Public Administration || Paper 2 || Plan and Priorities

Planning in India

1.   Multi-level

2.   Multi-stage

3.   Multi-agency

Planning Commission

1.   Commission because it requires Division of Labour.

2.   Union Govt. had a direct control.

3.   With PM as the chairperson.

4.   It also had a Deputy chairperson of cabinet rank, permanent and non-permanent members.

5.   Criticized for the domination of PM, bypassing of cabinet and absence of proper accountability mechanism.

National Development council (NDC)

1.   Came up in 1952, two years after the PC.

2.   As it was felt that participation from States is quintessential

3.   Members of PC and the Chief Ministers and other Ministers from States.

4.   Mandate was Socio-economic developmental issues.

Process of Planning

1.   Approach Paper

2.   Draft Plan

3.   Working Groups

4.   Sectoral Plans

5.   State Plans comprising of all sectoral plans

6.   National Plan comprising of all State plans

7.   Final Plan Document

8.   Public Scrutiny.

Decentralized Planning

1.   In 1962, PC suggested State Planning Boards whereas some states already had State Planning departments.

2.   1^st ARC recommended District Planning cells.

3.   Similar recommendations from the Dattwala Committee and the Hanumatharao Working Group.

Criticism of Planning

1.   Centralized nature

2.   PC as the Agency of the PM.

3.   Political interference

4.   Overshadowed the Finance Commission (Art 280)

5.   Promoted vertical federalism.

6.   No direct accountability.

Need for Planning?

1.   Marginalized Sections need attention

2.   Sustainable development;

3.   Spatial planning;

4.   Balanced regional development;

5.   Strategic vision;

6.   Social infrastructure;

7.   Attracting foreign investments.

Public Administration || Paper 2 || Union Government and Administration

President

1.   Art 79 says it’s a part of the Parliament.

2.   Election of the President – Art 54, 55; President and Vice President (Election) Act 1951; Electoral college- Elected MPs and MLAs; Proportional representation by means of Single transferable Vote; Democratic and federal principles enshrined;

3.   Constitutional Status – Art 53 read with Art 74;

4.   Powers – Military; Diplomatic; Judicial; Financial Executive; Legislative.

5.   Veto power – Absolute; substantive; qualified and pocket;

6.   Doctrine of letter of support – K.R.Narayan

7.   Postal Bill upheld – Giani jail singh

8.   Office of Profit case – APJ Kalam; Presidential activism.

9.   Also referred to as Lighthouse on the shore; Grandfather of govt.; Ceremonial head or rubber stamp;

Council of Ministers

1.   Art 74 governs this.

2.   PM – Deputy PM – Cabinet minister- MoS (Independent Charge) – MoS- Deputy Minister

3.   Cabinet refers to PM +  Cabinet Ministers

Prime Minister

1.   Aka “Primus Interpares” & “Inter Stellas Luma Minores”

2.   Phases – Pluralism Premiership; Neo-patrimonial premiership; Federal Model.

3.   Impact of coalition dharma – On selection of Ministers, portfolio allocation, CoM size increasing, Common Minimum Program, Parallel Power centers, chairperson of coalition.

Supreme Court

1.   Jurisdiction – Original; Appellate; Writ; Revisory (Art 137); Advisory (Art 143);

2.   Kesvanand Bharti Vs SoK – Basic Structure Doctrine;

3.   Menaka Gandhi vs UoI  - due process of law;

4.   Judicial Activism – filing of PILs; e.g. CNG in Delhi;

5.   Judicial Overreach – River-linking project; SIT on black money; S.H.Kapadia “Judges should show judicial constraint!”;

Cabinet Secretariat

1.   Earlier was War resources and reconstruction committee;

2.   In 1947 was remodeled as cab.  Sec. ; Statistical unit was attached;

3.   Civil Wing; Military Wing and Intelligence wing.

4.   A staff Agency

Central Secretariat

1.   Assistance in policy making;

2.   Clearing house for preliminary decisions;

3.   Institutional memory;

4.   Financial Control.

5.   A line agency.

PMO

1.   Was known as Prime Ministers Secretariat before 1977.

2.   Nehru mostly used Cabinet Secretariat instead.

3.   PMO with L.K. Jha gained prominence in the times Shastri.

4.   P.N.Haksar in PMO in the times of Indira Gandhi continued the trend.

5.   Later the relevance declined with the coming of Janata govt.

Prime Minister’s House (PMH) - Close associates of PM; Friends; Relative and collegues;

Public Administration || Paper 2 || Public Sector Undertakings

Genesis

1.   Nehruvian ideology and mahalanobis model

2.   The idea of “Trickle-down effect”

3.   Rapid industrialization of the 1960s.

Types

1.   Departmental (100% government ownership and control)

2.   Corporation (Governed by a dedicated legislation)

3.   Company (registered under the Companies Act)

Approaches to Privatization

1.   Denationalization

2.   Joint Ventures

3.   Liquidation

4.   Holding Company.

5.   Leasing

6.   Restructuring

7.   Load shedding

8.   Contracting

Problems with PSUs

1.   Lack of autonomy

2.   Poor quality

3.   Technologically challenged

4.   Low productivity

5.   Red tapism

6.   Inefficiency and corruption

7.   Political interference

8.   Procedural bottlenecks

9.   Ineffectiveness

Policy of Disinvestment

1.   1992-99 Minority stakes; C Rangarajan Committee; First looked after by the dept. of Public enterprise and then by dept. of economic affairs.

