Paper II- Public Administration

Public Administration is a sub-division of the broader concept of administration. Administration means ‘to serve’, or ‘to manage affairs’. In this sense, administration means management of the affairs of an organization. And Public administration means management of Governmental affairs and activities. Thus, Public administration is primarily concerned with the implementation of Governmental policies.
History of Indian administration traces its root to the Ancient India. Since the earliest times, the monarchical system was used in public administration in the execution of governmental functions. There are two basic features of the Indian administrative system which continued right down the ages- the importance of the villages as a primary unit and co-ordination between the two opposite trends of centralisation and decentralisation.
The powers of administering the states were centralised in the hands of the king during the ancient period in India. During the Vedic period the king was assisted in his work by many officers. He was surrounded by a circle of his friends and principal officers. There is a reference regarding this in the two epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata. A similar reference is also to be found in Manu Smriti and Sukra Niti. In Kautilya’s Arthashastra is obtained a detailed account about the offices of the state for the first time in the history of India.
Mugal Administration
British Administration
The year 1773 was a landmark in the growth of Indian Administration. Before 1773 there was no central authority in the country. The 1773 Act restricted the powers of the presidencies from making war or treaties without the sanction of the Governor-General in Council. This confirmed the British Parliament’s control over East India Company’s affairs. The Pitt’s India Act of 1784 placed Indian Affairs under the direct control of the British Government, by establishing a Board of Control representing the British Cabinet, over the court of Directors.
The Indian administrative structure is largely, a legacy of the British rule. The various structural and functional aspects of Indian Administration like secretariat system , all-India services , recruitment, training, office procedures, local administration, district administration, budgeting, auditing, centralising tendency, police administration, revenue administration, and so on, have their roots in the British rule. The British rule in India can be divided into two phases- the Company Rule till the year 1858 and the Crown Rule from 1858-1947. The year 1858 itself was a year of great event in that the administration of the Government of India passed into the hands of the British Government from the East India Company.
The important stages during the period 1858-1950 were as under: Government of India Act 1858, Indian Councils Act 1861, Indian Councils Act 1892, Indian Councils Act also known as Morley-Minto Reforms 1909, Government of India Act also known as Montague-Chelmsford Reforms 1919, Government of India Act 1935, Indian Independence Act 1947, and the Adoption of Indian Constitution 1949.

Meaning of Public Policy

• Are goal oriented
• Are outcome of the government’s collective actions
• It is what the government actually decided or chooses to do
• Is positive in the sense that it depicts the concern of the government and involves its action to a particular problem on which the policy is made
• Distinction between policy and goals; policy and decisions

Characteristics of public policy making

• Is a very complex process
• Dynamic process
• Comprises of various componenet
• Policy structure makes different contributions
• Decision making
• Lays down major guidelines
• Results in action
• Directed at the future
• Mainly formulated by governmental organs
• Aims at achieving what is in the public interest
• Use of best policy means
• Involvement of various bodies/agencies

Components of public policy

• PP is purposive and deliberately formulated. It must have a purpose or a goal
• Is well thought out and is not a series of discrete decisions
• PP is what is actually done and not what is intended or desired
• PP also delineates a time frame in which its goals have to be achieved
• Follows a defined course of action: formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation

Types of public policy

• Substantive: concerned with the general welfare and development of the society
• Regulatory: Concerned with regulation of trade, business, safety measures, public utilities etc
• Distributive: meant for specific segments of the society
• Redistributive
• Capitalisation: financial subsidies given by the Union govt to the state and local govt

In a parliamentary democracy, the legislature or Parliament is the most appropriate site for policy making as well as the site for evaluation and monitoring for its implementation. Parliament of India exercise control over executive through its Committees. The most important Standing Committees of Parliament are those that exercise control over the finances: the Public Accounts Committee, the Committee on Estimate and the Committee on Public Undertaking.

Policy implementation is of critical importance to the success of Government. No policy can succeed if the implementation does not bear relationship to the intentions of policy adopters. Policy implementation is the process of putting policy into action. Implementation is the phase between a decision and operation. It seeks to determine whether an organization is able to carry out and achieve its stated objectives.

Communication is an essential ingredient for effective implementation of public policy. Through communication, orders to implement policies are expected to be transmitted to the appropriate personnel in a clear manner while such orders must be accurate and consistent. Inadequate information can lead to a misunderstanding on the part of the implementors who may be confused as to what exactly are required of them. In effect, implementation instructions that are not transmitted, that are distorted in transmission, that are vague, or that are inconsistent may cause serious obstacles to policy implementation.

The Indian judiciary is also regarded as an important agency in policy making process. Armed with the power to strike down executive, quasi-judicial and legislative actions as unconstitutional, the judiciary has, as the ultimate interpreter of Constitutional provisions , expounded the basic features of the Constitution of which the power of judicial review has been recognized as forming an integral part.

The judiciary can intervene in the administrative acts under the following circumstances:

• Lack of jurisdiction,

• Error of law,

• Error in fact finding,

• Abuse of authority,

• Error of procedure.

 

Civil society is the “third sector” of society, along with government and business. It comprises civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations. The UN recognizes the importance of partnering with civil society, because it advances the Organization’s ideals, and helps support its work. Here are some useful websites for members of civil society and also for those interested in the work of the UN.
The Indian national movement popularized the ideas of a representative democracy and civil liberties amongst the masses in order to prevent the colonial rulers from limiting the space from which the national leaders could organize these activities and in this way not only generated awareness amongst the masses about these ideas but also ensured from their actions that these ideas would have a firm foot-hold even in post-colonial India
In independent India, the initial role played by the voluntary organizations started by Gandhi and his disciples was to fill in the gaps left by the government in the development process. The volunteers organized handloom weavers in village to form cooperatives through which they could market their products directly in the cities, and thus get a better price. Similar cooperatives were later set up in areas like marketing of dairy products and fish.
Since 1970s a number of social movements emphasising on a range of basic issues have come to animate the sphere of civil society. They are ‘new’ in contrast to the old trade union and working class movements, which were political in the sense of having an alternate political vision of the state itself with revolutionary ideals. But the people’s movements, as they are called, are the result of broader-based people’s responses to ecological or gender or caste conflicts.
Different types of Civil Societies are:-
humanitarian, (short-term relief to prevent death)
development, (long-term efforts to improve quality of life in economic, political and social sectors)
human rights (efforts to create supportive political environment)
peacebuilding (works specifically to address conflict)
Mains importance of the Civil Societies/NGO are:-
i) People’s participation
ii) Technnical excellence
iii) Cost-effectiveness
iv) Equity-concern for the deprived, and for women
v) Institutional, financial, and environmental sustainability
vi) Accountability

A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any form of government. The term originated from the United Nations (UN), and is normally used to refer to organizations that are not a part of the government and are not conventional for-profit business. In the cases in which NGOs are funded totally or partially by governments, the NGO maintains its non-governmental status by excluding government representatives from membership in the organization. The term is usually applied only to organizations that pursue wider social aims that have political aspects, but are not openly political organizations such as political parties.
NGOs in India are legally registered under the society Registration Act 1860, Indian Trust Act 1882, the Co- Operative Societies Act, 1904, the Joint Stock Companies Act, 1956 in order to meet the judicial requirements. To avail the foreign contribution, they need to register under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, 1976.