The men who rule India: towards reforms in IAS

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

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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.

Administrative Reforms - Better machinery

Dear Friends ,

Came across this short and sweet article about Administrative Reforms and the problem currently facing in India.

Everything in these three paragraphs are relevant and important

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GMStudyCenter

Better machinery

Nothing can truly change in a pluralistic society such as India’s without political commitment to secular and liberal governance. Simple measures could begin to change the direction. The first and most important area that needs a radical overhaul and complete cleansing is the many municipalities across the country. They have collectively succeeded in making the public places in this subcontinent uninhabitable, filthy and polluted. There is absolutely no excuse in the book for this pathetic and unacceptable state of affairs. Nowhere in the world do you walk or drive through a town or a city that has muck piled high everywhere. It is shameful and needs immediate rectification. A clean, well-swept public space will instantly alter the social lethargy and helplessness that plague us as a society. This one move would trigger active public involvement in change and growth.

Citizen groups need to be empowered to work in collaboration with government bodies to devise the parameters within which civil society can operate safely. The confrontational attitude that the state takes towards citizens for whom it is mandated to function has to be done away with. A joint venture needs to be created that ensures the good of all. This is not a difficult thing to do if there is a political will that makes clear demands on its administration to deliver.

And so, the real priority is rapid and decisive administrative reforms. A vast collection of reports is gathering thick layers of dust because any attempt to introduce radical measures, which will ensure cleaner, neater and more effective governance, will rudely disrupt the cosy and cushioned existence of a moribund bureaucracy. This machine has to be overhauled, oiled and watched as it performs. It has to stop holding our nation to ransom. It has to aid the elected representative and deliver on the mandate. It must cease to act silently against the best interests of the people of India. It must be answerable to the Constitution of India.

Administrative Reforms Under New Public Management

The following article talks about administrative development around the world.Readers are advised note the highlighted part which can be incorporated in the answer writing - especially for the first chapter in the upsc public administration syllabus - evolution of public administration.

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By the mid of 1980s, most of the western countries and their administrative structures felt the impact of reform agenda of New Public Management. The circumstances for new reforms were ripe as they needed public sector cut-backs, limiting public expenditure, and improving productivity, efficiency and economy. The reforms were implemented in various western countries mainly, the U.S., the U.K., New Zealand, Australia etc.

 
In the U.K. a fundamental transformation of administrative system was initiated since 1979 under the Thatcher government. Through a mechanism called 'Prior option Review' the activities of various departments were examined in terms of their efficiency, viability or utility. The major administrative reforms in the U.K. include:
 

1. Under the Financial Management Initiative, measures were taken for financial delegation through cost-analysis.In tune with the requirement of multiple service agencies, new executive agencies called Next Step Agencies were established for discharge of a specific set of activities in a business like manner.
2. 
   
3. In 1991, the scheme of 'Citizens' Charter' was introduced which insisted on public agencies to frame, publish and achieve clearly defined service standards.
4. Contracting out of certain public services such as street cleaning, garbage collection was introduced in 1992.

 
In the USA, the reform agenda of New Public Management was introduced on the basis of AI-Gore Report 1993 under National Performance Review, NPM. The Report, which included the basic principles of Entrepreneurial government, advocated by David Osborne and Ted Gaebler, was entitled as "From Red Tap Results: Creating Government that works better and costs less." The purpose of these reforms was to evolve an administration culture and practice which was performance based, customer-oriented with due emphasis on cost-effectiveness.
 
In brief the major reforms in the U.S. included:

(1) Cutting Red Tape through decentralisation, doing away with unnecessary rules and streamlining budgetary process;
(2) Customer-orientation through dismantling government monopolies, adopting marketing mechanism and empowering customers to hear their voice;
(3) Empowering Employees for getting better results through training, responsibility and better work environment; and
(4) Returning to the basics or core activities of the government, which should be performed in a cost-effective manner. Government would eliminate unnecessary tasks and activities."
 
In Australia the purpose and direction of New Public Management Reforms was to reduce the activities of State and adoption of market mechanism for provision of public services.
 
In New Zealand, the major reforms initiated under New Public Management include corporatization of government commercial enterprises, contractual relation ship between the government and public servants to ensure better accountability, performance-orientation and customer service-orientation. 
 
Though economic and social conditions in India were different from those prevailing in Western countries, it could not escape the impact of globalization, liberalization and privatization. Accordingly some of the reform measures of New Public Management were initiated in India after 1991 in order to bring efficiency and responsiveness in government activities.
 
Thus, the economy was deregulated and liberalized in selective manner, private agencies were encouraged in certain activities, measures were taken to cut unnecessary government expenditure, use of information and technology was encouraged in public administration, Right to Information Act was passed in 2005 to bring transparency and responsiveness, participation of citizens groups and non-governmental organizations in administrative process was initiated in certain State governments; devolution of authority was implemented through revamped local - 'self government institutions and in some states or departments, the instrument of citizens charter' was also enforced.