2.   1999-2004 Strategic sales; larger revenue targeted; Dept. of disinvestment formed and later upgraded to Ministry; Monopoly was apprehended;

3.   2004 onwards IPOs and Minority stakes; Ministry downgraded to department.

4.   Fast Disinvestment undertaken in Czech Republic, Russia. Slow disinvestment undertaken in China. Both showed not so promising results.

Reforms undertaken

1.   Sick Industries Companies Act, 1985 (Success rate 45/64)

2.   BRPSE (Success rate 62/65)

3.   Memorandums of Understanding as suggested by the Arjun SenGupta Committee

4.   Maharatnas, Navratnas and Mini-ratnas

5.   Public Private Partnerships

6.   Quarterly Performance Reviews

7.   Audits by external agencies

Public Administration || Paper 2 || Philosophical & Constitutional Framework

Constitutionalism

1.   The idea of limited government.

2.   Can exist without Constitution

3.   Features given by giovani Sartori & Louis Henkin

4.   Features – Constitutionalism itself; Written constitution; Preamble; Sovereign Democratic Republic; Socialist and secular; Justice, equality, liberty and fraternity; Single Citizenship; FRs, DPSP and Fundamental Duties; Parliamentary System; Independent Judiciary; Emergency provisions; Independent Agencies.

5.   Non Constitutional factors inducing constitutionalism – Rules of Business; Right to Information; CVC; CBI; NHRC; Role of media etc.

State has four components

1.   Territory

2.   Population

3.   Government

4.   Sovereignty – Popular sovereignty is with people; Legal sovereignty is with Constitution.

Political Culture

1.   Widely accepted political ideology

2.   Study conducted by Almond and Verba in 1960s.

3.   For countries US,UK, Germany, Italy and Mexico.

4.   They observed a mix of Participant, Subject and Parochial Political cultures.

5.   Indian portrays a mix of all – Civic Culture!

Public Administration || Paper 2 || Evolution

Arthashahtra by Kautilya

1.   Means of livelihood;

2.   Palana & Lobha;

3.   Philosophy of Political Realism;

4.   Principles of administration, machinery and personnel;

5.   Principles were all present but implicit;

6.   As a solution to the matsanyay;

7.   Various tests like Bhayopadha and Kamopadha;

The Saptang Theory

1.   King/Swami – Dharma; Free from Kama, Krodh, madh and Lobh; Duties of varnadharma, ashramdharma, kantakshodhan etc;

2.   Amatya/Mantri – Assisting the king; Act like Council; Head of department; Collection of taxes.

3.   Kosh – Superintendent; Treasure general; Collector General; Budget described as Ayasarira and Vyaysarira; Samhartar (Agri.); Go-Adhyasha; Panya-Adhyaksha(Trade);

4.   Janpada – the populace.

5.   Durg – Audak(water); Parvata; Dhanavan(desert); Van Durg;

6.   Danda.

7.   Mitra – Ally, relations with the other kingdoms;

Sciences that nobles ought to know

1.   Anvikshika – Philosophy and Logic

2.   Trayi – The knowledge of vegas.

3.   Varta - economics

4.   Dandaniti

Mughal Administration

1.   Features of Official Nobility and centralized despotism;

2.   Military administration;

3.   Based upon paternalistic benevolence;

4.   Decentralization of administration.

5.   Parochial self-governance.

6.   Office bearers – CoM Diwan/Wazir (Revenue); Sadar (guardian of Islamic laws); Qazi-ul-quzat (Justice); Mir Bakshi (Military Head); Muhtasib (Censorship); Khan-i-saman (Servants);

Further important developments

1.   1793 Cornwallis Code – Covenanted and Non-covenanted services; Liberal remuneration.

2.   1854 Macauley committee

3.   1886 Aitchison Commission – Abolished the distinction of covenanted and non-covenanted; Imperial, provincial and subordinate levels of services.

4.   1923 Lee commission – Federal Public Service Commission. 

Public Administration || Paper I || Development Dynamics

Development Administration (DA) means two things

1.   Administration of development

2.   Development of Administration

For DA, the means taken up must be

1.   Change oriented

2.   Goal oriented

3.   Result oriented

4.   Innovation administration

5.   Client oriented

6.   Planned

7.   Open and transparent

8.   With ecological perspective

But traditional administrative systems are

1.   Regulatory

2.   Procedural

3.   Hierarchal

4.   Status-quoist

5.   Closed systems

6.   Centralized

7.   With quantitative goals

Anti-development Thesis

1.   Development is political

2.   For the containment of communism

3.   Ethnocentric

4.   With western influence

5.   Dependency theory of development

6.   White man’s burden

7.   Neo-colonialism.

8.   They are only broad mata-naratives and grandiose strategies.

Development of Women

1.   1950s Welfare approach

2.   1960s Poverty alleviation approach

3.   1970s Equity approach

4.   1980s Empowerment approach

State Vs Market debate

1.   The later works on Demand-Supply principle; Capitalistic system; Freedom of enterprise.

2.   Mark I paradigm Low state

3.   Mark II paradigm Welfare state, positive state

4.   Mark III paradigm Neo-liberalism 1970s onwards.