous female groups of 10-20 members. They provide micro-finance facilities to the group members in form of savings, credit, etc. This has led to empowerment of woman because :

a) Secures financial independence – eg. DWKRA, Podupu
b) Provides livelihood opportunities – agriculture, animal husbandry, etc
c) Capability development(Amartya Sen) – Eg. Kudumbasree – Leadership qualities; Increased voter turnout.
d) Increased say in household decision making
e) Participation in community – Eg. Thrift facilities, cooperatives.
f) Collective ownership, Collective bargaining, Collective decision making; Interpersonal skills; SHG empowered women took leadership roles in PRIs and ULBs;

At the same as women empowerment is happening, changes in attitudes are visible as well :

1) Husband – recognizes value of wife’s input in family income which improve gender relations. – “Care taker has turned Bread winner”

2) Politicians – recognize female’s vote-power as SHG has become important tool of political mobilization; Recent Bihar de-alcoholisation;

3) Government – recognize female as integral part of development process. Standup India, Nai Manzil, Nai Rahat, Udaan, BBBP, etc etc

4) Children – respect their independent working mother more

5) Women – Attitude towards her responsibilities changes

Thus, SHG has brought widespread transformation.

Some Addition’s from SBM

Stake holders

Society

Political role : PRI providing 33% reservation have yielded partial result in many regions . In some places where women headed panchayats basic aminities proved to be better than those by men . So they can make better administrators. (BTW some states like Bihar is giving 50% reservation, which meant 54% women in PRIs)
Social harmony : women from various religion, caste come together to form self help group . They can help in building social harmony .

Within government

1.Financial management = Gender budgeting

2.Policies = Some schemes empower women by considering them head of family , before availing benefits of schemes.

Ex : NFSA women is head of family in the ration cards . India awaas yojana, women is head of family .

3.Administrative role : emphasis on women administrator has increased . Need for increased number of women felt in police department. Bihar recently reserved 35% reservation in government jobs .

Entrepreneurs : standup India

Family

Attitudinal change : when women go to work , men are forced to work for better pay- patriarchal society .
Swacch Bharath – women for security reasons and for health of child force to get a toilet at home . This improves health of family.

Syllabus – Strong state vs Market debate.

Economic reforms are a work in progress, with the state reluctant to fully relinquish its reins. Discussion the statement with regard to implementation of economic reforms in India.

Syllabus – Revision;

The criticisms stating Fayol’s principles as ‘cold-blooded engineering’ with no regard for human element seem selective and exaggerated. Critically Comment. (250 Words)

In the era of industrialism and efficient production Fayol’s theory was criticised for being cold blooded engineering;

For instance, Discipline, Unity of direction, Unity of command, Scalar Chain, Centralisation, Order etc were strictly managerial and structural aspects and didn’t properly account for human element; While emphasis on structure is exaggerated the emphasis on subject matter is selective.

But there are some human elements in his classical theory;

Subordination of Individual interest to general interest was a value loaded concept of compassion.
Remuneration and stability of tenure were herzberg’s hygiene factors;
Initiative was a Maslowian esteem need;
Espirit de corps is more formal articulation of informal groups envisaged by human relations school.

Moreover Fayol himself held that these principles were not sacrosanct and their relative importance may increase or decease giving flexibility;

Hence it can be said that the comment in the question, tries to interpret Fayol’s theory as narrow while the comment itself is narrow interpretation.

Some additions from DudMalai –

Classical was humanistic because :

a) Catered to lower order needs – requisite of the contemporary times.(“Ecology”)
b) End task was raising efficiency, economy and productivity and giving workers high pay – which is humanistic thinking.
c) Specialization/Division of labor recognized individual talents/aptitudes and encourage specialization in that domain -> thus humanistic
d) Utilizes labor through dividing job, so unemployment low, even if low pay -> thus humanistic.

Classical approach has to be understood in the ecological way – demands of the times, scientific progress and so on.

10th September 2016 – Insights Optional Test -2;

Syllabus – Organizations; Simon and Bernard from Prasad and Prasad

Decisions are not made by organizations, but by human beings behaving as the members of organizations. How do Bernard and Herbert A. Simon conceptualize the relation between decision of the individual employee and the organizational authority? (250 words)

Syllabus – Public Choice theory;

“A variety of different organizational arrangement can be used to provide different public goods and services” Example the theory underlying this proposition and its potential contribution. (200 words)

Syllabus – Barnard’s zone of indifference, Simon’s Zone of acceptance, Upward influence;

What is the nature of psychological contract pursued by organizational management through authority and employees through exertion of upward influence? (200 words)

Syllabus – Organisations; Contingency theory;

Structural theory is, by and large, grounded in classical principles of efficiency, effectiveness & productivity. Explain. (200 words)

Syllabus – CPA

Comparative Public Administration both resembles and differs from modern organization theory. elaborate. (200 words)

Syllabus – Application question on Organisations;

In organizational analysis, there is always gender around (Gouldner). Argue. (200 words)

Syllabus – Application question on Pub ad; Weberian perspective + Colonial legacy in S Asia and Africa + France – Unstable republic + Pak – Unstable democracy;

What is Administrative elitism? How does it evolve in Public Administration? elaborate your response with reference to historical examples. (200 words)

Syllabus – Budgetary Process;

What new models of budgetary capacity and incapacity have emerged after the decline of planning programming budgeting and zero based budgeting? (200 words)

TBB was introduced widely by Reagan . The target or ceiling for spending of any department is fixed by the top executive. The agency has to mange within that limit. Instead of traditional bottom-up, it’s top down. The biggest advantage is that the chief executive can allocate resources to the field of his choice to the detriment of other programs. Like if Modi wants a clean Ganga at any cost. He will cut allocations to health and education ministries. He will ask them to mange somehow in 10000 crores(even if it is very less than their previous year allocations). He will pump the resources thus saved into the Ganga ministry.

Notice how it differs from ZBB. ZBB will assess the need for budgetry allocations to any program from the scratch. But if it’s really important, the program will get some allocation(even though truncated). TBB doesn’t care about alternatives. If the funding to education ministry is cut, the Education minister will have to choose between SSA and MDM(since he has to mange within a limited budget). No matter how important these programs are, according to him.

Budgeting by objectives is an extension of mangement by objectives. The targets and allocations are set by subordinates by consultation with their seniors. There’s some nok-jhok. The joint secretary may ask for 1000 crore to open 100 new schools. The additional secretary will ask him to mange in 900. They will argue and come to a compromise of 950 crore. The difference between TBB and BBO is that in TBB, the top executive alone sets the ceilings. BBO is carried on throughout the organization between every superior-sub-ordinate pair. also, TBB just sets the ceiling without any consulation. BBO being a participatory technique relies heavily on consultaion and negotiation.

Participatory budgeting goes outside the organization boundaries for prepraing the budgets.

1) Community members identify spending priorities and select budget delegates 2) Budget delegates develop specific spending proposals, with help from experts 3) Community members vote on which proposals to fund 4) The city or institution implements the top proposals. Thus, the stakeholders are very directly involved in budgeting process. But this can be implemented only at local level. At national level, it’s scalability will become a problem.

Syllabus – Budgetary Process; Target based budgeting, Budgeting by objectives, participatory budgeting, Outcome budget and Gender budget.

Budget allocations involves series of tensions between actors with different orientations and interests and between the short term goals and long term institutional requirements. Discuss. (200 words)

Syllabus – First and Second Chapter.

“Calling Woodrow Wilson, the father of Public Administration is doing injustice to equally or even more eminent contributions made prior to him.” Comment. (200 words)

11th September 2016 – Sunday

12th September 2016

Syllabus – Employee-Employer relations;

Analyse the relevance of Whitleyism in contemporary employer — employee relationship. (200 words)

Whitley councils(WC) are Joint industrial councils working as a link between Employers and Employees (or trade unions) in UK;

Relevance in Employee-Employer Relationship

Redue the strikes – Increase the efficiency of the organisation; No ban on strikes and yet no strikes in UK! (We should have these in India!)
Inclusive – takes the demands of “National, Regional and Local” councils;
Participatory approach to problem solving; Can be seen as an implementation of conflict resolution proposed by Follet; Generally win-win!!!
Uses both informal and formal mechanisms; Hence speedy dispute resolution;
Increases in the “Job security, Job satisfaction” and hence no Precariat in UK- (Use Herzberg here)

Just say, that for a sustainable relationship between employee and employer WCs are a tried and tested solution.

Thirdeye’s Answer

To deal with conflict managment and to establish concept of integration and compromise as per Follet. Ex: Cabinet Secretariat mediating b/w departments in India.
To make employees understand the organizational goals and help them in integrating their individual goals with those of organization as proposed by Argyris. Ex: Clubs like Toastmasters, Technical forums etc
To deal with quick decision making in critical conditions like natural disasters, war etc Ex: Adhoc Committees with officials and employees in paramilitary forces
To express concerns of both employers, employees through Bargaining model of Lindblom in bodies like trade Unions.
Balancing interests of both in economic crisis situations like Recession, Depression etc and dealing with conditions of firing, incentives, bonuses etc.
Cooperation can be achieved in increasing productivity through involving employees in management as said by Taylor.

Relevance of Whitleyism is increasing in modern day due to increased globalization, competition, cost cutting etc problems of organisations and is a must for organisations to sustain.

Syllabus – Administrative Ethics;

Distinguish between ‘Codes of Conduct’ and ‘Codes of Ethics’. Justify your answer. (200 words)

Just the Framework.

Code of Conduct is often specifically prescribed e.g.All India service rules; (Recently they were amended thanks to the activism from Modi). Crossing these rules will invite a disciplinary action and hence its a Coercive approach to the practice of morality.

Code of ethics is on the other hand more general prescription and proscription of values, generally endogenous to a person, but sometimes can also be prescribed by law ( Yeah, No kidding, 2nd ARC has proposed “code of ethics” – as part of Civil Services Law, containing integrity, Impartiality, commitment to public service, accountability etc) They tend to be subjective – and hence difficult to enforce.

Syllabus – Performance Appraisal;

“Comparative Performance Measurement (CPM) bridges everyday work experience with the broader horizons of comparativism.” (200 words)

Broad framework.

Assumption I am reading “broader horizons of comparatives” as larger goals of comparativism.

How does CPM behave as bridge?

CPM is – Inter-eomployee and Intra-employee; Inter employee comparison refers to comparing with equals (For analysing how well an employee is performing) and comparing with superiors/seniors (For acknowledging, what employee needs to do to get there)
“Intra employee” – is about the performance graph of the person as a progression. This will tell the employee whether he/she is performing better or poorer; In a knowledge economy, as the knowledge increases the employee’s ability to perform increases – but the actual performance may depend on the overall morale. Hence this gives feedback about every day work experience.
CPM promotes cross fertilisation of ideas between management and employee as this is the time realities are checked with assumptions;
A transparent CPM promotes learning, improves motivation, boost confidence – system-4 basically!

Syllabus – Position Classification

“The position-classification attempts to establish a triangular relationship between duties and responsibilities, working conditions and qualification requirements.” (200 words)

SBM’s answer

Position classification aids in classification of employees and identify their position depending on various parameters . If qualifications can be basis on which he is given the position , it is the duties and responsibilities that enforced to create suitable working conditions to execute enforced factor .

Qualification requirement

Recruitment is the process to fill the position. And qualification of requirements become basis.

It may be direct recruitment selecting on merit from large pool or recruitment from within the services .

Ex : RBI governor must be well versed with Indian economy.

Duties and responsibilities

The basis on which recruitment is done is to make sure candidate has aptitude to perform duties and responsibilities assigned to him .

Ex : MPC gave target for RBI governor. Code of conduct , code of ethics

Working conditions

This is to motivate him to perform his duties and responsibilities. Maslows hierarchy, flexibility etc.

Position classification emphasises on Qualification for a particular position so that duties and responsibilities can be fulfilled. Moreover Working conditions help the employee to fulfil the responsibilities using their qualification.

Ex :stable tenure of 4 years to an RBI governor .

Syllabus – British Civil services;

British philosophy of Administration is based on a unification of science of Administration with ethics. Analyze. (200 words)

Just the Framework;

The science part

Hierarchy – Scientific classification; Generalist approach; Career bureaucracy;
Anonymity (Ministerial responsibility – Minister countersigns)
Political neutrality – Most apolitical bureaucracy!! Truly professional;
Objectivity;

Legal rational bureaucracy seems Status quoist – But not British Administration. Here comes the ethics part.

Ethics

Espirit De corps – Ethics are passed down from one generation to the next;
Social boycott is regularly followed against the Corrupt and allegedly corrupt.
Strict Code of conduct; Both letter and spirt;

(Indian laws are needlessly exhaustive, if a Bureaucrat is buying a car for his wife he may have to report this under the code of conduct; But then so much of anecdotal evidence suggest that these rules hardly work – and hence we make more rules, Benami act etc etc)

When values are ingrained in services – they self regulate, the way British Administration does. (2nd ARC feels we have so much to learn from British Admin! Veerappa Moily couldn’t have put it any better)

13th September 2016

Syllabus – Models of policy-making and their critique;

“In the appreciative systems of policy makers, goals are subsidiary to norms and values.” (Vickers). Explain. (200 words)

Vickers’ Appreciative system of Policy making (ASPM) which uses feedback mechanism is in direct contrast with Goal-setting which uses linear causal chains (i.e Cause and effect relationship);

ASPM assumes that decision makers’ (either individuals or society as a whole) ability to notice the ecology and ability to discriminate between choices are a function of various Values and Norms of the situation.

(Here drawing a diagram would be good – explaining the cyclical nature)

Each context comes with a set of Values, Norms which are guided by society; Appreciation of a fact is dependent on these norms/values; Eg. India came out of foreign rule; Policy makers understood that foreign rule was a direct result of foreign trade.

Such appreciation leads to noticing a fact and regulating the fact, i.e changing the norms and values; Eg. So, India policy makers at the time of independence took a decision to protect the domestic industry from foreign influence. Later, we realised protectionism was monopolising markets; Hence we opened our markets; Goals here are clearly subsidiary to the values and norms.

Chacha’s additions:

Appreciation (or feedback) is a complex system of understanding actors behaviour based on reality and value judgements.

He identifies a three step process for reaching at a judgement:

Reality judgements.. What actually is

Value judgement..What was the expected behavior based on a predetermined agreement or understanding

Instrumental judgement: how the gap b/w value judgement and reality judgment is reduced and differences reconciled.

With this complex appreciation system it matters less what goal is what matters is how actors behave and how the second person perceives it.

