Governance Class 01

A brief review of the Governance syllabus- 1:02 PM

• What is governance
• Difference between Good and bad governance
• Public Administration
• Secretariat reforms
• RTI
• Social Audit
• Self-help group
• E-governance
• Changes in administration in globalization
• Reforms in civil services

Administration -1:29 PM
• The word administration is derived from the Latin word 'administrare' which
means to 'serve'.
• Administrators are those people who will be serving the interest of the
organization.
• In specific terms, administrators serve the interest of people.
• Their objective is to maximize the welfare of the country and society.

• Governance-
It may be defined as the method through which decisions are made and authority in
a country is exercised.
• It is also defined as the method through which power is exercised in the
management of a country's political economic and social resources for
development.
• Governance is defined as the exercise of economic, political, and administrative
authority to manage a country's activities at all levels.
• It comprises the processes and institutions through which citizens articulate their
interests, exercise their rights, meet their obligations, and mediate their differences.

• Why governance is needed?

• The natural tendency of any society is to move toward entropy (entropy is in ethics
also) (destruction). With the passage of time, every society only moves toward
destruction.
• Governance is needed to ensure negative entropy in societies i.e. orderly
functioning of society for a longer period of time on a sustainable basis.

• Bad governance features-

• Red-tapism and delay
• Abuse of human rights
• Widening inequalities
• Corruption
• Absence of grievance redressal mechanisms.
• Absence of citizen participation in the administration.
• Lack of accountability mechanisms in administration.
• The absolute monopoly of the state over the allocation of resources.
• Failure of regulatory authorities to prevent corruption and market collapses.
 • Dictatorial decision-making process
• High levels of secrecy in the administration
• Inability to resolve conflicts without resorting to violence.
• Complete absence of rule of law.

Good governance- 2:46 PM

• WW II resulted in the decolonization process wherein most of the colonies got
independence from their imperial masters.
• once they were ruthlessly exploited for 100 years their economic condition was not
in a good position.
• They were in need of massive levels of investment to ensure rapid economic
growth.
• Multilateral institutions like World Bank and the international monetary fund had
come into existence to provide financial assistance to member countries.
• They (decolonized countries like Sub-Saharan African countries, Latin American
countries, and South-Asian countries for example) have received long-term
financial assistance running into billions of dollars because of the dictatorship and
bad governance they could not repay the loans.
• By the 1980s these countries again sought fresh financial assistance from the world
bank to repay the old debt.
• World Bank had imposed conditionalities to provide fresh loans these
conditionalities combined together are known as the concept of good governance.
• In 1992 world bank coined the term good governance.
• Good governance emphasizes rule-based administration where in rule of law is
implemented in both letter and spirit.
• The ultimate objective of good governance is to maximize welfare for a maximum
number of people for the longest periods of time.

• World Bank has defined good governance in terms of its features:

• 1. Transparency
• 2. Participatory
• 3. Accountability
• 4. Consensus oriented
• 5. Rule of Law
• 6. Economy and efficiency
• 7. Inclusiveness and equity
• 8. Responsiveness

• Transparency-
• A high level of secrecy is one of the important features of bad governance, it
results in misuse and abuse of power, corruption, nepotism, favoritism, and
prejudices.
• It also leads to a complete absence of the rule of law.
• As rightly pointed out by the second administrative reforms commission in its
report on RTI, transparency is the master key to open locks of good governance.

• Participatory-
• In a representative democracy, participation of citizens in governance is restricted
only to voting in elections for the next five years citizens cannot participate in
governance at any level.
 • People-elected representative rules the country on behalf of the people more often
than not, and public policy does not reflect the wishes and aspiration of the people.
• Representative democracy can be transformed into participatory governance only
by providing opportunities for all stakeholders to participate in decision-making
and implementation.
• Good governance is possible only when it is participatory in nature.

• Accountability-
• In parliamentary democracies, accountability of the political executive is restricted
only to the electoral process.
• On the other hand, there is no direct accountability of bureaucracy toward citizens.
• The absence of accountability can result in the dictatorial functioning of the
government.
• There must be continuous accountability mechanisms within the government so
that bad governance can be minimized.

• Consensus-oriented-
• In parliamentary democracies, it has been observed that governments use their brut
majority on the floor of the house to pass legislation without any discussions or
debate.
• It can create more problems in the implementation as stakeholders might oppose
those decisions (three farm bills).
• Democracy demands consultation with all stakeholders and also ensuring
consensus in decision-making and implementation.

Class 02
Good Governance - [5:00 PM]

• Features-

• Rule of law-
• The rule of law separates the administration of developed countries and
developing nations.
• In the developed world rule of law is implemented in both letter and spirit whereas
developing countries that are characterized by bad governance have only the
absence of the rule of law.
• They are characterized by the rule by law rather than the rule of law (rule by law -
a feature of colonial administration wherein the government itself discriminates
against people in the name of the law.)

• Economy and efficiency-

• In developing countries resources constraint are a major issue that can come in the
way of rapid economic growth and development with very less per capita income,
the tax avenues of the government are also limited.
• Political populism has often resulted in the diversion of financial resources mostly
for unproductive purposes.
• Good governance demands economy and efficiency in terms of utilization of
resources so that outlays can be transformed into outcomes.
 • The economy is related to a reduction in unproductive and wasteful expenditure
whereas efficiency focuses on the optimum utilization of existing resources.

• Inclusiveness and equity-

• Capitalism ensures rapid economic growth but it cannot realize the objectives of
inclusive and equitable growth.
• Economic growth can be sustained for a longer period only when it is inclusive.

• Different dimensions of inclusive growth –

• -Balanced regional development
• -Gender empowerment
• -Reducing inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth
• -Job-led growth
• -Social sector development
• -Development of rural areas
• -Agricultural development
• -Sustainable development
• -Development of socially backward sections of society

• Responsiveness-
• People are sovereign in a democracy, and all organs of the state must respond to
the crisis faced by the people for eg. during corona crisis as part of Atma Nirbhar
Bharat Abhiyan the government implemented many welfare schemes for poorer
sections of society including providing free foodgrains, expanding NREGA,
transferring money into the accounts of poor women and so on.

Different Dimensions of Good Governance- [6:06 PM]

• Political dimension-
• Representative democracy should be transformed into participatory democracy.
• People must vote in elections based on the performance of political parties.
• They should not be influenced by emotional factors like religion, region, language,
caste, reservations, or subsidies.
• They should demand participation in governance even after elections are over.

