Public Administration For IAS

Some questions and comments are Answered

2011-10-31T00:10:00.001+05:30

Dear Friends ,

There are many questions asked - especially now that prelims is history the concentration is on Mains. And since this blog has always concentrated on mains - most of the topics are still relevant.

However I must be thankful for the vigilant readers who pointed out couple of broken links - Like the one minnowbrooke conference - This is will be removed and If we get new will be posting again.

Many students are asking regarding which books to study - most of the information is available in the blog - so please be of patience to find the answers in the blog itself.

Regarding Hindi Medium - Really sorry I dont have any materials in Hindi. Infact if any reader has done extensive work on it - we would be happy to publish as a separate section. Please reach out me if you have any.The materials should not be a dump but should be of carefully chosen which really helps students

Hope you all had a good Diwali ..All the best with your preparations.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Question of Accountability

2011-02-19T09:02:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends ,

With the 2 G spectrum in the backdrop, the question of accountability between minister and civil servant has assumed significant importance. And there is this neatly articulated article.I have highlighted the important notes which is mandatory to remember and quote if possible in the examination and have given the additional details in the later part of the articles.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Source:http://www.hindu.com/2011/02/16/stories/2011021665641400.htm

We should take note of the basic concept of ministerial responsibility, which is the prime tenet of a Cabinet system of government as developed in Westminster and adopted by the Constitution of India.

There are four principal features of the Cabinet system of government. One is that the Cabinet is a single unit accountable to the elected legislature. On every important piece of policy and performance, all members of the Cabinet stand and fall together. The second feature is that, in the presidential system the head of the executive, the President — apart from impeachment procedures — is answerable normally to the electorate, either directly or through a system of electoral college. But in the parliamentary system, the Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister, is immediately answerable to the elected House. The third feature is that, while all members of the Cabinet are collectively responsible to the legislature, there is also individual responsibility for each Minister with respect to the performance of the Department or Departments under his charge. The fourth feature is that, although all members are equal and responsible for every decision taken collectively in the Cabinet, the Prime Minister represents the ‘keystone of the Cabinet arch' and occupies a position of exceptional accountability on the performance of the Cabinet on the whole.

About the dual responsibilities of a Minister, Ivor Jennings stated: “The Cabinet is a general controlling body. It neither desires nor is able to deal with all the numerous details of the government. It expects a minister to take all decisions which are not of real political importance. Every minister must therefore exercise his own discretion as to what matters arising in his department ought to receive Cabinet sanction. The minister who refers too much is weak; he who refers too little is dangerous.” (Page 233-234, Cabinet Government, Third Edition, 1980)

Jennings also stated that the minister is fully responsible for the decisions of his civil servants. He wrote: “All decisions of any consequence are taken by ministers, either as such or as members of the cabinet. All decisions taken by civil servants are taken on behalf of ministers and under their control. If the minister chooses, as in the large Departments inevitably he must, to leave decisions to civil servants, then he must take [the] political consequences of any defect of administration, any injustice to an individual, or any policy disapproved by the House of Commons. He cannot defend himself by blaming the civil servant. If the minister could blame the civil servant, then the civil servant would require power to blame the minister. In other words, then the civil servant would become a politician. The fundamental principle of our system of administration is however that the civil service should be impartial and, as far as possible, anonymous.” (Page 149, The British Constitution, Fifth Edition, 1971)

If a civil servant is found by an impartial enquiry to have exceeded or misused his authority or power to secure personal gain or advantage to other individuals or organisations, he should be duly punished under the law.

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the 2G spectrum deals, submitted in November 2010, revealed a presumptive loss caused to the Central government of about Rs.1.76 lakh crore. This is the largest single instance of corruption in monetary terms in India's political history. Furious indignation among the media and the public, and the demands of the Opposition parties, led to the resignation of Telecom Minister A. Raja. Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal now holds additional charge of the Telecom Ministry.

On December 31, 2010, the Telecom Minister appointed a one-man committee comprising Justice (retd) Shivraj V. Patil “to examine the appropriations of procedures followed by the Department of Telecommunications in [the] issuance and allocation of spectrum during the period 2001-09.”

Justice Patil submitted his report on January 31, 2011. It was put on the website of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on February 10. In the report, material covering the eight terms of reference is examined separately in each chapter.

As the committee was appointed mainly to study the appropriations followed by the DoT and to give suggestions to streamline policy regarding the future sale of spectrum, it did not go into past losses incurred by the government in the sale of spectrum. However, the terms of reference required the committee to “identify the public officials responsible in the cases of ‘deficiencies' and ‘shortcomings and lapses.” Accordingly, the report provides particulars of names and designations of the officials involved in taking decisions, responsible “for deviations in formulation of procedures” in 17 paragraphs of Chapter 6, and of the officials “responsible for lapses,” in 20 paragraphs of Chapter 7.

In 36 of the 37 paragraphs, the report lists the names and designations of officials, from the Secretary downwards. Invariably every paragraph concludes with the remark: “The officers named above appear to be responsible for the deviation,” or “for the lapses,” as the case may be.

In these paragraphs dealing with officers taking decisions, the Telecom Minister is associated with the officials in the following paragraphs (given here without the names and designations of the officers):

Para 6.1(ii): “The decision was taken on the basis of note put up (by 10 officials) and approved by the then Minister.”

Para 6.1(iii) is about the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India that were not placed before the Telecom Commission. It states further: “This was endorsed by 2 officials and approved by the Minister.”

Para 6.1(iv) refers to the DoT seeking the legal opinion of the Attorney-General/Solicitor-General through the Ministry of Law and Justice on the procedure to be followed for the grant of new Unified Access Service Licences (UASLs). The Law Minister gave the opinion that in view of the importance of the case, it was necessary that the whole issue be first considered by an Empowered Group of Ministers. However, based on a note by two officers of the DoT, “the Minister took the view that the opinion of the Minister of Law and Justice was out of context and decided [that] the procedure for grant of new UASLs formulated earlier be continued.”

Para 6.1(vi): “Said decision was based on the contents of the letter of the Minister dated 26-12-2007 addressed to the Prime Minister. On the basis of [a] note by 3 officers and [as] approved by the Minister, [a] decision was taken to treat the contents of the said letter of the Minister as the policy of DoT.” Peculiarly, about the decision to issue a Letter of Intent (LoI) to amend the UASL on payment of additional fee, Para7.1(xiii) states: “This is in deviation from the practice followed which accords priority on the basis of date of application and not on the date of compliance of LoI. This decision was taken by the Minister on 17-10-2007.” In this case, no officer is noted as having been involved in making the decision. In all fairness and according to the principles of natural justice, it should have been noted that the Minister alone was responsible for this deviation. But no such comment has been made about his act of deviation.

It is difficult to accept the conclusion that the officers who prepared the drafts were responsible for the ‘deviations' or ‘lapses'; some of them were approved by the Minister himself. In particular, as per Para 6.1(vi), the decision was taken in the presence of the Minister to treat the contents of his letter to the Prime Minister as the policy of the DoT, which is stated in the paragraph to have been approved by the Minister himself. In this case also, the paragraph ends with the remark: “The officers referred herein above appear to be responsible for this deviation.”

It appears that there is a conspiracy to make the officials of the Ministry responsible and punishable for the actions of the Minister.

The principle of ministerial responsibility should be invoked in the matter of the decisions involved in the 2G spectrum scam.

If, in the case of the 2G spectrum deals, the Minister had acted on his own to issue licences, he comes under his individual ministerial responsibility to be accountable for the huge loss and the consequences of the unprecedented scale of corruption.

Mr. Raja had claimed that the procedures he adopted in the allocation of spectrum licences had received the stamp of approval of the Prime Minister, as his letter of December 26, 2007 had been acknowledged by the Prime Minister in a reply thus: “I have received your letter of December 26, 2007 regarding developments in the telecom sector.” If this assumption by Mr. Raja is acceptable, then the entire policy and procedures adopted in the grant of 2G licences will become a matter to be considered under the collective responsibility of all members of the Cabinet

The Minister versus the Civil servant

2011-02-12T11:23:00.003+05:30

Dear Friends ,

Came across this article which is very much relevant for the students of public administration.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Source : http://www.hindu.com/2011/02/11/stories/2011021158161400.htm

The Central Bureau of Investigation's decision to arrest the former Telecommunications Secretary, Siddhartha Behura, along with the former Minister, A. Raja, in connection with the 2G spectrum case, revives an old debate over the relationship between the civil servant and the politician. The drastic action by the agency should shake the entire bureaucracy, especially the officers of the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, out of their complacency. It should make them introspect on how they should regulate their responses to ministerial demands for unequivocal compliance of directions. The issue is ticklish and may never be resolved to the satisfaction of either side, or even those members of the public who believe that the independence of the civil service became extinct a long time ago. Nevertheless, it has become necessary to place things in perspective, so that the public understands the dynamics of a relationship which places enormous strain on officers at the senior levels of the bureaucracy.

There is nothing that has been reported till now that suggests that Mr. Behura had been dishonest and received monetary favours from the companies which benefited. Only a CBI charge sheet will lead to the process of confirming or disproving his integrity. There is just a possibility that, while being personally honest he had been more than willing to do the Minister's bidding, in order to stay in the good books. It is not insignificant that he had worked under Mr. Raja earlier in the Ministry of Environment. The fact that he signed more than 100 letters in regard to the issue of licences within days of assuming charge as Secretary, is a cause for grave misgivings: he was dishonest or negligent or displayed a lack of application of the mind. His lawyer claims his client had raised several objections to the Minister's actions. It is not known whether these had been recorded on the files. If Mr. Behura's dissent had indeed been put down on paper, that would provide an extenuating circumstance when his criminal liability is assessed.

Lord Macaulay, who was the Law Member of the Governor-General's Council in India and later Secretary of War in England in the second half of the 19th century — he is recognised as the draftsman of the remarkably structured Indian Penal Code — visualised the civil service as a body of young men with outstanding intellectual abilities and values. His report of 1864 paved the way for streamlining the recruitment for and training of the members of the Indian Civil Service. The foundation he laid stressed the qualities of discipline and integrity. The early years of Independence saw both Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Home Minister Sardar Patel nursing the civil services with great care and affection. They were convinced that the bureaucracy, as it evolved under the British, constituted a vital and dependable machinery to push through with the various reforms that an infant nation desperately needed. The uprightness and patriotism of the two great men ensured that the civil services were kept insulated from the muddy waters of day-to-day politics and played the key role expected of it in maintaining social stability, thereby providing the right ambience for development work.

Overall, despite a few hiccups, the culture that respected the average civil servant flourished. A clear distinction between the policymaking role of the Minister and of the implementation function of the civil servant had come to be established. By and large, the latter could argue against a Minister's decision without the peril of being humiliated or penalised. Once the Minister made up his mind after a discussion, he had the last word, and the Secretary had no alternative but to implement the decision. There was therefore everything in the system that promoted candour and honesty.

The watershed in the infamous history of the Indian administration thereafter was possibly the Emergency, declared in 1975 on specious grounds. The arbitrariness that ensued led to the dilution, if not the annihilation, of many traditional institutions. The civil service just caved in without protest.

Since then, the floodgates have remained open, and there has been no stopping the process of tinkering with the civil service. The casualties have been the fearlessness and objectivity of the members of the civil service. Barring a few, Ministers both at the Centre and in the States have steamrolled the bureaucracy so much that a fear psychosis now envelops the whole civil service. The judiciary has generally been remiss in undoing the damage. This is because of the stand that it cannot step in where routine administrative matters (such as transfers and suspensions) are involved, and that an act of injustice done to a civil servant does not constitute any infringement of the fundamental rights embodied in the Constitution. The Administrative Tribunals have occasionally offered some redress but have not done enough to remove the fear that grips a majority of public servants. This explains the rot.

The current situation is one in which the average IAS or IPS officer can hardly say ‘no' to a ministerial fiat. Blind obedience is what is expected, even when a direction is downright illegal. Some of the unfortunate recent scams are a direct outcome of this situation. A few of the so-called ‘encounters' involving anti-social elements also belong to this category. The demand these days from a Minister is for instantaneous action, and any perceived delay by an officer is fraught with grave consequences. In earlier times, ministerial displeasure often resulted in an officer's transfer from a sensitive job. These days, however, the consequence of ministerial ire is an inspired physical assault or a dubious departmental enquiry.

Against this backdrop, how do you expect even an iota of independence or candour from civil servants? It is easy for many of us to be critical of them for their submissive behaviour. But any non-conformist uprightness is a sure route to disaster. This is despite many safeguards, including the protection provided in Article 311 of the Constitution, which guarantee due process before a major penalty (dismissal, removal or reduction in rank) is imposed. Suspension from service is perhaps the worst ignominy that can befall a government official. No doubt there are some restrictions on this power. These do not, however, deter a reckless Chief Minister from settling scores with an unbending civil servant, especially in the higher echelons. The Union government caused great damage by sharing this power with the States in respect of the All India Services. This has been the chief source of fear even among bold officials. Major reform is immediately called for in this area.

It is not as if the blame rests squarely with the politicians. Overzealous and greedy civil servants have contributed equally to the dilution of standards. Many of them have looked the other way when Ministers were found indulging in malpractices. Worse is the case of those who have themselves functioned as conduits for money passing to Ministers. A third category comprises those who are themselves guilty of corruption and cannot blame their Ministers of unethical behaviour. How else do you explain an IAS-officer couple in Madhya Pradesh having been allegedly

found to have assets worth more than Rs.300 crore?

Are such officers the products of an ambience where there is a premium on dishonesty? Or, is it that they have a DNA which prevails over any instinct to be straightforward? What is clear, however, is that unless New Delhi takes up a major exercise to promote honesty in public service, especially in the IAS and the IPS, the country will come to be looked upon as a banana republic by the rest of the world. The growing feeling among major investors from the developed world that they cannot do business in India without paying bribes is a matter of shame.

In the meantime, my advice to senior officers is this: put down any dissent from ministerial directions in writing, and just abstain from any decision that even remotely suggests any irregularity or illegality. Do this even at the cost of being victimised through suspension or being ignored for a significant position that is legitimately your due. These are golden rules which you can ignore only at your own peril.

Right Information by Right to Information: An Interview with Wajahat Habibullah

2010-10-06T12:26:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends ,

I came across this insightful, short interview with former CIC(Chief Information Comissioner) on RTI.From Public administration perspective it comes under Accountability and Control

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Source:http://www.ipcs.org/article/india/right-information-by-right-to-information-an-interview-with-wajahat-3252.html

As India grapples with the Naxal menace in Left Wing Extremism affected states with no concrete long-term solution in sight for now, the former CIC suggests simple measures using the RTI which may prevent further outbreak of the problem.

Question: What is the genesis of RTI in terms of being utilized in Naxal affected areas in the Eastern Tribal Corridor?Wajahat Habibullah: At the time when the Naxal uprising first appeared in India in Naxalbari, another revolution was taking shape in Rajasthan, that of demand for Right to Information. In both places, the dispossessed excluded population was demanding the right to ask questions from the authority and equality and parity. However, one group took to arms, while the other pursued the RTI for the same demands.

Question: Can effective implementation of RTI reverse the trend of violence in the tribal hinterlands which are the worst affected by Left Wing Extremism? WH: RTI can be an effective tool only as long as it is utilized before the violence starts. Once a trend of violence is set, it cannot be used to reverse the cycle. It is only a preventive and not a corrective measure. If used properly, it can be effective in the tribal heartlands of India, which are taken over by the Naxals at present.

Question: Has the failure of proper implementation of Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act, 1996 proved to be an element in increasing tribal anger towards the government?

WH: The tribals have been displaced, marginalized and victimized. It is critical to put PESA to proper use now. It has not been effectively utilized so far as it has not been able to bring much voice to the tribals. It must be given an opportunity and means to empower the tribals.

Question: Has the government been able to reach out to the vulnerable tribal population through the RTI?

WH: Government and administration have been oppressive since the British expropriated tribal and government areas. Now, with RTI, they have an opportunity to be heard. The tribals of India have suffered exploitation for far too long. Now, growth of education has allowed them to project what they have been denied. The redressal mechanism could include RTI as the initiating point. Unfortunately, so far the RTI has not been able to be properly implemented in the affected states.
Question: Which state has benefited the maximum from proper implementation of RTI? Which states show the worst implementation of the RTI?WH: Except Andhra Pradesh, all Naxal affected states have the worst implementation record of RTI. This is the reason why Andhra Pradesh is now the state which is least affected by violence despite being the state where the genesis of the problem emerged with the Telangana uprising.
Andhra Pradesh has had very effective implementation of both Panchayati Raj and RTI. YS Rajasekhara Reddy was himself a big propagator of the RTI. He had said that the RTI Act was a big part of his success as it allowed him to reach out to the rural areas of the state and Telangana.

Question: RTI pendency has been steadily going up over the years. How far will it prove to be effective, even if implemented properly, in tribal areas when the pendency in areas with educated and aware problems is so high?Question: RTI implementation position is much better. Statistically speaking, the pendency numbers have gone up - about three years ago, pending applications stood at 10,000. Now, they are 14,000. However, three years ago, total applications settled were 22,000; the number now stands at 65,000. So, in that context, while pendency has gone up, so has the number of people using the RTI.

Question: How can RTI result in a decline in violence?WH: The expectation of people to get a reply for their grievances and making the system accountable has risen. This tendency will give way to a decline in overall violence. People may get agitated, frustrated or more demanding, but will not take to violence. It gives some sense of responsibility and accountability.

Question: How can the awareness about RTI spread in the interiors of Naxal affected areas where accessibility is still a huge problem for authorities?WH: Spreading of awareness about RTI in tribal areas can be done through various NGOs working with the Naxals in the areas as they have better accessibility among the population rather than the authorities. Allow the civil society to function properly in these areas. Tribals are not even aware of the RTI as of now, let the NGOs and other agents of civil society spread the awareness about what can be done with the help of RTI as an alternate to taking up arms.

Question: Can RTI prove to be a tool for reforming the existing Naxal cadres?WH: I don’t know if the RTI can prove to be an effective tool in reforming existing Naxal cadres. It can definitely be used to wean away their support base in the tribal belts. Right to Education, Whistleblowers’ Act etc, all go hand in hand.

Question: Has the media been playing a responsible role in the spreading of awareness about the RTI in Naxal areas? What else can they do?WH: Visual media is playing a role in the spread of awareness about RTI. Doordarshan has given coverage in collaboration with the respective state governments to promote community television or education through community televisions and computerization through NREGA (already in place) by putting up computer systems in rural areas. Furthermore, the PDS system needs to be strengthened and visual media’s support can be sought for that.

Question: Can the corrupt practices in Indian politics and bureaucracy be reformed towards changing the pattern of uneducated vulnerable tribal population being targeted by the Naxals for support?

WH: Taken with RTE, if the RTI is promoted successfully in rural and tribal areas, it will help engender a demand for awareness. Political demand for the same will automatically follow if the masses demand for it. Effective utilization of RTI will also have a remedial effect on corruption in the Indian political and bureaucratic system; it will not eliminate it, but can be used for imposing restraint.

Aptitude test to replace optional subjects at IAS Prelims from next year

2010-10-03T13:27:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends,

In one of my earlier article I had published the changes for UPSC examination.( Article from 'The Hindu') .Government has favoured CSAT(Civil Services Aptitude Test). The details are provided below

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Initiating long-pending reforms in the selection process for the elite all-India services like the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), the government has decided to introduce an aptitude test at the preliminary examination level while doing away with the assessment on the optional subjects.

The Civil Services Aptitude Test, which will be common for all candidates, would be introduced from next year, Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Prithviraj Chavan said in an interaction with The Indian Express journalists at the ‘Idea Exchange’ programme here.

“We have taken a decision that we will drop the 23 optional subjects at the preliminary stage and substitute that with a common aptitude test that will assess the reasoning ability of the candidates,” Chavan said. “There will be a test for minimal English language skills as well — of Class X level,” he said.

In the existing system, the candidates have to sit for a test of general studies — which is common to all — and another on their elective subject. Both consist of objective type questions. Marks obtained in the optional subjects are normalised on a common standard so as to provide a level playing field for all candidates.

Since the candidates are assessed in detail on the elective subjects in the main examination, it was decided to replace the optionals at the preliminary stage with an aptitude test that will judge the candidates’ decision making skills and aptitude for a demanding career in civil services. The new process would also do away with the need for normalisation since every candidate will have to answer the same question paper.

The main examination will remain unchanged as of now.