Syllabus – Models of policy-making and their critique;

“The concept of political feasibility in policy alternative is a probabilistic concept and is related to each policy alternative.” In the context of the above statement analyse Dror’s contribution. (200 words)

“Political feasibility analysis” (PFA) is to predict the probable choice of an alternative amongst the plausible policy alternatives taking into account of various stakeholders, their ideological inclinations, socio-economic-political context etc. (And this is where extra-rational elements come in)

Dror contributed with – “Optimal model of decision making which takes both rational and extra rational factors into consideration”

So in the PFA each alternative is judged by rational and extra rational considerations; Most probable (that is the one with greater probability of acceptance and least probability of rejection) here is generally more preferred;

Just explore the Gujrat’s anti-terror act to explain your position. Now why was it sent back by President?

It was against “Right to Privacy” – A21
It was against natural justice; Confession before police was made admissible as evidence; given the fact that we don’t have policy for “torture” this is not in synch with existing extra-rational values;
It was against central law (This is a rational factor, others are extra-rational)

Central govt sent it back using both rational and extra rational factors weighing it against the political feasibility.

Syllabus – Models of policy-making and their critique;

According to Y.Dror, “the science of muddling through is essentially a reinforcement of pro inertia and anti-innovation ideas in policy-making.” Comment (200 words)

SBM’s answer

Dror criticised incremental approach as status quo and lack innovation . according to him , this kind of approach fails when past polices have failed and tries to seek stability .

The science of muddling through is a policy making approach given by lindblooom. This approach acknowledged constraints of time , cost and hence called for disjointed incrementalism . In this , policy maker chooses the existing policy as the base and tries to make comparison for current problems to incorporate solution to the problem .

Status quo

The approach does not look for transformative changes , and wishes for a incremental change . Successive limited comparison

Old policy might not have evolved properly

Anti innovation

begins with current policy to make changes .

Against ” root ” approach taken by many other scholars .

Peace meal approach

However , incrementalism is most used approach , because :

Sunk cost : Government has invested huge in cost , time , energy .

Ex : MGNREGA was 2006 policy , huge investment has been made in the personnel , training etc so it is better to incorporate solutions to problems and accordingly bring changes than scrap the scheme .

Uncertainty of new policy

Ex : SJGSY failed to lift poverty and thus Hashim committee recommended for SHG approach, thus came Ajivika.

Speedier process , safer and better option .

Since in today’s context no single approach can suit every problem . Hence one need to follow ” show me the problem , I will show the model”.

Syllabus – Models of policy-making and their Critique;

Charles Lindblom’s “Muddling through” is the right description for India’s Kashmir policy. Do you agree? (UPSC won’t ask such questions! This is just for Conceptual clarity) (200 words)

ThirdEyes’Answer

Lindblom’s ‘Muddling Through’ cannot be the right description for Kashmir problem as,

Incrementalism leads to progress though microscopic in nature. Kashmir status at present is more or less same relative to 1948 and minimal progress on core issue of sovereignty except for areas like terrorism, people-people relations etc
Kashmir progress was undone through various events like infiltration, Bangladesh liberation, Kargil War etc. Incremental progress if at all happened is negated most of the times.
Unbalanced polity of Pakistan(military control) and Indian balanced polity are not equal parties while negotiating for the terms and conditions. There is no formal discussion through all stakeholders like military, govt etc of Pakistan collectively with India so far.
Incrementalism can be possible on a core issue and progress can be measured against time. But Kashmir problem is mired in other issues like terrorism, separatist views, siachen, Sir creek etc problems rather focus on single issue diluting the process.

Lindblom’s ‘Art of Muddling Through’ can be applied to Kashmir if the negotiating parties are on equal footing focusing on core issues with incremental progress which can be measured relative to the earlier positions taken by parties but is not the case currently with the relative positions taken by both the countries India and Pakistan.

One can argue the other way round too.

Instrument of the accession was signed; Communication, Defence and external affairs were ceded to the Indian Parliament; 1948;
Kashmir got a special status – A370; 1952;
Many presidential orders made sure that most of the Indian laws were extended directly to Kashmir; Case by case.
The names of the head of the government and state have changed; Now they are called CM and Governor in line with other states;

Of course this slow integration is regularly sabotaged by our dear neighbour.

Syllabus – Employee-Employer relations.

“Trade unionism is more predominant than work ethics in Indian industries.” Elaborate and suggest ways to improve work ethics. (200 words)

Trade unionism and work ethics are equivalent to rights and duties in the civil society. Narrow and coercive outlook of the industrialist class created practices such as exploitation, unhealthy work conditions, low wages etc. This resulted in a labour class which began to demand wages, call strikes and force productivity stoppage. In this environment of mutual distrust their acts continue to cause loss. As a result, Indian industries are places where most labor are bereft of physiological needs.

Giving up the coercive approach and negative assumptions, management and labor should work in the direction of mutual benefit. Work in ethics can be expected if petty conflicts are avoided by consensus and workers inculcate sense of belongingness. Certain measures can be undertaken –

Making labor aware of the significance of the job they are doing.
Arranging for good rest places, creches for women, better wages and adequate and appropriate incentives. Labor law has been recently modified in this direction.
As per Barnard, labor is a social being. Better social status is an incentive in itself. Industries can be places for inducing habits for healthy spending.
Large number of labors are contractual and unorganized, their social security should be of priority for industry and government.

Many industrialists have been successful in India by treating the labor as extended family. To sustain high production and more profits Indian industrialists will have to revisit their philosophy at work and resort to Theory Y assumptions of McGregor.

14th September 2016

Syllabus – Processes of conceptualisation, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and review and their limitations;

“Policy analysis is incomplete without taking into account policy delivery.” (200 words)

Sandeep Goyal’s answer.

Policy analysis takes into account the causes of a policy, consequences of a policy. It seeks to compare the target achieved vis a vis target decided.

For better policy analysis, policy delivery has to be analysed, Policy delivery shows the goals achieved. it shows the effectiveness of the policy. It leads to better definition of the values involved in the policy. Policy delivery tells us the beneficiaries achieved, qualitative improvement, personnel involved.

But policy analysis cant be completed only by the policy delivery. It has to take into account the outcome created by the policy. RTE may lead to universalization of education but if quality of education remains pathetic or children drop out after 6th class, then there is need to relook at RTE. It tells that where policy delivery deals with quantitative output, qualitative output needs to be considered in policy analysis.

Policy analysis also takes input into account. Namami ganga scheme will not be successful if it hasnt taken all the causes of pollution into account as well as proper specification of the goals are not been done.

Hence Policy delivery is crucial part of the policy analysis but not the whole part of the policy analysis.

Syllabus – Application type question from “Processes of conceptualisation, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and review and their limitations”

“Policies determine politics as governments constrain.” Attempt a critique of this statement. (200 words)

This should ideally be written in four parts;

Policies determine Politics;

Internationalism (WTO, IMF, WB),
Public Interest and Public Choice;
Participation from people causing policy centric politics;
Policy in the time of Emergency;

Politics determine Policies;

Group policy making theory – where interest groups determine politics;
Vote bank politics;
Ideology based politics – Left or Right; Democrats of US want Obamacare while republican oppose;

Governments Constrain politics;

Governmental obligations – Civil nuclear bill;
International pressure – Montreal protocol;
Strong Govt in numbers can constrain politics;
Govt has force of law at its disposal; Excessive use of IPC Section of 144, 123A;

Governments play politics;

Vote maximisation (Niskanen);
To fight Anti-incumbency;
To arrive at a consensus;

Syllabus – Models of policy-making and their critique;

The output studies approach to public policy analysis over-stresses the rational techniques and allocative dimension of public policy. Analyse the statement. (200 words)

Answer should be structured in the following four parts;

Why output studies approach considers Rational techniques as essential;
Why rational techniques are not sufficient? (Talk about Dror and extra rational elements, Intangible outcomes;
Why output studies approach considers allocative dimension as important?
Why its not sufficient (Outlays to outcomes)

In conclusion talk about outcome approach which focuses on extra rational elements of policy analysis.

Syllabus – Policy Analysis.

Suppose the government of India is thinking of constructing a dam in a mountain valley girded by forests and inhibited by ethnic communities. What rational techniques of policy analysis should it resorts to for coping with likely uncertainties and unforeseen contingencies. (200 words)

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15th September 2016

Syllabus – MIS PERT CPM

1.“MIS, PERT and CPM have accelerated the process of reinventing 0 & M.” In the context of the above statement, explain the recent developments in managerial techniques. (200 words)

Kumar’s answer.

Following the changes in social life, organizations have also adapted, so have management techniques. The new features are characterized as being more flexible than rigid, more employee friendly, focused on rational decision making driven by the need for unmatchable quality. The change has been brought by innovation in –

Decision making – Data mining being used for Business intelligence. Most of marketing is based on data generated by machines.
Contingency – Ample elbow room for dealing with emergencies. The planning process is more comprehensive than traditional ways.
Communication – WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter being used for connecting inter and intra organization. It helps to know the inclinations of client as well as the employees.
Team management – Benevolent management techniques and new structures like Theory O, W and Z have increased participation of teams.
Automation – Replacing manual labor with high-end automated machine for superior quality. Six Sigma efficiency in Japan would have been unimaginable with old tools.

The challenges of new organizations are different hence their ways have evolved. Systems approach is the basis for change. Technology is the change driver. Big data, Artificial Intelligence will be the new tools for decision makers as the consumer demands become specific and competition becomes stiffer. Similar changes are beginning to be seen in governance as well because of e-governance and network approach.

Another approach:

Digital revolution and Managerial techniques of PERT and CPM have positively contributed to the effectiveness of POSDCoRB of an organisation. Some of the recent developments include.

Time-bound projects with better planning and coordination : Information convergence (i.e of Aggregation and Segregation) because of MIS coupled with better planning models of PERT, Projects are better planned today than ever. Eg.Many of the Indian governments mission mode project use these techniques;
Accounting for eventualities : PERT uses pessimistic time to account for unforeseen events and hence accounting for time and opportunity costs;
Automation : Filing systems are increasingly being replaced by Emails; These are real time make decision making more coherent with organisational needs;
Employee oriented and Job-oriented management : Both types of Likert’s managers benefit; Managers can monitor/appreciate/help the career development of an employee and get the task done, using cutting edge softwares which show employees learning, progress, contribution etc.
People participation and E-Governance as opposed to E-government : Two way communication between people and Government lead to e-governance paradigm; Eg. Garv is an android app developed for the general public to monitory DDY-Gram Jyoti Yojana;
Reduction of Red tape : CCTV cameras, using computers for grievance redressal etc help management gain public support;
Fail-fast model of Management : Real time delivery of information helps to fail fast in a project, saving time and costs for management;
Agile Model : Its the new model build primarily on MIS+PERT with daily updates from employees, using system-4 participative management;

Yet, these management techniques must be carefully used and they are vulnerable as much as they are useful. Recent leaks from French submarine maker is a case in point.

Syllabus – Application type question, Good Governance + e-Governance.

The bottom line for governance is outcomes rather than the outputs of government. Analyse in context of e-government and e-governance. (200 words)

Intro should clearly differentiate between e-governance and e-governement (Monolith, Unidirectional-bidirectional, contractionist approach etc)

Then show how outcomes are for governance as outputs are for Govt;

Decentralisation means more participation, more participation means empowerment, and empowerment is an outcome; Without which citizens remain passive clients without any empirical contribution to output -> This you extend using e-governance vs e government; Similarly e-RTI for transparency, e-FIR for justice, e-feedback(MyGovt) for policy evaluation, e-social audit for accountability, e-monitoring (Garv), e-seva for service delivery -> See all these outcomes are intangible/non-empirical which is different from being an outcome.

Argue in these lines and give examples like Garv, Twitterseva etc; In conclusion mention how e-governement paradigm is slowly being abandoned for a better paradigm of e-governance.

Syllabus – Good governance + Pragati + E-governance;

“Good Governance places people at the centre of development process” Analyse the recent central government innovation of “Pragati platform” in the light of the statement. (200 words)

Pro Active Governance And Timely Implementation(PRAGATI) is a central government innovation in governance. It places people at centre of development process and can be substantiated as,

1.Cooperative federalism through video conferencing with state government officials and representation to will of people in provinces.

Direct interaction with Chief Secretaries and immediate resolutions leading to time bound delivery of services to people.
Prioritising issues and timely implementation will create e-transparency and e-accountabiility.
Use of technology for delegation of authority and increasing responsibility towards public welfare and focus on people grievances leads to ‘Serving rather Steering’ of NPS approach.
Goal oriented and Action oriented administration is achieved where progress is measured, monitored, reviewed and evaluated through e-governance.

Pragati through e-governance, e-transparency, e-accountability, timebound service delivery, welfaristic approach has created a necessary network for the good governance and revolve with people as the fulcrum.

PRAGATI is essentially a top-down mechanism for accountability and transparency. People are at its centre as goals; But people are at its periphery as its means; And objectively speaking Good governance and Pragati are not “fully” coherent in this sense. (Although its true that the connection is duplex, its top heavy i.e centrally led and centrally monitored)

Syllabus – E-government.

4.The success of e-government projects in most developing countries is stated to be rather low. Assess the reason. (200 words)

Anjimon’s answer + Some improvements

E-government projects in most developing countries aren’t found successful because they are not sustainable over relatively longer period of time while sustainability and viability must be considered before project’s implementation along following dimensions –

FINANCIAL- Economic sustainability of rural ICT projects, huge investments in financial and human resources.
TECHNOLOGICAL- Lack of computerisation of the back-end process. Lack of supporting ICT infrastructure in the villages.
POLITICAL/INSTITUTIONAL- Due to lack of commitment on the part of political leadership and public managers. Lack of consistent evaluation and monitoring.
SOCIAL/CULTURAL- Educating masses and making them technology friendly. Generating awareness among people about availing the benefits from such projects.
ADMINISTRATION : Lack of administrative capacity building – many officials are reluctant to build their capacity, Peter principle – every one in the organisation rises to his highest state of incompetency .

Ex.- Gyandoot, an agricultural related project in Madhya Pradesh and SARI, a service delivery and grievance redressal related project in Tamil Nadu were e-gov projects started in 2000 and 2001 respectively. Both were titled as path-breaking initially but proved a failure in the long term due to reasons mentioned above.

Here e-government has a great future as it turns itself into e-governance — BAPU, JAM, UPI, myGov, MeeSeva, Friends etc etc have great promise in them. Just mention them in the conclusion.

16th September 2016

Syllabus – MIS + Organisation theory

The field of MIS is not necessarily an extension of computer science, but of management and organisation theory. Elucidate

MIS unlike computer science does not stop at the computation level . It takes forward the computed results and puts into practicality in running organisation efficiently .