• The economic dimension of good governance-

• removing inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth.
• In the age of globalization, governance means regulation. We must have effective
independent regulatory authorities to prevent monopolies in the market and also to
protect the interest of consumers.
• It also means preventing the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few people.

• Social and cultural-

• Traditionally Indian society is characterized by blind faith, beliefs, and bias.
• Social and cultural dimensions of good governance demand that scientific temper
and rationality define the functioning of societies.
• 100% literacy can take society in the direction of modernity, it can also help in
establishing egalitarian societies.
 • Administrative dimension- India has inherited colonial administrative structures,
wherein the objective was to exploit the citizens but not to empower them.
• After independence, we continued with the same structures which are
characterized by a high level of secrecy, centralization of power, the complete
absence of accountability mechanisms, and the absence of citizen participation.
• Good governance demands that administration is transparent, accountable,
efficient, responsive, and participatory.

Sources for governance -

• 2nd ARC report on RTI, ethics, governance, social capital, citizen-centric
administration, e-gov.
• Governance material
• Newspapers

Corruption- [6:51 PM]

• Corruption is derived from the word corrupt which means to bend.
• Bending rules and regulations, norms, and values.
• World Bank defined corruption- As the use of public offices for personal gains.
• 2nd ARC - in its report on ethics and governance defined corruption with the help
of a formula-
• Corruption= Monopoloy+Secrecy +Discretion-Accountability.
• In India, corruption is systemic and systematic in nature.
• Corruption is systemic because it is related to the functioning of systems- political,
economic, administrative and social & cultural systems.
• It is systematic because corruption takes place in a highly organized manner.

• Political system- Political system in India is one of the important reasons for
systematic corruption
• Political parties and candidates spend a huge amount of money in elections once
they come to a position of power they try to recover all their investments.
• Since the state has an absolute monopoly over the allocation of resources it
becomes easier for those who are in positions of power to indulge in corruption.
• Economic factors- In 1991 India opted for liberalization, privatization, and
globalization.
• Economic reforms were not supplemented with governance reforms which led to
crony capitalism (unholy nexus between the political executive, bureaucracy, and
businessmen).
• Businessmen used their proximity to the political executive to have control over
factors of production.

• Social and cultural factors- The emergence of globalization in India has resulted
in materialistic societies.
• A materialistic society is one where people believe that real happiness lies in the
possession of materialistic comforts.
• Ends become more important than means.
• Capitalism always cherishes only one variable i.e profits.
• Illegal, unethical, and immoral means are justified in the name of profit
maximization.
• Corruption no longer influences electoral outcomes.
 • Administrative factors-
India has inherited colonial administrative structures where the objective was to exploit the
country.
• After independence, the same structures were continued which led to massive
levels of corruption.

Class 03
A brief overview of the previous class- 5:00 PM

• Factors of Corruption-

• Administrative factors-
• High level of secrecy along with the complete absence of an accountability
mechanism and lack of participation of citizens in governance meant that there will
always be systematic corruption in the functioning of all systems including
political, economic, and other.

• Reforms -
• Multi-dimensional reforms should be implemented simultaneously to tackle the
menace of corruption.
• Political reforms
• Electoral reforms
• Economic reforms
• Governance reforms
• Civil services reforms
• Legal reforms
• Police reforms
• Reforms in the functioning of regulatory authorities
• Budgetary reforms
• Behavioural reforms

Secretariat reforms- (as a part of governance reforms) 5:28 PM

• In a parliamentary democracy political executive is responsible for policy
formulation whereas the bureaucracy is responsible for its implementation but the
political executive does not possess either skills or knowledge about technical
aspects of governance.
• It is the bureaucracy that provides unbiased meritorious rational and impartial
suggestions to the political executives in policy formulation.
• The present-day secretariat organizations had their origins during British rule.
• 1861 Indian Councils Act, had for the first time introduced a portfolio system in
the functioning of secretariat administration (asked in prelims)
• The work of the government was divided into various ministries and departments
on the basis of division of work and specialization.
• Examples- Finance, home health, education, agriculture, and so on.

• Secretariat administration in India was based on two important principles –

• 1. Split system-
• This split system was taken from military organizations i.e. Army.
 • Within the army, the work is divided into staff and line agencies.
• Staff agencies which are headed by top army commanders are responsible for
formulating war strategies.
• They are situated in HQ whereas line personnel is responsible for implementing
those war strategies.
• Armymen at the field level would implement those strategies.
• British administration in India introduced the same principle in the functioning of
secretariat administration.

• The work of the government was divided into staff and line –

• Staff- Policy formulation, headquarters (national capital or state capital), cabinet

secretariat (take a decision), generalist, advisory, top-of-line agency.

• Line- policy Implementation, field level, sit in department and directorates,

specialists, work under staff, power is mandatory in nature.

• 2. Tenure system-
• Recruitment to all India services is done by UPSC, once they are recruited, these
officers are expected to work in the states that were allotted to them, it is known as
cadre-based civil services.
• These officers are expected to come and work in central secretariat organizations
for a fixed tenure of 4 to 5 years.
• This system was also introduced by the Britishers.
• It was introduced with the objective of improving policy formulation at the
national level when these cadre-based civil servants come to the central secretariat
organization, they can use the experience that they gained at the field level to make
public policies more effective.
• This system helped them to develop macro and integrated perspectives.
• They can use the experience that they have gained while working in a central
secretariat organization to improve the efficiency of administration at the state
level when they go back to their respective state cadres.
• At the time of independence, there were 17 ministries and departments in GOI, at
present, there are 57 ministries and 98 departments.
• Rapid expansion in the scope of secretariat admin. has not really improved the
efficiency.
• Break 6:30 PM- 6:45 PM

Reasons for rapid expansion Secretariat- 6:45 PM

• During the British times, the administration was only performing regulatory
functions like maintenance of law and order and generation of revenue.
• The government did not perform any welfare or developmental functions.
• The scope of administration was restricted, and it also resulted in only a few
ministries and departments.
• After independence India opted for a welfare state, it had resulted in rapid
expansion in the size of the secretariat administration with many ministries and
departments coming up to serve different sections of society.
 • Political factors-
• Contributed maximum to the rapid expansion of the size of the secretariat
administration.
• Ministries and departments have been created with the objective of
accommodating political allies in a coalition government in a completely
unscientific manner.
• This rapid expansion did not result in any improvement in the efficiency of
secretariat administration.
• On the other hand, it let many problems with coordination.
• It also resulted in duplication of work, continuous conflicts, more red-tapism,
wastage of resources, and total inefficiency on the part of the secretariat
administration.
• Globalization demands an administration that is efficient, accountable, result
oriented, and transparent but the present secretariat administration has failed to live
up to the challenges of globalization.
• A ministry is always headed by a minister whereas a department is headed by a
civil servant.
• In India, all the departments are headed by generalist civil servants also knowns as
IAS officers.
• A ministry can have more than one department depending on the size of the
ministry.
• Ministry of Home Affairs has a maximum number of departments followed by the
finance ministry and other ministries.