“The new system will bring in further objectivity into the examinations,” Chavan said.

Concentrating and Studying

2010-09-26T16:00:00.003+05:30

Dear Friends ,

Many students were asking on general reading / studying strategy. Here are some tips which could help you.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Its is often difficult to concentrate during your studies . Here are some techniques

Asking yourself questons
Getting the most from your reading ( Especially for UPSC this is of utmost importance as you need to read a lot)
Read the ideas

Asking yourself questions

The key to maintaining focus is to stop periodically and ask yourself questions such as

How does this relate to what I already know ?
If this is true , what else follows ?
What else could these facts mean ?
What assumptions are being made ?
Whats the evidence for this ?
Can I think of good example of this ?
What are the unique points of this

Getting the most from your reading

Mark each paragraph that you completely understand.If you start to get lost in the reading, you will know exactly where you last.
If a section is too difficult for you, try reading in a whisper.Hearing what you have just read.
Its good to stop regularly and summarize out loud what you have just read
Try to link new information with the information you already know.Ask yourself "How do I already know this" . You can also ask yourself questons such as focus questions above.Active linking creates powerful memories.
Take a few secods to visualize what you read
Jot down key words and concepts.If you READ WRITE AND RECITE , you have got a better chance of retaining critical information
After taking a short break from studying, and before you start up again, take few minutes to review the information you have just learned.This will give you a sense of progress and motivate you to continue on.

Read Ideas

It means you need to understand what each paragraph or page conveys - the underlying concept not just the sentences.

Administrative News (Jun 20 2010)

2010-06-20T13:19:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends ,

This is a news bite appeared in deccan chronical which says there is acute shortage of IAS officers in the country and hence are proposing to conduct examination for the state public servants to induct in to IAS. But as usual this is a thought - not sure when it will materialise.

Also there is a summary of the survey conducted among the ICS ( Indian Civil Service ) officers which might give some idea of how IAS/IPS/IFS officers are feeling.

Regards

GMStudycenter

Source http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/state-officers-get-shot-ias-194

June 17: The government has proposed special examinations to induct young officers recruited through the state civil services into the elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS).

Faced with a shortfall of at least 560 IAS officers across India, a proposal for the UPSC to hold “limited” competitive examinations to allow young officers serving in the states to join the IAS is being actively considered by the Prime Minister’s Office.

A similar move to make up the acute shortfall of IPS officers through a “limited competitive examination” for young officers in central police organisations, central paramilitary forces and state police forces had been firmed up by the Union ministry for home affairs in March this year. The proposal had been struck down by the UPSC, prompting the home ministry to approach the PMO to overrule the UPSC’s decision.

Home minister P. Chidambaram will meet law minister Veerappa Moily and minister of state for personnel Prithviraj Chavan on Friday to elicit their views, settle contentious issues like age criteria, and other modalities involved in holding such exams.

“We will be taking the views of the stakeholders to resolve any complications in view of the concerns expressed by the UPSC. A final view will be taken after we study their suggestions,” an MHA official said.

Bearish Babus

(ICS survey summary)

Source http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/newdelhi/Bearish-babus/Article1-551855.aspx

When the early results of India’s first Civil Services Survey came in from Hyderabad a few months ago, the close-knit team of government officials at the Department of Administrative Reforms associated with the ambitious project weren’t particularly surprised, or shocked.

Yes, there had been disappointment and frustration among leaders of India’s civil services. Men and women of questionable integrity did manage to hold important positions in the government. In fact, they were the ones who often managed to get the better postings.

But almost everyone knew that.

Not many, however, were aware how deep, and widespread, the problem was.

One-third of the respondents in the survey – who studied for years to make it past the fiercely competitive civil services examination – had been almost driven to a point where they wanted to give up their job and the perks that came with it.

“We did have our hypothesis on the basis of practical experience … for instance, we expected the survey to reflect frustration … a divide between the Indian Administrative Service and the non-IAS services and political interference to some extent. It did,” conceded a senior researcher at the Hyderabad-headquartered Centre for Good Governance, which did the survey.

For someone who pegged civil service reforms as a key agenda point for his government six years ago, government officials said the survey delineated the agenda that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh needs to pursue actively. Of course, civil service reforms aren’t going to be easy.

“Government officers have been the target of criticism for far too long. This survey seeks to capture the circumstances that they work in … often with their hands tied behind,” said an official, pointing it was fashionable to compare the private and the public sector without accounting for the handicaps.

A significantly large proportion (42-48%) of the respondents from the three all-India services — the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest Service — complained about undue outside interference. Many others spoke out about the lack of adequate financial resources and competent staff.

Respondents complained that if they did not fall in line, they ran the big risk of being transferred to an obscure post and location.

“What worries the honest government servant is the prospect of being posted to an obscure (place) with zero job content or worse, a string of such postings as a price for one’s honesty,” the survey report observed. Government officials said the fear of such a posting usually forced most ‘honest’ officials to fall in line. Those who resist spend the better part of their careers living out of their suitcase.

Shekhar Singh, who was with the Indian Institute of Public Administration and has spent years interacting with the civil service, said the impression within the bureaucracy that merit and honesty didn’t count any longer was crucial.

The performance appraisal system has gone for a toss with everyone being ranked as very good or excellent, he said. “A civil servant recently told me that when they joined the service nearly two decades ago, officers were afraid to be corrupt. Now, they are afraid to be honest,” he said.

“The irony,” a senior IAS officer said, “is that the government works so hard to recruit the best minds available into the civil services and then forces them into mediocrity”.

Some officials insist that the ability to work despite the pulls and pressures is one of the greatest strengths of the civil service vis-à-vis the private sector.

But it is something their job trains them to do from the moment they begin their first stint in a district.

“As district magistrate, you not only prioritise the allocation of funds in the face of competing demands from different departments as well as local political representatives; right from the MP down to influential local political leaders,” a senior IAS officer said.

The civil service will definitely be able to deliver better if there aren’t any pulls and pressures.

“But the bitter reality is, this may never happen… never mind what anyone tells you. Reforms are like this transparency bug … Everyone wants it but not for themselves,” said a government official with more than 20 years of experience behind him.

Bad Governance leaves Bureaucrats disillusioned

2010-04-10T20:05:00.002+05:30

Dear Friends

It is my responsibility to give both sides of the coin with respect to Civil Services and civil servant.This article falls under 'signficant issues in Indian administration' as far as UPSC current syllabus is considered.

But this should not deter you by taking the exam - as there is no other career can be compared to civil services in India. But at the same time you should not be in an illusion that civil services is feather's bed. Let me tell you one thing upfront - as you all know clearing civil services is itself a big achievement but its not an end but its a beginning of a long journey which is hailed as even more difficult than clearing the exam. The war between politicians and bureaucrats is long standing and will continue. How well a civil servant handle his political head will depend on his success as a civil servant.

But these are only informations - which can be true or false. What you need to understand is - these issues are happening in Indian Administration.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Disillusioned, dispirited, disgusted, disenchanted, dismayed, disoriented, demoralized, dejected…… these adjectives sum up the current state of bureaucracy in Andhra Pradesh.

For six years now, bureaucrats in the state have been in disarray. Not all of them, of course, but the majority who are committed to work and service of people are certainly feeling the discomfiture.

Deprived of suitable postings where they could function more effectively and deliver better, most of the bureaucrats – particularly the younger lot – are left distressed.

Obviously, this state of despondency among the cream of civil servants – a result of abysmal cadre management – has left a telling impact on the administration in the state.

Administration had, literally, gone to dogs during the regime of (late) Y S Rajasekhara Reddy between 2004 and 2009. And, the rot seems to be continuing even under his successor K Rosaiah.

When S V Prasad, the 1975-batch Indian Administrative Service officer, became the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh on December 31, 2009, bureaucrats saw a ray of hope in him. Most of the IAS officers, especially the “juniors”, sincerely hoped things would change under the guidance of S V Prasad as he was perceived to be an able officer who had a better understanding of the “cadre.”

Alas, all such hopes seemed to have dashed.

Reading the latest list of transfers (of IAS officers) affected on April 2, one would be left with a sore feeling.

Here’s a classic example: N Nageswara Rao, an IAS officer of the 1992 batch, has been appointed Collector and District Magistrate of Khammam district. He would now be the senior-most officer among the district Collectors in the entire state. That’s, however, not the news. Nageswara Rao practically has 363 days of service left before he superannuates on March 31 next year.

Now, what’s the sense in appointing such an officer to an important post as a district Collector? Another officer M Purushottam Reddy of the 1996 batch, who has been appointed as Collector of Mahbubnagar district, is just two years away from retirement.

Of the 23 districts in the state, 11 districts now have promotee IAS officers as Collector and District Magistrate. Exclude the state capital Hyderabad district, it become 50:50 for regular recruits and promotees. This is something that hasn’t happened in the past.

Also, why did the government develop a sudden love for such officers and land them in prime posts? Nageswara Rao and another IAS officer P Venkateswarlu (1994), posted to Adilabad district as Collector, have already risen to the rank of ‘Secretary to Government’ and should ideally be relegated to suitable postings in the Secretariat or other departments.

There are many young and deserving IAS officers, that too regular recruits, eagerly waiting to be posted to the coveted job of a district Collector. These are the ones who actually need to be posted in the districts so that they can move around with agility, work with more vigor and produce better results. But certainly not the ones who are on the verge of retirement.

Consider another ridiculous thing: Natarajan Gulzar has been appointed Collector and District Magistrate of Hyderabad. He is an IAS officer (regular recruit) of the 1999 batch. Now, he will boss-over a promotee officer V Durga Das (Joint Collector), who technically is one year senior to him in the IAS.

This isn’t the first instance where such postings were given. During YSR’s regime, a similar thing happened in West Godavari where Lav Agarwal (1996 batch) was the Collector and B Ramanjaneyulu (1995) was the Joint Collector.

The Chief Minister might be unaware of such technicalities but what were the top bureaucrats, who were supposed to guide him in such matters, doing? Was the Chief Secretary unaware of these lapses? Was also the Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary Jannat Husain ignorant about it?

Such goof-ups will not only show them in poor light but also threaten to damage the system as such.

Time to Change the Exam Pattern

2010-04-10T11:17:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends,

Came across this article in 'The Hindu' wanted to share with you all.Even if there is a change - good news is Public Administration remains as this is core subject for any Administrative work

Regards

GM StudyCenter

Those aspiring to be civil servants must have not only the required skills and knowledge, but also the right values which would include integrity, commitment to public service and above all, commitment to the ideals and philosophy embodied in the Constitution.

So, a number of committees and commissions were set up to make recommendations on various aspects of recruitment. The first was the Macaulay committee of 1854. It established the principle of ‘transferability of academic talent to administration.' The Macaulay system continued till three decades after Independence.

In 1976, the Kothari committee recommended a sequential system of examination based on the dictum that the average quality would get richer as the stream proceeds from one ‘stage to the next'. Accordingly, the examination was designed as a sequential three-stage process: an objective-type Preliminary examination comprising one Optional and General Studies, a Main examination which would comprise nine written papers and, finally, a Personality Test.

In 1989, the Satish Chandra Committee was appointed to suggest reforms and it recommended minor changes to the Kothari model. Accordingly, an ‘Essay' paper was introduced and the marks for the Interview were enhanced. Presently, the Civil Services Examination is conducted on an annual basis on this pattern.

The new millennium demanded excellence at every level of governance which required almost total re-shaping, re-structuring of the economic as well as the administrative apparatus of the government. Responding to this need, the Y.K. Alagh Committee, in 2001, recommended significant changes.

At the Preliminary level, it suggested that the ‘optional' subject should be continued but the General Studies paper should be recast to that of a Civil Services Aptitude Test comprising questions on ‘basic awareness', ‘problem solving and analytical abilities' ( situation from the civil services arena to be taken to test reasoning and understanding of problems ) and ‘data analysis ability.'

In order to establish a level-playing field it recommended that the optionals at the Main examination be replaced by four compulsory papers: Sustainable Development and Social Justice, Science and Technology in Society, Democratic Governance, Public Systems and Human Rights. The Second Administrative Reforms (Veerappa Moily) Commission in its report in 2008 upheld the recommendations of the Alagh Committee and made a few more significant suggestions.

The first step in this direction is its proposal to introduce a Civil Services Aptitude Test at the Preliminary level from the year 2011.

The Preliminary examination is expected to be re-modelled in either of the following formats:

Format-I: In this, following the Alagh Committee recommendations, the Preliminary examination may comprise the following two objective-type papers: Optional Subject (300 marks) and Civil Services Aptitude Test (200 marks).

Format-II: Following the recommendations of P.S. Bhatnagar, the Preliminary examination may comprise the following two objective-type papers: Civil Services Aptitude Test (300 marks) and General Studies (300 marks).

The Union Public Service Commission may choose any of the above formats and a notification may be expected by May-June this year. Whatever the format, the Civil Services Aptitude Test appears to be on the anvil.

Likely pattern

A Civil Services Aptitude Test would comprise questions which would test the ‘problem solving', ‘analytical', ‘logical reasoning' and ‘decision-making skills' of the aspirant. To ensure that these questions are relevant they would necessarily be from the arena of civil services with an underlying essence of Public Administration in practice.

The UPSC is expected to push for changes at the level of the Main examination too. It is seriously examining the proposal of including compulsory papers exclusively from the domain of humanities based on the French model of examination. The compulsory papers that are expected to be introduced are: Sustainable Development and Social Justice; Democratic Governance, Public Systems and Human Rights; Indian Constitution with an emphasis on Indian Legal System including Administrative Law; Economic Theory and Indian Economic System; Administrative Theories and Organisational Behaviour and Indian Administrative System. However, these changes are not expected in the near future.

Changes

The news of any change is an unnerving moment for any serious aspirant. However, if one is mentally prepared, the transition becomes easier. Given below are a few broad guidelines to help the prospective aspirant to prepare for the examination:

1. First and foremost, there is only a proposal for a change in ‘principle'. The change is to be debated and accepted. The UPSC has to formally declare the new pattern. Till then, all aspirants should continue with the old pattern.

2. As the questions would be from the arena of the civil services, all aspirants irrespective of their background should try to understand the philosophy behind the Constitution, its ideals, its principles and its focus on development. Having understood the constitutional framework they should comprehend the position of the civil services in the relevant context.

3. Having acquired basic knowledge within the given parameters, the next step would be to understand the logic behind every provision. Till now, what was tested was the ‘what'; now, what would be tested will be the ‘why'.

4. The mode of preparation should change from the ‘descriptive' mode to the ‘explanatory' mode.

Constitution today

2010-02-14T17:51:00.005+05:30

Dear Friends,

This article is taken from Frontline.While writing the answers it is very important to have an all round understanding of the constitution. More importantly every now and then civil servant will have to interpret the the constitution in its real spirit. These are the articles which you have to read again and again.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Article is written by A.G. NOORANI

It is the people who alone can make it work.

C. Rajagopalachari, Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru was the Chairman of the Union Constitution Committee and the Union Powers Committee. Vallabhbhai Patel was the Chairman of the Committee on the Principles of a Model Provincial Constitution and the Advisory Committee on Minorities, Fundamental Rights, etc.

“Constitutions are easily copied, temperaments are not; and if it should happen that the borrowed constitution and the native temperament fail to correspond, the misfit may have serious results. It matters little what other gifts a people may possess if they are wanting in those which from this point of view are of most importance. If, for example, they have no capacity for grading their loyalties as well as for being moved by them; if they have no natural inclination to liberty and no natural respect for law; if they lack good humour and tolerate foul play; if they know not how to compromise or when; if they have not that distrust of extreme conclusions which is sometimes misdescribed as want of logic; if corruption does not repel them; and if their divisions tend to be either too numerous or too profound, the successful working of British institutions may be difficult or impossible.

“It may be least possible where the acts of parliamentary persuasion and the dexterities of party management are brought to their highest perfections. Let the political parties be reduced to two (admittedly the most convenient number for Cabinet government), but let the chasm dividing them be so profound that a change of administration would in fact be a revolution disguised under a constitutional procedure” (Walter Bagehot; The English Constitution, The World’s Classics; Oxford University Press; 1867, Balfour’s Introduction to the Second Edition, 1928; pp. xxii-xxiii).

THE framers of India’s Constitution decided, at the very outset, to adopt the parliamentary system of government based on the British model. On this the two top leaders were agreed. Jawaharlal Nehru was Chairman of the Union Constitution Committee as well as the Union Powers Committee. Vallabhbhai Patel was Chairman of the Committee on the Principles of A Model Provincial Constitution and the Advisory Committee on Minorities, Fundamental Rights, etc.

As early as June 5, 1947, it was decided, at a joint meeting of the Union and Provincial Constitution committees, to emulate the British model. Patel announced the decision in the Constituent Assembly on July 15, 1947: “Both these committees met and they came to the conclusion that it would suit the conditions of this country better to adopt the parliamentary system of Constitution, the British type of Constitution with which we are familiar” (Constituent Assembly Debates (CAD); Vol. 40; page 578).

Two days later, Patel told the Assembly that “a Schedule according (sic.) to the traditions of responsible government will be framed and put in”. Members demanded that the Schedule be put in first before the clause conferring powers on the governors was adopted. Patel retorted angrily: “It has been suggested that there is no guarantee that the Schedule will come. There is as much guarantee about it as a guarantee that the House will meet tomorrow” (ibid., pages 648-649).

Two years later, on October 11, 1949, at the fag end of the Assembly’s labours, the Schedules containing two Instruments of Instructions, for the President and the Governors, were dropped; a little over a month before the Constitution was adopted on November 26, 1949. The Instruments codified a few of the conventions on which the uncodified British parliamentary system rests. T.T. Krishnamachari, a member of the Assembly’s Drafting Committee, explained unconvincingly: “It has now been felt that the matter should be left entirely to convention rather than be put into the body of the Constitution.” The directions to the President and the Governors “really should arise out of conventions that grow from time to time, and the President and the Governors in their respective spheres will be guided by those conventions” (CAD; Vol.X; pages 114-116. For the texts vide B. Shiva Rao The Framing of India’s Constitution: Select Documents on India’s Constitution; Vol. IV; pages 67-6 8. emphasis added, throught). Sixty years of the working of India’s Constitution have belied these expectations which were unrealistic even in 1949. What Indian conventions did he expect to “grow”?

It would be a gross exaggeration to say that the perversions of the parliamentary system we have witnessed all these years, at the Centre and in the States, would not have occurred if only the conventions had been codified. Even the letter of the supreme law, the text of the Constitution, has not been spared abuse. But codification could have served as a significant check and, more, as a guide to the people by which they could judge the conduct of those they had voted to power.

Each of the major offices and institutions that the Constitution set up in 1950 bears a battered shape in 2010 – the President, Parliament, the Supreme Court, Governors, State Assemblies and the High Courts. The generation that works the system it established has a radically different outlook from that of those who enacted it and worked it for some years thereafter. As far back as 1962 Myron Weiner wrote of “India’s two political cultures”, the culture in the districts and “the second political culture [which] predominates in New Delhi”, an “emerging mass political culture” and an “elite political culture” (Political Change in South Asia; Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay; page 114).

This was, perhaps, a trifle simplistic even in 1947 or 1962. By 2010 the divide has all but vanished. We have had Prime Ministers like Charan Singh, Chandrashekhar, and H.D. Deve Gowda, who could have done little credit even to the office of the Chief Minister. Parliament is as rowdy as any State Assembly. It is more meaningful to talk of our constitutional culture. Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Chairman of the Constituent Assembly, was steeped not only in British and American constitutional history and constitutional law, but also in the history of Greece and Rome and in political science. In this he was peerless among lawyers. His colleague, Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar, was an erudite conservative, while K.M. Munshi, alert to political realities, spoke more than once, unlike Sir Alladi, in defence of the citizens’ rights.

Constitutional lawyers of the time had drunk deep at the fount of British constitutional lore. With H.M. Seervai’s death in 1996, the last of the constitutional lawyers was gone. We have advocates of conspicuous ability ready to argue on complex issues of constitutional law or company law but bereft of the erudition and the insights that make a constitutional lawyer. They know little outside the law. If this seems harsh, listen closely to the off-the-cuff remarks they so readily dish out to anchors on television shows or editors at the drop of a hat, as it were.

When did we last see a single judge of the Supreme Court who had earned a reputation as a constitutional lawyer before his appointment to the court? How many erudite, incisive commentaries on the Indian Constitution can one cite today? The discourse is debased by political partisanship, craze for publicity, and an assertiveness that is not backed by learning. Constitutional illiteracy has spread. Informed critiques are few. Abuse receives censure that is sporadic and seldom well-informed.