MIS involves both rational and extra rational element

While computer science helps in computation of facts are present it well , MIS carries with it decision making aspect . And bounded rationality reminds us that intuition like elements make way through .

MIS creates cooperation among

MIS helps manager understand behaviour of each organisational member , small groups etc . This would help him create better cooperation. So , Organisation as cooperation of individual is better achieved .

MIS repairs missing communication

Different parts of organisation might not interact or may be missing the link between . MIS helps establish . Overlapping of many works , poor organisation can be overcome .

Ex : When PWD lays road , Telephone department does not hesitate to dug the road for drawing cables . Which leads to poor effectiveness of both the purpose .

POSDCORB is aided by MIS

Management practices can be best practiced by knowing information .

Information is blood line of an organisation. Processed information such as MIS is a great aid in the hands of management . Recent technologies like artificial intelligence , Big data are going to take MIS to next level . Ex : CORTANA of Microsoft analyses from available information and makes best rational decision to suggest manager.

Syllabus – E-Governance;

The technical and multidisciplinary nature of e-governance has created an interdependent relationship within government between policymakers, program administrators and technical specialists. Analyse in context of generalist – specialist relationship. (250 Marks)

Approach:

Explain the statement – i.e why e-governance is technical and multi-disciplinary and how it needs collaboration; 1 or 2 lines;
Briefly differentiate between the earlier role of generalists and specialists; 2 lines;
Now bring the e-governance on the change part.
Communication is improved; Latency reduced; Now, micro management is a real possibility – Propose a small solution, like “sphere of competence” “self-abnegation” etc;
Collaboration for projects which require, interdisciplinary knowledge would be better implemented in the EG paradigm; With real-time info; Give the mission mode project example;
Explain the motivation factor – i.e every department will have a small e-cell; There is no chance for upward mobility; Hence specialisation in this scenario would be affected; But if there is a separate hierarchy for IT, then collaboration becomes difficult and unity in command and unity in direction is lost; (Basically you report to one and work for someone else)
Explain the need for generalists to be IT-aware;

Syllabus – Application question on Digital India;

“Empowering the powerless is the ultimate goal of Public Administration” Analyse the Digital India initiative in the light of above statement (250 Words)

The word ‘Public’ in Public Administration emphasizes the importance of service delivery, people welfare and their empowerment. Digital India achieves these through,

E-governance brings the people & Administration together through various means like govt websites, utility services of states etc. Ex: Gyandoot of MP, E-Seva of AP, Twitterseva
Creation of means to provide citizen with information to check accountability and transparency of administration Ex: E-RTI, E-Taal, Garv app.
Integrating People into the process of planning and administration through online debates, publishing draft bills etc
Access to information through tools like Swayam, Digilocker, E-panchayats etc
Connecting the people through means like Social Media, BharatNet etc and bringing people into digital world.
Emphasis on policies to enable self-reliance in electronic manufacturing so as to educate people Ex: low cost Akash tablets etc

People must have the means to improve accountability responsibility and transparency of government administration. Though problems of cyber security, frauds, cyber warfare etc are posing problems for Digital India revolution, Corrective actions and precautions would enable true democracy with Digital India enabling the achievement of people empowerment by public administration

Syllabus – MIS PERT CPM

Differentiate between PERT and CPM. What in your opinion are the improvements that can be made in PERT to make it more relevant to Public administration? (250 words)

PERT – ideal for non-Programmable tasks, Probabilistic, Controls time, Accounts for uncertainties, No Crashing concept etc.

CPM – Ideal for programmable jobs, deterministic, Controls time and cost, doesn’t account for uncertainties, No crashing concept;

For Public administration – what changes should be made in PERT;

Unwieldy plans for increasingly complex PA – Need proper granularity;
The weights in the formula (i.e weighted average of optimistic time, Most likely time, pessimistic time) should be flexible – for different projects, depending on the dependencies;
PERT should not be a goal in itself and hence it should be simplified for making it easy for printing, explaining for employees etc.
PERT chart may need flexibility in the light of evidence which suggest to either prune or add events and processes;
PERT is a managerial tool as PA is becoming more participative, PERT should be a result of participative management;

Syllabus – Revision; Current affairs;

Comment on the recent revised code of conduct rules issued by the Government. With this in hand, do you regard “Reforms in Civil Services” as complete? Comment [250 words]

Ishita’s Answer.

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17th September 2016

Syllabus – Budgetary Process;

“No significant change can be made in the budgetary process without affecting the political process.” (Wildaysky). Analyse.

Budgetary process is the carrier of government policies for the aspirations of people. A good budget is one which can meet people’s demand and cause no conflict. For such a success people should be aligned with the intentions of politics. In parliamentary systems like India and England, cabinet is the messenger of people’s will, legislature verifies those actions. Executive system of USA had to eschew Budget Policy Committee for precisely this purpose.

Any proposal that is in contradiction to people’s way of thought will be met with opposition. FDI reforms before market boom was unimaginable in India. Similarly moves like expenditure on food security has to be balanced with moderate taxes otherwise economy is destabilised. No budgetary excesses are tolerated by people any longer.

As developing countries get more inter twined with globe, economics will have greater say in policy making. In market economics the stress is on good economics and thus the trend of curbing inefficient practices such as subsidy leakages. Media and digital technology also have a role in politicizing people, hence indirectly affecting budgetary process.

Budget is increasingly becoming a tool of bringing about social changes in addition to economic changes. Swachch Bharat Mission and Skill development programs prepare Indians to meet challenges of development and urbanization foreseeable in future, all through budgetary process. Any big change in nations has been carried out by budget but politics has been the necessary condition for its success be it The Great Leap of China or our move from socialism to marketism.

Another version of an answer.

Political process(PP) refers to the formal and informal methods of policy making with contributions from Citizens and their representatives – usually coming together as political groups; Budgetary process(BP) is broad methodology followed to accommodate Policy making with finances;

How changes in Budgetary process changes political process

Budgetary process and political process are very interconnected; Most of the changes that can be made in Budgetary process, either procedure wise or systems wise – affects the political process. Say for instance a change in How Parliamentary committees are formed or led will change political equations and hence nature of political debate as part of political process; Furthermore, Kind of budget (Gender, outcome based etc) will have a focus on a particular interest group which feeds back into the political process

Moreover, the budgetary process is the fiscal stamp on policy making which directly affects the political process. Eg. Digital India, Make in India are possible because budgetary process was supplemented with political consensus;

How some changes can be made in BP without affecting PP

Building Institutional resilience – CAG’s responsibility can be increased without changing nature and scope of political process;
Objective criteria for evaluation can be implemented;

Syllabus – Budgetary Process + Some hidden syllabus;

Instead of reforms to budgetary process Wildavsky proposes to redefine institutions and rules by which politics leads to agreement on budget. Explain

Syllabus – Budgetary Process + Budgets types and forms;

The fact that we call something performance auditing means that we imply salient features which can distinguish it from other forms of enquiry. Discuss with reference to the main majors or indicators of performance measurement.

Performance auditing is a broad based term that contains traditional auditing with new parameters that have evolved over time. A performance audit entails –

Expenditure audit – Inquires whether the expenditure made belonged to the Budget head. Eg. Education expense should be able to create schools, pay teachers and provide for mid day meal. Inflated claims are put to question here.
Outcome audit – Audits whether desired outcome has been achieved. Eg expenditure on education should produce citizens in accordance with the policy and positive health benefits of mid day meal.
Propriety audit – Checks if the intention of expenditure and resource allocation was not misuse of power or quid pro quo. Eg Discretionary powers for tender allocation are often audited subjectively.

Performance audit is the cornerstone of an efficient organization. Able audits help to improve processes thus finding new target areas. Competition drives private sector to constantly improvise in audit, public sector should also introduce performance audits for a holistic appraisal of public delivery services.

* Operational Audit Eg – Oil Refineries (Reliance Godavari basin – underperformance)

* Procedural Audit Eg – Import- Export and remittance related (Recent case of BOB’s bogus remittance)

* Technical Audit (Cost-benefit analysis) – Naval ships, Nuclear reactors etc.

Management Auditing (Should not be kinship based management)

Some Additional Info:

Whichever approach or perspective is adopted, performance audit aims mainly towards examining the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the audited entity in the performance of its functions and activities, not excluding the verification of the audited entity’s compliance with established legislation and regulations4. Where appropriate, the impact of the regulatory or institutional framework on the performance of the entity should also be taken into account. Performance audit often achieves this by attempting to answer two basic questions: are the right things being done, and are things being done in the right way?

Performance audit may also adopt one of two perspectives for the audit: a top-down perspective, which focuses on the requirements, intentions, objectives and expectations of the Legislature, Executive and/or regulatory body, or a bottom-up perspective, that focuses on the effects of the activity on the audited entity and the larger community3. In the case of the former performance audit does not question the intentions and decisions of the legislature, but instead examines whether possible shortcomings in the laws and regulations have affected those intentions being met. Depending on their mandate, SAIs may audit the assumptions on which policy decisions were based and the impact of such policy decisions. The audit provides an objective assessment to inform the legislature on such issues as how to enhance policy target achievement and/or how to accomplish objectives more efficiently and effectively.

Performance auditing generally follows one of three approaches in examining the performance of the audited entity. The audit may take a result-oriented approach, which assesses whether pre-defined objectives have been achieved as intended, a problem- oriented approach, which verifies and analyses the causes of a particular problem(s), or a system-oriented approach which examines the proper functioning of management systems: or a combination of the three approaches.

Syllabus – Budgetary Process + Budgets types and forms;

Identify the main elements of program budgeting, output budgeting and new performance budgeting. What do they have in common with PPBS?

Even with Internet – It took me 1 hour to find the source of the question 🙂

This part is extremely important in Financial Administration;

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=lVDMZFkTA_0C&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=road+to+new+performance+budgeting&source=bl&ots=pxJEbWwZ2k&sig=dUbMHtksnrOsizkJ3hfdwHwR2zQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiaj6bgvrHPAhVFK48KHaOJBtwQ6AEIMzAD#v=onepage&q&f=false

PPBS:-

Identification and examination of goals and objectives In each area of Governmental activity;
Analysis the output of a given program in terms of objectives;
Measurement of total expenditure for current year and for long term i.e Medium term expenditure plan -Eg. AMRUT and Smart cities have 5 year expenditure plans;
Analysis of alternatives and their comparison in terms of effectiveness and efficiency in achieving objectives;
Procedure for systematic review;

Basically, It has focus on input, output, alternatives, longterm plan and even outcomes and effects.

Program Budgeting:-

Group the organisational units in terms of functions and sub functions;
Identify costs of functions and sub functions;
Now identify the unit’s output – given these costs;

It is an appreciative process of interaction between input costs and outputs;

But unlike PPBS – higher level strategic planning functions are not part of budget process; Moreover – Alternatives and outcomes are not analysed as in PPBS;

Output Budgeting:-

Grouping together of all cost for achieving a particular objective – Regardless of number of agencies involved in it.
Emphasize on full costing including overhead assignment.
Define the outputs in terms of measurable indicators;
Find the efficiency after comparing with actual output.

New performance budgeting:- Which is followed in Korea according to the IMF;

Contains all elements of Output budgeting;
Incorporates explicit performance measures and systems of performance assessment;
Also includes higher level accountability with associated reforms and sanctions;

So PPBS is a comprehensive budgeting procedure but it required high manpower, energy, cost, and technology to be done. And other budgeting processes are somehow adaptation of PPBS according to the need of the situation.

Syllabus – Budgetary Process + Budgets types and forms;

What new models of budgetary capacity and incapacity have emerged after the decline of planning programming budgeting and zero based budgeting?

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https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e1133db65c57e4289c48861be300ec807a907ca410db816ba742d870ddc757fb.jpg

18th September 2016 – Sunday

19th September 2016 – Full Revision Test – 10;

Syllabus – Complete Syllabus; First five have been asked in 2013 in that order;

How did traditional public administration ”resolve a fundamentally irresolvable problem-creating an administration strong enough to be effective but not so strong enough to endanger accountability”? (200 words)

Syllabus – Interpersonal incompetence; Participative management;

The theory of organizational incompetence has two separate and distinct faces. Examine Chris Argyris’ views on this. (200 words)

Syllabus – Interpersonal incompetence; Participative management;

In the globalized Public Administration, hierarchy creates more ethical problems than it solves. Comment. (200 words)

Syllabus – Revision; Question was already asked before.

Public Administration in the neo-liberal era is government less by the instruments of accountability and more by those of external accountability Elaborate. (200 words)

Syllabus – Administrative Tribunals; Revision;

Discuss the views that “tribunals should have the same degree of independence from the Executive as that enjoyed by the supreme court and high courts, especially for those tribunals that look over the functions of high courts. (200 words)

Syllabus – Budgetary Process + Budgets types and forms;

Public interest is still inadequate as a ground concept to evaluate public policy. (200 words)

Syllabus – E-Governance.

The success of e-government projects in most developing countries is stated to be rather low. Assess the reasons

Syllabus – Application question on Participative Management + Development Dynamics

“For those who use the euphemism of ‘shared power’ for participation, the appropriate literature for guidance is practical politics and not organization and Management.”

“Stronger state and strong civil society are the need to develop both participatory democracy and responsive government as mutually reinforcing and supportive.”

Bring out the myths and realities associate with public participation.

Syllabus – E-Governance.

“the policy process was not structured in the way required by bureaucratic planning.”

“Arguably, instrumentalism now stands most in contrast to neo-liberal nationality that impose market against both gradual change and democratic liberalism.” analyze these two statements.

Syllabus – Fayol, Classical theory;

The criticisms stating Fayol’s principles as ‘cold-blooded engineering’ with no regard for human element seem selective and exaggerated. Critically Comment. (250 Words)

20th September 2016

Syllabus – Evolution of Indian Administration

The charter act of 1853 marked the beginning of parliamentary system in India. Explain

An Essential feature of Parliamentary system is 1. Separation of Executive and Legislation function. 2. Making Executive responsible for Legislature.

Following are the features of 1853 Act:

Charter act separated the Governor-General’s council into Executive council and Legislative council;
Local representation in the Legislative council (Hence was called Indian Legislative council) – 4 members were appointed by different provincial Governments;

One can then see the 1935 act in the view of 1853 and conclude how Parliamentary system of India had its beginnings in 1853 Charter act;

On a more sophisticated plane public choice is concerned with “Pareto optimality”, or at least with “Pareto improvements”.’ Comment. (Revision Question)

Public choice believes in individual’s wisdom while interacting with the market. This system relies on choices made depending on economic and social condition. Such a distribution in perfect condition would ensure that all have sufficient with none starving – Pareto optimal condition. Thus, creating an equitable society.