Secretariat reforms- 7:33 PM

• As recommended by the 2nd ARC the number of ministries and departments in
GOI should be reduced to less than 27.
• Those ministries which perform similar functions should be merged into a single
ministry and they can be converted into departments to ensure better coordination.
• For example- the Rural development ministry can be merged with the Panchayat
raj ministry, agriculture, and forestry in rural areas so that there can be integration
of the development process in rural areas.
• The number of hierarchical levels in the ministries and departments should be
reduced from the present 16 to 4.
• Certain positions in secretariat organizations like the rank of joint secretary can be
abolished.
• Indian administration suffers from inverse pyramidical structures, in any
organization administration can be efficient only when the administrative structure
is in the form of a pyramid ie. a maximum number of people should be working at
the bottom whereas the most efficient should be at the top.
• As rightly pointed out by the 2nd ARC our secretariat administration is in the form
of an inverse pyramid.
• The maximum number of experienced bureaucrats are working at the top in
secretariat organizations in policy formulations.
• Policy implementation is done by very few bureaucrats working at the field level.
• This has resulted in failure in policy implementation.
• As suggested by the 2nd ARC experience bureaucrats must be working at the field
level so that they can use their experience in making public policies effective.
• Lateral entry into the secretariat organization
Class 04
Secretariat Reforms - 5:01 PM
• E-governance and its implementation
• Citizen charter and its implementation
• Effective implementation of RTI
• Depoliticisation of civil services
• Objective performance evaluation of civil services
• Effective grievance redressal mechanisms
• Effective coordination between line and staff agencies

Right to information (RTI)- 5:15 PM

• India has inherited colonial administrative structures wherein Britishers
deliberately kept the entire administration highly secretive in nature.
• Important legislation was passed including the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 and
the official secrets act of 1923 to ensure complete secrecy in governance.
• After independence, we continued with the same administrative system even
though changes were made to the political system.
• After India adopted a welfare state, 100 developmental and welfare schemes were
implemented by successive governments but most of these schemes have ended up
as a failure due to massive levels of corruption.
• As rightly pointed out by the then PM Late Rajiv Gandhi 'out of every Rs100 spent
by the government on welfare schemes only Rs15 reached deserving sections of
society.
• Corruption had taken place due to high levels of secrecy, beneficiaries themselves
do not know the majority of the schemes and also the benefits they have.
• 2nd ARC's (Administrative Reforms Commission) report on RTI has pointed out
that RTI is a master king to open the locks of good governance.
• If there is transparency in administration, people realize that decisions are taken
without their consultation and participation.
• They can immediately demand participation in governance.
• Similarly, they also realize that there are no accountability mechanisms, rule of
law is there only in letters but not in spirit, there is a huge amount of waste of
taxpayers' money, and so on.
• They would immediately demand accountability, rule of law, predictability, and
participation in governance.

• Issues with RTI- 5:45 PM

• Official secrets act had only promoted a culture of secrecy within the government.
• The government would never publish any information and if ordinary citizens had
access to unpublished information the government can take serious action against
them.
• No unpublished information can be used as evidence in a court of law.
• Since the government never publishes any information, it becomes almost
impossible to prove corruption.
• As recommended by the 2nd ARC official secrets act should be removed. It should
be replaced with the national security act.
• The national security act will contain information about all aspects related to
national security.
• The rest of all information should be made public in the true spirit of RTI.
 • The government has rejected this recommendation, it has said that a very less
amount of information i.e 3% of information is part of an official secret act

• Appointments-
• Section 11 and 12 of the RTI Act has provisions for the appointment of members
to the information commission.
• It has been observed that mostly loyal bureaucrats of the government are appointed
to the information commission.
• It has adversely impacted the credibility of information commissions.
• As recommended by the 2nd ARC appointment of members to the information
commission can be done by a committee consisting of the PM, the leader of the
opposition in Lok Sabha, and the Chief justice of India.
• Half the members of the information commission should be from non-civil
services backgrounds.
• At least half the members should be from those NGOs and civil society
organizations that are active in the field of implementation of RTI.

• Pendency of cases-
• In 2022 more than 3 lac cases are pending with information commissions both at
the central and also at the state level.
• It would take the information commission many years to come out with judgments
in these cases.
• The major problem is a scarcity of administrative staff in the information
commission.
• In the last 8 years, the CIC (Central information commission) never functioned at
full capacity, and SC had to intervene continuously and force the members to
appoint information commission members,
• Even CIC is functioning at 70% of its sanctioned strength.
• At the state level, the situation is much more serious most of the state government
had not really bothered to appoint members to the information commission.
• Central and state governments must make sure that the information commission
function at full capacity so that the pendency of cases can be reduced.

• The power of the Information Commission-

• Information commissions have powers of civil court if their judgments are not
implemented, they can impose fines on ministries and departments.
• It has been observed that in more than 95% of cases ministries never really
bothered to pay the fines imposed on them.
• Information commissions do not have the power of contempt of court.
• Information commissions should be given the power of contempt of court so that
their judgments are taken seriously by ministries and departments.
• They must also be given the power to oversee the implementation of their
judgments.
• There must be a separate administrative mechanism with the information
commission for the implementation of their judgments.

Recent amendments in RTI -7:15 PM (CHECK LATEST)

• In 2019 the government has made amendments to RTI which according to critics
has completely reduced its effectiveness of RTI.
 • The status of the CIC (Chief information commissioner) was the same as that of
the central CEC (chief election commissioner) and the rest of the information
commissioners (IC) were given the same status as other election commissioners.
• CIC and other IC have been given security of tenure of 5 years.
• Salaries of CIC and other ICs will be the same as the CEC and other ECs similarly
at the state level the salary of SIC will be the same as the salary of SEC.
• SIC is appointed by the state government.