There is something lacking and that is the spirit of constitutionalism. Balfour’s caution is one of the many that mocks us as we survey the situation today. Gladstone held that the British Constitution “presumes more boldly than any other, the good faith of those who work it”. That good faith is none too conspicuous in our public life.We resented British admonitions as excuses for denying India its right to govern itself. Especially these observations in the Report of the Joint Committee on Indian Constitutional Reform: “Parliamentary government, as it is understood in the United Kingdom, works by the interaction of four essential factors; the principle of majority rule; the willingness of the minority for the time being to accept the decisions of the majority; the existence of great political parties divided by broad issues of policy, rather than by sectional interests; and finally the existence of a mobile body of public opinion, owing no permanent allegiance to any party and therefore able, by its instinctive reaction against extravagant movements on one side or the other, to keep the vessel on an even keel. In India none of these factors can be said to exist today. There are no parties, as we understand them, and there is no considered body of political opinion which can be described as mobile” (Vol. 1 (Part 1) Session 1933-34; Her Majesty’s Stationery Office (HMSO), London; 1934; page 210). It was an illiberal document, but those words sting. They are so true.

South Asia is unique among parliamentary democracies in enacting laws against defections by legislators. Such a malaise cannot be cured by laws alone. It reflects a state of political morality and an outlook that rejects the system. The defector will readily topple a newly elected government for personal gain and even wreck the system for political gain. To his niece Blanche Dugdale, Balfour was more forthright, in a conversation on April 25, 1925: “I doubt if it is written in any book on the British Constitution that the whole essence of British parliamentary government lies in the intention to make the thing work. We take that for granted. We have spent hundreds of years in elaborating a system that rests on that alone. It is so deep in us that we have lost sight of it. But it is not so obvious to others. These peoples – Indians, Egyptians, and so on – study our learning. They read our history, our philosophy, and our politics. They learn about our parliamentary methods of obstruction, but nobody explains to them that when it comes to the point all our parliamentary parties are determined that the machinery shan’t stop. ‘The King’s government must go on,’ as the Duke of Wellington said. But their idea is that the function of opposition is to stop the machine.”

The constitutional lawyer Ivor Jennings wrote in his famous work Cabinet Government: “The function of parliament is not to govern but to criticise. Its criticism, too, is directed not so much towards a fundamental modification of the government’s policy as towards the education of public opinion… the government governs and the Opposition criticises. Failure to understand this simple principle is one of the causes of the failure of so many of the progeny of mother of parliaments and of the suppression of parliamentary government by dictatorship” (page 16).

The frailty of public morality of India’s political class was no secret even during the freedom movement. Motilal Nehru wrote to his son Jawaharlal on December 2, 1926, about the tactics used “under the auspices” of men of stature like Madan Mohan Malaviya and Lajpat Rai in an election: “Communal politics and heavy bribing of the voters was the Order of the day. I am thoroughly disgusted and am now seriously thinking of retiring from public life…. The Malaviya-Lala gang aided by Birlas’ money are making frantic efforts to capture the Congress” (Jawaharlal Nehru; A Bunch of Old Letters; 1958, page 50). The Governor of Bengal Lord Lytton complained to the Viceroy about the practice of bribing members of the Legislative Council in the early 1920s (Evolution of Parliamentary Privileges in India till 1947; Salil Kumar Nag; 1978; page 212).

The wise Rajaji saw it all and wrote while in prison: “Elections and their corruptions (sic.), injustice and life power and tyranny of wealth, and inefficiency of administration will make a hell of life as soon as freedom is given to us. Men will look regretfully back to the old regime of comparative justice and efficient, peaceful, more or less honest administration.“The only thing gained will be that as a race we will be saved from dishonour and subordination. Hope lies only in universal education by which right conduct, fear of God and love will be developed among the citizens from childhood. It is only if we succeed in this that Swaraj will mean happiness. Otherwise it will mean grinding injustices and tyranny of wealth.”

None of this was absent from the minds of the framers of our Constitution, least of all from the most erudite and discerning one among them, B. R. Ambedkar, Chairman of the Drafting Committee. He was far removed from the tribe of lawyers whose vision is limited to texts and precedents. Ambedkar was erudite, profound and insightful.

Constitutional morality
While moving for the adoption of the Draft Constitution in the Constituent Assembly on November 4, 1948, Ambedkar quoted at some length Grote, the historian of Greece, on constitutional morality. It meant “a paramount reverence for the forms of the Constitution, enforcing obedience to authority acting under and within these forms yet combined with the habits of the speech of action subject only to defined legal control, and unrestrained censure of those very authorities as to all their public acts combined too with a perfect confidence in the bosom of every citizen, amidst the bitterness of party contest, that the forms of the Constitution will not be less sacred in the eyes of his opponents than in his own.”

Such confidence was not overly abundant even in 1948. Sixty years later, it does not exist. Ambedkar was not unaware of its frail nature. “Constitutional morality is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must realise that our people have yet to learn it. Democracy in India is only a top dressing on an Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic” (CAD; Vol. VII; page 38). The seth who converts his proprietary firm into a company does not acquire the corporate culture.

On November 25, 1949, when he moved “That the Constitution as settled by the Assembly be passed”, Ambedkar said: “However good a constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it happen to be a bad lot…. It is, therefore, futile to pass any judgment upon the Constitution without reference to the part which the people and their parties are likely to play.” The following day the President of the Constituent Assembly, Rajendra Prasad, pointed out that many things that cannot be written in a constitution are done by conventions. “Let me hope that we shall show those capacities and develop those conventions.” (CAD; Vol. VII; page 38, and Vol. XII; pages 975 and 993).

Indian politicians, the tallest included, betrayed the trust reposed in them. As far back as November 19, 1954, the then Union Home Minister, Kailash Nath Katju, described the practice in vogue in these picturesque terms in the Lok Sabha: “Offer some plums before them, give a laddu to one, a rasagulla to another… members from Independents will join and you will then be able to produce a majority. Now, this is an insult to the Constitution. This is a mockery of the Constitution.”

A Constitution rests on the foundations of basic norms of political morality as Katju correctly noted. The situation deteriorated further in 1967 when the Congress lost its hegemony. Defections became the norm. Now half a century after Katju spoke, we have lost not only vestiges of political morality but also a national consensus on which a democracy can function. During 1969-1989 it was Indira Gandhi, and later Rajiv Gandhi, versus the rest. From 1990 to this day, it is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Hindutva versus the rest. We are a badly split polity justifying Balfour’s fears.

It is absurd to suggest that the presidential system accorded better with our national character such as it is. The defector or bitter partisan who topples a government in the parliamentary system will bring the government itself to a grinding halt as Newt Gingrich did in the United States. In India, it would pave the way for a legitimised autocracy. It is, however, one thing to lament the growing disconnect between constitutional values and public morality and between the text of the Constitution and the underlying conventions of the parliamentary system on which the text is based. It is another to assert that the Constitution is unsuited to the Indian character and temperament and should be discarded in favour of a shuddh (pure) swadeshi document, as the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) holds.

This was the very argument which Indira Gandhi’s supporters in Britain patronisingly asserted during the Emergency. They received their just deserts from Prof. W.H. Morris-Jones, Constitutional Adviser to the Viceroy in 1947 and a scholar of high repute: Referring to Eldon Griffiths’ defence of the Emergency, Prof. Morris-Jones wrote to The Times (London) on June 25, 1976:“Mr Griffiths’ jibe about ‘exhibit A of the Westminster model abroad’ misses the point that it had become a specifically Indian achievement; it only adds insult to the injury already suffered by Indian democrats. Such denigration has long been a sport in which high imperial Tory and revolutionary Marxist could find common enjoyment. Even your own leader (June 21) chose an odd time to point out the limitations of democracy under Congress, for an incomplete democracy is diminished further, not remedied by illiberation.

“Nor can one easily detect any clear and consistent signs that the elite-mass gap which you deplore is being closed by the present regime of Mrs Indira Gandhi. And just how may the change ‘accord better with indigenous habits’? Are habits never modified? Had not growing numbers of Indians begun to make the habits of liberal democracy indigenous? Surely it is a ‘massive’ loss when damage is done to a way of political life which in two decades had already converted into citizens so many who had been subjects beyond the political pale…. Moreover, the gains are doubly suspect. In origin they are at best uncertainly attributable to Mrs. Gandhi’s dose of autocracy. In their effects they appear too fragile to endure. Unitedly, Indian democracy had freely mobilised demands and grievances; in its place is put none of the usual alternatives.”

The Constitution of India is very much an Indian achievement and Indian democracy, which it nurtures and protects, has struck root in the Indian soil. These achievements were predicted by some British statesmen. By none more prophetically or eloquently than Thomas Babington Macaulay who is decried for his thoughtless Minute on Indian Education dated February 2, 1835. Overlooked is his majestic peroration in the House of Commons on July 10, 1833, perhaps the very first prediction by anyone, English or Indian, of India’s eventual rise to self-government (“demand European Institutions”).

The parliamentary system has struck root in the entire South Asia. Its practice can be improved. There is no cause for despair provided the causes are accurately understood and the remedies effectively devised. Consider the office of the President. The first holder of the office, Rajendra Prasad, sought to undermine parliamentary democracy. His successor, S. Radhakrishnan, bared his ambitions and animosities no sooner than he assumed office. Bar Zakir Hussain, we had since rubber stamps or intriguers. We owe it to Shankar Dayal Sharma and K.R. Narayanan that in 2010 the office is just what the framers intended it to be – a constitutional head of state in the parliamentary democracy. How did this come about? Because all the major political parties realised that it was in their interests to abide by the rules. A wayward President is a menace to all; to one party now, to the opposition tomorrow.

Eleven principles

The record from 1950-2010 establishes the following eleven principles. First and foremost, it is now firmly established that the President is entitled, in exercise of his own judgment, to question the government’s bills, appointments and policy proposals. Secondly, within limits, Presidents can comment on affairs of the state in public. Criticism of the government must be muted, though it should be more in the nature of sounding an alarm. In rare cases, public expression of disquiet is proper. Thirdly, the President is entitled to admonish and even censure the Prime Minister in private. Fourthly, the President’s right to know, embodied in Article 78, is not challenged. Fifthly, the practice is now established of the President receiving leaders of opposition parties, singly or in a delegation, to lodge a protest against the government’s action. He offers no comment but forwards the protest to the Prime Minister and speaks to him, if he so decides. Sixthly, it is established that the President is not bound to accept the Prime Minister’s request for dissolution of the Lok Sabha but is entitled to exercise his judgment and consider the alternatives before accepting it.

Seventhly, the power of dismissal of the government cannot be exercised except on the extreme grounds mentioned in textbooks. There was universal criticism of Zail Singh’s intentions in 1987 and again of his admission of them in 1992. The best course is to have an explicit provision on the lines of Articles 91 (5) and 130 (5) of the Pakistan Constitution, respectively for the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers of States. They say that while the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers hold office “during the pleasure” of the respective heads of state, the latter will not exercise their powers unless satisfied that the head of government has ceased to command the confidence of the House. There follows the crucial constraint – “in which case he shall summon the National Assembly and require the Prime Minister to obtain a vote of confidence from the Assembly”. An identical expression is used for Governors.

Eighthly, not only the opposition parties but Chief Ministers of States also invoke the President’s moral authority as “guardian of the Constitution”; in their case, specifically to safeguard its federal character.

Ninthly, in 1977, the acting President, B.D. Jatti, was extremely reluctant to sign the proclamation under Article 356 imposing President’s Rule in certain States. The government’s threat of resignation induced him to sign the documents. The Postal Bill is of far less consequence. The fact remains that two successive Presidents, Zail Singh and R. Venkataraman, declined to sign it. They returned it for reconsideration in exercise of their own individual judgment. It is well settled that assent cannot be withheld; only reconsideration can be sought. If re-enacted assent must follow.

Tenthly, the question whether the President can assert a right, under Article 86, to address Parliament or to send messages to either of its Houses in his own discretion, is open. In 1950 the Attorney-General opined against it in the face of President Rajendra Prasad’s challenge on a host of issues. His opinion on the point gave no reasons. At the least, the matter is open. It is unthinkable that in an extreme case a President would flinch from taking his case to Parliament.

Lastly, the President is entitled to insist, when appointing a Prime Minister, that he obtain a vote of confidence from Parliament within a stipulated short period.

The existence of the President’s power of dismissal has not been seriously challenged. There is near unanimity on fears of its abuse. No responsible politician has sought such an intervention by the President against his political opponents. In 1987, some carpetbaggers did. In June, Zail Singh was tempted but wiser counsel prevailed. He would have come to grief.

India’s democracy has functioned for 60 years, bar the interlude of the Emergency. But the parliamentary system came into its own only since 1992.

Situation in the States

But this is not so in the States. Discredited Ministers are appointed Governors (Shivraj Patil and H.R. Bhardwaj). So are civil servants whose shelf-life has expired. They act as the Centre’s agents. The Chief Minister himself owes his office to the bounty of the central high command of his or her party. He cannot select his own Ministers, expand his Cabinet or sack a dissident without the high command’s permission. This is a result of the practice of 1937-39 when Congress Ministries were responsible to the high command rather than the elected legislature, a perversion that Prof. Reginald Coupland criticised trenchantly.

There is another flaw, even more fundamental. The Member of Parliament or Member of the Legislative Assembly acquires the party’s ticket to contest the polls not from his partymen in the constituency but from his party bosses. He serves as a bondman. Members of Parliament in Britain can defy the party whip. The Indian legislator lacks the capacity to revolt.

Speaker’s office

In 1937, the issue arose whether Purushottam Das Tandon should resign his party membership on election as Speaker. Both Gandhi and Nehru held that he need not, unmindful of the rights of non-Congress MLAs (Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, First Series, Vol. 8; pages 351 and 376). Nehru deprecated following “blindly British practice and procedure”. Truth to tell, Nehru’s outlook on constitutional issues differed from Ambedkar’s. The hoary Erskine May holds: “Confidence in the impartiality of the Speaker is an indispensable condition for the successful working of the procedure, and many conventions exist which have as their object not only to ensure the impartiality of the Speaker but also to ensure that his impartiality is generally recognised.” In India, this “indispensable condition” does not exist and has not existed for many years.

One doctrine deserves speedy burial: the Speaker’s office is a gift in the hands of the ruling party. The Economist of November 19, 1994, wrote: “Over the grey men, the placemen and the hired men who characterise the present House of Commons, a star shines. Betty Boothroyd, the Speaker, dominates a difficult House to a degree that her immediate predecessors never attained.” She was elected in 1993 with the support of the Conservatives though she belonged to the Labour opposition. “She won because 74 Tories rightly rebelled at the thought of someone who had just left the Cabinet – the government’s unofficial candidate, Peter Brooke – sitting in the Speaker’s chair and posing as a neutral arbiter of proceedings.”

In India, such a revolt would be unthinkable and the language The Economist used would be regarded as breach of parliamentary privilege by Speakers, most of whom are no more than instruments of the government’s will. These are the very men who will act as judges on issues of free speech in the name of “parliamentary privilege”.

The anti-defection law calculatedly makes the Speaker judge and thus further politicises an office politicised already to a degree. But Parliament itself is held to ransom. “We don’t want a debate for debate’s sake,” Atal Bihari Vajpayee said on December 19, 1995, while the memorandum of the Left Front and the Janata Dal to the President, on December 22, 1995, queried: “Can we remain supine spectators of parliamentary proceedings being reduced to desiccating debates, particularly when the government has, time and again, cynically tried to sweep a succession of scandals under the carpet?”The implication is plain. Since debates do not yield the result desired by the Opposition, it will prevent Parliament from functioning. There is a certain contempt for debates per se, as if they are an exercise in futility. However, parliamentary debate has a direct impact on the minds of the public.

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court does not enjoy the esteem that apex courts enjoy in Britain, Canada or Australia. It is not politicised unlike the U.S. Supreme Court. But it has exceeded its explicit constitutional limits to usurp the power to appoint judges to itself, to veto the police’s professional discretion to investigate into the conduct of, and to prosecute, a judge, to order the legislature on how it should conduct its affairs, and intrude on the executive and legislative domain and to silence the citizen who asserts a right to censure the judges. Constitutional learning was not expended on any of these matters. Ipse dixit were used confidently and lavishly.

Parliament had to step in to provide that truth is a defence to a charge of contempt of court.But the Supreme Court is benumbed with excessive caution when faced with issues the nation expects it to answer. We know the havoc wreaked by Justice J.S. Verma’s palpably flawed judgment allowing campaigns for Hindutva to pass muster in elections. On April 16, 1996, a three-member Bench of the Supreme Court noted the conflict in the court’s decisions (Verma had studiously ignored ones that ran counter to his view).

The Bench directed the Registry to place the case before the Chief Justice “for constituting a larger Bench of five judges, and, if possible, at an early date so that all the questions arising in the present appeal could be decided authoritatively and expeditiously” (Abhiram Singh vs C.D. Commachen & Others (1996) 3 Supreme Court Cases 665, para 14; page 671).

Chief Justices of India have come and gone since, including J.S. Verma himself. Five general elections to the Lok Sabha and umpteen to State Assemblies have followed. With characteristic mendacity leaders of the Sangh Parivar tout the Verma ruling as the last word, which it is not. The Supreme Court has refused to heed the plea to decide the matter at “an early date”. Its silence is deafening.

So it is on the issue of parliamentary privileges, which are abused rampantly. One has lost count of the petitions pending before the court. The latest was by The Hindu. On December 9, 2004, the Supreme Court referred the issue to a seven-judge Bench, though not before delivering uncalled-for homilies to the press. Five years have rolled by. The Bench is yet to be constituted. The abuses continue apace to the court’s knowledge, of course.

Need for reform

On each of these matters – Parliament, Governors, the Speaker’s office and the Supreme Court – reform is feasible and practicable through constitutional amendment provided that the major political parties realise that, as in the case of the office of the President, it is in their interest to abide by the Constitution and remove the deformities that have crept in.

We consciously adopted, in Patel’s words, “the British type of Constitution” and froze our parliamentary privileges to the state they were in Britain on January 26, 1950. But our political class wilfully ignores developments in the U.K. thereafter. Fifty years later, a committee of both Houses of Parliament recommended codification of the privileges and abolition of the power to imprison for contempt. In Britain, it noted, “members do not divide on party lines” on issues of privilege. In India they do. The British model itself has evolved significantly. One of the most eminent authorities, Prof. Vernon Bogdanor, Professor of Government at Oxford, has written an erudite work entitled The New British Constitution (Hart Publishing; pages 392, £17.95). He traces the radical changes introduced by the Human Rights Act, the devolution of power to Scotland and Wales by referenda, etc. Particularly relevant to India is the chapter on “Hung Parliaments; Governing without a Majority”, a fate all too common here.

Mass disenchantment

However, far more relevant are his remarks on the state of politics despite the reforms. It describes our lot as well: “Constitutional reform seems to have done little to combat disenchantment with politics. That disenchantment has been marked by a fall in turnout in general elections, a decline in the membership of political parties, and by a weakening in popular identification with political parties.”

The mass political party is dying on its feet. “It is hardly surprising, then, that the constitutional reform programme has made so little impact upon political disenchantment, for it has done little to open up a political system dominated by political parties, whose roots are no longer as deep as they once were, whose relationship to social interests is far less intimate than it was in the past, and which are not able ideologically to penetrate British society. Parties are no longer the pre-eminent mechanism for the expression of political opinion in Britain. They have become primarily a means by which the voter can choose between competing teams of rulers. The constitutional reforms do little to touch this condition; they do little to meet popular aspirations in a post-socialist and individualist age. They do little, therefore, to meet real popular grievances….

“The real achievement of constitutional reform is to have redistributed power, but it has redistributed power between elites, not between elites and the people. …. The next stage of constitutional reform, therefore, and a far more difficult stage, must be a redistribution of power, not from one part of the elite to another, amongst those professionally involved in politics and the law, but from politicians to the people.”