In reality, public choice is not leading to an equitable society because –

Systemically PCT is based on secular knowledge; creating standardized consumers.
Market has become impositional, thus blocking man’s rational decisions through clever marketing moves.
The growth model is itself creating inequity through formalism and difficult access to resources; eg Health insurance being a privilege in India.
This stratification of people creates an environment where people are always dissatisfied.

PCT embarked in a big way in west. But the recent trends in politics; nationalist, conservative and extreme politics reveal the level of dissatisfaction of middle class. Thus, PCT seems to be bringing Pareto optimality in the best of conditions, in present scenario it is creating divides. Decentralized models and empowering mechanisms are being looked at for restoring the lost equity standards.

PI happens when there are unallocated resources in the economy. Say 2G spectrum – its unallocated. Its value has not been realised. Now It is expected that its value is fully realised when you give choice (Though auction). But if you don’t (FCFS) customer will get lesser price for calls etc – which is a Pareto improvement. (And quite obviously less preferable alternative)

“The Mughal Administrative System was military rule by nature and a form of centralised” Analyse.

Why is it centralised;

Kagazraj, Mansabdary system, Frequent transfers, No-one can oust the king he can oust anyone 🙂 etc.

Wh not centralised.

India is a large geographical area; Mansabdars paid the tribute, they were left to deal with Mansab – And they were overjoyed in extravagance – a strong feudalism developed; Strong feudalism doesn’t develop in Centralised polity;

Why Despotism?

Use the Aurangzeb example – the biggest depot of all time. Brought back Zigya, maximum interference, converted India into an Islamic state, destroyed temples, oppressed All people he came it contact with (Although he was thought to be a good person – used to earn all his money by copying Quran);
You could use the Police-state nature etc.

Why not despotism?

Use the Akbar example – He was a great emperor wasn’t he? Secularism etc etc…

” The rule of kings depends primarily on written orders….” Why did Kautilya favour Codification of Laws ?

ThirdEye’s answer

Kautilya favoured codification of laws primarily because,

To educate higher officials like prince, ministers etc on polity, economics and intricacies of laws.
To prevent lawlessness in society due to issues like espionage, bribery, violence etc
To establish both benevolence of king based on welfare and also righteousness through punishments to violation of code of law.
To enable implementation of rules for recruitment, pay, qualifications of higher officials in administration.
To check arbitrariness in personnel management, to ensure discipline and strict code of conduct.

Though Kautilya’s timeperiod had many unwritten rules but certain aspects like polity and governance are codified to make sure administration is carried in organized way. Also King’s Rule is not always dependent on written orders like during promotions, pay etc. Thus for effective and organized administration Kautilya favoured codification of laws where human element is also considered unlike Weberian rational model where rigidity is the norm.

Some improvements;

See Kautilya’s King is not fully “sovereign”, (Although in another context he says King’s sweet will was the law – let’s forget that for a moment). He is guided by “Rakshana, Palana and Yogakshema”; His king was called “Constitutional slave” – Hence to bound the authority of the king codification was required.

21st September 2016

Syllabus – Evolution of Indian Administration:

’In the canonization of this abstract idea of ‘Staatsraison’ are inseparably woven the sure instincts of the bureaucracy for the conditions which preserve its own power in the State’ [Weber]. Explain.

‘The Arthashastra is a book of political realism.’

Arthasasthra is a book of idealism and realism;

Realism

Assumed divinity of the kings – which was the norm in his days; Centrality to the king in Saptanga theory;
Espionage – Different types of enemies were discussed. Internal, External, Internal with the help of external, External with the help of internal; His methods dealt even on “how to use women and children” as spies;

3.Asked some of the worst questions – When should the king kill his son? How should he negate poisoning;

He felt that punishment should be sparingly used; Excess punishment can turn Janapada into enemy;
Personnel management was way ahead of his times, Recruitment, training, Payscales, promotion, tenure&removal, Training etc were discussed; But it was a closed merit system based on social hierarchy – which was realistic for his times;
Knew of corruption; Elaborate control, keeping records etc was proposed to control it;
Even census proposed to assess the potential of kingdom;

Idealism:

The ultimate goal of “Rakshana, Palana and Yogakshema” was Kautilya’s version of GG;
Code of Conduct for King;
Exhortation that king should be a leader and a role-model;
Decentralisation – There were ULBs; Devolution of powers etc.

Hence we can conclude that Arthasasthra was a model of political realism with shades of idealism.

It is said that the British made a significant contribution towords modernising the Indian Administrative System on a ‘ rational-legal’ basis. Justify the assessment with reference to the period from 1830 to 1865.

ThirdEye’s Answer:

British contribution to Indian Administrative System during 1830 to 1865 is based on rational-legal basis and is substantiated by,

1833 Charter made Governor general of bengal to Governor general of India, attempted to introduce merit based recruitment to ICS. -> Rule based recruitment.
1853 Charter led to introduction of open competitive examination for Civil services, foundation for parliamentary system by separation of legislature and executive councils.
1858 GoI Act led to creation of Viceroy and secretary of state[SoS] posts. SoS being cabinet member in british government -> Hierarchy, Unity of Command, Accountability.
Portfolio system introduced by Lord Canning in 1861 which led to present Ministries and depts -> division of labour, efficiency, decentralization.
Recognition of centralization as a problem due to the 1858 mutiny and trying to work out a remedy for it through local self governments later by Ripon.

Thus the contribution during the given period is based on legal rational basis as propounded by Weber Model on administration with features like merit based selection, hierarchy, impersonation, rule based administration, division of labour making an efficient Indian administrative system.

” The thrust of development administration failed to energise the Indian bureaucracy.” Critically examine.

Sandeep’s answer.

India being a newly independent country with hugh task of poverty alleviation, illiteracy , infrastructure building demanded goal oriented, resulte oriented development administration. This administration would bring development closer to the people and empower them to realize their full potential. But even after sixty years, there seems to be no sense of urgency in the administration to bring faster, needed and citizen centric development to people.

Reasons -1. colonial hangover – tendency of centralization and secretive nature

arrogant attitude of the official – consider service delivery as a favor than the duty
lack of administrative development – hierarchial in set up – delay in the decision making
Non focus on the training – considered as paid holiday . all officers are not given training.
Riggs – shows bazaar -canteen type behaviour
sala officer
politicization of administration – focussed on their own political career;
lack of stability of tenure
non -representative bcy – mostly from urban english medium schools – not sensitized to the need of the rural development
moral crisis – corruption, lack of puncutality and discipline

SOme recent development – e-govt – online income tax filing – increaed tax payer, faster, better and qualitative service

working with civil society –

RTI – bringing nexus out

Principle of good governance demands that development administration must bring transparency, accountablity, efficiency , effectiveness, participation in the administration. Fulfillment of these principles would lead to the bringing citizen at the core of development where administration would be working to serve the need of his and empower him.

“Bureaucracy developed by the British stifled the village self rule.”

Indian economy was a village based closed economy before British rule. The social norms decided the conduct. With the advent of bureaucratic setup in India, the new ideas such as Rule of Law, Equality etc made presence with the institutions like Imperial Court and centralized legal authorities. This change had an impact on village self rule as –

The social system of village was disrupted as new industrial towns like Kanpur, Surat became centers for skilled job seeking.
Western education and modernity questioned the traditions and rituals; eg Sati abolishment was a product of modernity.
Caste hierarchy was broken as merit became basis of jobs.
Old jobs were taken away, hence the social status with those jobs also went.
Village head was no longer recognized as Zamindars became important in revenue collection.
New skills like Book keeping, accounting and service in army were the new charms of village people, it took away the glory of old wisdom.
District was the new administrative unit, the Collector became all powerful.

Thus, the deep impact of British bureaucratic reforms which began from economy had lasting impact on Indian village. Every village suddenly aspired for trading in Manchester and not remain confined to the village. This flow caused the downfall of age old self rule system of Indian villages.

22th September 2016

Philosophical and Constitutional framework of government:
The liberal -democratic ideology of the west influenced in shaping of value premises of the Indian Constitution. Discuss.

The value premises of a constitution are developed as a result of the background where it is made and the will of makers. Freedom struggle had clearly highlighted the cultural boundaries on free India – a diverse nation with dignity for all. Also, the new ideas of the West were studied and appropriately inculcated. These western values are –

Liberty – Inspired by American Bill of Rights, enshrined as Fundamental rights.
Equality – French and American revolution inspired to aspire for social justice. Articles 14-18 were enshrined in our Fundamental rights for equality in every walk of life.
Sovereignty of people – The preamble declares “We the people”, giving power to people as in American constitution.
Rule of Law – English rulers induced Rule of Law through legal administrative setup.
Independent Judiciary – America set precedent of judicial primacy, India gave Judicial primacy through Article 13(2), Article 32 and Article 226.
Collective responsibility – Value learnt from British parliamentary practices, we adopted the Westminster model thereby.

These modern ideals were accepted because they were coherent with the cultural values on India. Humanism, Secularism, Non-interference, tolerance were the grand ideals which were seen as guiding India in future as well. The constitution makers developed a working model for our age old values to remain enshrined in our institutions. India has been a dynamic laboratory for various cultures and civilizations, its Constitution reflects the same as well.

Additional points:

Fundamental Rights;
Secularism;
Universal Adult franchise;
DPSP;
Flexibility of the constitution;
To what extent has political culture influenced the administrative culture of India? Explain

Administration is a result of ecological impact . An important attribute of it being polity. Hence , political culture has significant influence on administration. In fact , ferrel heady’s concentric circles places administration at the centre and politics to have greatest impact.

Influence of political culture :

” when happiness lies in the subjects ” and ” divinity to king is attached ” : We find compassionate admin. Benevolence , emphasis is more on developmental works than law and order.
” when king is supreme ” and ” rule is by Islamic traditions ” : we find administrative despotism .
” when political culture is profit oriented ” : As incase of colonialism , administrative is alien and little emphasis on development works more is on law and order . Values of colonial country are upheld by administration than local culture . There is destruction of available admin culture .

Ex : village self rule was stifled

After independence political culture was positive , national movement had put enthusiastic leaders in nation building . Administrative culture was loyal , objective .

However , British hangover was yet to be demolished .

When socialism was emphasised by political heads , nationalisation of banks , abolition of privy purse led to license raj , favouritism , elitist attitude , mai baap came into admin.
Coalition politics led to frequent transfers of administration and admin culture became politically motivated , sided with one party etc
LPG reforms led to a liberal economic view and this along with emphasis on good governance lead to new administrative instruments like NPM, PCT etc

The political culture greatly influences admin. As can be seen , spoils system metamorphised to bureaucracy to bring efficiency was result of political will.

How would you trace the development of Public Administration in terms of different paradigms from the politics/administration dichotomy of 1900-1926 to the rise of Public Administration as Public Administration after the formation of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) in the USA in 1970 ?

Public administration is the study of ‘government in action’, hence requiring to take different roles for efficient functioning. The subject has been parented by many disciplines as well for meeting the demands of time. The evolution can be traced as follows –

Phase I(1900-26) – Politico-administrative dichotomy – Wilson, Goodnow, L D White were the pioneers who wanted to separate politics and administration for better functioning.

Phase II (1930s) – Scientism – Organizational structure and functional management paradigm led by Gullick, Urwick, Fayol etc. Decade of economic crisis across globe required efficient production systems. Management became a foster parent.

Phase III (1940s) – The Humanistic Challenge – Mayo’s experiments revealed the ‘Informal organisation’ and its effects. The focus of study shifted towards social behavior of employees.

Phase IV (1950s) – Inter-disciplinary studies – Led by Barnard, Simon the studies so far were criticized. Theories of Decision making, a new view of organization in Functions of the Executive were inaugurated to the subject.

Phase V (1960s) – New Public Administration – It was realized that administration couldn’t be separate from politics for efficient delivery of services. The decade also saw the coming of Public Choice Theorists, New Right Philosophers and even the Critical theory.

Later paradigms of NPS and NPM were developed which find a semblance in the early theories. Thus, from 1900 to 1970 the journey of public administration is an evolving continuum.

Explain with appropriate illustrations the interface between’ political culture and bureaucratic culture in contemporary India.

Sandeep’s Answer.

Collective strength of the political culture and bureaucratic culture determines the extent of the good governance. It is the key to ensure participative, democratic decision making leading towards equity, efficiency and effectiveness in the development.

Political culture and bureaucratic culture in contemporary India is marked with distrust . Bureaucracy provides free, fair and frank advice to political executive for policy making but Political executives prefer ‘yes man’ type bureaucrats who pay allegiance to their authority leading to deterioration of value of evidence in policy making. Ignorance of secretary advice for auctioning lead to 2G scam and coal scam.

Bureaucratic culture in India is market by centralization, top – down approach, secreacy while there has been democratization of political culture to an extent due to existence of multiple parties. This has led to pressure on bureaucracy and politicization of the bureaucracy. In such cases, Political intereference determine the policy output on the ground than the rational criterias. Development of road in own vote bank area than the needed one can be seen anywhere in India.

Political culture is marked with ascriptive social groups based on language, caste, religion. These groups pressurize for their demands like reservation, subsidies, more funding for the religion. Since bureaucracy also exist in the Political culture, it erodes away the neutrality of bureaucracy leading to partisan approach. mass recruitment of a single community in police exam is evident everywhere.

Since our Political culture is marked with extensive formalism where difference exist between preaching and action. It has led to the dual norms in bureaucratic culture where show me the man, I will show you the rule practice prevails. Riggs had characterised these officials as Sala officer.

Political culture and bureaucratic culture are interdependent. Development in the political culture by inculcation of moral values, societal ethics, better political leaders will bring integrity and honesty in bureaucratic culture. SImilarly an efficient and honest bureaucratic culture based on the service ethos will pave the way for an achievement oriented , universal political culture.

23th September 2016

Philosophical and Constitutional framework of government:
As Dr. B. R. Ambedkar observed, “the text of the Constitution can provide the organs of the State, but the final outcome of the governance process depends on how it has operationalized by the political parties and people”. Elucidate the statement.

(Just the Approach)

What a constitution does? <- introduction;

What a constitution can’t do? (Give Pak’s or Cambodia’s example; Nepal had several constitutions too)

What political parties can do to support a constitution in its governance ideals? (Mention here about the self-abnegation from Indian political parties; No matter how bad they might be – they didn’t abandon the constitution, they didn’t abandon democracy; Except for emergency though)

What people can do? (Pak’s democracy deficit is because of Nation’s trust in strong military, while Indian democracy/constitutionalism’s resilience is because of its people; Secularism may not be in our DNA – but democracy and constitutionalism certrainly are – to quote Ramachandra Guha; RTI, Citizen’s charter etc quoted here.)