• Amendments in 2019-
• The government has removed the five-year term given to ICs, they stay in those
positions for as long as they enjoy the confidence and pleasure of the government.
• They can be removed at any point in time.
• The government also has downgraded the status of ICs, they are given the rank of
secretary to the GOI.
• The union government now has the power to appoint SIC as well.

• Arguments of the government-

• The information commission (IC) is statutory and it cannot have the same status as
that of a constitutional body.
• The status of IC was downgraded to ensure the differences.
• The government wanted to make IC jobs more attractive by increasing their
salaries.
• The government has delinked salaries so that they can make IC jobs more
attractive.

• Critics-
• The changes made by the government to RTI have made RTI totally ineffective.
• ICs have lost all their autonomy and independence and have become nothing but
an extension of government departments.
• IC members have to work under constant fear of a reduction in salaries if they
come out with judgments that are critical of the government.

• Way forward
• It has been found that in most secretariat organizations files and documents are
deliberately destroyed (q asked) to prevent conviction in cases related to
corruption.
• There are instances where digital files have also been destroyed.
• 2nd ARC has suggested the use of MIS (management information system) for
better storage of information.
• Digitalization of information is necessary but not sufficient.
• 2nd ARC has suggested strict implementation of section 4 of RTI (the ministries
and departments must update the information available to themselves on a real-
time basis on their websites).
• Officials working at different hierarchical levels must be given the freedom to
upload information on their websites without seeking the approval of their
superiors.

Class 05
A brief overview of the previous class- (5:00 PM)
Q) asked in ethics and essay. Knowledge without values is dangerous.

Issues with RTI-(5:08 PM)

• Lack of transparency and accountability-

• RTI might have resulted in the transparency of the administration but has not
resulted in accountability of the administration due to the absence of grievance
redressal mechanisms.
• There must be vigilance cells from the village administration to central secretariat
organizations these institutions must receive complaints related to corruption and
come out with their investigation in a time-bound manner.
• The government should also take proactive measures to punish those officials who
are indulging in corruption.

• The colonial attitude of bureaucracy-

• Most of the structural reforms like RTI, citizen charters, and social audits have
been a failure because of the colonial attitude of our bureaucracy.
• Bureaucracy still considers themselves as masters and treats people as their
subjects. They could never understand the significance of this radical reform in
empowering citizens.
• They still believe in maintaining utmost secrecy in administration.
• Sensitivity training should be provided to the bureaucracy to change their attitudes
and values.
• Colonial attitudes toward bureaucracy should be transformed into democratic
values.

• No protection for whistle-blowers-

• Since 2005, more than 500 RTI activists have been killed for making corruption
public.
• Contractors along with a bureaucracy would kill the RTI activists.
• The whistleblower protection act should be amended to give complete protection
to RTI activists.
• Their names and addresses should be kept secretive.
• Anonymity should be maintained regarding their identity at any cost.

• Misuse of RTI- (asked at least 3 times previously)

• It has been found that RTI has been misused by vested interests, more than 90% of
RTI applications are filed only by insiders within the government.
• Similarly, media houses, opposition parties, and business organizations have used
RTI for their interests.
• To prevent the misuse of RTI, the 2nd ARC (Administrative reforms commission)
has suggested amendments to section 7 of RTI.
• The public information officer in consultation with the member of the information
commissioner can reject an RTI application where there is no public interest
involved.
• This recommendation was implemented by the government. (q asked – is this
solution, to prevent the misuse of RTI good or not? Ans – everyone should be
provided information instead of maintaining secrecy by implementing section
4 of RTI)
 • But this may not be the right solution as it will only result in more secrecy,
defeating the very purpose of RTI to ensure complete transparency in
administration.
• Instead of amending section 7 of RTI, it is suggested that the government should
implement section 4 of RTI, all the ministries and departments must update the
information on their websites on a real-time basis voluntarily.
• Since the information can be accessed by everyone, there can be very little scope
for the misuse of RTI.

• Lack of awareness among citizens about RTI-

• It has been found that max. number of RTIs have been filed in urban areas only.
• The maximum number of welfare schemes are implemented for people in rural
areas, they did not make use of RTI due to a lack of awareness about RTI.
• It is suggested that the government should take the support of NGOs, civil society
organizations, media, and the private sector to create awareness among
stakeholders.
• A certain portion of the amount of money spent on welfare schemes can be used to
create this awareness.
• Many institutions have strongly opposed the implementation of RTI eg- including
the Army, judiciary, proceedings of parliamentary committees, political parties,
and UPSC, but do not write UPSC in exams.
• Section 8- RTI does not apply to national security and intellectual property.
• Political parties, Army, and all other institutions must be brought under RTI.
• The term for CIC (central information commission) is 3 years.

Civil society organization (CSO)- (6:24 PM)

• The industrial revolution resulted in the emergency of two powerful institutions

that dominated the life of ordinary people.
• 1. The state or the government
• 2. The markets
• The state has the power to make policies and influence the lives of people. Markets
provide goods and services to people that were needed for their existence.
• The state has credibility in the form of an electoral process whereas markets
functioned on the principles of demand & supply.
• But over some time instead of working for people, both these institutions started
working for themselves.
• The state had become a leviathan whereas the functioning of markets had only
resulted in the emergence of monopolists and oligopolists.
• Both these institutions started exploiting the interest of people.
• In the early part of the 20th century, people had come together voluntarily to
protect themselves from exploitation by these two powerful institutions resulting in
the emergence of civil society organizations.

History of CSOs- (7:17 PM)

• CSOs have come into existence in the early part of the 20th century in Europe in
countries like Germany and Italy. Germany is responsible for both WW-I & II.
• These wars were wars of aggression i.e. ware were fought by European powers to
have more control over colonies.
• People of these countries had come together voluntarily to protest against these
destructive wars. It leads to the emergence of CSOs.
• In India, CSOs had their origins during the freedom movement, and many social
reformers have led people's movements to reform their societies.

• What is a civil society organization (CSO)?

• When two or more people come together voluntarily and decided to work together
to realize their common objectives of working, CSO is formed.