It is the people who alone can make the Constitution work. As John Stuart Mill noted: “If we ask ourselves on what causes and conditions good government in all its senses, from the humblest to the most exalted, depends, we find that the principal of them, the one which transcends all others, is the qualities of the human beings composing the society over which the government is exercised. Of what avail is the most broadly popular representative system if the electors do not care to choose the best member of Parliament, but choose him who will spend most money to be elected? How can a representative assembly work for good if its members can be bought, or if their excitability of temperament, uncorrected by public discipline or private self-control, makes them incapable of calm deliberation, and they resort to manual violence on the floor of the House, or shoot at one another with rifles? How, again, can government, or any joint concern, be carried on in a tolerable manner by people so envious that if one among them seems likely to succeed in anything those who ought to cooperate with him form a tacit combination to make him fail? Whenever the general disposition of the people is such that each individual regards those only of his interests which are selfish, and does not dwell on, or concern himself for, his share of the general interest, in such a state of things good government is impossible” (Considerations on Representative Government, Everyman’s Library, page 192).

To read such old truths of 1861 is to realise how far we have gone. It is an accurate description of the state of our legislatures, Central and State, and of our politics in 2010. On this our own Dr Ambedkar’s words are even more striking: “I feel that it [the Constitution] is workable, it is flexible and it is strong enough to hold the country together both in peace time and in war time. Indeed, if I may say so, if things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is that Man was Vile” (CAD; Vol.VII; page 44).

The Republic in retrospect

2010-02-14T17:34:00.001+05:30

Dear Friends ,

Am sure,for the students of public administration the name Gransville Austin is not new. Here you have one beautiful article from the person himself. Please make this part your notes.The article is taken from Frontline magazine dated Feb. 13-26, 2010

Regards

GMStudyCenter

At 60 the Indian Republic has come a long way, but it has to travel a greater distance to achieve the goals set in the Constitution.

ANY people that sets out to govern itself assumes a monumental task. Who are “we?” Are “we” a congeries of groups, or something that might realistically be called a nation? What do we want from self-governance – our form of political and administrative organisation; our form of representation, the reach of suffrage; the kinds of laws and the institution that should oversee their justness and effectiveness – especially for the lower classes in society; what should “our” goals be for the entirety of this new thing that we are creative? Are we going to write this all down – and call it a “constitution”?

The public figures gathered in New Delhi in 1946 confronted all these and more issues. The Indian Constituent Assembly declared three grand goals for the founding document: They were protecting and enhancing national unity and integrity, establishing the institutions and spirit of democracy, and fostering a social revolution (often called socialism) to better the lot of the mass of citizens. As essential as were the goals, individually, the framers believed that none should be pursued at the expense of any of the others. They were mutually dependent.

Of course, the institutions for government created in the Constitution also were mutually dependent whether or not their responsibilities put them at odds. The judiciary often struck down parliamentary legislation as not in accordance with the Constitution. Parliament responded, first in 1951, with an Act that placed certain land reform laws outside the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction. In 1973, the government, during Indira Gandhi’s prime ministership, did its best to curb the court’s reach and, indeed, to bring it closely under the influence of the executive branch. The relationship between the court and the government was soured several more times during the 1970s and 1980s and the first few years of the 1990s before stabilising since then.

In federations that may find themselves facing issues where Central government authority may be at odds with actions by the constituent units’ governments (State legislative and executive actions) Supreme Courts are typically called upon to settle the disputes. Somewhat surprisingly, the court in Delhi seldom has been called upon to adjudicate these “federal” cases. It has been approached through political channel – the dominant party at the Centre bringing its power to bear on the party dominant in the Legislative Assembly in the State. When the Congress party was powerful, nationally, this was comparatively easy. As other political parties won power in the States, the task was far more difficult. In the late 1960s and in the 1970s, with Indira Gandhi in office as Prime Minister, she clipped the wings of the Congress in the States and outmanoeuvred other State parties. This trend culminated in her well-known Emergency, in which her government and Parliament, over which she had unchallenged influence, held authoritarian sway over the entire country.

This degree of “centralisation”, to employ an inadequate euphemism, had been seen in milder form for two decades. State governments had been complaining about New Delhi’s policies to exert influence over them. Chief Ministers formed committees in protest, offering recommendations for measures, constitutional and less formal, to restore greater balance in the federal relationship. The Centre, for its part, devised methods to bring the Ministries and the State governments together for problem solving. These efforts, however, typically bore New Delhi’s stamp and were unpopular with the States, which continued to level charges against centralisation. The report of the Commission on Centre-State Relations, chaired by Justice R.S. Sarkaria and published in 1983, proposed alterations in constitutional provisions and extra-constitutional political practices that, if implemented, would have markedly improved the situation.

None of this should startle us greatly for the Constitution tips the scales of power towards the Central government. The mood among the framers was anxiety about national unity and integrity. Partition was only months in the past; Kashmir’s status was undecided; there were murmurings of separatism among the Sikhs; Telangana was in revolt; the north-east was uneasy (as it since has continued to be); secularism versus communalism worried Jawaharlal Nehru and other Congress leaders; economic planning and development depended upon national unity. Still, Centre-State relations have worked. India now is a united nation, blemishes notwithstanding. If Telangana does become a State it is unlikely that its relations with New Delhi will vary significantly from those of other States. Most important was, and is, that the Constitution is two documents, a national constitution and a constitution for the States – a situation that seems to have had little effect on Centre-State relations. The appearance of independent political parties in States will reduce the ability of the Central government and its constituent parties to meddle in State affairs. Violence by naxalites, however, persists as a dangerous matter. But not more so than exploitation of peasants by alliances between politicians and economic “developers”.

From time to time during the past 60 years, theorists have argued that federal and parliamentary systems fit ill together. In India’s situation I, personally, think that little would be gained from changing to a presidential system. Beyond the vast subsidiary changes that would be entailed, States would still be dependent on the Centre’s power and largesse. Related to this consideration is the often raised query: “Does the Constitution need significant change to make it work better?” Perhaps. I am not a student of the question. My reaction to the suggestions I have heard is that they are premised on the fantasy that a change in the Constitution’s wording would reform human, political conduct. Yet improving human behaviour never has been so easily achieved. Substitute the word “draftsman” for “doctor” and “Constitution” for “patient” and you have, “The draftsman survived, but the Constitution died.”

Thanks to the character, humanity and prescience of the founding fathers, and mothers, the Constitution has been “the cornerstone of the nation”. Reduced to its barest essentials, it is a template for national administration (thanks in great part to the Parliament in London and its 1935 Government of India Act) and a document meant to establish the nation’s social reform goals and to write down the constitutional mechanisms to be used to reach them. These appear throughout the Constitution – in the Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy, and in the provisions for special treatment for various minorities and backward sections of society. As Vice-President S. Radhakrishnan put it, India must have a “socio-economic revolution… [to achieve] the real satisfaction of the fundamental needs of the common man… [and] a fundamental change in the structure of Indian society.”

The Constitution’s Preamble says that it is to secure to all its citizens

JUSTICE, social, economic, and political and

EQUALITY of status and opportunity and

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual.

The nobility of these goals is exceeded only by their ambition.For India is a “survival society” – a society characterised by hierarchy and want. The “want” stretches from the man who is striving for two chapatis for himself and his family when he has one – the tenant farmer, the agricultural labourer, the Dalit, the member of the backward classes – to the person at the top of society – as defined by economic status or caste – who strives to maintain the contacts in government that bring him money, who assures his son a place in a university or a good school (perhaps with a little gentle bribery), to him who, no matter what his caste or income, follows the scriptural injunction to promote the well-being of his family before that of his neighbour.

The well-known social thinker R.C. Dutt has said that “the moral atmosphere of the struggle for existence…has provided ample opportunities for corruption and for collective self-aggrandisement at the expense of the poor”. P.N. Haksar, for some time secretary to Indira Gandhi, has said that members of “our civil services…are committed first of all to themselves and to their nuclear family…[and beyond this] to members of…his sub-caste, caste, community, and region.”

Himalayan barrier

These characteristics of Indian culture, have constituted a himalayan barrier to achieving the creed of the Preamble. Yet, the provisions of the Constitution have chipped away at the barrier with some success. Adult suffrage has been its principal tool – even though candidates elected may promptly ignore the promises they have made to constituents. As injurious to the integrity of adult suffrage – and certainly to its reputation in India and abroad and to Parliament and several State legislatures – has been political parties giving the ticket to known criminals to contest elections. On the plus side, suffrage continues to spawn political parties and active politics and an open process for vote seeking. The Fundamental Rights and the security measures put in place by the Election Commission have protected voters’ rights. Social action legislation and group activity and the increasing energy shown by panchayats have enlivened villagers’ political involvement. Reservation of seats for various classes, castes and women in education, legislative bodies, including panchayats, and the civil services have brought previously unrepresented individuals and groups into national life. Great controversy accompanied such developments.

Recently, long-argued issues have re-emerged: the definition of “backwardness – caste or class or poverty”; whether reservation is equalising downward or upwards; whether reservation/concession tends to become vested interests; whether reservation/concession engenders a spirit of self-denigration among the people. What is basically important here is that legislators, lawyers, and the courts are considering these questions seriously. Faith in the Constitution is widespread among the wide variety of constituencies.

In a speech given recently on Human Rights Day, the noted advocate Fali S. Nariman said: “It is not because of our Constitution but despite its provisions that we have failed to achieve what were naively assumed [in the year 1950] to be achievable goals.” Nariman added: “The remedy to effectively countering discrimination…is not by law, but in attitudes… [which] must change.” The noted political thinker Andre Beteille summed up this appraisal when he wrote that “a constitution may indicate the direction in which we are to move, but the social structure will decide how far we are able to move and at what pace”.

A success despite frailties

The Constitution and its seamless web of democracy, social revolution, and national unity and integrity have met India’s needs. It is fair to say that it has been a success despite some frailties – which might, with political will, be easily remedied. Yet the Constitution has presented a paradox: the sturdiness of the system it has provided has permitted vast deviations from its system and its spirit, by those who would ignore them or distort them. The Constitution has provided protective coloration much as an animal or a bird changes its appearance without changing its being. Praising its provisions has given licence to those who would ignore them to do so. Democracy was subverted by the First Amendment’s placing of the land reform legislation beyond the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction, by the executive branch’s many attacks on the court’s independence, and by the imposition of the monstrous Emergency in 1975.

The Preamble’s promise to seek justice, social economic and political, and equality of status and opportunity – and the vainglorious addition of the words “socialist” and “secular” to the Preamble by the 42nd Amendment left conditions for Dalits and other backward castes much as they long have been. I must add here that adult suffrage, and its accompanying effect of caste encouraging political mobilisation for voting, and reservation policies have increased citizen participation in democratic processes – although caste-against-caste oppression still may be savage. To compare political conditions in, say, 1945 with those in India today demonstrates how far representative government has come during the interim.

India under the Constitution has come a long, long way in 60 years – not to forget the distance it still has to go. The critics who downplay its achievements lack understanding and empathy – particularly American critics, whose democracy has serious difficulties no matter where they look. Indeed, not looking is one of their difficulties. Indian citizens have much to be proud of, but should avoid smugness. A remedy for it could be to ask themselves what the members of the Constituent Assembly might think if, like Rip Van Winkle, they awoke tomorrow.

With Independence we have lost the excuse of blaming the British if anything goes wrong, Ambekdar told the Assembly. We will have nobody to blame except ourselves.

Historians of constitutional developments in India are unlikely to be without a job. There is too much going on, too much to puzzle over, to learn. One matter, among the many others, especially perplexes me. Can India be a great democracy, strong in itself and in the eyes of the world, so long as so many of its people are denied the promise of the Preamble?

(Granville Austin began his study of India and the Constitution in 1959. He has published two books on the subject: “The Indian Constitution – Cornerstone of a Nation”, 1966, and “Working a Democratic Constitution – A History of the Indian Experience”, 1999. He holds a D.Phil degree from Oxford University.)

Indian Administration News Bits

2010-02-08T22:33:00.000+05:30

No promotion to IAS on quota

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan High Court has ruled against promotion of Rajasthan Administrative Service officers to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) on the basis of reservations.

While their recruitment was done on the basis of reservations, they are not entitled to promotions on the basis of the same criterion, the Court said.

A Division Bench of the Court comprising Justice R. S. Rathore and Justice N. K. Jain gave the ruling in response to as many as 19 petitions from different persons filed at different times starting from 1993.

The petitioners had questioned “out of turn” promotions of officers belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes overlooking the seniority of officers from the general category.

The promotions of Rajasthan Administrative Service officers have been held up for a long time as the issue has been pending in court. In between, in the years 2002 and 2008, the State Government had issued notifications for carrying out the promotions on the basis of the reservation quotas but could not execute it.

The cases of 56 RAS officers are pending for promotion to IAS. The High Court in its order asked the Government to prepare a fresh promotion list.

Trainee IAS officers to enjoy high security cover

Indian Administrative Service (IAS) probationers and officers training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie will soon start 'enjoying' tight security cover.

The Union home ministry has reportedly cleared a proposal to deploy paramilitary force at the premier institute, the cradle of India's top bureaucracy. According to sources, the authorities of the academy - it is under the department of personnel and training - had requested to upgrade its security two years ago.

"The approval has come now. But the government hasn't yet decided which paramilitary force would be deployed at the academy. The choice is between the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)," the sources said, adding that the deployment would be done "very soon". Chances are the ITBP would be assigned the task since it has its sector headquarters, a training centre and a station in Mussoorie.

As of now, the LBSNAA's security is handled by a private agency, which has a skeletal staff of about two dozen personnel.

The Uttarakand government has cited the academy as a vulnerable terror target along with the state assembly in Dehradun. According to recent reports, Doon School and the Indian Military Academy, both situated in Dehradun, are also under threat.

The Mussoorie academy trains over 1,000 civil service officers every year. It runs an annual common foundation course for all recruits of all- India services and central services.

Indian Administration News Bits

2010-01-16T12:37:00.004+05:30

Two new services in Bihar; direct appointment of SDOs

PATNA — The Bihar government has decided to form two new state services – Bihar Revenue Service (BRS) and Bihar Rural Development Service (BRDS) to end the shortage of the Block Development Officers (BDOs) and Circle Officers (COs) in the state.

“One of the biggest challenges for the government is to speed up the disposal of land related cases. This should help us in achieving that,” official sources said.

Cabinet Coordination Principal Secretary Girish Shankar said that the state cabinet has approved formation of two new state services. Successful candidates of BRS will be appointed COs while BRDS recruits will be appointed BDOs.

"The Bihar Public Service Commission will make the recruitment to the services through the combined competitive examinations,” he added.

The State government has also decided to restructure the Bihar Administrative Service (BAS) paving the way for the state administrative cadre officers to be appointed directly to the post of sub-divisional officers. It is likely to provide more opportunity to BAS officers to get into the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre in the state.

National Consultation on the Development of an Index of Backwardness based on Block as a Unit

It is high time that a composite criteria for identifying backward areas (with the Block as a Unit) based on indicators of human development including poverty, literacy and infant mortality rates, along with indices of social and economic infrastructure, should be discussed and developed by all the stake holders especially the Planning Commission so as to bring in New initiatives for a revamped and strengthened Panchayati Raj system in the country. This expression came from the Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Dr.C.P.Joshi today at a National Consultation for Development of an Index of Backwardness based on Block as a Unit in Vigyan Bhawan New Delhi. He said The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) constituted by the Government of India under the chairmanship of Shri Veerappa Moily had also considered the entire gamut of identification of backward areas in its Seventh Report on Capacity Building for Conflict Resolution.

Dr. Joshi said the Ministry of Panchayati Raj is implementing the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) which was launched by the Government in January 2007. The programme is designed to redress regional imbalances in development by providing financial resources for supplementing and converging existing developmental inflows into 250 identified districts, so as to bridge critical gaps in local infrastructure and other developmental requirements that are not being adequately met through existing inflows. For the untied portion of funds, the sharing pattern is (i) every district receiving a fixed amount of Rs. 10 crores per year; and (ii) the remaining portion being distributed on ‘50/50 basis’ as per the population and the geographical share of the district in the total population/ geography of all backward districts. The 250 identified backward districts included districts where NREGA programme was being implemented along with 170 districts including 55 Extremist Affected districts which were identified as the Most Backward districts by an Inter Ministry Task Group set up by the Planning Commission in August, 2004. The Task Group ranked districts on the basis of 17 chosen parameters relating to income deprivation, health and educational status and infrastructural inadequacy, summed up their ranks on the different parameters and arranged them on thebasis of their combined ranking to focus on relative deprivation levels. The Districts ranked lowest on the combined ranking list have been considered as the most backward in the country.

He said in accordance with the recommendations of the Second ARC, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj is considering adopting Block as a Unit of identification of backwardness and adopting suitable indicators for bringing in more focused interventions in these blocks.

He stressed the strong need to have wider consultations among other Ministries/organisations as well as independent experts who have written on the issue of inter / intra-State disparities.

Earlier inaugurating the discussion Shri A.N.P. Sinha, Secretary Ministry of Panchayati Raj said Governance needs to be particularly strengthened in more backward areas within a State. The role of ‘special purpose vehicles’ such as backward area development boards and authorities in reducing intra-State disparities needs to be reviewed. It is advisable to strengthen local governments and make them responsible and accountable. He said States have also been requested to compile the latest information in respect of these indicators and upload the same on the website of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. Out of the approx. 6500 Blocks, data in respect of nearly 40 % has already been entered. States such as Andhra Pradesh have uploaded the updated information in respect of all the Blocks for 2008 and can be used for comparing with the 2001 data.

During the discussions as a preliminary exercise, the following identified indicators were discussed for developing an index of backwardness for CD Blocks:

Percentage of villages having paved approach roads; Percentage of land irrigated;Percentage of villages with safe drinking water; Percentage of villages with electricity; Percentage of Literate people; Percentage of villages with primary education facility;Percentage of villages with any health care facility; and Percentage of main worker to total worker.

The vote of thanks was given by Sh. Sudhir Krishna, Additional Secretary in the Panchayati Raj Ministry.

The one day long Consultation was attended by representatives from several States/UTs, Academics, Union Ministries and Planning Commission.

The Commission had also recommended the block as the Unit for planning and implementation for the purpose of NREGA in its Report on that programme. It stated that: "After the State specific Block level indices are worked out, they need to be applied not for a given set of development schemes but as general guidelines for allocation of resources for all development initiatives and in particular allocations from State and district level plan funds. Backward Blocks thus identified should also receive recognition for the purpose of allocations under the appropriate centrally sponsored schemes. In short, the strategy of reducing and minimizing regional imbalances primarily through targeting attention to Blocks identified as backward within the context of each State needs to be formally accepted by the Planning Commission."

National Judicial Service Soon

The Union ministry of law and justice is working on a plan to introduce a National Judicial Service (NJS) on the lines of the civil Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS).

The move is primarily aimed at bringing about a quality enhancement at the district-level judiciary and having a sound system for the direct recruitment of judges, Union law minister M Veerappa Moily said here on Sunday.

IAS probable list:Mohan Abraham approaches CAT

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The controversial director of VHSE, Mohan Abraham, has played his final card to somehow get into the IAS probables list. He has approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) with a prayer to consider him for the Indian Administrative Service.

His move, believed to be with the blessings of his political bosses, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Education Minister M A Baby, became partially successful with the CAT delivering a directive to the Chief Secretary to look into his plea.The name of Mohan Abraham was in the initial shortlist of 22 officials prepared by the State Government for conferring IAS. The inclusion of Mohan Abraham was without the knowledge of the Chief Secretary who was of the opinion that he could not be considered as he was not in the rank of deputy collector.

Chief Secretary Neela Gangadharan, in reply to an RTI query, said Mohan Abraham was `not eligible’ to be considered for conferring IAS as his rank was below that of deputy collector. An FIR has been registered by the Vigilance against him for massive corruption in purchasing library books for VHS schools. On November 26, the Vigilance special judge here ordered that a second FIR should be registered against the official for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The recommendation by Vigilance ADGP K P Somarajan to suspend Mohan Abraham with immediate effect has been kept in the cold storage by the Home and Education Ministers. The scheme of the Ministers was to ensure an environment conducive for him to obtain a CAT order in his favour.

It was part of a well orchestrated move by Mohan Abraham for getting a backdoor entry into the 10-member IAS probables’ shortlist prepared by the government.

The admission of Mohan Abraham’s petition by the CAT itself was mysterious as the CAT usually considers complaints of only Central Government employees. ``It was admitted as it related to the IAS selection procedure,’’ said M.Ramachandran, Registrar, CAT.

A Bench of CAT consisting of Dr KBS Rajan and K.Geroge Joseph told the Chief Secretary on December 2 ``to consider and dispose the representation of the applicant.