In what respects is Taylor’s ‘Scientific Management’ or classical motivational theory different from the classical organizational theory expounded by Gulick, Urwick etc?

Taylor’s SMT and Classical organisational theory expounded by gulick ,urwick both are classical theories which aimed at increasing efficiency in organisation.But they differ in following aspects:

Taylor ‘s SMT focussed on doing things in one best way mostly at shopfloor level of organisation(lower levels).Whereas G&U ‘s theory considered organisation at all levels
SMT focussed on scientific training,merit based recruitment etc but G&U’theory lacks it.
SMT ‘s functional foremanship contradicts with G&U’s Unity of command
Taylor talked about timestudy and motion study for doing things in onebest way whereas Urwick gave his POSDCoRB principles which a manager should follow to get things done.
Taylor theory revolves around doing things in onebest way whereas G&U’s theory emphasises more on structure of organisation(line and staff concept and departmentalisation based on 4Ps)
SMT didn’t advocate for decentralisation of powers whereas G&U’s theory focussed judicious use of both centralisation and decentralisation

Though there are many differences in their approach their ultimate aim was increase organisational efficieny.Some of them found relevance in today’s society also:

Foreg:1) line and staff concept used in Indian administration(Eg:Directorate and secretariat systems)

2) One best way of doing things is used even now.for instance :e-governace isone best way of service delivery.

“The more developmental an administrative system becomes, the greater the likelihood that it would have more developmental effects”The more developmental an administrative system becomes, the greater the likelihood that it would have more developmental effects

Sandeep’s Answer.

Development of the administration – npm – decentralization, use of technology, cost effectivenss, competitiveness , result orientation

Developmental effects – Riggs- universalictic approach ; achievement oriented society ; empowerment of citizen – capacity building

decentralization – lead to participatory nature – which would bring goal orientation in nature – inclusivity in the society to achieve the mutually accepted role

Use of technology – higher efficiency and effectiveness – people dont need to go through paper work – generate trust in the organization

COmpetitiveness – quality of service improves – Quality of education must for the capacity building in realizing the potential of the society

Manager training – better monitoring of the service delivery – result orientation – achievement orientation in the society than ascriptive based society

simplification of the process- civil society can monitor – ensures availability of the basic amenities with every body

” The thrust of development administrtion failed to energise the Indian bureaucracy.”

Ash’s Answer.

Post Independence rapid socio-economic growth was needed to match pace of other growing economies. But Indian bureaucracy was still under the hangover of its colonial past.

Various ills of the which have prevailed till today are:

1.Eliticism, Babuism.

2.Excessive rule orientation.

3.Budget maximization.

4.Empire building

Post 1960s with advent of coalition era , unholy nexus between bureaucracy, businessmen and politicians took shape and devlopmental needs were subjugated to vested interests.

There was rise in corruption, nepotism,etc.

Indian BC has been to some extent behaved like an end in itself and has failed in many substantive goals of democracy (Atul Kohli).

Atleast prior to 1990s, there was minimal participation of civil society. BC worked in Env. of secrecy, mysticism, rigidity.

Empire building was the intent.

Nevertheless there are a lot of achievements to the credit of Indian Bureaucracy:

– guiding through the tough times of Partition, wars (1962,1965,1971).

– Providing stability during days of emergency(1970s)

– Guiding thru the tough times of economic crisis (late 1980s)

– India in the last decade has seen avg GDP growth of >7%.

Still a lot remains to be achieved on Human dev index front : Issue of malnutrition,

“Secularism in India needs support of Indian administration”. Explain the statement and comment of the “Dereliction of duty” in the context of communal riots in India.

Secularism in India refers to the general separation of religion from the state, equal respect to all religions, existence of Freedom of religion (Article 25-28) and principled intervention in religious matters.

Secularism requires support of Indian Administration (IA)

Secularism is not fully entrenched in India’s DNA yet; India still struggles from the horrors of partition and increasingly punctual riots support this view;
Political polarisation is real; IA is bound by impartiality;
Constitutional obligation on IA (Article 14, 15, 44 etc);
Threats to Indian secular fabric have been on the raise; IA has instrumental role to diffuse tensions;

“Dereliction of duty”(DD) refers to abandonment of professional obligations to protect the affected in the context of communal riots; Violence committed in Communal riots is generally engineered, as though it had official sanction. Many Police officers in the past were found guilty either of ignoring the violence or in some cases even actively supporting the violence.

Communal riots bill proposes punishment for “Dereliction of duty”;

Sensitisation of IA, Providing IA with necessary tools and gadgets, training IA to deal with pressure situations, imposing section 144 wherever necessary, asking for the help of armed forces when found necessary, collaboration between state governments in the times of riots etc will minimise DD.

Police reforms in the line of SC recommendations are long over due.

24th September 2016

Insights Optional Test – 3;

Indian administration is said to be characterised by its three features viz.Weberian structures, Kautilyan practice and Gandhian rhetoric. Examine the statement.
‘The essence of the contingency theory paradigm is that organization effectiveness results from fitting characteristics of the organization, such as its structure, to contingencies that reflect the situation of the organization.’ Give your reactions to this statement.
In the light of your discussion on 2nd question above, also show where and how this ‘fitting’ differs essentially from the ‘coping’ with ‘stress’ from the environment emphasized by the systems theory of organization.
‘Riggs’s classifications of societies into fused, prismatic, and diffracted is built around the concept of differentiation.’
‘Judges should not govern the country. They can lay down a law, not interfere with governance.’
NHRC’s submission to SC said “it was helpless in taking any coercive measures since it has no power to take action against persons or authorities who do not follow the guidelines laid down by it [NHRC] nor does it have power to give directions or pass orders but can only make recommendations.” Analyse the statement with respect to the powers of NHRC.
”NITI ayog is old wine in new bottle”. Comment
“ Values of Indian administration must be rooted in the Preamble of the Indian Constitution.”
“Not merely governance but good governance is the key factor in achieving SDG targets.” Explain.
” Civil service neutrality is a fiction. How any thinking person can be neutral?” Bring out the modalities of civil service neutrality.

25th September 2016 – Sunday

26th September 2016

Public Sector Undertakings:
Autonomy to public sector undertakings is a myth. Analyze in the context of the use of government Expenditure by politicians to control governments at different levels.

Politicians control the governments and PSEs at different levels using Ministerial control(MC) and Parliamentary control (PC);

MC and PC eroded the Autonomy

Standing committee on PSU; Uses the reports of CAG; Committee examines if PSU has been managed according to sound business principles, Commercial practices etc
Ministerial directives; To ensure public interest; Eg. Coal India Limited accepted paying compensation to Power companies for delay in delivery of coal; It rolled back coal prices – under the pressure from PMO; The Children Investment fund (1.1% shareholder of CIL) dragged CIL to HC for acting against its interests;
Ministerial control at the time of emergencies and scams;
Minister’s approval is required for capital investment and borrowing by the corporations. NIIF investing in Indian Railways Finance Corporation;
Govt intervenes to get Cheap loans for PSUs.

Some more points for political control (not part of the answer)

Appointments to the board are politically motivated; (BBB of Indhradhanush to set that right)
Banks – Political pressure for Interest subvention, loans without creditworthiness causing NPAs;
Subsidies pushed by Govts are against interests of PSUs; e.g. Discoms, Talk about UDAY as a positive.

MC and PC abdicated authority and helped autonomy

Maharatnas, Navartnas and miniratnas.
MoUs Arjun Sengupta recommendations;
Neo-liberal agenda of Indian Govt; MGMG, ease of doing business, HELP etc;

“Public sector undertakings must learn to survive and be entrepreneurial, without assured government budgetary support.” In the light of the statement give your suggestions for strengthening their autonomy and reviving the health of sick public sector undertakings.

how to strengthen the autonomy of public sector –

MOU – only ensure the performance measurement
Bank board bureau – appointment strictly based on the performance not on the political considerations
Expansion of the public units must be basd on completely economic rationale and political consideration like vote maximization by bringing unit in his constituency must not be there.
Bring more shareholders in the psu management by listing of psu at the stock market – AI (reduce the monopoly of government)
generalist IAS should not appointed as the company head
More com panies to be brought in Under maharatna and Navaratna scheme – thus giving more autonomy in the financial and investment field

Reviving the health of sick public company

Case study of ECIL which posted a heavy losses during 1998-1999 but profits in the 2003 shows us that it collective determination by the company management and government which is required to revive a sick public company.

ECIL approach –

give VRS to the employee (reduce employee cost)
diversify the business ( Heavy engineering company of ranchi never made profit since its inception but after diversifying it into nuclear business other than the steel, it has been profitable).
Government to clear up its own stuck up bills – crucial for the revival of the
Profitable units can purchase the sick unit and revive their management.
Public listing -helped coal India to increase their efficiency .
Improvement in the expertise of board for reconstruction of public sector enterprise – capacity augement of it will lead to better differentiation between a sick unit and revival unit.
Vertical Integration of the units – like Obtical fibre making unit could be taken over by the Bsnl.
participative management – so that employees managemt is boosted.

Explain fully how a balance can be struck between autonomy and accountability of India’s public enterprises.

The question of Autonomy vs Accountability is an on going debate wrt Indian PSUs and balance between both is a must for their efficient and effective functioning.

making Law for self auditing as per declared standards and scrutiny by the agencies like CAG based on standards instead of directly CAG doing auditing job.
Allowing PSUs to follow their own processes internally but a general framework must be set by govt with periodical review ensuring process accountability. Ex: Personnel administration, Service delivery etc
Regulatory bodies can be made directly accountable to parliament instead through Ministers. Ensuring compliance with regulatory procedures.
Appointment of Chief’s of PSUs based on recommendations of independent selection Panel by government and fixing clear goals to heads for fiscal accountability.
Reducing role of Bureaucracy like PMO, Cabinet Secretariat in operation of PSUs while decision making and introducing processes like monthly status reports to ensure the progress.

Balance between Autonomy and Accountability can be achieved by focusing on ends through monitoring, evaluating and reviewing results of PSUs instead of focusing on means like internal processes personnel administration, procedures followed etc where sufficient autonomy to PSUs itself is needed.

Here, you may also use concepts like MoUs, Maharatnas, Indradhanush, Uday, better scrutiny of CAG reports, Governance reforms, Transparency in appointments, Avoiding micro management (CIL example) etc.

Argue the case for and against creating Indian Public Enterprises and Industrial Service for boosting the moribund public sector in India.

Ishita’s Answer.

Indian public enterprise and industrial service (IPEIS) – body if professionals to manage the PSUs.

For –

1/ special officers trained how to handle PSUs in crisis. – uniformity in standards

2/ experts in business keeping in view socio – economic work

3/ can be transferred across PSUs – will bring diversity and excellence

4/ bring professional leadership skills and motivation

Against –

Against special needs of particular PSUs. Eg. Ongc might need different knowledge if business and management than Sbi
Against autonomy if PSUs to recruit the staff according to requirements
Might lead to bureaucratic lethargy and red tapism
Since transferred across PSUs, no loyalty to particular organization and no expertise in any field – oil marketing, banking etc

5/ it will bring forth generalist – specialist debate again – as they will b generalist but ailing PSUs might need specialists

Eg. Ailing bank might need a specialist from Icici rather than from ongc.

‘Open access to government records is … the hallmark of a democratic government’, but ‘governments are not hesitant about destroying record — very deliberately — in order to prevent investigations, as well as to generally weaken accountability’. Do you think that in this situation right to information can go to the extent of demanding complete declassification and ‘de-archivization’ of government records? Argue.

RTI is a tool of good governance which has brought transparency and accountability in government functioing. At the same time it has also lead to many problems:

-Increased burden on governement functionaries

-Frivolous RTI request

– Focus more on recording information as per citizen anticipation and less as per organisational functioning

-RTI being used by some people to carry out many type of academic exercise, PhD thesis, doctorate thesis.

For declassification

Automatic declassification(AD) after expiry of say 20-30 years;Fills the historical void especially in controversial decisions (Netaji?); UK declassifies after 30 years; US does it too – thats how “Argo” was made btw 🙂
Intelligence agencies are not accountable to L in India – an extraordinary situation; Their immediate dissemination is troublesome; But AD gives People a sense of control over them;
Reports of Governors, Council of ministers to President can not be looked into even by courts; In the era of transparency AD should apply to these.

All these are problems associated with RTI. Though RTI must be maintained it must see some changes. One of the fallout may be that government might make a deliberate policy that records will be deleted after certain time so as to reduce workload and RTI compliance issue. This can be changed by following section (4) of RTI act which says about suo-moto declartion of public information. This will reduce burden in long run. Also the classified information which are denied under section 8 of RTI act can be made accressible once they are no more in nature of “secret/top secret/classified information” like in case of Netaji’s files. To do that we must move towards digital archivization of public records and files. Complete declassification or de-archivization will only be done when there is a case for safe disclosure. However there must be an assurance that the archieved data is not deleted. For that there is a need to create central archization department with specialisation in data documentaion. archieval and maintenace. we can levarge services of digital india in this.

27th September 2016

Union Government and Administration:
“Ordinance-making power of the Executive needs to be suitably restrained.” Examine it critically.

Ordinance refers to a law made by Executive while either of the houses or both houses of the Legislature is/are not in session; A 123 gives the power to Central Executive; A 213 gives the power to State Executive.

It should be restrained because

Misuse of ordinances by Govt; LARR amendment was passed by ordinance thrice, As govt could get it passed in either of the houses, it is a misuse in letter and spirit. Sometimes they are passed just before the Start of the sessions.
Overuse leads to Ordinance Raj: Bihar passed over 100 bills through ordinances;
Potentially unconstitutional ordinances may be passed without Legislative scrutiny: Ordinance on PRI reforms was passed in Rajasthan, which excluded 50% women and 75% SCs from contesting in PRI elections;
Ordinances are passed by Executive Which is one way traffic – there is no discussion, dissent, debate; Its mandate of using only in extraordinary conditions is routinely flouted.

It can be argued that any control over ordinances will lead to loss of flexibility; It is difficult to articulate the preconditions for the validity of ordinances; For instance, Nirbhaya act was passed as an ordinance as a grave indifference for women’s safety was felt. Moreover Judicial review is applicable to ensure the constitutionality of the ordinance.

Hence, in this candidate’s opinion – The restraint should be from the political fraternity and the executive to not misuse the constitutional flexibility that allows situational precedence.