• Important features:
• Entry and exit into a civil society organization are completely voluntary.
• Any organization which is not part of either the government or the market can be
part of CSO.
• CSO has neither any structure nor shape.
• Examples- are NGOs, pressure groups, SHGs (self-help groups), community-based
organizations, caste-based organizations, religious institutions, etc.
• CSO help in transforming representative democracy into a participative
democracy.
• They provide inputs to the government in policy formulation as they work mostly
at the field level.
• They have practical knowledge of the problems of people.
• They also help the government in implementing various flagship schemes of the
government like the mid-day meal scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, MGNREGA,
etc.
• They also provide unbiased feedback to the government regarding the
implementation of these schemes.
• They also create awareness among citizens about their rights.
• Civil society organizations also help in fixing accountability on the part of the
government.

• Pressure Groups-

• Why do we need them?

• Democracy is all about the majority, public policy mostly reflects the concerns and
demands of people.
• When a group of people comes together to create pressure on the government to
formulate policies that would benefit their interests, pressure groups are created.
• Political parties always are interested in winning elections, they use public policy
as an instrument to gain the confidence of people.
• If a significant number of people come together it becomes easier for them to get
their demands met by the government.
• This type of public policy formulation where pressure groups dominate decision
making is a feature of American democracy.
• In the USA, powerful corporates come together to put pressure on the government
to formulate public policies that would ultimately benefit them.
• It is also popularly known as corporate lobbying.
• For example- Despite many incidents involving deliberate gun shootings by people
that led to the death of thousands of citizens, no US government is willing to ban
weapons due to the pressure of the gun lobby, which provides huge amounts of
donations to political parties.
Class 06
Pressure Groups (PGs) - 5:02 PM

• Instruments used by PGs

• They will elect those people to the House of the legislature who are willing to
implement their demands.
• PGs create awareness among other sections of society through advertisements,
pamphlets, social media, and others to get support for their demands.
• They would meet government representatives and bureaucracy to create awareness
among them about their problems so that the government can come out with public
policies that would reflect their demands.
• Public rallies, hartals, bandhs, and fast unto death, are the instruments used by
PGs.
• Examples- Caste & religious-based, farmers associations, and professional
associates like- FICCI, CII, Regional & linguistic organizations, trade unions,

Corporate lobbying (CL)- 5:35 PM (Q asked – should we make it legal in India?)

• Demand for making corporate lobbying legal was made in 2010 when Neera Radia
tapes revealed the ugly nexus between politicians, businessmen, media, and
bureaucracy.
• Since corporates have undue influence over public policies, it is felt that corporate
lobbying in India should be made legal.

• Arguments in favor of corporate lobbying-

• By making CL legal, black money in elections can be reduced, the government can
impose taxes on corporate donations and it will increase tax revenues to the
government.
• It will also ensure more transparency in election funding.
• It will also create awareness among citizens about the sources of funds received by
political parties.
• It can help them to make better political choices at the time of elections.
• Citizens also can understand the linkage between political funding and public
policies.

• Arguments against-
• If some immoral activities are going on a large scale, it cannot be the reason to
make them legal.
• If corporate lobbying is made legal, it will result in poorer and weaker sections of
society being completely left out of the policy-making process.
• Public policies would mostly reflect the concerns and demands of rich and
powerful sections of society only.
• It can lead to widening inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth which
can endanger the functioning of democracy.

• Way forward-
• Instead of making corporate lobbying legal, the government should focus on
ensuring more transparency in the electoral process, especially in the funding of
political parties and their spending.
• The government must break the unholy nexus between politicians, businessmen,
and bureaucracy (Crony capitalism).
 • The government should also provide more opportunities for various stakeholders
to participate in governance.

Criticisms of Society organizations (CSO)/NGOs)- 6:23 PM

• It has been found that most of these NGOs are working with vested interests for
example- during agitations against the Kundakulam nuclear power project in Tamil
Nadu, it was found that most of these NGOs had received a huge amount of funds
from Scandinavian countries.
• Similarly, there are many green NGOs in the country that have received a huge
amount of foreign funding to destabilize the growth and development process of
our country.
• At the same time, there are many religious NGOs like Zakir Naik's Foundation and
other Christian missionaries which have received a huge amount of foreign
assistance for terror activities and religious conversions respectively.
• There is neither transparency nor accountability in the functioning of these NGOs,
funds are received for a specific purpose and they are diverted for other objectives.
• Methods used by the NGOs to get their demands met have also been questioned
for example India against corruption demanded the implementation of the Lokpal
Bill but Anna Hazare went on fast unto death using blackmailing as an instrument.
• The functioning of these NGOs has resulted in policy paralysis in administration.
• It has become difficult for the government to take tough decisions and implement
them. eg- green NGOs file PIL against government decisions and green judges,
they would give stay on these infrastructure projects resulting in policy paralysis.
• In recent times, it has been found that most of the NGOs working with the people
at the field level are showing more interest in collecting donations from donor
agencies and from the government (it has been asked in exams)
• They lost their credibility as they stopped working with the people.
• These civil society organizations and NGOs they must act as a bridge between the
government and the citizens.
• They should maintain a healthy distance from the government so that they can
evaluate the performance of government schemes in an impartial and unbiased
manner but they are nowadays more interested in getting funds from the
government, in the process have lost their ability to evaluate the performance in an
objective manner.
• The government is also interested in funding these NGOs as it will help the
government to confluence public opinion in its favor.

Wayforward/solution to (CSO)/NGOs)- 7:21 PM

• Recently the government has made amendments to the FCRA act to control and
regulate anti-national activities of NGOs.
• The government has stipulated that all those NGOs which are receiving foreign
funds must register themselves with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) within a
period of 45 days,
• All those NGOs must open foreign currency accounts with SBI (bank), New Delhi
branch.
• All foreign donations must be received only in these accounts.
• They should also clearly specify the objectives of foreign donations.
• The money received through foreign donation should be used only for the purpose
for which it has been received.
• It cannot be diverted for other purposes.
 • If it is found that it has been diverted for other purposes the government can cancel
the licenses and take legal action against the concerned NGOs.
• Those who receive foreign funding should not donate the same to other NGOs, if it
is proved that they have donated to other NGOs again their license can be
canceled.
• The amount of money that these NGOs can spend on their administrative
expenditure is restricted to only 20% of their donations, earlier the limit was 50%.
• It has been proved that most of these NGOs have diverted their donations for other
purposes in the name of administrative expenditure.
• In the last 10 years, the government has canceled the licenses of 18864 NGOs for
violation of FCRA norms.
• At present, there are 16890 NGOs registered with MHA, since 2020 the
government had rejected the renewal of licenses of 466 NGOs, including Rajiv
Gandhi foundation.
• The government also stopped 6000 NGOs from receiving foreign funding.
• The government also made it mandatory that these NGOs must be working at the
field level for at least three years before they can apply for FCRA licenses.
• They must also have spent at least 15 lac rupees on core activities for the benefit of
society.
• These NGOs should not indulge themselves in political activities.