If the second respondent (Government of Kerala) is satisfied that the name of the applicant be not deleted, the list may go in the same fashion.If the list has to be modified, the second respondent shall intimate the applicant with a speaking order,’’ said the order.The CAT Bench noted in its order that if there is a specific rule or precedent to avoid the name of officials involved in corruption cases, it should be intimated to the applicant accordingly.It gave one month’s time to the government to complete the procedure.

Top sources in the government said no final decision has been taken by the Chief Secretary on the CAT order.Earlier, the High Court directed the inclusion of Soil Survey Director Dr P.N. Ramachandran in the list which is also under the consideration of the Chief Secretary.

Article On Corruption

2010-01-16T12:12:00.001+05:30

Dear Friends,

I am posting here an article on corruption. Its very important topic and an area where the student has to express his view carefully. So how much ever you read on corruption - you need to select important points and add it to your self notes. As always balanced view is rewarded.

Regards
GMStudyCenter

Enemy within

ON the 125th anniversary of the Congress party, observed on December 28 in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh listed the four major challenges before the country: terrorism, communalism, naxalism and regionalism. One cannot quarrel with that statement, as these are indeed formidable concerns. But he might have added one more to the list, something that is an insidious and persistent cancer in public life, that has vitiated every arm of governance and every public institution, including the judiciary and the armed forces. Corruption.

It is a phenomenon that never ceases to astonish – that so many persons who are educated, and educated well in many cases, who are trained to serve the country, who are shaped and disciplined to act even if it means sacrificing their lives, should then become common thieves, helping themselves to bribes, to pilfering public funds and behaving in the same manner as burglars and ruffians. One wonders how these people can face their families, their wives, sons and daughters – assuming they are not party to the thievery of their fathers. They will, of course, have the usual, and often comic, defence – they are innocent; they have been set up; they are victims of a deep and dark plot by deep and dark people. But given the elaborate provisions of the law that this privileged lot has to protect itself, put in place many years ago by those who needed them to help themselves to public funds and fat bribes, it is a wonder that they have been caught and charge-sheeted. And if they have been, the Central Bureau of Investigation must have foolproof cases; its officers would not risk their own careers otherwise.

Where and how does it start? Consider an Army officer. He starts out with his course-mates, and while some of them sacrifice their lives in a major conflict or a skirmish, he goes on to become a general, even an Army Commander, and while becoming one, begins to steal and thieve. He enters into sleazy deals with people who are the scum floating in the darkest levels of society, people with whom he would, in normal circumstances, never have had dealings of any kind. But he does. Consider an Indian Administrative Service officer, who is assumed to be bright – he does pass two examinations to get in, one of which is fairly rigorous. As he is entrusted with more and more responsibilities, eventually as Chief Secretary in a State, he has begun to put his hand in the till, no different in any way from the traffic constable who takes hafta from truck drivers every evening to buy his drink. Except that he takes much more, crores, to be precise, and he wears a suit, or that dreary uniform of the bureaucrat, the bandhgala, the buttoned up suit.

We have examples in the judiciary as well, not only in the lower courts but in the highest court in the state. What happened? Were they not earning enough as lawyers before they were made judges, and as judges, was their salary really inadequate? When they were made judges, were they not selected because of their distinguished record as lawyers or in the judicial service? What happened after that?

Going down the ladder, all of us know that there is not a municipal corporation or municipality that is not eaten up by corrupt officials at all levels and that nothing, literally nothing, can be done without paying them. The police forces are, of course, no less corrupt, and it is said that an honest constable is generally considered by his peers to be a consummate fool.

This cancer is something the Prime Minister has mentioned in some of his public addresses or statements, but it is something about which, one has to say with great sadness, nothing of any substance has been done. Commissions and committees are no remedy. This is a disease that has to be diagnosed and studied by the Prime Minister and some of the close colleagues – carefully selected by him personally – acting quietly and in secret.

Only then can they come up with some answers and some action to eliminate corruption, or at least make it difficult for public functionaries to take to corrupt ways. The answers have to be imaginative and unusual because the corrupt are among the most clever and perceptive and will find their way round things as simple as an order to declare assets and the like.

They must begin by trying to determine what makes an officer corrupt. Education? Family influence? Values learnt from associates? If they can identify the factors the remedies may suggest themselves. Again, the temptation to appoint a committee must be resisted. They can call in some whose opinion they feel will help them and talk to them. But that is all they must do. They will, of course, know that there will have to be different courses of action for different levels of public activity. There can never be one answer to this problem.

It is important that no less a person than the Prime Minister considers this urgently because he knows that the work planned by his government may come to nothing because of this all-pervasive disease.

There is something else that he surely knows only too well – that corruption goes hand in hand with influence and nepotism. Not too long ago the country was appalled to learn of the manner in which a senior police officer sexually molested a 14-year-old girl and then stalled all proceedings against him for 19 years, until the media blew the whistle on him. The case of the Indian Police Service officer, S.P.S. Rathore, highlights what influence can do to derail all attempts to get justice.

What is absolutely essential in public life, in our institutions, is not getting justice. Justice is a word that is defined differently for different things, and tied up with fine, legal interpretations that usually make it ineffective or inadequate.

What is essential is that right is done. This is non-negotiable. If right is done, or is sought to be done, by the one single power in the country that does not have even the faintest stain of corruption, then we may survive through this new year to the next

2010 Notification for UPSC Civil Services Prelims has been published

2010-01-03T13:25:00.002+05:30

Dear Friends,

Notification for the 2010 examination is out. And good thing is there is no change in syllabus. So Public Administration strategy for prelims can be same. But looking at the question paper in 2009 mains - UPSC has inclined to change the pattern in mains. The questions are asked for 30 marks also. We shall discuss question paper pattern of mains as we go in to the preparation. As of now the aim should be to clear prelims.

From GM study Center - as a part of prelims - the links for notes has already been given in the 'exam strategy section' of this blog. I wil try to share some prelims question paper chapterwise.

As far as the filling of notification is considered - please take extra care. The best practise is to take a xerox copy of the application and practice first before filling on actual copy. Exam center and Optional subject's code needs to be marked correctly. Do not wait for the last day to submit the application at the same time dont be hurry to submit. Take your time to read the application thoroughly and submit it by Jan 15 - Jan 20. After filling the application get it reviewed by your friends for any mistakes.

One more important thing is - this time number of posts has been mentioned as 965 which is a big number and is good news for the candidates. This is your best chance to get selected. Work hard and achieve your goal. Let me know for any clarifications.

Last but not the least - those who want to see the notification can always go and see it at UPSC's official website -

http://www.upsc.gov.in/exams/notifications/csp2010/notcvl.htm#PageTop

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Happy 2010

2010-01-01T12:54:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends ,

I take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and healthy new year 2010.Evey day if you are lucky enough to see the sunlight - it is an opportunity to prove yourself right. Its a god gift to explore. If you wanted to do something in 2009 but did not happen - dont worry you can always do it in 2010. Set yourself an achievable goal and work towards it sincerely . Thats all I can say.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Comprehensive Coverage of RTI Act

2009-12-27T18:55:00.002+05:30

Dear Friends ,

One of the topics in Paper 1 of Public administration is accountability and control - in that sub topic is RTI Act .Supposed to be a revolutionary act but finding difficulty in getting implemented sincerely. The article below gives very comprehensive information about RTI and can act as single source of information.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

(Source : http://secularcitizen.blogspot.com/search/label/Right%20to%20Information )

(Image Taken from - http://environment-rti.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/rti-time-line-1.png )

Right to Information viz. RTI is a part of fundamental rights under Article 19(1) of the Constitution, which says that every citizen has freedom of speech and expression. The people cannot express themselves unless they know what’s happening in the systems that govern them. Every citizen, being the tax payee has the authority as the masters in a democratic system to know how the government bodies and public authorities, meant to serve them, are functioning.

But it is quite unfortunate that the Government authorities are still hesitant to part with the information under their control. It is in this context that the ‘Right to Information Act’ becomes very significant. Right to Information Act, 2005 is a public drafted legislation to set out a mechanism to avail information in the hands of Public authorities and Government Officials. It does not confer any new right, but simply lays down the procedures on how to apply for information under the control of public authorities, and how to avail it.

The preamble of Right to Information Act, 2005 says - “Democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed”. As sounded by its preamble, the Act envisages a corruption-free and transparent governance and polity. The Act covers not only the Executive, but the judiciary and the legislature also. It extends to the entire gamut of central, state and local government systems including those bodies owned, controlled or substantially financed by government and also those Non-government organizations substantially financed, directly or indirectly by funds provided by government. Information relating to any private body that can be accessed by a public authority also comes under the ambit of RTI Act, 2005.

The RTI Act defines “Information” as any material in any form, including records, documents, memos, e-mails, opinions, advice, press releases, circulars, orders, logbooks, contracts, reports, papers, samples, models, and data material held in any electronic form. It is interesting to learn that “Right to Information” also covers

Inspection of work, documents, records; taking notes, extracts, or certified copies of documents or records; and taking certified samples of material. It implies that any citizen can exercise his right to invigilate the transparency and accountability of governance or even insist that a particular civil work be performed in his presence. Any citizen can avail a copy of every bill settled from funds controlled by any of the public authorities and even the statement of accounts of every activity/project/event funded or organized by the Public Authority. Public authority is also obliged to provide reasons for its administrative or quasi-judicial decisions to affected persons, and publish all relevant facts while formulating important decisions affecting the public. Another interesting aspect of RTI Act is that there is “Penalty for forfeiture of information”.

Section 4(2) of the Act says that “it shall be the constant endeavor of every public authority to provide as much information suo moto to the public at regular intervals through various means of communication, including internet, so that the public shall have minimum resort to the use of this Act to obtain information”. So the dream is the change of mindset from maintenance of Official Information in Secret to Maximum Voluntary disclosure of information.

Having told the philosophy of Right to Information, it is imperative that the ways and means of availing the information shall be set. So the RTI Act directs that ‘ Every Public Authority shall designate as many Public Information Officers (PIO) in all the administrative units or Offices under it as may be necessary to provide information to persons requesting information”. PIO is also required to help any person making the request orally to reduce the same in writing. The Act further stipulates that “every public authority shall designate an Officer at each sub-divisional or other sub-district level as Assistant Public Information Officer (APIO) to receive the applications for information or appeals under this RTI Act for forwarding the same forthwith to the respective PIO or 1st Appellate Authority or Information Commission. The Burden of proving that PIO/APIO has acted reasonably and diligently in discharge of his functions or obligations under RTI Act will be on the respective PIO/APIO.

PIO may seek assistance of any other Officer as he or she considers it necessary for the proper discharge of his or her duties. Section 5(5) of RTI Act says that such Officer will be deemed as PIO for the purposes of providing the information requested. All the Burden including liability for Penalty on defiance of information will stand transferred to the Deemed PIO, if PIO transfers the request to such Officer with a note indicating the same

The Request for information has to be submitted to PIO or APIO in writing or through electronic means in English, Hindi or Official language of the area with a nominal Fee of Rs. 10/-. (There is no fee for persons Below Poverty Line). PIO can demand additional sum of Rs. 2 for each page created or copied for giving it as information to the requestor or Rs. 50/- per diskette/floppy if the same is given in electronic form. Incase if Inspection of work is requested no fee is chargeable for the first hour, but Rs. 5/- each for every subsequent hours.

The Act mandates that the PIO shall provide the requested information as expeditiously as possible, but in no way later than 30 days. However the public authorities can take 5 days more to part with the information sought, if such request is made through APIO. But in any case where the requested information involves the question of “life or liberty”, such information should be given within 48 hours.

Section 6(2) of RTI Act makes it clear that a person requesting information shall not be required to give any reason for requesting the information or any other personal details. However this freedom implies that the citizens shall show a greater sense of responsibility on the part of the use of information in the media and elsewhere. (Dissemination shall be in Public Interest.). In view of the national security, Intelligence and Security Organisations such as IB, RAW of Cabinet Secretariat, BSF, SPG, CISF, DRDO, Special Branch CID of Andaman & Nicobar, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Narcotics Control Bureau etc. have been exempted from stringent provisions of the RTI Act. But it is very interesting to note that the information pertaining to the allegations of corruption and human rights violations are not exempt from disclosure even in the case of those organizations. That conveys the very intention of this Legislation.

Now comes the real question - What is the remedy if the requested information is denied? RTI Act establishes an Independent and Non-judicial appellate mechanism in which a body called “Information Commission” (Central Information Commission and State information Commissions) has been set as the apex body. Further Section 23 of the Act asserts that ‘No court shall entertain any suit, application or other proceedings in respect of any order made under this Act and no such order shall be called in question otherwise than by way of an appeal under this Act’. But this provision cannot be interpreted as a complete bar on jurisdiction of courts, since the options of Writ petitions and Special Leave petitions always subsists. Information Commission also would entertain the complaints from any one who is aggrieved on account of any matter relating to obtaining information under this law including the cases where the public authority refused to accept the RTI Request.

In order to give an opportunity for the ‘public authority’ to review its on decision as to the denial of Information requested from PIO, the Act requisitions that an Officer senior in rank to PIO be appointed as the First Appellate Authority, to whom the aggrieved citizen can appeal within thirty days of expiry of time limits within which he/she should have received the information requested. The First Appellate Authority (AA) shall ordinarily dispose of the appeal within thirty days or latest by the forty-fifth day with reasons for availing such prolonged period. An appeal to the respective Central or State Information Commission may be made within a period of 90 days from the date of decision of the Appellate Authority or from the date of expiry of time limit for the disposal of the first appeal made before the first Appellate Authority.

Information Commission may, at the time of deciding any complaint or appeal, impose upon PIO, a fine of Rs. 250 per day, up to a maximum of Rs. 25,000/-, if he/she has without any reasonable ground: refused to accept an application for information; or delayed furnishing of information; or malafidely denied information; or knowingly given incomplete, incorrect, or misleading information; or destroyed information that has been requested; or obstructed furnishing of information in any manner. So the Act has teeth; it can not only bark but bite also. But of course the PIO will be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard before any penalty is imposed on him.

The RTI Act extends its arm further to declare that if PIO persistently violates his obligations under RTI Act, Information Commission shall recommend for disciplinary action against such PIO under the service rules applicable to him.

Though the Right to Information Act moots complete transparency in the governmental system, it is also equally important that the strategic information pertaining to the State and any personal information devoid of larger public interest be exempted from disclosure. Accordingly Section 8 (1) of the RTI Act bars the disclosure of the following information.

a) Information, disclosure of which would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State, relation with foreign State or lead to incitement of an offence;

b) Information which has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court;

c) Information, the disclosure of which would cause a breach of privilege of Parliament or the State Legislature;

d) Information including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party, (unless larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information);

e) Information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, (unless the larger public interest warrants the disclosure of such information);

f) Information received in confidence from foreign Government;

g) Information, the disclosure of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes;

h) Information which would impede the process of investigation or apprehension or prosecution of offenders;

i) Cabinet papers including records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries and other officers. (However, after the decision is taken and the matter is complete or over, the decision, the reasons thereof and the material leading to the decision shall be made public);

j) Information which relates to personal information the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual unless larger public interest demands its disclosure

Further, Section 9 of the Act insists that any information that infringes the copyright of any person other than the State should not be disclosed. While Section 8 and Section 9 prevents the disclosure of the kind of information mentioned above, the Act maintains vide

Section 10(1) that ‘access may be provided to that part of the record, which is not exempted from disclosure, and which can reasonably be severed from any part of that contains the ‘exempt information’

You would also be delighted to learn about an important decision of the Full Bench of Central Information Commission (Decision dated 23rd April 2007), which declared that there is “No fiduciary relationship” in respect of “Evaluated Answer Sheets”, while maintaining accepting that there existed “Fiduciary Relationship” between a) Lawyer and Client; b) Doctor and Patient; c) Bank and Customer; d) Trustee and Beneficiary; e) Organisation and Reporting Officer in respect of CR of an Employee etc. Therefore the Information Commission directed that the answer sheets should ordinarily be disclosed in all circumstances, but subject to the scrutiny under S. 8 (1) and Section 9 of RTI Act. The Commission stated further that the evaluated answer sheets could be disclosed withholding the name of the Examiner, in view of the fact that the disclosure of identity of the examiners might pose a danger to the life and safety of the Examiner. The decision also implies that marks given by each of the Interview board members are givable without revealing their identity.

So RTI Act, 2005 is the most pretty and powerful legislation that the democratic India gifted to its citizens. Its Supremacy is being reiterated in Section 22 of the Act, which states that ‘ The Provisions of RTI Act will be having the overriding effect on any contradicting provisions in Official Secret Act, 1923, and any other law for the time being in force or any other instrument having effect by virtue of any law other than this Act”

Let me add a few sagas of successful RTI ventures as an anecdote here. The first story is from a north Indian village. Mazloom Nadaf, a 70-year old rickshaw puller had no scope for his long-awaited dream until he found light in RTI. The story reads as follows - Nadaf did not get any response for the first five years on his application on Indira Awas Yojana – India’s National housing Scheme. Five years later, authorities demanded Rs. 5000/- from him to process the application. But he refused to give the money and, instead approached the legal aid centre of an NGO working in Madhubani district and sought their assistance in drafting and filing an RTI application. In his RTI request, Mazloom asked for the daily progress report made on his application to avail of the Indira Awas Yojana. The application was filed with the Circle Officer for his block who forwarded the same to the Block Development Officer (BDO). The BDO on receiving the RTI application called Mazloom and treated him like a VIP and with a lot of respect handed over a Cheque of Rs. 15,000 (first installment payment) under the Indira Awas Yojana. He was also promised that he would get the subsequent installments in time.

Right to Information Act was also effectively used by residents of a village in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district to put an end to the practice of selling grains from ration shops in the black market. Mr. Revat Ram, Secretary, Jagruk Yuvak Manch of the areas was Instrumental in this achievement. Revat Ram and his friends used the RTI Act to get all records of their ration shop in Himmatsar village and exposed how grains meant for the poor were being black-marketed at a ration shop in Bikaner. After the move, the villagers got the dealer removed. Besides losing dealership, the ration shopkeeper was also forced to pay poor families in the village over Rupees Four Lakhs, the cash equivalent of the grains he had sold illegally.

“They threatened us and also offered money. But we refused, because we wanted to ensure that people in our village get the grains they deserve from the government. And we did not get scared in fighting for the rights of our people” – Says Mr. Revat

The message of RTI Act is very clear – Uproot corruption and make the governmental system totally transparent and accountable to the people. So Government Employee is no longer a Government Servant. He/She has to transform to a Public Servant in Letter and Spirit.

To End with, I wish to quote the father of our nation

- “The real Swaraj will come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of capacity by all to resist authority when abused “

Is it that the Independent India needed 58 years to realize what Mahatmaji told?

Indian Administration News Bits

2009-12-25T10:24:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends ,

From this week - you will find a new Label in this blog - 'Administration News Bits' This will be related Public Administration happenings in the country and helps the students not only for examination but also for the interview. Initially it will be weekly once - along with other regular blogs.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Perform or perish for babus over 50?

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Perform-or-perish-for-babus-over-50/articleshow/5371200.cms)

NEW DELHI: Non-performing officers in the elite civil services -- IAS, IFS and IPS -- may be asked to pack up leaving space for "performers" if a plan to review their performance once they cross 50 years takes shape. Indicating that officers could be compulsorily retired for non-performance, home minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday that there was a strong case for conducting a review of officials after they attain the age of 50 years. If any official is not found upto the mark during the review the person concerned will be paid a generous pension so that he/she can make way for better performers.

Replying to questions by Intelligence Bureau officials at the annual Centenary Endowment Lecture, he said the proposed policy would not be limited to Indian Police Service (IPS) but cover Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Foreign Service (IFS) as well.

He sought cooperation of officials of the services once the system is implemented and said by this the career of better performers could be put on fast track.

We don't need more babus

(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/We-dont-need-more-babus/articleshow/5370488.cms)

The human resource development ministry is mulling over the idea of establishing an Indian Education Service (IES), on the lines of the IAS, IFS

and IRS. The new service will apparently recruit and train a dedicated set of officers who will then be deployed as education administrators. HRD minister Kapil Sibal reportedly said it was an idea worth exploring at a round table on school education in the capital this week. Well, we think it's an idea that should not be entertained.

Education, especially school education, is a much-neglected sector in our country. The funds set aside by the government for education, in which the state has a vital role to play, is woefully inadequate. Public education infrastructure is crumbling and the qualifications and commitment of teachers in public schools leave much to be desired. But the way around these pressing problems is not the creation of more bureaucracy. India has more bureaucrats than necessary; and the general ineptitude of our babus is well known. Why should an already flabby establishment be further fattened at taxpayers' expense?