Pacify’s Additions

-> Goes against basic constitutional principle of separation of power as law making is area of legislature.

-> Emerging as an instrument to impose law bypassing constitutional leg. criteria need to be followed

-> Re-Promulgation of ordinance also goes against democratic principle

Indeed Ordinance-making power of the Executive needs to be restrained in suitable manner to avoid misuse of cont flexibility but at the same time it is necessary to provide enough space for its use in following instances –

-> In recent era as RS is more like a halting stone in the process rather providing cooperative and collaborative approach so in such instance ordinance may emerge as a saviour for the implementation of critical policies, only if use rarely instead of making it a practice.

‘Minimum government, maximum governance’ is not just a slogan but a philosophy of administration with enormous potentialities.” Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer.

Kumar’s answer + Added examples.

Governance has the role of meeting the demand of the governed. The process is influenced by the politics and economic reality of the time. Till 1970s, NPA stressed on increasing government’s role in every sphere, but after NPM and liberalization thinning the government is the objective. Minimum government, maximum governance is beneficial because –

It reduces the influence of politics in governance. Lesser number of departments means lesser political influence. Eg. Merging MOIA with MEA;
Rational decisions can be taken easily as the bureaucracy is de-politicized and accountability fixed. Eg. Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy; Revenue sharing reduces bureaucratic oversight.
Better results as lower differentiation helps in better integration – Eg. eNAM will replace middlemen and APMC committees
Lower span of control, helps in monitoring. Eg. Pragati
Decentralization of decision making is possible, horizontal distribution of power is avoided. Eg. 14th Finance commission’s increase in devaluation; Empowerment of PRIs and ULBs;
Distinction between line and staff agencies also blurs, as is the need of complex activities of today. (Can’t think of an example)
Lesser number of ministers helps in building consensus at centre. Eg. Current CoM is the smallest with 66 ministers;

Thus, thinning the government can be an effective way of governance. However, along with minimum government, appropriate authority and responsibility also needs fixation so as to gain maximum output of this philosophy. India continues to be in coalition politics mode, thereby minimum government maximum governance is yet to show its benefits.

Comment on the role of Civil Society in facilitating administrative accountability with special reference to the ‘Janlokpal’ issue in India.

ThirdEye’s answer

Role of Civil Society has increased enormously in facilitating accountability especially in LPG and Good Governance Era. With reference to JanLokPal issue this can be seen as,

Participating in Social Audits to check problems of Nepotism, Formalism, Heterogenity and giving feedback to the administration or political representatives.
Promotion of bringing awareness to include offices like Chief Ministers into the Lokpal so as to ensure clean administration and equality in Law as per Dicey.
Demanding independence for investigating agencies like CBI and more powers for CVC to ensure proper trial and justice to corrupt officials.
Acting as whistleblowers to unearth scams like 2G, Vyapam etc to reduce the affects on common people. Ex: meritorious students losing seats due to Vyapam
Effective utilization of RTI for bringing transparency & accountability in governance and reducing misuse of funds, money laundering or black money issues.

Civil society must act as true vigilant in ensuring administrative accountability in both bringing legislation like Whistle blowers Act, LokPal Act etc and also in their effective implementation on the ground so as to legitimize the democratic legacy of India.

Bringing public order into concurrent list can bring in better L&O administration. Comment

Ishita’s answer + Some improvements.

L&O in the concurrent list –

Organized crimes across states – smuggling, trafficking, – need expertise, coordination between authorities if multiple govts – which is not possible in current scenario
Naxalite – cross border issues – spread across 10 states inRed Corridor area – though Central armed forces deployed, they do not get much help or coordination from state forces.
Communal violence – like sensitive areas do not get proper assistance due to lack of capacity of states
4. Funds crunch of states; State funds can be used for gadgets – help in monitoring borderless crime which require interstate coordination.
Police reforms -need of the hour – could be speeder up with uniformity across the country
A comprehensive terrorism policy couldn’t be made as Public order is part of State list eg. NCTC; Lone wolf attacks require an increased collaboration between centre and state – which is difficult as states look at centre with suspicion.
A sense of uniformity is required – Criminalization of politics; Politicisation of criminals has happened because of the local control.

No –

Breaks UoC – divided loyalty of police forces
2. Against federalism – can result in central despotism often – more A356 cases
3. too many authorities – mal-integration
More centralization in the eta if decentralization – eg talk of local police under PRIs

Thus federal crimes in coordination related cases – naxalite issue, trafficking & federal force – can be the way forward.

Even Developed countries with federal design have Public order in the State list – Eg. US; “One size doesn’t fit all” – Local problems require local solutions;
We already have A 355, Several entries in Schedule 7 (for CBI, RAW, UPSC, deployment of armed forces etc)
” In an era of hung parliaments the power of the President expands, nore so when the incumbent decides to be assertive.” Comment on the statement with reference to the situation in India during the last two decades.

Approach – Just have to frame answer around following examples.

While inviting leader of the largest political party to form the government when no party secures majority ; No precedent has been set here – whether to call leader of Political party or coalition – which gives discretion to the President; Moreover President Narayan has set a precedent of asking PM candidates to furnish letters of support to demonstrate ability to form government;
Can be assertive in not following unconstitutional advice. KR Narayan returned the Union cabinet advice to impose A356 on UP as it was violating Bommai;
Abdul Kalam sat on Office of Profit Amendment for far too long; Pratibha Patil didn’t reject those of Presidential pardons which were rejected by Home ministry; While the accepted ones by the home ministry were acted upon. (Basically, Prez didn’t want to kill anyone 🙂 )
After the loss of majority by the ruling Party – Its the discretion of Prez whether to call for fresh elections or ask a different party to form government. Moreover – Here Prez can either follow aid and advice of Council of Minister or choose not to follow as they no longer have the confidence of LS;

28th September 2016

Union Government and Administration:

(We launched model answer feature. From here each answer is generally a contribution of two – three people; Thanks to Kumar, Ishita, Thrideye, SBM, Deepika, Chacha, Sandeep, Bajrangi etc)

Central Secretariat is the nodal agency for administering the union subjects and establishing coordination among the various activities of government discuss.

Central secretariat(CS) is the sum total of Ministries, departments and their secretaries;

CS assists Union government in implementing policies and bringing coordination among ministries and departments.

Its key functions are

Meta Policy making, Policy making and Implementation and bringing consensus among various ministries on vital issues and differences. Ex: disagreements between Finance Ministry & Ministry of Rural Development.
Sectoral planning and programme formulation.
Assisting Ministers in discharging their duties and fulfilling their role as people representatives by ensuring accountability to parliament.
Drafting bills, rules and regulations as part of delegated legislation.
Budgeting and ensuring allocations to specific areas like Gender budget within ministries as part of whole financial allocations. Collaborating with Finance ministry to secure allocations.
Supervision and Control over departments and personnel.
O&M to limit the steps required; To improve organisational competence.
Ensuring Policy implementation through directorate with which it shares line-staff relationship.
Central secretariat is the nodal agency between Field and HQ. By bringing field expertise in the policy making, it ensures context sensitivity of the policy.

10.Central secretariat is the sub-unit of the organization which by regular communication between different departments ensures equilibrium between different departments of the government, keeps all of them on the same page while making the bills, plans.

Central Secretariat is an important organ of Union government and acts as a buckle that joins

ministers with people for smooth functioning of administration and governance. Its relevance is more in modern day complex administration where scope increased rapidly in prismatic society like India for efficient delivery of massive government programmes like Make in India, Swachh Bharat and Digital India.

Yet its not seen as the nodal agency in true sense. Cabinet secretary and PMO compete to collaborate across the ministries.

Briefly discuss the main recommendations of the Punchhi Commission (2010) on Centre-State relations for transforming Indian Federal System.

Punchii Commisiion took help from Sarkaria commission, NCRWC and 2nd ARC reports to improve C-S relations. Its key recomm’s

Presidential emergency (A356) – localise emergency – no incentive for C to continue it for political incentives + S gets required help
Governor removal – only Constituonal post without any clarity of tenure – introduce Impeachment on lines of Pres removal + fixed tenure
Governor appointment – eminent personality outside local politics + not taken part in politics for a while + detatched with local politics
Bills reserved by Governor for Pres – Decision on bills within 6 months
IR – consult Ss before agreement (Teesta river + SL issue)

– compensate States (Teesta)

Concurrent list – C must restraint while legislaing them

– guide = national priority + uniformity

Inter S council – increase its use + bring transparency + continue audit role
AIS – New services in sectors like health, education, should be created.
Governor – right to sanction for prosecution of minister against CoM advise, if cabinet decision biased.

Punchhi Commission built upon the Sarkaria commission recommendations on C-S relations for ensuring cooperative federalism in India.

Discuss the arguments for and against the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, 2014.

India adopted Montesquieu’s SoP with adequate checks and balances incorporated in it. NJAC is in this direction. It is a proposed constitutional body intended for appointment and transfer of judges of higher judiciary. It envisaged a selection panel with CJI, 2 SENIOR MOST SC JUDGES, LAWMINISTER AND 2 EMINENT PERSONS (selected through a committee :CJI,LoP,PM). It was envisaged to replace collegium system which is opaque and which lack accountability and hence arbitrary appointments.

Arguments for:

1) NJAC brings in transparency ending collegium’s opaqueness.

2) Collegium is often criticised for corruption, nepotism, patronage in selection of judges. NJAC will rectify this by denouncing Judicial exclusivity in appointments.

3) Criteria of merit, seniority, ability will be taken into consideration which was relatively lacking in Collegium.

4) In the Second and Third Judges cases – Judiciary interpreted “consultation” in A124 and 217 as “Concurrence” – This is seen as Adventurism;

5) DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION: Judicial independence can not be read as Judicial exclusivity in appointments; NJAC envisaged necessary democratic control. This increases confidence about Judiciary among people.

Arguments against:

1)Judicial Independence; Judiciary can’t risk being in “Web of Indebtedness” especially when Central Govt is a principal litigant before the court. This was noted in infamous ADM Jabalpur.

2)Civil Society is not matured enough to question Judicial appointments. (Argument given by Judges)

3)Eminent persons cannot determine capability of judges if they don’t have experience in that field and if they have vested interest in executive, it poses threat to judiciary independence as they can shoot down nominations.

4) NJAC has not mentioned objective procedure for appointment process. Ideally it should have followed British Judicial appoint commission here.

Since the time of declaring NJAC as unconstitutional, mistrust is growing between J and E. This is not good sign of healthy democracy .

Wayforward:

So there is a need for govt and judiciary to arrive at consensus on Memorandum of Procedure for judges appointment. Judiciary should accept to come under RTI while letting Collegium system to be more transparent with Citizen Participation and with open criteria for appointments.

It is also a good idea to heed to the dissenting notes of Justice Chalameswar “Reform what you may preserve” – while quoting McCauley.

‘The anti-development thesis …. Reduces development to an idea without history, impervious to change’, but ‘fails to take account of the fact that for all its faults, development can be empowering.’

ADT is not against development – but against exogenous, west-lead, western – ethnocentric vision of development. ADT expects people to be the better placed in identifying their needs and achieving ends;

D – is falsely reduced to an idea without history

It can be see that “Development” is not just a word, but and ideal to strive for – with a long etymological history moulded by its own heavy use in literature with forceful terms. For a Cro Magnon, Agriculture and domestication were development. For Indus civilisation it was urbanisation, for modern British society it was industrialisation, for the contemporary western society its in the betterment of over all living standard.

Indeed ADT itself is quite ironically a mere paradigm in evolution of “Development” Bringing Empowerment of people, Rights approach etc

D – as an idea impervious to change as per ADT

While the D which ADT was against was heavily tilted towards western models of D as West was running the show, It can be seen that D evolved. Indeed Gender development including preserving rights of LGBT, Sustainable development, inclusive development are mere attributes of D of today.

D has faults

D of 1960s or even D of today has its faults; Its problems range from raising inequalities, marginalisation of already marginalised – Tribals, Aboriginals, Women, LGBT, Poorer countries etc., destruction of environment etc.

D can be empowering

The raising standards of living, Improvement in poverty levels (37%->22% in a decade in India), Success of MDG in IMR, CMR, MMR, Women empowerment, reduction of HIV/AIDS, Paris Climate change meet, Montreal protocol, refugee laws, MGNREGS, Chinese Diabo etc etc are extremely successful models of development.

The prevalence of multiple channels for transfer of resources form the Centre to the States is stated to have compounded the problems of federal fiscal arrangements. Discuss.

Transfer of resources from centre to states is being done today in various channels.

Sharing of taxes from divisible pool as per Finance Commission & PC (now Fin Min granting discretionary grants) recommendations.
Special Package or Special Category status for few states as per need and state’s ability to generate revenues.
Grants to states both monetary and non monetary, Constitutional and discretionary.
Subsidies like Tax holidays, incentives to sectors like manufacturing etc will benefit few states.
Package for implemmenting diff schemes – MGNREGA, RTE etc

Due to this, following issues have cropped up –

Loss of rationality in policy making and implementation – Political pressure of coalition parties and regional factors; UP has high allocation as special packages, yet development remains low.
Inefficient monitoring of outcomes – due to insufficient coordinatio (Riggs – mal integration)
Digressing from 5 year plan objectives. – due to financing multiple overlapping CSS schemes eg. Kerala might not need special RTE funds
inequality development in states, prejudices, hostilities, regionalism, race for SCS status – Recent issue of GST where manufacturing states asked for additional 1% tax is a case to point.
Delay in payment eg. MGNREGA delayed pay, corruption, leakage

The way ahead –

create institutions like GST council where states pool their soveregnity, better monitoring and outcome based budgeting.
e-gove like JAM can help in making the transaction faster, curbing leakages eg, before it used to come through State, JAM makes it directly between Centre & State
reduction in CSS – & direct 42% devolution of funds will reduce these multiple channels

In sum, if good economics becomes good politics, financial management can be made more effective.

29th September 2016

Plans and Priorities:
“There is a tendency of centralism in Indian federalism, but it is not because of its institutional framework but because of its socialist goals and centrally devised plan development.” explain the statement in the context of union-state relationships

Centralism in Indian Federalism is caused by Planning;

Planning commission used top-down planning methodology; It had overriding powers on state; Used Gadgil Mukherjee formula to allocate funds of central plan assistance for non-special states; After NITI, Finance ministry took over this responsibility;
PC & Socialism were needs of the time due to low capacity of the States to adhere to socio-economic needs of citizens, at large. eg. poverty > 60% & literacy > 80% (changed from above )
Planning happens top down even on the State list subjects, in the name of Public Interest. Eg. Health, Education, Agriculture. This propagated “One size fits all approach” – For instance a State like Kerala needs more investment in Infrastructure and not education.
Centrally sponsored schemes routinely bypass States and communicate with local bodies. Eg. MGNREGS.
States, PRI, ULBs did not develop capacity building plans or implementing them because of PC’s expert like stature coupled with the legitimacy it derived from the association of NDC. Only few states like Kerala were able to develop leadership in PRI.