• Other reforms-
• For NGOs to regain their credibility they must focus on working with the people at
the field level and depend on small donations collected from ordinary citizens.
• If they perform their task in a sincere and selfless-manner they can automatically
regain their credibility and also can receive significant financial support rather than
depending upon donor agencies or the government for their survival.
• The government must also change its attitude towards NGOs as suggested by the
2nd ARC in its report on social capital and citizen-centric administration there
should be the institutionalization of cooperation between the government and civil
society organizations, and it should be made mandatory for the ministries and
departments to consult the CSOs before they come out with major policy
announcements.

Class 07
Reasons for failure of public policies in India- 5:02 PM
• Discuss on board through flow charts.

• Problems
• Since the poor government is giving subsidies, so there is less money left for the
government to spend on capital expenditure.
• The lack of investment in capital expenditure is leading to a lack of infrastructure
leading to low investment.
• As a result, it is further leading to inequality and a lack of inclusive growth.

• Solution-
• Accountability and transparency, outcome-based budgets, single schemes, etc.

Dictation- Reasons for failure of public policy- 6:48 PM

• There is always a conflict between providing immediate relief to poor people from
poverty through subsidies (poverty alleviation) and removal of poverty in the long
term.
• More often than not poverty removal is restricted only to poverty alleviation.
• With the emergence of DBT (direct bank transfer) corruption has significantly
come down in the implementation of developmental and welfare schemes but
central and state governments are focusing more on DBTs to provide temporary
relief from poverty to the people.
• This has resulted in the diversion of limited financial resources for revenue
expenditure.
• It has left the government with very limited finances to be spent on capital
expenditure.
• Since there is very little capital expenditure by the government infrastructure has
not improved especially at the local level.
• The lack of sufficient infrastructure has come in the way of private sector
investment.
• Since there is insufficient private sector investment economic growth is not
satisfactory.
• Vast sections of society could also not get any productive employment because of
the absence of private sector participation.
• It ultimately resulted in poor people remaining poor only.
• Due to the increase in population as well as an increase in poverty levels, subsidy
expenditure of the government went up.
• This resulted in a vicious cycle of poverty.
• It is one of the important reasons for the failure of public policies in India.

• Other reasons-

• Wrong identification of beneficiaries-

• It has been found that most people do not deserve the subsidies that they are
getting from the government.
• Eg- Acc. to various reports of government, only 23% of our population is living
BPL but food subsidies are given to 67% of our population due to political
populism.
• It has resulted in huge amounts of unproductive subsidies.
• The centralized top-down approach is also one of the reasons for the failure of
public policies in India.
• One size fits all approach 'has failed in the country' due to the vast diversity that
the country has.
• Eg- under NREGA 100 days of employment is provided, in a state like Punjab it
may not be required because of excellent irrigation facilities farmers can produce
three crops in a year.
• On the other hand, 100 days of employment is not enough for a state like
Rajasthan, it needs at least 250 days of employment,
• Most of the centrally sponsored schemes have been a failure because of this one
size fits all approach to development.

• High level of secrecy in the implementation of welfare schemes –

 • It is said that the average Indian villager is expected to receive the benefits of at
least 350 schemes of central and state government but they have knowledge of a
maximum of 10 schemes, which can result in high levels of corruption.
• In India, only line-item budgets are presented by the government whereas the
budgetary document provides information about the program to be implemented
by the government and the amount of money allocated, it is not linked to outputs
or outcomes.
• Eg- on Sarv Shikha Abhiyan if the government is spending 20K crores, the
budgetary document does not provide any information about the outcomes to be
achieved.
• Since we have only line-item budgets it is not possible to conduct either
performance audit of welfare schemes, reducing the accountability of
administration.
• Development administration in India is dominated by bureaucracy only i.e. it is
the bureaucracy that formulates the policies, it is also responsible for their
implementation, and finally, only the bureaucracy evaluates the performance of
these policies.
• Citizens and stakeholders are not at all involved in the entire development process
they are only considered passive beneficiaries of welfare schemes and not active
participants.
• The multiplicity of schemes has only resulted in the wastage of resources for eg-
there are multiple schemes in the agriculture sector like irrigation, marketing,
credit, insurance, MSP, fertilizer subsidies, and so on.
• It has only resulted in the duplication of schemes and the wastage of resources.

Solutions- 7:27 PM
• 1. The government should ensure a balance between welfare and development.
• There should be a time limit for subsidies given by the government.
• Every year the number of subsidies should be progressively reduced.

• 2. The government should identify the right beneficiaries for welfare schemes.
• Political populism should not dominate economic rationality, there must be a
political consensus in the country regarding the identification of true beneficiaries.
• Exclusion principles can be used to identify real beneficiaries
• At present political parties focus more on including unwanted beneficiaries for
short-term political gains.

• 3. Decentralised and participative approach should be followed for a welfare

administration in the country.
• The central government can broadly define policy objectives of centrally
sponsored schemes (CSS), it should give more freedom to the state government
and local bodies in implementation.

• 4. As suggested by 2nd ARC, Niti Aayog, and various pay commissions, the
number of CSS should be less than 10.
• The government must merge multiple schemes implemented in specific sectors so
that wastage and duplication can be reduced.
• Creating awareness among the stakeholder & beneficiaries, so that they can
actively participate in the implementation of the schemes.
 • 5. Line-item budgets should be replaced with outcome budgets at all levels i.e
Union, state, and local self-government.

• 6. Citizen charters should be mandatory for all developmental and welfare

schemes.

• 7. Strict implementation of section 4 of RTI so that there is complete

transparency in the functioning of the government.