The recent drift in education management has been towards decentralisation. The IES proposal runs counter to that. Moreover, education is a state subject while the proposed cadre will come under the Centre's purview. Unless the IES is superimposed upon state administrations, which is not such a great idea, it will have little clout. Each state has differentiated frameworks within which they operate in the area of education. That's because of the diverse socio-economic realities of different regions within India.

It makes little sense to have a one-size-fits-all administrative framework for education across the country. There is no dearth of visionaries at the top when it comes to education in India, but there is a severe shortage of people who can deliver at the ground level, whether they are teachers or administrators. Instead of investing in a fresh bunch of officers, government must identify those already within the system who can be trained to become efficient education personnel.

Pre-empting shortage in PCS cadre, govt plans to employ retired babus

(http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Pre-empting-shortage-in-PCS-cadre--govt-plans-to-employ-retired-babus/558107)

To tackle the shortage of officers in its administrative wing, the state government has decided to extend the tenure of the Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officers who were to retire at the end of this month. The extension would be given for a period of one year on a contract basis.

Chief Secretary S C Aggarwal confirmed that retired PCS officers would be reemployed till December 2010 on a fixed contract. “We expect to meet the shortage of officers with this move, as new officers in the PCS cadre would be available only by 2011,” he stated.

The government is further considering reemploying PCS officers who have retired in the last three years, a source added. A senior officer said the finance and home departments have given the nod to the process of contracting the officers, and the matter is with the Cabinet. “Once the Cabinet approves, we would issue a formal notification. The message, however, has been conveyed to our officers,” a government official told The Indian Express.

Punjab IAS officers to encourage voluntary assets' disclosure

Assets of some of the 'rich' bureaucrats in the country could soon be in the public domain with the IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officers' association in Punjab Tuesday saying that it will encourage officers to voluntarily disclose their property and assets.

The move follows a direction by the Punjab State Information Commission to the Punjab government Monday seeking details of properties and assets of all bureaucrats during their service with the Punjab government.IAS officers' association president Sarvesh Kaushal said here in a statement Tuesday that the forum would encourage its member officers to disclose their property and other assets on an exclusive web-page.

He said the public will be able to access the information regarding officers online and this would bring transparency.Information commissioner, Lt. Gen. P.K. Grover, Monday directed the state government to furnish details of property and other assets of its officers during their entire service.

Tackling Naxalism: Offer clean admn

2009-12-25T08:53:00.003+05:30

Dear Friends ,

Any nation can and will always be prepared for external problems - but it is the internal problems which lets any country down. And in India Naxalism has been one of the administrative nightmares and it needs highest administrative calibre to handle the same. The following article discusses about Naxalism by adopting Gandhian approach.You may have your own views - but this is an add on.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

(Source :http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=22511)

(Click On The Image to Enlarge)

Wars, it is said, arise in the minds of men and so they should properly be fought there. The same can be said about Naxalism. It too arises in the minds of men and so it should properly be fought there. Instead, we are trying to fight it with brute force, inviting further retaliation. Let us for a moment think how Mahatma Gandhi would have fought it. He fought the might of a colonial empire not with force but the opposite of it. And, here we are fighting our own people with force and having much the worse of it. To say the least our approach is not Gandhian.

But there is a deeper reason favouring the Gandhian approach. Contrary to popular notion, Naxalism does not arise out of income disparities or differences in social status. We always had unequal distribution of wealth and a stratified division of the society but this kind of unrest was not seen. It is in fact amazing how much of life's so called injustice is accepted peacefully in India, blaming it on our fate or 'karma'. Instead of blaming others we blame ourselves. That should act as a great cushion for the society and the nation. However, what is not tolerated in India is perceived unfairness. That has always given rise to mass movements, be it the events of 1857 or any other regional revolt. People are willing to put up with a lot if they think that the system is fair. That it works. That it treats them equally. If that confidence is shaken unrest manifests itself. Perhaps this is what is causing Naxalism.

Even in the times of the erstwhile ruling States, income disparities as well as social differences were as rife, if not more, but the people, by and large, identified with the rulers and trusted him. 'Kou nripa hoya, hamai ka hani' (Whoever be the ruler, what difference does it make to us?) That was not a statement of indifference to state but a statement of confidence in the system. Whoever rules, rules fairly. Why bother?

Why is that identification missing? Today, the public mind is agitated by doubts about fairness of rule. Let us take a hard look at our public life. How much confidence does it inspire? What is our administrative profile? Illegal accumulation of wealth on all sides. Very poor record of punishing those apprehended. Arbitrary use of police and administrative powers to promote selfish interests and to shield the guilty. Equally arbitrary use of the taxpayer's money for personal convenience of the ruling class.

Indian Airlines awards life-time of free air travel facility to its CMD. A Cabinet Secretary becomes Governor of a state post-retirement before finally being shown the door for foisting personal hospitality expenses on an industrial house. Were there no takers for the jobs or our vigilance mechanism works selectively?

A general impression has been created that cleverness pays and anything can be sorted out if you throw enough money at it. Criminals dominate. All sorts of scams in the works, be it the Bihar fodder case, the Telgi stamp paper theft case (look at its sweep) the Ghaziabad Provident Fund defalcation case or numerous Public Service Commission recruitment scandals. Is that not material enough for creating a lack of confidence in the system?

Add to that thoughtless expropriation of people's traditional rights over common resources, enjoyed by them for centuries and often recognised even in Mughal sanads and British grants. Appropriation of forests by government's Forest Department is a running complaint.

Our disastrous experiments with afforestation with the help of eucalyptus every where and with exotic tropical pine in the saal intensive Bastar region tell their own sad tale of indifference to the lot of the forest dweller. He got nothing from these plantations by way of seeds, fruits or leaves towards his sustenance. Eucalyptus soaked up the surrounding moisture and tropical pine proved a dwarf beside the stalwart saal.

Used to deriving their water supply from traditional sources like ponds and rivers, forest people find them polluted due to atrocious mining and manufacturing activities. The waters of Shankhini and Dankini rivers joining together below the highly revered Danteshwari temple in Bastar area's Dantewara district have been unusable ever since the start of the iron ore mining operations. Nobody has a care. All our attention is taken up with fighting Naxalism mindlessly.

At the other extreme, government regularization of encroached forest lands has given rise to new vested interests like earlier commercialisation of timber interests. We are thus creating a situation where we either do not give anything or give it away for private use. Both ways, the common interest is not served and the dependent community is dislodged. The man looking for basic subsistence is uprooted. Where does he go? Therefore if land is at all to be given away to encroachers in forest lands, it may have to be outside forest areas, otherwise we are establishing a self-defeating wrong trend.

Subsequently trouble makers, criminals and commercial interests have jumped into the fray and taken short-term advantage of a bad situation. They find it a fertile ground. Over the years they have learnt to encash and exploit their nuisance value. They are even levying protection money and overrunning police stations. Look at Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. Their nuisance value is acquiring an independent life as another vested interest. For the administration on the ground level matters are getting so mixed up that it is hard to distinguish genuine unrest from a created one. How do we tackle this situation?

To my mind, we have to begin at the beginning. As the seed of Naxalism takes root in the minds of men, so the battle against it should also primarily be fought and won in the hearts and minds of men. The task is of managing and assisting a society in transition in a fast commercializing world. We have a society faced with abrupt and sudden transformation and a crisis of confidence. That is why our Prime Minister does not see them basically as terrorists. Isn't our own right conduct and understanding behaviour then the correct response?

Our administrative image has to change. We need the image of a more upright, considerate, even-handed and people-friendly administration. Only then will we have taken the first steps towards resolving the problem. Once the fertile ground of discontent ceases to exist other improvements will follow. Neither brute force nor appeasement is an answer. Other suggested remedies of political dialogue and economic development merely skirt the key issue.

Decision on Civil Services Bill 2009 still pending

2009-12-19T23:30:00.002+05:30

Dear Friends,

This is news bit - a public administration student need to be aware of. Can be used as supporting fact in answers.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

New Delhi: The Civil Services Bill, 2009, which envisages an enforceable code of conduct for all bureaucrats through a new Central Public Services Authority, is still to see the light of the day.A final decision to introduce the Bill has not yet been taken, while the Bill was drafted and was proposed to be passed immediately after the Budget session of the Lok Sabha.In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today, Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Prithviraj Chavan said that a decision on the Bill is still awaited.

The Civil Services Bill, 2009, envisages to provide a statutory basis for the regulation of the Civil Services in India and to regulate the appointment and conditions of the service of Civil Servants.

"It seeks to lay down the fundamental values of Civil Services, the Civil Services Code of Ethics, Civil Service Management Code, to establish a Civil Services Authority for facilitating review and to develop Civil Services as a professional, neutral, merit based and accountable instrument for promoting good governance and better delivery of services to citizens", Chavan said in his reply.

Once passed, the Bill will initially be applicable to the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service.Later, all other services for which the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) holds recruitment examinations, including the Indian Foreign Service, will come under its purview.

Creation of Small States - A Discussion

2009-12-19T15:56:00.003+05:30

Dear Friends ,

The discussion of the hour is whether India needs smaller states or not. As you know its not easy take any sides but being students of public administration we should be able view the scenario from the administration perspective. The founding fathers of our constitution wated to have a unified India but with keeping of local aspiration and their needs satisfied according the taste of the people.However administratively speaking an administrator will have good control if 'the thing which is to be administered' is small.The following article favours the small state. So whatever the stand you are taking - it is very important to put your thoughts logically,critically and with supporting facts. The tone of the article is 'debating' but ideally when you write your answer in mains - this tone should be changed.I Have highlighted some important aspects please make a note of the same.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

(Source : - http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/india-creation-of-small-states-need-of.html)

Small states means Better Administration – Better Government – Participation of common man in the administration .Creation of small state is one of the answers to Reduce corruption or At least corruption amount.

Why we should support the creation of small states?

In India, when congress declared that a new state Telangana will be created from AP.Everyone in India started to discuss about the creation of small state, is creation of small state is good for India or is creation of small state is bad for India? Many Indians opposed this creation of small states in India by giving many reasons.Following are the few reasons why people oppose the creation of small states.

• Creation of small state will divide India

• Creation of small state will take the India to pre British era

• Danger from China, china wants to divide India.

• Small states in India are not making progress , Chattisgarh and Jharkhand

• Small states Depend on Central Government

• What is the guarantee that small states will make the progress?

• Politicians want to become the chief Minister or for the political power.

• Hatred Among state will increase

• Election vote should be counted who is defeated

Let’s understand and know why small states are good for India?

Before Arrival of British people in India, there was no India.There were small kingdoms and big kingdoms.Today when we say India, there is feeling, My India, in olden times there was no such feeling, all those feelings were for there king or god. I will fight for my king, my God.Today our army when fights it fights for the India, not for any individuals.

During the British rule the thought of India was borned .We got the feeling of oneness among us, one India.In olden times, before the arrival of British, for the people of small states for whom there king, there caste and religion was more important, everyone always obeyed the family of king.

Remember the battle of Plessey, Robert Clive with the help of just 300 white soldiers won the battle by giving bribe. And he won the battle by defeating more than 50000 Indian soldiers. They surrendered because there army head said that I surrender, today if in India one head says that he will surrender to small enemy , drop your weapons ,do you think Indian forces will drop the guns or they will arrest that head and will fight for the nation.

In that times when outsiders came fought with the small states, that time neighboring states did not help that state, when Arab people looted the small kingdoms and become the rulers of that state. Other kings kept enjoying there life and kingdom, they did not thought about the safety of neighbor state.

Today if Pakistan attacks on Kargil, we hear the voice from every corner of India that destroy enemy.After 26/11 we heard voices from every corner of India to Punish Kasab,this never happend in old asian small kingdoms.

So now I think you got the point that today when we create the small state, the feeling of one India, oneness will not go. Mere creation of small state will not destroy the feeling of one ness , the feeling of Indian on the contrary it will increase this feeling and love towards India and will reduce the feeling of love towards there language or state. For small states love for India will grow.

And also small state will be created from the big state so there will be 2 states or more states which will speak same language. In this way we will solve the problem of language also.

On the contrary in the future when states will become rich, there are chances these big states will make there police force very strong and will demand the independence from India.When we divided India on basis of language we made mistake, and today you may not agree with me, but when States will make progress and will make money and other states will not make money, these states will demand the independence and because of finance and big nature of state, they will do this very easily by purchasing arms from china.

So remember big states will divide the India in future not the small states. A small state is the only one solution which can keep us integrated as India.

As India is divided on the basis of language, the power of states are increasing as they are becoming and because of big nature of state , and under one big roof all one speaking people are staying , the hatred is rising as few states are making progress and others come to this state, this gives rise to hatred. This is not gift of small state. And we do not see language problem in small states, if media will stop giving importance to this problem automatically this language problem will go to dustbin, anyways after 25 or 30 years I am sure they will not find language problem takers... Today power of knowledge is with Indian youth and no one can make them fool for a long time.

Few Facts about our Indian states –

1. Uttar Pradesh with population of more than 167 million is bigger than Germany + France or Russia ,Pakistan
2. China, America, Brazil and Indonesia are the only few nations who are bigger than Uttar Pradesh.

3. TamilNadu (62.2 million) is bigger than Britain and Italy,

4. Andhra Pradesh (76.4 million) is little bigger than Germany and Vietnam

5. Bihar is bigger than Mexico

6. Maharashtra with 92.1 million is bigger state than Germany. Maharashtra has ten million more than Germany.

7. Bengal is bigger than the Philippines

(Comments from GMStudyCenter - Here you need to carefully verify the facts - its stating only the population but neither any geographycal advantage nor the size of the land.In the following paragraphs too there is always counter argument for every point but the author is taking what he wants to prove his point)

If the big states means progress then why India has not made progress like America, Germany, France or Hong Kong or England.America, Hong Kong both were ruled by England just like India.Do small states suffer? Not if one views Punjab , Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.This shows that there is no guarantee that big state will make progress or small state will make progress.Remember it does not matter state is small or state is big, most important thing is who is our law maker and how honest he is with his job and nation.If law maker, politician is not good then small or big it does not matter, he will do the corruption and he will take the wrong decisions. When law maker, politician is corrupt no one can save the nation.But when law maker is good he can take the small state to such heights that the small nation can rule the world.

Our democracy works like this - one head of the state, then other elected members, run the state with the help of IAS officers and bureaucrats.When the state is big, those officers and elected politicians, law makers are not able to watch carefully every project and how the money is utilized by everyone in every project.Today budget of Government is becoming so big that common people find it difficult to understand, and even studied accountants find it very difficult to understand and find out the mistakes.If common man does not understand how the fraud and cheating is made by the politician or law maker then how he will fight with them. When states are big, it becomes very easy for the law maker and politician to make frauds.

When state is small, if any government employee or law maker or politician will do the fraud, immediately it will show the effect on the other projects as it will become very difficult for that chief minister to bring new funds or hide his black deeds.Just take the example of classroom of 100 students and classroom of 25 students, so in this case which classroom will be easy to manage and give the results.

Today as our states are big, many times villagers from remote places even find it difficult to reach the place of district court, forget about the High court of state.When small state will be created it will give easy access to high court.Small state means small government, small budget, and small departments, very less chance to show fingers on each other by saying that, that department is not doing the work so file is pending.Small states will create competition among each other; this competition will be with the same mother tongue speaking language population.

Because of big nature of states today indirectly the law maker, politician has become the king of that particular area.Because of this honest people will rarely get chance to rule the state or to get elected.Small states will not give chance to politician or law maker to hide his failure or fool the people by saying that this time we have given funds to west or north, as small state means the population will know in real what is happening in every part of his state.

Big states does not benefit towards saving money ,but the nature of big states help to waste the money as well as it gives unlimited scope to do corruption which benefits to the law maker or politician.In small state if any politician will amass wealth, the people of that state can easily notice that and will know how he is earning and making the money, this will help to expose the wrong contracts and his hidden property.

Even Indian constitution has article 3 which favors and talks about the creation of new state. It states that -Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.

If party who support the creation of small state does not win the election this does not mean that the people of that district do not want separate state. The election is held to choose leader ,MP or MLA and they do not vote for the creation of state. Even if when there is not 100% voting how can it become the will of that district ?

Our constitution of India does not have this provision, to get the peoples vote to decide regarding the creation of small state . The ball is ,power is with the parliament.Again I will come to the point that Small states will divide India, one of the best parts of our Constitution is that the duties between state and central government are divided.

Central government is in charge of our army, naval and air force.

The heads of these forces do not report to the chief minister, further more brilliant clause, is that our forces do not have common one head of all the forces.This means we got 3 heads, Army head, Naval Head and Air Force Head, and all these 3 heads report to the Prime Minister and President. We do not have one head of all these 3 forces, if there is one head then he will become so powerful that he can with the help of few states can form the new nation, but as we do not have one head, army forces will not obey the head of the naval force, each one has there own ranking.

So when you say that small states will divide India, think again now?

When there is no money, no big budget, no big police force, and no big coastal guards how can small state will become Independent and will think about waging war against India.Remember big states are good for political parties and corrupt leaders or uneducated leaders.

Big states are good for the government servants.Our complete Indian working system has become rotten and dirty and these corrupt people have become so rich and powerful that honest common man will not be able to fight with them and win We will need another civil war to repair this corrupt system or to repair this corrupt Indian system we need creation of small states which will help us to break this nexus, friendship of government servants and businessmen and politicians and political parties.

Today in India we got different political parties, but do we see any difference between there political vision.Every party has only one vision, win the election, get the chair and make money.Regarding our political situation in India I am not dreamer, No politician will make changes in this system, a system which makes them as well as there future generations the king of India.

To change this we need civil war in India or reforms like creation of small states which will give chance to common Indian know and understand how the chief minister and his office is working. Small state will give chance to participate in the administration of government, we can monitor them.

With small states there are unlimited benefits and with big states benefits are less and finally everything depends on Good law maker.When small state will get corrupt law maker or politician we can have satisfaction that the corruption amount is not big which will be also in millions.

Let’s hope that in future States Reorganization Commission (SRC) will not give more importance to language when dividing or creating new states. States should be created only after consultation with scientists, engineers and taking consideration of geographic area and advantages.

RTI amendment only after due consultations

2009-12-14T19:38:00.002+05:30

Dear Friends,

The following Article is a news update related to public administration. The topic covered is RTI which makes the part of Public Administration Syllabus. Consulting Civic Society Organisations is definitely a good step. But RTI is not implemented effectively across India.There are only handful of states where RTI is effective. There was never a dearth of law making but the implementation of those laws was mostly ineffective.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

NEW DELHI: The government assured Rajya Sabha on Thursday that any decision on amending Right to Information (RTI) Act will be taken only after Consulting expert and civil society organisations. During Question Hour, minister of state for personnel Prithviraj Chavan said there was a proposal to strengthen RTI by suitably amending the law to provide for disclosure by government in all non-strategic areas.

The minister said the government was looking into the proposal as suggested by the second Administrative Reforms Commission to put a check on vexatious and frivolous applications, but there would be enough safeguards to ensure information was not denied on these grounds by public authorities.

"The government is also examining a proposal for incorporation of provisions in the RTI Act regarding constitution of benches of the information commission and rejection of vexatious and frivolous applications," Chavan said.

The amendment would be done with a view to expanding the scope of RTI and withdrawing exemptions given to some agencies.It would, however, not be carried out before consultations with NGOs, civil society organisations, experts and information commissioners, he said.If strengthening of RTI can be carried out without amending the law, it would be done, he said.

Asked whether the Chief Justice of India had approached the government, the minister said there were apprehensions in the Supreme Court whether RTI law would hamper its work. "We will examine this issue very carefully," he added.

Make babus accountable

2009-12-14T19:20:00.002+05:30

Dear Friends,

I am giving you one more article on Accountability. But the question is - is it sufficient if only babu's are accoutable ? what about politicians?. I have highlighted the important stuff. Please make it part of your notes

Regards

GMStudyCenter

(Source : Internet)

The current system of endless procedural delay in deciding whether a Government employee has violated rules or indulged in corrupt practices ensures that the guilty are never punished. Often honest employees are needlessly harassed. We need a new system

If anything infuriates citizens, it is the absence of accountability among Government employees. Confronted with examples of this almost everyday, it is assumed that corruption within the system allows wrong-doers to get away. The real reason is because the disciplinary rules that govern the conduct of Government servants require impossibly long and cumbersome procedures to be observed, in the name of natural justice, leaving loopholes galore. The result: Not even a fraction of those that deserve punishments ever get penalised; instead a number of honest officers get stigmatised by remaining under investigation for years together. A simple, sensible and fair system of dealing with misconduct is badly needed.