Caused by Institutional framework;

State emergency A 356; National Emergency – A 352;
A 256 – Centre can give executive directions to State; A 365, If States fail to comply they can be dismissed;
Governor acts as an agent of centre; A 200 – Discretion of Governor in bills;
Lucrative taxes come under central list (GST, and increased devolution reduced this effect)
Integrate Judiciary;
Domination of Centre in the concurrent list; Centre’s monopoly over residual list. Centre is allowed to legislate in state list; under five different conditions;
Indestructible union of Destructible states; A 3;
Amendment can be initiated only by Parliament;

Hence Both because of central planning and Institutional design, Centralism hijacked federalism till now. With more devolution of funds from 14th FC, GST, NITI ayog’s arrival its envisaged that centralism gives way to Cooperative federalism.

Why has District Planning been marginalized in many States and remained prominent in a few States? Explain.

District Planning is the key for decentralized development with local participation and knowledge on field administration. But it has been marginalized in many states and reasons are,

Political

No Political will on part of parties and governments to devolve powers to local administration and review the feedback.

Ex : Visionary leadership of AP has taken District planning to a newer level.

Technical expertise: Planning needs extensive expertise which is more concentrated at central level. Local bodies suffer from shortage of expertise and manpower. Some successful states have deputed personnel from states to undertake planning.Hence , in states with higher literacy there is more District planning .

Financial

1 . Lack of finances and sources to raise funds led to impeded planning process.

No Budgeting similar to state or central governments to allocate resources and decide on priorities.

Administrative

Inadequate capacity in terms of human resources and public participation in planning process.
Many states , regional development authorities like divisional commissioner, DC are used to functionally segregated planning made by states and are showing less interest in strengthening of district level planning.
Lack of interest on administrative authorities and negligence on citizen oriented governance

Planning in India has been primarily functional or sectoral based on function based ministries and departments and largely confined to central and state .This has resulted in uniform approach, with very little leeway for cross district disparities , which has resulted in wastage of resources . Area planning can complement these and help in augmenting local resources in a rational manner

Should media exposure be included in rules for administrative accountability in India? State your views.

Media exposure in this context refers to the dissemination of administrative information through media – whose horizons have now been extended to include electronic media and social media;

Helps Accountability

Citizen participation is improved eg. Delhi police use Twitter to communicate with citizenry; “New Community Policing”

(These days “new” is put everywhere to make it a new concept; This is copyrighted by me – Take that, Pub Ad thinkers)

Delegated legislation must be publicised in other countries; India is yet to implement this; Of much help especially in the discretionary delegated legislation;
Social Audit can be conducted without using RTI 2005; DDY GJY – Online Dashboard named “Grameen Vidhyudeekaran”;
Media plays an activist role in major democracies; It can set or mend the agenda basing on the extent of “information exposure”
Media-Civil servant collaboration can become another method of information gathering for a civil servant;

Harms Accountability

Over media exposure hurts. Eg. Plan of counter attack was telecasted in 26/11 which protracted the armed standoff.
Secrecy is needed in strategic sectors, taxation etc; National security/interest comes before short term accountability.
Media tries to blow events out of proportion; Hurt the flow of an organisation;
Issues are politicised; Moreover Bureaucrats will lose anonymity which is essential for non-partisan nature of a civil servant;
Media-Civil servant collusion for “quid pro quo” is a dangerous proposition.

Hence, “media exposure” has potential but can be misused as well; Its better for now to allow such exposure on case by case basis rather than as part of Code of Conduct for Civil servants.

“ A fix tenure in Civil Service postings can increase productivity , accountability and probity in Government.”

In the context of 2014 Judgement of SC where the Apex court directed Government to fix the tenure of Bureaucrats while disposing off a PIL filed by TSR Subramaniam et al, It is expected to have following improvements if implemented.

Productivity

Stable tenure is conducive for learning the “tricks of the trade” of a particular position;
It facilitates learning from the outgoing B to incoming B; Eg. Collectors generally keep a record of their experiences;
Advice can be without fear or favour;
It works as Hygiene need – Herzberg;

Accountability

Reduces the influence of Political groups with vested interests;
Its difficult to fix the accountability when tenure is not fixed. This will also facilitate the future implementation of performance based promotion system.
Fear of Politicians is sufficiently reduced; Coupled with another recommendation from SC asking bureaucrats to not act on verbal orders; This provides spine for the bureaucrats;

Probity

Sufficient anecdotal evidence suggest that B has turned sycophants because of fear of untimely transfers and punishment postings; The impact of the former is reduced by the verdict.
B can go after corrupt – without having to face transfers. Eg. Khemka – Don’t mention the name in the exam
When couple with RTI (Suo moto dissemination) – This judgement enables transparency and hence probity;

Though Fixed tenure is not the only panacea for problems in civil service like corruption, nepotism, favouritism, formalism, heterogeneity etc it can reduce the degree of unethical practices and improve responsibility. Civil Service reforms recommended by 2nd ARC like “Fitness board”, “Espirit De corps”, Amendment to A 311 etc are required for a meaningful and real reform on the ground.

30th September 2016

Plans and Priorities:
Planning enables comprehensive and scientific understanding of problems. Examine the statement in context of planning methodology.

Planning enables comprehensive and scientific understanding of problems. Examine the statement in context of planning methodology

Planning methodology involves set of rules or procedures to be followed for planning . Indian 5 year plans have been characterised as top down approach.

How it enables:

Wider participation : Technical expertise , dedicated staff , Inclusion of Stakeholders – Ministries, States, Local bodies, DPC;

Ex : NITI Ayog – Governing council ,experts , ex officio members etc

Democratic participation: NDC, Central cabinet, Lok Sabha etc

C . Tools – information gathering : Data Collection(Data about national consumption, national product, investment, saving, estimates for next FY, Performance of last FY, identifying socio economic weakness.

Ex :Use of geo- spatial technology in Beti bachao beti padao . Geo informatics in health care .

Wider dissemination – Including Parliament + Civil society
Adding legitimacy : Approval of (Cabinet, NDC) and LS in that order.

Why planning required :

Comprehensive understanding
Spatial diversity : Change in socio economic conditions and impact of culture , economic conditions
Temporal diversity : The needs of today’s young generations are different from needs of young generations of past 20 yr .

Ex : Introduction of HYV seeds to improve agriculture hoping for self sufficiency , now objective is to shift young generation to provide livelihood through make in India programme .

Technical

With advent of LPG, ecological impact on planning has been tremendous and technicality has increased

Sectoral distribution :
Weightage to values : To make a rational decision or plan , weightage to be given to achieve net positive value . Some time emotional indictment and lack of information could fail the plans .

Ex : India went ahead for Industrial planning on the lines of socialist to achieve faster economic growth , but this lead to lack of focus on agriculture that lead to food crises and hence we had import and abandon the next plan – PL480

Helps overcome contingencies – piecemeal approach can help better utilising tools like PERT , CPM . Thus improving implementation.

planning sets the future course of action . A goal without a plan is just wish . We have defined our goals in preamble and planning helps us achieve them . Hence , a comprehensive analysis and technicality aids for robust plan.

The objectives, approaches and organizational arrangements for decision-making of the NITI Aayog aim at restoring the federal character of the Indian polity. Explain.

“Horses for Courses” is an old proverb, But identifying the right “horse” requires ecology and situation specific selection model.

Taylor envisages “Scientific selection” for shop-floor management in an industrial and manufacturing complex. Taylor articulated physical and intellectual qualities as the basis for selection;
The Classical theorists generalised the organisation – but envisaged specialisation as the criteria for selection;
Weber preferred a career bureaucracy which meant “Catching talent early” as they serve the organisation as generalists;
Wilson preferred a merit based professional bureaucracy which meant both career based and lateral entry;
In “Functions of Executive” Barnard envisages Selection for General (Comprehensive skill, Flexibility, poise and courage) and specific talents (Technical soundness and Aptitude) to suit the organisation;
In the participative management Argyris supports selection based on “Interpersonal competence” in an organisation which requires collaboration of individual with non-programmed tasks;
Moreover in the modern era, with increased specialisation, A leader in the “sub-unit centrality” paradigm needs to be breadthwise knowledgable; While the members of the sub-units need to depth wise knowledgable.

Hence, several methodologies have developed in the view of organisation; A Military organisation selection model is biased towards mental and physical toughness, while a software company’s selection model is biased towards Aptitude and interpersonal competence.

Furthermore, Chris Argyris examines the needs of the individual vis-a-vis needs of the organisation; Incongruence between these may result in organisational incompetence.

Oversupply of labour coupled with weak demand for labour meant over emphasis on the needs of the organisation at the time of recruitment. Lately though, demand for skilled labour is coupled with weak supply of highly skilled – which is forcing organisation to go out of their way to recruit suitable candidates on the terms of the candidates.

The ‘selection model of recruitment rests on the assumption that the primary needs to be met are those the organization.’ Examine

“Horses for Courses” is an old proverb, But identifying the right “horse” requires ecology and situation specific selection model.

Taylor envisages “Scientific selection” for shop-floor management in an industrial and manufacturing complex. Taylor articulated physical and intellectual qualities as the basis for selection;
The Classical theorists generalised the organisation – but envisaged specialisation as the criteria for selection;
Weber preferred a career bureaucracy which meant “Catching talent early” as they serve the organisation as generalists;
Wilson preferred a merit based professional bureaucracy which meant both career based and lateral entry;
In “Functions of Executive” Barnard envisages Selection for General (Comprehensive skill, Flexibility, poise and courage) and specific talents (Technical soundness and Aptitude) to suit the organisation;
In the participative management Argyris supports selection based on “Interpersonal competence” in an organisation which requires collaboration of individual with non-programmed tasks;
Moreover in the modern era, with increased specialisation, A leader in the “sub-unit centrality” paradigm needs to be breadthwise knowledgable; While the members of the sub-units need to depth wise knowledgable.

Furthermore, Chris Argyris examines the needs of the individual vis-a-vis needs of the organisation; Incongruence between these may result in organisational incompetence.

Do you agree with the view that citizen’s Charters in India have not succeeded in their objective of making of administrative system citizen –centric ? Analyze and give your suggestions in this regard.

Citizen charter is an articulation which represents the expectation of Standard and quality of Services, Information about grievance redressal, Value for money, compensation for failures etc provided by an organisation. It envisages Citizen participation through the assertion of the Entitlements.

Shortcomings of CC

Law mantra study says : Out of 47 union ministries/depts. CC reviewed: 41%charters didnot mention about grievance redressal mechanism.
DARPG study also found that :

a)In many cases ,consultative process was not undertaken in formulation

b)service providers are not familiar with the goals and main features of charter.

c)No funds for awareness generation about CC.

d)Absence of CC in local languages.

These two studies show that despite CC exists citizens , couldnot avail the benefits of it because of loopholes in formulation, lack of enforceability and lack of accountability on authorities .Thus it can be said that CC have not succeeded in their objective of making Administration citizen centric.

Success Stories in CC

Sakala of Karnataka
Sevottam Model;
Public Services guarantee of Madhya Pradesh; One of the best according to Transparency International India;
Right to Service of Bihar – Against corruption;

Suggestions to improve:

2nd ARC recommends compensation for non-adherence, For eg: In Europe if train delays, people are compensated; Madhya Pradesh enacted CC embraced this concept.
Citizen and lower level functionary Consultation at the time of Formulation; Eg.Banglore citizen report card
Practical commitments and Active adherence.
Wide information dissemination using media and collaborating with NGOs;
Effective and timely grievance redressal mechanism;
Periodic re-evaluation involving stakeholders;
Enable internal process coherence with CC;

1st October 2016

Insights Optional Test – 4;

‘Our normal expectation should be that new programs will fail to get off the ground and that, at best, they will take considerable time to get started. The cards in this world are stacked against things happening’ (Pressman and Wildavsky). Comment.
‘Those who budget, deal with their overwhelming burdens by adopting heuristic aids to calculation’ (Wildavsky). Explain.
Do you think that there is an unresolved and often overlooked tension in Dicey’s concept of rule of law, considering that the other principle of parliamentary sovereignty in English constitutional system runs counter to it?
Critically examine the variables in the composition and functioning of Cabinet Committees.
“Memorandum of Understanding’ scheme between the Government and Public enterprises has forced public undertakings to improve their overall performance.” Do you agee with this statement?
“The success and prestige enjoyed by a Chief Secretary, to a large, upon his equations with the varied sets of people and institutions that form the work environment.” Critically evaluate the statement and its relevance to the role of Chief Secretary in the discharge of his function.
In the exercise of his/her functions, the President of India is a mere ‘Convenient working hypothesis’. Do you agree with this view? Justify your reasoning with illustrations.
‘Parliamentary Departmental Committees have played their role effectively in analyzing the demands for grants.’
Explain the emerging ambiguity in respect of the developmental role of District Collector in the wake of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act.
What kind of indicative planning should NITI ayog perform in your opinion. Take health as the sector of interest and argue.
‘Parliament is an independent institution, not to be seen as an extension of government or of a party.’
‘The authority of the Governor in the discretionary field is not unrestrained. If it is misused … the President can check him/her and if necessary, he may even remover the Governor.’ Examine this statement critically in the context of the Office of the Governor.
Anti-defection law impinges on the right of free speech of the legislators?Examine the statement.
Indian president’s activism varied with time.
“Advent of PIL is the main reason for ever aggravating pendency” Critically examine

2nd October 2016

3rd October 2016

State Government and Administration:
Is there is need to dispense with the office of the governor? Examine in the context of coalition governments

Need to dispense

Works as an agent of Centre in derailing the elected Governments in the era of “Minority or Coalition Govts”; Eg. Uttarakhand, AP; Especially after 1967;
Has come to become a political appointment of retirees;
Coalition Govts at the centre are leading to Central Govt failures; Governors are replaced every time Central Govt Changes;
Governor is actively getting involved in Party politics – J asked Governor to refrain from that.