• 8 E-gov can be used to ensure the participation of stakeholders in development

administration.

• 9. Social audits should be made mandatory for all welfare schemes and they
should be given legal status also.

• 10. There must be effective grievance redressal mechanisms for citizens in case
they fail to receive benefits on time of developmental and welfare schemes.

• 11. Like FRBM, both central state governments must be mandated legally to spend
a significant portion of their expenditure on infrastructure, both physical and social
infrastructure.

Citizen charter- 7:48 PM

• It had its origin in UK and was implemented in 1993.
• In 1997 Chief ministers conference was held in Delhi, and the decision was taken
to implement citizen charters.

Class 08
Citizen charters (5.02 PM):

Q asked – the principles of citizen charter

• Why do we need citizen charters?

• Representative democracy along with the colonial bureaucracy made sure that
there is no scope for citizen participation in governance.
• Their participation is restricted to only voting in elections.
• After independence India opted for a welfare state.
• The government undertook a large number of developmental and welfare schemes
to maximize the welfare of people
• It was mostly bureaucracy-centric governance, with bureaucracy being given the
responsibility of formulating and evaluating the performance of the welfare
schemes.
• Lacks and crores of rupees of taxpayer money were spent on this scheme without
any tangible outcomes, as rightly pointed out by the then prime minister Late Rajiv
Gandhi out of every 100 rupees spent by the government only 15 rupees reach the
targeted section of society.
• Outlay (expenditure) could not be transformed into outcomes due to the complete
absence of citizen participation in governance.
• In the later 1980s, 65th and 66th constitutional amendments were introduced to
decentralize power to the lowest level in governance.
• They couldn't be passed due to the political situation prevailing the in the country.
• Later the same amendment was reintroduced as the 73rd and 74th amendments.
• Political decentralization of power had taken place with these amendments, but it
has not resulted in administrative decentralization of power.

• In the early 1990s in the UK, the then-PM introduced citizen charters to realize
two important objectives:
• 1. To ensure citizen participation in governance.
• 2. To make bureaucracy accountable to citizens for their performance.

• In a parliamentary democracy, bureaucracy is not directly accountable to people

for their performance.
• It is accountable to the people indirectly through their elected representatives.
• The citizen Charter is an instrument to ensure the accountability of bureaucracy
towards citizens.
• In 1997, a CMs conference was held in Delhi to discuss the issue of corruption.
• It has recommended the implementation of citizen charters to tackle the problem of
corruption.
• As recommended by the conference citizen charters were introduced in
government departments and ministries, both at the central and the state level.

• What exactly is a Citizen Charter?

• A citizen Charter is a voluntary commitment made by bureaucracy, regarding the
service to be provided by bureaucracy to citizens in a time-bound manner.

• An important feature of citizen charters:

• Citizen charters are formulated by bureaucracy in consultation with the
stakeholders.

• They provide information regarding the following:

• The Quality of services to be provided by the bureaucracy.
• The amount of money to be spent on providing those services.
• The period during which bureaucracy is expected to provide those services for the
next list of beneficiaries.
• Quantity of benefits to be received by beneficiaries.
• The quality of services is determined based on global standards.
• They also provide information about the grievance redressal mechanism that is if
the beneficiaries do not receive benefits within the stipulated period.
• They must have a mechanism to address their grievances.

• The citizen charter experiment in the UK was highly successful because of two
important reasons:
• 1. Citizens are aware of their rights and could actively participate in the
formulation of citizen charters.
• 2. Even though the Citizen charter is a voluntary commitment, the civil servant in
the UK took the citizen charter seriously and implemented all the promises made
in the citizen charter they consider themself true servants of the people.
 • Citizen charter experiment in India as pointed out by the 2nd ARC in its report on
social capital and citizen-centric administration, is a failure.

Problems with Citizen Charters (5.58 PM):

• All government departments and ministries had come out with citizen charters on
their own without involving stakeholders.
• At best as pointed out by the 2nd ARC these citizen charters can be described as
only bureaucracy charters.
• Since citizen Charters are a voluntary commitment on the part of the bureaucracy,
the bureaucracy has never taken the citizen charter seriously.
• The colonial attitude of Bureaucracy, most of these structural reforms had failed
because of our inability to change the colonial attitude of our bureaucracy.
• They still consider themself masters and treat people as their servants.
• These colonial attitudes have prevented them from understanding the significance
of these radical reforms in empowering citizens.
• As pointed out by the 2nd ARC, the Citizen Charters are nothing but “pious”
statements of noble intentions without having any practical significance.
• Citizen Charters do not provide any useful information in quantifiable terms.
• The performance of bureaucracy in the implementation of citizen charters has no
impact on their career advancement.
• Bureaucracy never takes citizen charter seriously as it is not linked to their
promotions or transfers.
• Ineffective implementation of RTI.
• Most of the government departments and ministries have not bothered to
implement section 4 of RTI, wherein they are expected to provide up-to-date
information on a real-time basis.
• Most of the citizen charters are formulated in English language, so it becomes
impossible for people in rural areas to make use of citizen charters.
• Lack of awareness among stakeholders regarding citizen charters.
• Social audits committees which are supposed to help bureaucracy in the formation
of citizen Charters do not have any experience in administration.
• The administration is a highly technical activity and their lack of experience comes
in the way of, their active participation.
• Social audit committees are expected to evaluate the performance of bureaucracy
in the implementation of citizen charters.
• Again, their lack of experience in administration becomes a major hurdle in their
functioning.
• Recommendations of social audit committees are only advisory, governments do
not take these recommendations seriously, resulting in their failure.
• In case of failure of bureaucracy, to provide service as promised by citizen
charters, there are no effective grievance redressal mechanisms, available to
citizens.

Solutions regarding Citizen Charters (6.45 PM):

• It should be made mandatory for all government departments and ministries to
come out with citizen charters only after consulting and involving the stakeholders.
• Citizen Charters must be formatted in local languages.
• The government must use the services of NGOs, Civil society, and media to create
awareness among stakeholders regarding the significance of citizen charters.
• Effective implementation of RTI.
 • Social audit committees should be given training in matters related to
administration so that they can actively participate in the formulation of citizen
charters.
• Bureaucracy must be given sensitivity training so that their colonial attitude can be
transformed into democratic values.
• Citizen Charters must mention services in quantifiable terms.
• Recommendations of social audit committees should be made mandatory, that is
the government must submit an action taken report regarding the recommendation
of social audit committees.
• CAG must assist social audit committees so that they can evaluate the performance
of bureaucracy in a more efficient manner.
• Civil service conduct rules and regulations should be changed so that performance
of bureaucracy in the implementation of the citizen Charter becomes the basis of
their career advancement.
• The outcome budget should be made mandatory for all developmental and welfare
states.
• E-Governance can be used to create awareness and provide up-to-date information
to stakeholders regarding citizen Charters.