The second Administrative Reforms Commission lamented that “dilatory disciplinary proceedings make a mockery of any attempt to instill discipline and accountability”. But the Commission instead of suggesting a workable alternative capable of immediate adoption grandiloquently recommended the repeal of Article 311 of the Constitution; also adding a new legislation under Article 309 to its wish-list.

First the history: Sardar Patel independent India’s first Home Minister favoured giving civil servants protection to enable them to be frank and impartial. So Article 311(which embargoes the dismissal, removal or reduction in rank of a Government employee without enquiry) came into being and has remained in the Constitution ever since. The ARC felt that the protection given by the offending Article had bred a false sense of security and given excessive protection to Government servants. Hence the recommendation that Article 311 be repealed — a step which was not attempted even during Emergency when the Article was amended to provide for specific situations when an enquiry could be dispensed with.

The recommendation to repeal Article 311 is just hot air. First there is the implausibility of Opposition parties ever unifying to pass a constitutional amendment and that when it is clearly anti-sarkari mulaazim. Second, the amendment process would require the co-operation of State Governments in respect of the All-India services which will never come. Third, the possibility that the repeal of Article 311 might be seen as an attempt to alter the basic structure of the Constitution (shades of Keshavanand Bharti) cannot be ruled out. Besides it is no one’s case that an enquiry should not be held at all. That would be untenable in a democracy and would straightaway militate against the principles of natural justice.

Instead, the ARC should have suggested urgent modification in the existing disciplinary rules. These rules notified in 1965 draw their authority from Article 309 of the Constitution and not Article 311. It is there that change is needed. If there is one thing that terrifies Government employees it is the fear of getting caught in the web of a vigilance enquiry — a predicament which by itself is worse than being penalised. It suspends the official’s chances of getting promoted or posted in a position of significance for years together — decades in several cases. The situation has a catastrophic effect on the social standing of the officer, distresses his family, and worst of all, it deters him and numerous others from displaying any initiative — ‘better safe than sorry’ as the saying goes.

But the more dangerous fallout of the vigilance enquiry phobia is the proliferation of the committee culture. Files and decisions move higher and higher up the hierarchy and in the process the purchase of essential equipment critically needed for defence, infrastructure needs, and health gets deferred, often causing irretrievable harm to our preparedness on vital fronts.

An overhaul of the CCS CCA Rules 1965 is, therefore, urgently required. Since the Rules draw their strength from Article 309 of the Constitution and not Article 311, the modifications can be effected straightaway through an executive order; as neither Parliament nor State Governments can or will impede the process.

All enquiries should start with the issue of a written chargesheet, and proceed to the consideration of the charged officer’s response before an interview board, (this is the system in the UK and has been mentioned by ARC also.) The present judicial kind of enquiry should only be preferred if at the end of the meeting the interview panel feels that the facts and officer’s defence points to something serious, which could result in dismissal, removal from service or reduction in rank.

For all other cases, the finding of the panel on the culpability of the officer or his exoneration as also the quantum of punishment to be meted out should be final — allowing one appeal where the appellate authority would have powers to mitigate, but also to enhance the punishment, if warranted.

By bringing in a new set of disciplinary rules under Article 309, the Government can change the way its officers perform. It would boost the morale of honest officers and restore lost initiative. Prompt punishment if given to a few will immediately instill a fear of wrong-doing and a respect for discipline-attributes which have become anachronisms in our feudal systems. When the upright can be dangled as criminals while culpable courtiers can get rewarded, where is the encouragement to demonstrate probity in public life?

Testy times ahead for IAS-bound state babus

2009-11-18T23:22:00.001+05:30

Dear Friends ,

This is one more suggestion recommended by UPSC. I hope you know how a state civil servant - like KAS ( karnataka administrative service ), RAS ( Rajstan administrative service) will be promoted to AIS ( All India Service ) cadre i.e IAS IPS IFS (forest). Generally this used to happen through ACRs ( Annual Confidentiality Report) which is like a career profile of civil servant. But not UPSC recommended that - to get promotion even state civil servants need to take test write exam and to undergo interview again. This is just a recommendation and we as a studen of public administration keep this info also.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Don’t just trust the impressive annual confidential reports of state civil officers. Test them again to harvest the best.

The Union Public Service Commission has told the government to overhaul the induction process for state civil servants into the three elite All India Services (AIS): Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS).

In its new form, state civil service officers will have to clear, like fresh recruits to the IAS and other All India Services, a written test and face an interview panel in Delhi to make the cut.

Nearly 350 state civil service officers are inducted into the three All India Services every year.

According to existing rules, one-third of the sanctioned strength of AIS officers can be inducted through promotions from state services.

But they all make it to the prestigious services on the strength of the state government’s recommendations, backed by their Annual Confidential Reports (ACR) which rank their performance as outstanding.

Selection committees presided by a UPSC member ordinarily meet annually to select the state government officials for promotion.

“Given how a government function, it is not always a very fair system,” a senior official at the Department of Personnel and Training acknowledged. Only one in three officers — who comes with a recommendation of the state government for recruitment into the AIS — makes it.

Besides, officers need to be on the right side of the political executive of the states concerned to have their names recommended.

The UPSC recently completed a review of the present system of holding selection committee meetings based on the ACRs of state service officers and recommended a three tier recruitment process to introduce a competitive examination, an interview and an assessment of service records to fill up the promotion quota.

“This would have the salutary effect of encouraging competition and privileging merit,” UPSC chairman Prof. D.P. Agarwal said last week.

The UPSC chairman said such a system could, in time, be extended to promotions within the Central Services as well.

Aptitude Test To Replace Civil Services Preliminary Examination?

2009-11-14T11:26:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends ,

This is the latest PROPOSAL as far as civil services examination is considered. But you dont have to panick as it is only a proposal which doesnt have any date to impliment. But keep it in your knowledge basket. And think of what are positives and negatives if it gets implimented.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Source http://www.india-server.com/news/aptitude-test-to-replace-civil-services-15818.html

The UPSC has put forward the proposal for using Aptitude Test instead of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination so that the candidates could be measured in terms with the demanding nature of civil nature.

"UPSC is convinced of the need for important changes in the method of recruitment to the higher civil services that are the vehicle for public service delivery. One of the recommendations made by the commission to the government is that a Civil Service Aptitude Test replace the existing Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination," said the UPSC chairman Prof D P Agrawal.

According to UPSC, there would be two objective type papers for all the candidates. UPSC has put forward the proposal for aptitude tests so that the ability of the candidate for meeting the demands of civil service could be measured more efficiently. Te aptitude tests will also ensure that the decision making skills of the candidate on an ethical and moral level could also be measured.

"It has also been proposed that the structure of the Civil Services (Main) Examination may remain the same till a committee of experts that may be appointed by the commission, goes into various aspects," said Agrawal while inaugurating the UPSC lecture series on governance in New Delhi.

President Pratibha Patil, who inaugurated the event, mentioned that "The system has to be made corruption free. Like a cancer, corruption is the sore which drains the strength of a nation. Corruption has deprived the nation of better infrastructure and better facilities."

The UPSC chairman said, "Careers in public service have become more attractive in the context of a better emoluments regime, as also on account of the changes in the global economic scenario. This places a responsibility on the government system to tailor procedures and careers to suit the newer vistas."

UPSC has also plans for lowering the age of entry to the civil services.

"A reduction in the number of attempts allowed at the examination, as proposed by the Second Administrative Reform Commission (ARC), is however called for, so as to remove the premium on cramming and memorisation that a large number of attempts provides," Agrawal informed.

Looking Positively of North Karnataka Flood

2009-11-11T18:06:00.001+05:30

Dear Friends ,

The following article gives some points for disaster management in the public administration syllabus. Though it speaks of the North Karnataka flood scenario it can be used for answer writing for any disaster and to find positive impacts of disaster.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

I have greatest sympathy for those whose life is can no more be called as life. In this grave scenario 'WHAT WE CAN DO' carries most significance than what has been happened and HOW WE CAN BUILD is of utmost importance than what has been destructed also how we can prevent these kinds of natural disasters should be given importance than only to bring their life to normalcy.

Though this is by far the worst calamity in NK , it provides immense opportunity to nation building activities for the administration in power and can be utilised to build real 'Siri Gandhada Gudi' ( land of sandalwood)

What can be done ?

Ofcourse our priority has to be - to bring the normalcy as soon as possible but it should not be done in a hurry and only for name sake.

Instead of giving them the life that they were living why not give them a better life ?

With this unwanted flood , we can remove THE SLUMS in entire NK by good planning - as everything that has to be destroyed to remove a slum has been done free of cost ! ( sorry if it sounded surcastically but I hope you can understand what I am telling ) and an unwanted opportunity to build from the scratch has been provided So why not make the most of it?

NK needs better irrigation system badly and requires small / big dams whereever possible which are oriented towards irrigation and building dam needs lot of displacement of people and needs lot of land acquisition activity - currently we have already displaced people and why not provide them good lands and accomodation now itself so that we can build good water reservoisers in future ?

Leave aside dams , for that matter any infrastructure building activity requires land acquisition - like SEZs , roads , industrial development ..why not identify the land now and promise those displaced people of better future.

In all the above tasks there is one common challenge-to convince the people and appropriately compensate them.

Most importantly this 'act of god' should provide good opportunity for the district administration to plug the gaps in disaster management.

While all these things takes time and political will and takes good visionary to make them visualise the better future - the question is who will bell the cat. Or does the governament know this can be done.

I hear a back bench voice telling me - if the government was this wise - this calamity would not have happened !!!

People have lost faith and hope in political promises and politicians have lost credibility among people. So they are not even giving good hopes to hope less people. Now you know Obama did not win the Nobel for nothing - its here he is successful - creating HOPE.

How it can be done ?

The immediate need for those displaced is to provide shelter , food and medical facilities this can be done as Srilanka did in a recent refugee camp during its full blown assault on LTTE. So lets establish a refugee shelter on a temporary basis instead of start building the houses where they were earlier and buy time say 3-4 months. This time can be utilised for the planning and with whole of government's resource at the disposal this is not an impossible task.

Though the task is easier said than done - it is not impossible - If the money available at governament's disposal is used efficiently without corruption the task is not difficult. Then remains convincing and promising the people of better future. If government does credible job withoug politicising the issues even this is not difficult and can be achieved.

In the worst case lets think - not all of what I mentioned above is not possible but two things can be definitely achieved - administration reforms in handling the disasters and removing the slums and building better connectivity

I only wish so called IAS officers will make better use of this opportunity in bringing the light to those lives whose life has been destroyed. With the amount money at the disposal I am not sure of the people affected by the flood but more than 100% sure that SOME officers' life will prosper.

Women in Rural Development Constrains and Opportunity

2009-11-09T21:33:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends ,

The following article can be linked to Rural Development and Development Dynamics in the syllabus. I have highlighted important points please make a note of the same.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

(Source:http://articlescollections.com/women-in-rural-development-constrains-and-opportunity/)

Throughout our country rural areas are characterized by high levels of poverty limited economic and employment opportunities undeveloped infrastructure and limited services with marginalized communities economically dependent on urban areas. For decades our rural communities were denied adequate education and our youth forced to abandon their homes and seek jobs in the cities. Our people were forced out of the countryside to become cheap migrant laborers in the factories, in the cities and on the farms. Our women in rural areas have had to bear the brunt of suffering by having to walk long distances to fetch water and collect firewood, by having to eke out their living and that of their families often on barren land to which they had been removed. They have remained pillars of strength in the community and we must pay tribute to their fortitude and resilience. Further our rural communities have to contend with lack of access to government services and unintended policy implementation consequences, as the implementation of policy tended to be biased towards the urban and semi urban areas.

We have to recognize women as the driving force for rural development. Women farmers are main food producers in developing countries and yet they are one of the most vulnerable groups. Their economic empowerment to produce more and to participate in policy formulation is critical to addressing poverty and food insecurity.

Before rural development can be successful, the important role of women has to be acknowledged. Moreover, they have to be fully integrated and given the possibility of acquiring knowledge and skills, and of utilizing them as well.

The government should also abolish the legally based discrimination of women fixed in inheritance rights; give them equal access to land, livestock, and means of production; make it possible for them to participate in business activities; and guarantee them a right to membership and voting in labor organizations, credit associations, and similar organizations.

The number of women in training and extension programmes should be increased, especially in posts from which they have been excluded until now. The contents and subjects of training and extension programmes should be expanded so that the role of women in production, processing, and marketing can also be taken into account.

To achieve participation equal to that of men in public institutions, the women's cooperative activities should be promoted. To achieve this goal, it will be necessary to create a system for ascertaining the obstacles hindering the participation of women in schools, health services, employment, and general development. Statistical data showing women's contribution in production should be compiled and published. Measures facilitating household work and care of the children increase the chance for women to participate in economic, training, and political activities. Men should also be obligated to do their share of household work.

Training facilities of equal quality for girls and women, with the same subject matter as for men, should be established and made attractive by offering scholarships. These institutions should be followed up by possibilities of earning an income with the guarantee of an equal salary for equal work. Training possibilities for women are especially important not only in the fields of agriculture and in non- agricultural gainful employment, but also in the sectors health, nutrition, children's education, and family planning. It is necessary to make sure that, during the transition from a traditional economy to the modern technologies; the negative implications for women are minimized.

The face of the farmer and natural resource manager is primarily female in most of the developing world. Knowledge, technology, policies, institutions and programmes must therefore be developed by putting women at the centre to orient structures and processes to address their needs as food producers and environmental managers through gender mainstreaming and investing in women and girls to bridge the existing gender gaps. The prevailing misunderstanding and neglect of this fact has contributed to a significant loss of opportunities and investments in women farmers and thus has had major consequences for food security and poverty alleviation. Rather than being regarded as a vulnerable group, women’s knowledge, experience and substantial roles make them experts in agriculture and natural resource management; they are key agents in the way forward for sustainable development.

As women bear the brunt of poverty, it is just and fair that the bulk of our programmes be targeted towards them. We have to ensure that they also enjoy the fruits of freedom. We need to formulate tangible programmes that will take women issues to the centre of our agenda. The consolidation of democracy in our country requires the eradication of social and economic inequities, especially those that are systematic in nature, which were generated in our history.

Though agriculture has a central role to play in the rural community, it is not an end in itself but a means to an end which is rural development. It remains one of the important ingredients which include access to healthcare, education and other government services such enabling documents. Therefore the project planning for rural development needs to take these factors into account. Although significant progress has been made in restructuring and transforming our society and institutions, systematic inequalities and unfair discrimination remain deeply embedded in social structures, practices and attitudes, undermining the aspirations of our constitutional federal democratic republic.

Civil servants goes judges’ way, declares assets

2009-11-09T19:52:00.000+05:30

This is a great positive step from IAS officers towards achieving accountability and transparency in administration.This example can be used in answer writing while giving the positive view of the administration.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Source:http://www.indianexpress.com/news/3-civil-servants-goes-judges-way-declares-assets/538770/

Taking a cue from the judiciary, two IAS officers and an IPS officer of the UP cadre have disclosed their assets and made it available on the website declareyourassets.blogspot.com.

Those who have disclosed their assets includes UP Additional Cabinet Secretary Vijay Shanker Pandey (Batch 1979), Sunil Kumar (Batch 1987), who is the vice-chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority of India, Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways and Jasvir Singh (Batch 1992), DIG, Training.

The three civil servants have already sent their letters declaring their assets to the Cabinet Secretary of the Central government, K M Chandrashekhar.

In his letter to the cabinet secretary, Pandey has written: “As officers of the Indian Administrative Service, we sincerely believe that there is an urgent need to introduce greater accountability, and transparency in administration and as a first step towards that end, the property return of all the IAS officers should be made public.”

Excellence in Public Service

2009-10-28T23:40:00.002+05:30

Dear Friends ,

Came across this article from a scolar who taught civil servants and civil service aspirants in public administration. This article serves as a good beginning for those who want to be in public services especially for civil servants or public servants .I have highlighted the important stuff and putting in to your hands. Excellence in public service can be brought when everyone thinks - Yes I can but not when everyone thinks why me?

Regards
GMStudyCenter

(Author - Prof. Joseph K. Alexander

Chairman. IIPA Kerala Regional Branch)

What is Public Service

One evening, a cousin and a student of the University College, called in for a chat. During that he mentioned that he joined a student wing of a political party. He continued, “My aim is to be an MLA or MP for at least one term. I will amass enough for the next 3 generations of me.” In real life over the last 20 years, he made himself a political leader of sorts.

Man is essentially selfish. He is also inherently religious. God is in him. Man from his birth conceive and develop a god in his mind. It may be a stone, an idol, a bird, an animal, or finally a god in his own image. The evolution of creating god may or may not stop at that.

Man live in society with other men and the flora and fauna of the environment. All idealistic systems: religious, political, social and economic, try to liberate man from his selfishness to godliness in him, to love all others around and to live in such a way as to preserve his environment for the sustenance of the human life and Universe. The aim of excellence in PS is also the emergence of this ideal society of the greatest happiness of the greatest number and a good quality of life for all. It must provide him the basic minimum needs of life such as shelter, potable water, health, education, decent employment and participatory infrastructure and role in civic life. Now a days this is hindered by the increase in functions and functionaries of the government, and lack of Will of public servants and politicization of administration and corruption. This corruption is as old as public administration. It is the greatest hindrance to excellence in public service. In quantity-constrained regimes like India corruption has permeated to all sectors and aspects of life of the citizen. Political will to cajole, persuade and compel the administration is the remedy to excellence in public service.

Who renders Public Service?

One kind of public service is to be a politician. Being a bureaucrat of the government is another kind of public service (PS).

What Mother Theresa, Florence Nightingale or Mahatma Gandhi did is still another type of individual public service. Paulose Mar Gregorios Award 2005 for Creative compassion was presented to Baba Amte at New Delhi. On that occasion A.P.J. Abdul Kalam President of India wrote in his message “ Baba Amte is a living legend and an example of the Gandhian spirit in his approach to solving social problems of our nation”. This is the public service we expect from public men

Pre-war Era

We shall confine our discussion to the Government’s public service rendered by politicians and bureaucrats. In the early days when the State was simplistic, its function was limited to preservation of law and order within and protection of the boundaries of the State from foreign invasion. So public service was merely political administration. In the classical age the goal of public service was the greatest good of the greatest number of the citizens.

“Praja sukhe sukham rajyaha praja namcha hitehitam

natma priyam hitam rajaha prajanam cha hitam priyam“

“ In the happiness of his subject lies the king’s happiness, in their welfare his welfare. He shall not consider as good only that which pleases him but treat as beneficial to him whatever pleases his subjects.” Kautilya’s Arthasasthra.

King Rama went to the other extreme of divorcing Sita to satisfy the rumormongers of the state. The style of functioning of the civil servants then was of impeccable integrity and honesty. Even in pre-independent India the ICS servants of the British Raj was famous for this style of work. Gandhiji also insisted that the public servants should be trustees. They should use the power for the benefit of the people and in a non-exploitative and uncorrupt manner.

Modern Governments of Developed Countries.

With the advent of division of labour and industrialization, wealth and income rose. The State functions evolved out to new areas of provision of public goods like roads, bridges, waterways, and services like education, hospitals, health facilities, transport systems etc.

The 2nd world war necessitated a large amount of planned movements of men and materials to the war front. Economic planning to win the war or reviving the economy or for greater economic growth became the principal function of the Government. The theoretical underpinning of the Keynesian technique of demand management came handy to revive the economy. Thus application of the Monetary and Fiscal policy techniques became a significant work of public servants.

As marginalisation of the weaker sections was increasing, equity and justice in the dispensation of public service became another equally important phase of PS.

With the increase in the functions and size of bureaucracy efficiency in PS deteriorated all over the World. Modern governments adopted new corporate management and marketing techniques and some New Public Management (NPM) system to induct efficiency in PS. Better emoluments and business orientation is prescribed for civil servants.WWW.adb.org. The State also tries now to become a facilitator than provider of services.

Developing Countries and corruption.

In developing countries like India generally resources are far less compared to the teeming millions of people. So these quantity constrained regimes find it difficult to have enough public servants, to cater to the needs of the people. The supply of goods and public services are far less than the people’s demand for them. The costly parliamentary elections add to the worry.