Governor is indispensable

A 200; Need to have effective control over state legislation; (not undermining central laws, Judiciary etc)
For selecting the leader of party when none of them get majority;
To ensure the confidence of Govt on the floor of the Legislature; Eg. He could ask them to prove their majority;
To check Executive adventurism – 42nd/44th amendment doesn’t apply to him; J has liberally interpreted A 163;

Sarkaria called him Lynchpin of Federalism – So can’t remove;

the Centre State relations have acquired new dimensions in recent times due to several political parties being in power at the Centre and the States. (Second ARC). Do you agree? Give reasons to support your arguments.

Centre state relations have acquired a new dimension after 1967 general elections, when Congress retained power in the centre while many regional parties acquired power in the state. Some changes are.

Role of Governor; Sarojini Naidu called pre-1967-Gov “Bird in Golden Cage”; Governor became active and in some extent “Agent of centre” in the post 1967 era; Governor became more assertive as to not lose the “Pleasure of President”.
Increased use of A 356 till Bommai;
Partisan governance; Step motherly treatment of centre towards opposition(or other Party) ruled states; Planning commission only aggravated this; Discretionary grants had a distinct bias.
A200 used more often; Lokayukta of Delhi in recent memory; GCOCA – sent back 3 times; (NDA sent it back again – but that doesn’t count for the question)
RS is more fractured; RS has come to become a hurdle in progressive legislation; RS contemporary to 14th LS is the least efficient and least functional. RS was bypassed by LS by terming non-monetary bills as money bills. Eg. Aadhar;
Regional aspirations are finding voice in foreign policy; TN forced India to vote against Sri Lanka in UN; WB played spoilsport in Teesta deal with Bangladesh – while supporting LBA;
Coalition Govts; Sometimes opposition parties in the state were in ruling coalition of centre; This led to C-S tensions;
Bargaining power of states have increased; Special package to WB is seen in the light of its support in LBA, GST etc.

Current Government is showing interest in cooperative federalism – there is a necessity for both vertical and horizontal cooperation. While use of A356 in UK and AP shows partisan tendencies, Success in GST shows potential of such cooperation.

“In very recent time, the role of the State Governor is found to be more of diplomatic than administrative nature.” Comment on the statement with suitable examples.

Approach to the question.

Diplomatic Nature of work

When Central Govt is from a different party to that of State Govt. Governor becomes the bridge.
In the era of Coalition Govts – While choosing the CM candidate, While asking to prove majority;
A 200;
A 356;
A 163; he could use discretion in the most subtle way;
While sending reports to Presidents;
Disputes between two states ( or one state and one UT) when he is the Governor (or Lt Gov); Take Puducherry and TN;

Administrative Work : Too much to write! 🙂

His diplomatic nature (which (s)he does himself/herself ) of work supersedes administrative nature of work “which is carried out in his name” – exemplified when he is seen as the “Agent of centre”

Fair and transparent appointment process of judges is the need of the hour.Suggest measures to improve the collegium system in India.

Owing to several reasons the collegium system which was started before two decades to secure and promote judicial independence, has always remain a matter of debate, but the debate intensified after the NJAC proposal was declined by Supreme Court.Following lacunae requires to be addressed in the present system:

1.There should be a clear cut appointment policy clearly covering eligibility criteria, age of retirement,seniority and merit etc that involve minimum human judgement and offer least discretion to the appointees. Need for a search committee which does a thorough research on candidates’ profiles – Judges rarely have such luxury of time. Eg. British JAC – Requests nomination from broad quarters; has 30 criteria; Public scrutiny of each candidate;

2.Transparency in appointments; Participation from Academics, Bar council, Civil Society etc. Use IT as a platform for the scrutiny;

3.Inclusive approach to selection and appointment especially from Marginalised sections of society;

4.Appointments should made a subject of Judicial Reviews to promote supremacy of law over privilege of judges. (I think it already is. After Minnerwa Mills not much is beyond Judicial Review, Even Schedule 9 was curtailed)

5.A permanent secretariat to document its affairs and to put the minutes of the meetings in RTI domain should be established.

6.The collegium should ensure “zero political party influence” in appointment through affidavit to uphold the dignity and supremacy and prestige of judiciary.

Grievance redressal Mechanisms;

If all these are taken care a more free,fearless and unbiased and accountable judiciary will be there to upkeep the trust and confidence of public and other stake holders in judicial system of the country.

“Article 356 is not a dead letter – rather a deadly weapon in the hands of Union government”

Deadly Weapon

Invoked more than 100 times; Liberally overused between 1967 and Bommai;
Against Democratic politics; Till recently only SL was suspended after A 356;
After 1967 elections, Congress used President’s rule to control states where they were not in power.
The Janta Party invoked Article 356 after their win in 1977 to throw Congress off balance in states (supported by SC – SC failed to protect Constn ) and the same done by Congress when it came to power in 1980.
Governor was forced to send a favourable report (Sometimes threatened with ousting) – hence became a spoils sport – so that he acts in favour of Govt
Used to legislate in state subjects; Legislation is not co-terminus with A 356;
Political Gains (Recent Arunachal Pradesh Example)
Even Corruption was used as “Constitutional Machinery” Failure;
without SC, anarchy & chaos – leads to questioning of very democracy, & also against coop fedm – which is very much needed in the present era of GST, organised crimes

Not Deadly weapon after Bommai; But certainly not dead letter as envisaged either

Suspended animation;
Protocol – Only if 1. Breakdown of coalition, 2.SL can’t elect CM 3. Elections can’t be held; A chance must be given to prove majority in SL;
Corruption ~= Failure of constitutional machinery;
The logical end should be a democratic Govt;

KR Narayanan Used Bommai to send back A 356 request on Bihar; Use of A356 in UK and AP were overturned by J;

Indian federalism is moving towards Cooperative, Competitive and fiscal federalism. Discuss

Indian Federalism is criticised for its unitary bias. But it’s transformation is evident through following aspects.

Cooperative:

NITI Aayog – discussions on planning, strategy for growth, areas of improvements, opportunity for states to voice their concerns, uniformity in development in states.
Interstate Council – Article 263, As per Sarkaria Commission recommendation, addressing region specific concerns like water disputes, backwardness, health, education etc (Has not been Functional)
Collaboration – International treaties like India-Bangladesh boundary dispute settlement and involvement of border states, exchange of power to internet with bangladesh for NE states;
GST Bill; Centre’s obsession with consensus instead of majority agreement is commendable;
e-NAM; (Some states like Punjab Seems to have a problem)
“One size Doesn’t fit all” is being followed; Namami Gange, DDU-GJY, SPM-Rurban mission, MGNREGs, SBM etc

Competitive:

States promoting themselves to attract FDI Eg. Right to Clearance by Telangana;
Solving issues and ratifying GST by states quickly to show the need for uniform taxes and gain benefits.
Easing norms, laws Solar mission – Ex: Gujarat, AP; Labour Laws – Rajasthan, Gujrat;
Enabling ecosystem for growing sectors like IT. Ex: Telangana, Karnataka
Cauvery (is it competitive or Conflict prone?)
On the question of backwardness Eg.Bihar and Orissa (the negative type of competition)
Competitive learning – MH AP – Huge investments in irrigation but no improvement; MP, Gujrat much less investment with excellent results;
GI tags; Tourism;

(Digressing here – not part of the answer “The World Bank’s ‘Doing Business in India, 2009’ has shown that if a hypothetical city called ‘Indiana’ were to adopt best practices found in several benchmarked cities (e.g. lowering number of procedures to start business to Patna levels, days to start a business to Mumbai levels, procedures around construction permits to Ahmedabad levels, days to enforce a contract to Guwahati levels, and recovery rate for closing a business to Hyderabad levels); Indiana would rank 67/181;”

Fiscal:

Vertical devolution of funds increased from 32% to 42% by FFC;
Special package to states like Bihar, AP, J&K as per needs.
GST Passed;
UDAY;
Reduction in Centrally sponsored schemes; Tied Funds are reduced;

Thus Indian federalism is transforming from rigid, top down approach to flexible, bottom up approach with centre states as partners in equitable and inclusive development of the country.

Fissiparous forces in Federalism

A356 – on UK & Arunachal – overruled by SC (coop fed)
Beaj – sutlej river project between Punjab & Haryana (competitive fed acting against welfare)
BRGF not funded in budget despite CMs’ confence of NITI recommending it ( both against fiscal & coop fed)

4th October 2016

District Administration since Independence:
Reducing the size (geographical area) of the district will provide relief to the overburdnened and overworked collector. comment

Collector –

Eyes, ears of the state
Works at cutting edgelevel
His feedback from policies – very imp since he gets 1st hand info while interacting with public.

Hence it’s necessary that collector works with utmost effectiveness, efficiency.

But Increased complexity, population, scope of administration led to increased work of Collector. Reducing size of district may have positives as,

Lessened administrative work, focus on few priority areas to improve local problems.
Low population-> lesser grievances, better resource utilization, quick decision making.
Better communication, enhanced quality of leadership, increased cooperation as per Urwick who suggested lesser span of control for effectiveness.
Better representation of problems, time to find alternatives to arrive at better solutions as per Simon decision making model.
Improved efficiency, economy and effectiveness as smaller units lead to less wastage.
Increased responsibility and accountability for societal problems.

But lower size of districts may create new problems like,

Increased requirement of personnel and their pay, pension etc -> financial burden
Problems of coordination among districts as Riggs differentiation must be coupled with better integration.
Focus on means rather ends. May lead to divert the original goal of the social welfare and with increased administration

Thus There must be a balance between means like personnel administration, division of labour, differentiation with ends like better service delivery, increased quality of outcomes, improved social welfare and district size must be at optimum level to ensure comprehensive growth.

District collector is a legacy of the British Raj and has largely remained insulated from the demands of contemporary professionalism. Discuss.

Indian Bureaucratic structure was considered as the steel frame of British Empire. After Independence there was a great debate on the future of bureaucratic structure and post of District Collector. Finally in the vision on Sardar Patel they were given the responsibility to develop India.

Though post of district collector was derived from British Raj but it played a major role in developing India.

It strengthened local government.
It provided expert knowledge at grass root level.
It played a major role in developmental schemes like ICDS, agriculture programmes drought area programmes etc.
It also played in major role in implementing social legislation’s like abolition of untouchability, child marriage etc.
Post of district collector was the central post via which all the work at district level was done.

But this post also derived many unwanted features of British Raj :-

Elitism: District collector considers himself as elite and because of this there is a lack of empathy.
Top down approach: The developmental approach of district collector is top down.
Parochial: District collector failed to involve citizens and other stakeholders in developmental activities.
Rigid structure: The structure and machinery is rigid and approximately same in the name of uniformity.

But today’s time has changed. With fast changing technology and active citizen this approach of development needs to change. There is a need for :-

Participatory approach in which all stakeholders can take decisions together.
Decentralisation: More power to people elected representatives.
Flatter organisation.
Better use of technology.
Localised approach in which one size does not fits all.
More transparency and accountability.

District collector has to change according to the demand of environment. He has contributed a lot in past and much more contribution is required in future, only his role will change. Second ARC has recommended that the developmental work should be done through local government and the over burdened District Collector should take the responsibility of only regulatory functions.

Would you agree that the strong Rechsstaal version of the rule of law found on the Continent never existed in England because of the its particular history?

Rechsstaat(R) or the “Constitutional State” of Continental Europe is similar to “Rule of law” as both work as limitations on the power of the state. But the differences are can be strictly seen as the product of England’s History.

England was a colonial power. While it practiced “rule of law” in the colonies too, it lacked moral justification that R would require. Eg. Indentured labour, Public safety Act; “Monopoly of legitimate use of force” was replaced by “State Monopoly of violence” – for colonial ambitions, flouting legitimacy; (William Wallace ? 🙂 )
Slow constitutional incrementalism devoid of social revolution meant that the privileges of King were preserved under “King can do no wrong”; Class interests were preserved too undermining social justice. England the birth place of capitalism did not have much of an incentive to expose the contradictions of Capitalism; Copying Bismarck, British implemented a limited form of state led social protection under “rule of law” much later.
British Parliament concentrated in itself “full constituent” powers undermining the “supremacy of the constitution” – a cardinal principle of R; Parliamentary supremacy undermines the concept of “Judicial Review” which is essential for transparency.

In theory, even Rule of law had a component of “Justice”; The lack of checks and balances that R provides were missing in enforcing justice in true sense under “Rule of Law”

Ramsay Macdonald: DC is a tortoise on whose back stood the elephant of Indian administration. Discuss

District Collector is the chief executive of a district and is the point where ’policy ends and action begins.’ District is the smallest unit of administration in our country and the place where government comes in contact with the public. Being the representative of Central government and state government DC has multifarious tasks. He acts as –

1.District Collector – The revenue collection is a primary task of DC since British days.

2.Chief Judicial Magistrate – Maintains law and order of the city, supervises police, prisons, responsible for transfers, postings.

3.Chief Returning Officer – Looks after election work of Lok Sabha and State assembly, provides certificates to winning candidates. Also conducts elections at district level.

4.Chief Development Officer – Responsible for implementation of state and central government development schemes.

5.Chief Protocol Officer – Conducts census, presides over meetings of various institutions.

6.Responsible for disaster management – Arranging resources for managing crisis and coordinating with various departments is a prime responsibility.

Thus, DC is surely a tortoise on whose back the elephant of Indian administration stands. However, there is a reduction in the prestige in DC’s office since the British days. His office is no longer considered the highest bureaucratic office rather acts as a public servant.

“What Fetishism of commodities is to economics, bureaucracy is to politics” – Elucidate in context of 21st century India.

Kumar’s answer

Assigning attributes to a commodity in order to make it seem consumable is termed as Fetishism. The critics of structural organization and Weberian bureaucracy have stated that bureaucracy acquires such attributes which make it legal and rational in outlook, but it remains class based and dominating at it core. The principles of impartiality, impersonation, apolitical attitude etc. have been attacked by the critics.

Marx argued that in all societies ( underdeveloped, developing and developed), bureaucracy assumes forms which promote class domination and institutional elitism in the name of social welfare. Similar voice has been raised by New Rights Philosophy who portrayed bureaucrats as ‘Budget Maximizers’ who further only their interest in the name of public policy.

The modern concepts in public administration such as – Good governance, Accountability, Transparency, Citizen-centric administration and Post-structural organizations have allayed these doubts to an extent. In 21st century, fetishism of bureaucracy has proved ineffective. It became the reason of Arab Spring and is still exhibited in African monarchies.

The surge of Information technology and social media have made citizens aware of their rights. Also, the democracy has been deepening in most parts of the world, including India. Rights based approach along with commitment for development has ensured that bureaucracy is not misused. As bureaucracy moved from its elitist garb to service orientation, fetishism of bureaucracy for political ends would decline.

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: Synopsis of 2016 Mains Writing Challenges

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