Most of the candidates personally and their political party leaders separately collect funds massively. Some of these collections are extortions. Thus corruption and criminalisation became the style of elections and government. Some of these candidates are goondas.

Corruption isn’t specific to India. It is all over the World. The lawmakers, their cabinet members and party bosses extort millions. Their civil servants bask on the crumbs that fall from the table to the floor.

Transparency International (TI) is the leading global non-governmental organisation devoted to combating corruption worldwide. WWW.Transparency International It examined corruption in 62 countries in 2004 to mark the UN International Anti-Corruption Day. Its report was published in Berlin on 9th December 2004. The report says, that in India legislatures and private sector business are the worst scoring 4.6 and 4.5 respectively, in the scale 1 to 5; 5 being cent percent corrupt.

India

Political parties 4.6 ;Parliament/ Legislature4.6; Legal system/ Judiciary 4.0;Police 4;Business/ private sector 4.5 ;Tax revenue2.9 ;Customs 3.4 ;Medi3.9a ;Medical services2.7 ;Education system 3.8; Registry and permit services 3.8; Utilities 3.7 ;Military 3.5 ;NGOs 1.9 ;Religious bodies 2.7

Controlling corruption.

Political will is the only remedy for corruption. If that can be mustered, many others can be added to enforce that “WILL” like Judicial activism, insisting on the accountability of the executive and civil services, simplifying the procedures of decision making and implementing them, insisting on transparency etc. In these days of declining standards hoping for such a “WILL” is at least now beyond imagination. It is the political parties and the parliamentarians that perpetrate corruption in developing countries. So what is wanted is a special training or orientation to the politicians. More NGO activity like “Parivartan” of Aravind Khejeriwal is also warranted.

Talking with Teeth: Micro-Planning with Community Scorecards

2009-10-27T11:41:00.001+05:30

Dear Friends ,

I am posting this article because it gives some important points for answer writing on Local Administration, Democratic Decentralization and Participative Governance. I have highlighted the important stuff please make note of this. Many conventional books do not discuss these topics but you can use in your answers to give a futuristic view and can quote these case studies. It will only help in making your answer slightly different than others. After studying Rural administration from conventional books we should be able to match this article with the theory.

(Source World bank website)

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Coming together is a process

Keeping together is progress

Working together is success

This message, written on the wall of a public building in Gureghar village in Maharashtra, India, implies the significant changes that have recently taken place. Since 2007, 178 villages including Gureghar have been part of an innovative social accountability process that has redefined relationships between citizens, service providers and local government. Building upon two decades of experience with micro-planning, the innovation in this pilot project is that micro-planning has been combined with a community scorecard process to strengthen accountability.

Partnered with the Yashwantrao Chavan Academy of Development Administration and the World Bank, the project was spearheaded by then CEO of the District, S. Kadu-Patil.

(The primary role of a District CEO is to administer all development project and services, such as health and education services, for the District.) The project team and the CEO invested a lot of effort to build the political will of other decision-makers and service providers. In fact, many of these functionaries were then organized into Task Forces to actually implement the process while a cadre of facilitators underwent intensive 20-day training.

The actual micro-planning and community scorecard process took place over 5 days at the village level and included participatory data generation and analysis through household and village surveys, and focus group discussions with vulnerable groups such as women and youth. They were conducted by village youth themselves with the help of facilitators. This allowed the community to determine local understandings of problems and resources as well as build ownership over the collected information.

Community scorecard exercises were also conducted for education, health and other services. The “teeth” of the process, the community scorecard process is basically a structured conversation between the frontline service providers and the users of that service to understand and address gaps in service delivery. The users decide on indicators to assess the service delivery and then both the users and the service providers assess delivery against these indicators. Once the scorecards are completed, both groups come together in face-to-face meeting to discuss gaps in the scoring and jointly devise solutions. This prioritizes constructive conversation rather than confrontation but without diffusing the real problems that the community and frontline service providers face. This is where the trained facilitators played a valuable role in making sure the scorecard process was a meaningful conversation between two groups who rarely get to meet in such a space. On the last day of the 5-day process, the community came together to construct a village action plan based on the problems and needs that emerged out of the process. These village action plans were used to inform and guide higher levels of planning. At higher levels, service providers came together to discuss and take joint action on the problems at the village level. This convergence was also a new but important shift. As described by S. Kadu Patil himself, convergence of service providers signifies a shift in the way development itself was viewed:

"The lack of toilets at schools and thus the lack of privacy forces girls to drop out once they reach adolescence. If they drop out, they are more likely to get married at an earlier age and get pregnant. During pregnancy, because she has not been educated, she is not able to take care of her health and after pregnancy, she does not have the awareness to understand how to nourish her baby. The problems of sanitation, education, maternal health and child health are all interconnected. This process takes a holistic view of development at the village level and allows important government agencies to be in dialogue to converge and better serve the poor."

Another important component of the process was iteration. The 5-day process was repeated in 6 months intervals after the first cycle to reinforce and monitor progress of service providers as well as the community in following through on village action plans.

Each district in India has an estimated annual budget of US$50 million to provide health, nutrition, drinking water, sanitation, and education to its citizens. Before the pilot project, Satara, although considered a better-developed district in terms of social and economic indices, still fell short in terms of actual service delivery outcomes. After one year of this social accountability project, Satara district has seen significant changes from the district down to the community level. Over this period, 178 villages in the district of Satara have seen a significant reduction in malnourished children, a 16 percent increase in immunized children and unsafe drinking water samples have decreased by approximately 63%. And these are just some of the changes that can be measured. This process has institutionalized spaces for engagement between citizens and government and between citizens and service providers that has led to dialogue and deliberation over local development programs and resources and increased awareness and ownership of village-level problems.

( There are some terms which needs further elaboration in this article - like

Citizen Report Cards and Community Score Cards )

Citizen Report Cards are participatory surveys that provide quantative feedback on user perceptions on the quality, adequacy and efficiency of public services. They go beyond just being a data collection exercise to being an instrument to exact public accountability through the extensive media coverage and civil society advocacy that accompanies the process.

Community Score Cards are qualitative monitoring tools that are used for local level monitoring and performance evaluation of services, projects and even government administrative units by the communities themselves. The community score card (CSC) process is a hybrid of the techniques of social audit, community monitoring and citizen report cards. Like the citizen report card, the CSC process is an instrument to exact social and public accountability and responsiveness from service providers. However, by including an interface meeting between service providers and the community that allows for immediate feedback, the process is also a strong instrument for empowerment.

How to Write a good answer ?

2009-10-24T12:30:00.002+05:30

For those who are looking forsome magical abraca-dabra mantra for ‘good writing’ let me tell you upfront –there is no mantra which you can master in a day or two to make your answerlook good. Also don’t believe if someone says

they can teach answer writing– because no body can teach you how write good answers that too for UPSC publicadministration. And I hope all of you might share the exact feelings of the person above in the picture.

Before coming to publicadministration lets look at one more question as an example ‘how to cook a good dish’? – what would beyour answer ? Generic answer would be allthe ingredients – salt ,sour,sweet,bitterness,spice should be adequately andproportionately mixed and the main items ( like vegetables,dal,rice,meat etc )should be baked at appropriate heat . If eithr the heat is too much or too lessthe food will not be tastier. This is the answer that any master sheff cangive. And if you take any particulardish say a dal tadka – there would be one standard recipe like – take one cupof dal – boil it for 15 mins – add salt etc etc ......Now lets put 10 people ina room and provide them with the same recipe and same ingredients – ask them toprepare dal tadka – and when you taste those ten tadkas all will tastedifferently. Why is this so ? ideally as recipe and ingredients are same allshould have tasted same right !!! but this is not the case – every tadka hassome individual touch and taste. So you like couple of tadkas very much – andfeel some tadkas are avg and say remaining tadkas can be improved a lot or theyare bad !. If a person who prepared badtadka comes and asks you why his tadka is bad – you might say something like –could have added some salt – or salt is too much – could have added bit oflemon or added too much of ginger what ever it might be. What I want to sayhere is – you can not say how to make a good tadka but you can identify a goodone when you taste one.

Lets come back to public administrationanswer writing now and map this to the earlier example. Here you will be preparing the dish – i.e writing the answer – and examinersare the one who tastes your answer !

And its you who has to makeyour answer look good with the same study materials ( ingredients ) and answerwriting guidelines ( recipe) that thousands of aspirants already have.

No instructor can give you asure shot way of writing good answersbecause he him self will not know - what good answer would be like unless he sees one.When you show an answer to him – he may like it immediately or he may suggestyou to improve – but he can not give you the exact GOOD ANSWER like a ready toeat food because it is simply not possible.

Its time to see a recipe fora food called – ‘good answer’ – here below is one such recipe -

I hope you all haveread the UPSC Notification – which says - "Credibilitywill be given for orderly, effective and exact expression combined with dueeconomy of words in all the subjects of the examination "

This is a powerfulsentence and you need to read again and again to understand it fully.

Orderly

Answer becomes orderly - whenyou arrange your thoghts in a logical way.

Effective and exactexpression would come when you havegood hold on the subject – i.e your basics are strong.

Economy of words – comes by practice.

With the above in mind letsnow see some of the tricky words that examiners use in questions –

Discuss / Comment – It’s an open ended question.Here you need to writeabout both good and bad – emphasise on +ves.Provide relevant examples and maptheory and practice. If the question says only ‘comment’ – then support onlywhat has been asked to comment.

Critically Analyse – Appreciate as well as criticize.

Substantiate – Providing Examples is a must here.

Account for - Providelogical reasons and factual information.

In general –

You should have an introduction – matter discussion – conclusion in your answer in that order. To put it in different words – say what you want to say and say what you said without repeating the words.
Conclude in a +ve note ,mention what is good for the country and have a futuristic vision.
Hit bull’s eye in short answers. i.e for 20 markers
Do not use authors name unless they are internationally renowned – because the book writers may be evaluators’ colleagues and they may not have the same opinion as his colleague – you know professional rivalry.
There is no good or bad in public administration – all things can be equally argued but you need to argue in a diplomatic way.
Do not orient yourself – like leftist / rightist – provide a neutral thought.
Answers can be underlined to highlight key aspects - but please do not over underline.
Black / Blue inks can be used.
As far as possible use ball point pen or pen with water-proof ink- not the fountain pens - because it might spill over your answer sheets or if there is any water it might make your answer illegible
Have a legible hand writing.
Simple diagrams can be provided - but do not leave any part of the diagram unexplained. ( One more thing - you are limited by space on the answer sheet so only simple diagrams are possible - please refer the size of the answer writing space in my other article in Exam Strategy section )

Now let me give you one moreexample – say you and your mother are provided with same ingredients and recipeof a new dish – who would prepare better – I am sure 99% answer would be –mother . Why because she has experience in cooking. Now I ask you one morequestion – to make your dish taste better what you need to do – you need topractice again and again.

So no coaching institute cangive you ideal answer – because of the simple fact that THERE IS NO IDEALANSWER. When you write an answer and give it for evaluation – they can only saywhat has to be omitted , what can be added and what needs to be modified – that’sall. The bottom line is the good answer can only be identified when you see onebut can not make someone to write a good answer – it comes only by consistent practice.

Regards

GMStudyCenter

IAS Main Answer Writing: Understanding key words & tail words properly

2009-10-23T19:07:00.001+05:30

Dear Friends ,

Got this in one of the website ,worth a reading so here it is at your disposal

Regards
GMStudyCenter

In the long answer questions (Long answer = 60 Marks & short notes= 20 Marks), Candidate need to read thequestion carefully and try to understand the real requirementof question.

First & Most importance thing:
Focuson question’s requirement & its Key words (tailwords).
Meaning of Key words (Tail words):
Explain: It is conceptual in nature. You may have to bringout one concept in a detail.

Elaborate: In elaboration the concept or idea is alreadygiven. You have to bring out a series of logic in support of thestatement.

Discuss: you have to bring out situations surrounding thetopic.

Analysis: it refers to taking various facts of parts or agiven statement into consideration and bringing to light its nature orstructure, you take each part one by one and examine.

Examine: It refers to inspecting closely and bringing outfacts i.e. you bring to light various aspects of given statement.

Critically examine: it means inspecting closely andforming or expressing judgment. The latter is of greater relevant here.

Illustrate: It refers to explaining or makingclear by giving example.

Why: It is asking the logic of certain things. If it isfollowed by you, it may solicit your opinion.

What: The answerwill be factual in nature.

How Does mains Application Form looks ?

2009-10-21T12:10:00.002+05:30

Dear Friends,

Hola some one has uploaded mains application form. The beauty of internet is you get everything or should I say almost everything.Please download and view this. Caution:This is only sample to get a feel but not to be followed/copied.

Sample Application Form - Mains

(Source : Indian Officer Website )

Regards

GMStudyCenter

Panchayati Raj after 15 Years : Challenges Ahead

2009-10-18T16:14:00.002+05:30

Dear Friends ,

The article below gives an appraisal of Panchayati Raj. Please use it in your answer writing for questions concerned on Local Governance and their performance

Regards

GMStudyCenter

(Source :http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article651.html)

Fifteen years have passed since the landmark 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act was approved in 1992 by the Indian Parliament. Devolution of 29 functions, reservation of 33 per cent seats for women, similar reservation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population, statutory requirement to hold periodic elections under the supervision of State Election Commissions, transfer of funds to panchayat bodies according to the recommendations of the State Finance Commissions were some of the highlights of the constitutional mandate rightly hailed as a silent revolution. Political leaders called it as ‘the greatest experiment in democracy ever’.

Since then three elections have been held and 2.4 lakh elected panchayat bodies have been in place. Nearly 27 lakh members have been elected throughout the country, 37 per cent of them being women, while 19 per cent and 12 per cent represent Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes respectively. All these figures are truly impressive unmatched by any other country in the world. As Indians we are justified in feeling proud about these achievements. At the same time we should also have an objective view of the ground reality, take note of our inadequacies and failures, and be ready to face the challenges ahead.

The crux of the problem concerning the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) is really the transfer of functions, funds and functionaries without which the panchayats cannot function effectively as the third tier of democratic government. As per the information available in November 2006, only eight States and one Union Territory have transferred all the 29 functions or subjects to the PRIs. Most of these transfers remain on paper without the support of adequate funding and functionaries. Kerala is the only State which has devolved 40 per cent of its Plan outlay to panchayats. The record of setting up the much talked about District Planning Committees is equally disappointing. Only 13 States and four Union Territories have formed such committees and many of them remain on paper without functioning as an effective tool of local planning.

There has been a significant progress on the front of women’s empowerment, but there are many hurdles in the way of elected women including the age-old male domination leading to cases of proxy roles played by the male members of the family. The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates are duly elected but face stiff opposition and discrimination from the dominant castes to allow them to fully exercise their rights. The gram sabhas which were to function as a forum of genuine democratic participation, in most cases, do not function in the right spirit. They are often looked upon as a ritual to fulfil the formal requirement. The MLAs and MPs, along with the local bureaucracy, treat the PRIs as a threat to their authority and privilege and do everything in their power to scuttle them.

There is a hope for the PRIs to progress further if they meet these challenges with confidence and determination. They will have to work for genuine participation, fight against the opponents of the PRIs, and imbibe the spirit of democratic decentralisation.

Public Administration Video Lessons from IGNOU

2009-10-17T14:07:00.008+05:30

Dear Friends ,

There are many pub ad video lessons - by IGNOU professors ( Indira Gandhi National Open University) and are available FREE.Please utilise it fully. Infact thats when the true potential of open education unleashes.

Click on each topics below to view the lessons -

Ecological Approach to Public Administration
Public Choice Theory
Public Policy
Civil Society
Governance in India
Development Concepts and Theories
Systems and Behavioural Approach Views of Chester Barnard & Herbert Simon
Citizen and Administration
Introduction to Public Policy Part 1
Introduction to Public Policy Part 2
Public Economics
Leadership
Communication
Administrative Responsiveness
Civil Society
Public Policy Making Major Determinants Part-1
Role Of Planning Commission
Socio Psychological Approach
Understanding Policy Implementation
Indian Budget System - Part 1
Indian Budgeting System-Part 2
Training Of Higher Civil Servants
Psychological Approach Views Of Abraham Maslo and Federick
Globalisation
Mitigating Disasters
Democracy in Search of Equality
Role Of Voluntary Organisation

Regards
GMStudyCenter

The men who rule India: towards reforms in IAS

2009-10-12T10:14:00.000+05:30

Dear Friends,

Here is one more article on Personnel Administration and administrative reforms. Can be linked to these both topics in upsc syllabus. Highlighted points can be part your notes

Regards
GMStudyCenter

(Source http://www.livemint.com/2009/10/12001341/The-men-who-rule-India-toward.html?h=B)

Defending the indefensible is an uphill task. Defending the indefensible when popular public perception views it as being indefensible is even harder to do. Philip Mason wrote his class many years ago by the name The Men Who Ruled India about the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and how it shaped India’s destiny. Since then, much water has flowed under the proverbial bridge, and as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who has travelled, interacted and negotiated with civil services around the world, I can say with a lot of pride that IAS is, even today, despite a number of fundamental flaws, world class in several respects. Sadly, India has one of the finest higher civil services in the world, sitting on top of one of the worst lower civil services, which accounts for many, but not all, of its flaws.

Let’s start with the system of recruitment: About 500,000 candidates write a year-long, multi-stage examination, competing for just 80 seats—half of which are reserved—in IAS, and is considered by many to be one of the most rigorous contests in the world. That’s a success percentage of 0.02% versus about 250,000 candidates appearing for about 6,000 Indian Institutes of Technology seats each year, with a success rate of 2.96%. No other examination in the world has odds the national civil services examination of India has. Yet, while the latter are, justifiably, celebrated, the former, often regarded as the “best among the brightest”, are today the object of scorn and disgust, blamed for the various ills that plague the country. Still, quite a few officers from IAS are wooed at astronomical salaries by the private sector for their talent, relationships, education, and rich and diverse ground-level experience, which should give some idea of their market value.

People are quick to criticize IAS, but they forget that corporate titans such as the redoubtable Russi Mody, Yogi Deveshwar and many others failed even in autonomous entities such as Air India. Many have fallen prey to the political class, handling whom and keeping them away from the spoils of office is in itself often a full-time vocation for the honest IAS officer. The classic Westminster model, on which IAS is based, expected that while politicians would debate and legislate policy, civil servants would implement policy. This has over the years been turned on its head, for politicians have found it “profitable” to get into every aspect of execution, while the civil service is left to write policy. With the advent of criminals in politics and the huge role that money plays in elections, bureaucrats prefer masterly inaction to any form of risk-taking.

Reforms in IAS are needed urgently. First, IAS must not necessarily be a lifetime appointment. The initial appointment should be for a period of, say, 15 years, after which every officer’s performance should be evaluated by a constitutional authority such as the Union Public Service Commission, based on a 360-degree kind of appraisal which is considered superior to traditional forms of assessment. Then, they should be hired on five-seven-year contracts with specific performance targets through a competitive process. The terms of the contract should incentivize performance with accountability to results, not just to process. Second, there are innumerable examples of deviants in the civil service. There have been recent examples of officers indulging in sexual harassment, shoplifting, copying in examinations and large-scale corruption. The government must not let them off or allow them to take voluntary retirement to escape punishment. It must try them in special courts and demonstrate certainty of punishment, no matter how powerful the officer is. Without demonstrable and quick punishment, there is no way to check deviant behaviour in IAS.

There is no gainsaying the fact that the contribution of IAS officers is often extraordinary but overlooked. We often forget that M. Damodaran, who turned the former Unit Trust of India around, and Y.V. Reddy and D. Subbarao, responsible for steering India’s central bank under trying global economic circumstances, are all from IAS. Rentala Chandrasekhar led India’s e-government revolution. T.V. Somanathan designed a world-class blueprint for the Chennai Metro, with minimal fiscal burden on the government. S.R. Rao cleaned up Surat in circumstances where no private sector chief executive would go for any amount of money or incentive. Countless faceless IAS officers work selflessly every day in circumstances which many of us won’t work in.

Except the civil services of Japan, China, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, there is not much to write home about most of them. In these countries, civil servants are invariably masters of their subject matter, courteous and efficient. But then, they don’t report to the kind of political masters IAS does, they don’t deal with the numbers and complexity that India offers, nor are they as poorly paid.

India cannot have a 21st century economy run by a 19th century civil service using Jurassic era rule books and laws. Unless IAS is reformed where necessary and celebrated where due, good governance will remain just good rhetoric.