Sevottam model (7.00 PM):

• 2nd ARC recommended the Sevottam model to overcome the weakness in the
implementation of citizen Charters.

• It had 3 important components:

• 1. Citizen Charters- They should clearly mention the services to be provided in
quantifiable terms.
• They should also provide information about the period and details about
beneficiaries.
• 2. This model also emphasizes having effective grievance redressal mechanisms
for citizens in case, they fail to receive benefits on time.
• One of the major weaknesses of the Indian administration is the complete absence
of GRMs (grievance redressal mechanisms)
• India had inherited colonial administrative systems wherein there is no scope
GRMs for citizens.
• Sevottam's model emphasizes timely and effective GRMs.
• 3. Capacity building- it has been found that the bureaucracy neither has the skills
nor the attitude to implement these radical reforms because of colonial structures
and barriers.
• The capacity building emphasizes imparting new skills and inculcating democratic
values among the civil servants
• Mission Karamyogi is an example of a Capacity building exercise.

Social Audit (7.27 PM): (asked repeatedly)

• Social audit is the process of people/ stakeholders evaluating the performance of

the government.
• Social audit is undertaken by various social audit committees.
• social audit committees include NGOs, media, and civil society.
• In a social audit, various following parameters are taken into account:
• Economy.
 • Efficiency.
• Effectiveness
• equity.
• Social audit committees evaluate the performance of bureaucracy on the above-stated
parameters.

Class 09
A brief overview of the previous class (5:00 PM)

Issues with the present audit system in India: (5:02 PM)

• Representative democracy and the colonial bureaucracy have resulted in the
complete absence of citizen participation in governance.
• In 1991, before the implementation of economic reforms, the government had
spent around Rs 9000 Crores on welfare schemes and subsidies.
• In the current year's budget, the amount of money spent by the government is more
than Rs 12 lakh crores on subsidies under the welfare scheme.
• India has only line-item budgets, wherein budgetary document provides
information about the amount of money to be spent on a particular purpose, but it
does not provide information about the outcome to be achieved.

• Auditing conducted by CAG has many weaknesses: asked already 15 marks q

• 1. CAG conducts only legal audit and regulatory audits.
• 2. Audit done by CAG is postmortem in nature i.e. auditing is done after money is
spent.
• 3. CAG Act 1971 does not allow CAG to conduct audits of developmental and
welfare schemes.
• 4. Since 1991 the government started spending huge amounts of taxpayers' money
running into lakhs of crores of rupees, without any accountability.
• 5. CAG cannot conduct a performance audit, as performance budgeting and
outcome budgeting are not done for developmental and welfare schemes.
• 6. Auditing done by CAG is only a bureaucratic exercise without involving
stakeholders and beneficiaries.
• 7. In spite of the high money spent by the government on developmental and
welfare schemes, outcomes could not be realized at the ground level due to the
absence of citizens' participation.
• In order to overcome the above limitations, citizen-centric governance was
introduced for welfare and developmental steps.
• Citizen Charters are identified as an effective instrument to ensure the participation
of citizens in formulating specific programs and projects at the local level.
• Social audits are the instruments to ensure the performance evaluation of those
schemes by citizens.

Social Audit: (5:31 PM) questions asked repeatedly both in ethics and polity
• As the name itself indicate, a social audit is a process of evaluating the
performance of the bureaucracy in the implementation of developmental and
welfare schemes by the stakeholders or the society.
• Difference between legal and regulatory audit – Legal audit CAG would see
that whether the person spending the money has the necessary legal authority
to spend the money or not.
• Regulatory audit – you can spend the money but still you cannot spend it the
way you like i.e. it should be spent according to rules and regulations.

• Steps involved in the social audit:

• 1. Social Audit committees are formed at the local level consisting of stakeholders,
members from local self-governments, prominent members from NGOs and civil
society organizations, members from private sectors, district-level judiciary, and
other prominent citizens in the locality.
• 2. The district administration in consultation with social audit committees will
formulate Citizen Charters.
• These Citizen Charters contain all important information about the services to be
provided by the district administration.
• 3. Once implementation takes place, social audit committees will conduct a
concurrent audit. i.e. Auditing is done as and when money is spent. This will help
in identifying leakages and corruption.
• 4. Once the works are completed, social audit committees conduct performance
evaluation in terms of four Es- economy, efficiency, effectiveness, and equity.

• Economy:
• It is related to expenditure.
• For example, if it takes Rs 10 lakh to construct an irrigation tank, the economy
would look at whether the same work can be completed for Rs 8 lakh or not.
• Since tax payer’s money is spent, there cannot be any overspending.

• Efficiency:
• It is related to output.
• With the given amount of money, social audit committees would evaluate whether
the bureaucracy has maximized the output by efficient utilization of resources.
• The construction of irrigation dams is output.

• Effectiveness:
• It is related to outcomes.
• From the above example, the amount of land irrigated can be considered as the
outcome of expenditure.
• Constructing the dam is the output whereas, irrigation of the land is the outcome.

• Equity:
• It is the most important parameter that is taken into consideration by the social
audit committees while evaluating the performance of developmental and welfare
schemes.
• For example, from the amount of land that is irrigated equity looks into the quality
of outcome i.e. whose land has been irrigated with the implementation of the
process.
• Equity focuses on benefiting poorer and weaker sections of society.
• Since taxpayer money is spent, there cannot be any overspending.
• The land of small and marginal farmers should be irrigated rather than rich farmers
in the village.
• 5. Social audit committees will submit their findings to the district administration
• 6. District administration is responsible to take action on the basis of
recommendations made by social audit committees.
 • Wayforward for social audit in India:
• In recent times, Meghalaya has become the first state to give legal status to social
audit committees. i.e. It will be the responsibility of the government to implement
the recommendations of social audit committees.
• Similarly, the central government recently made it mandatory to audit NREGA
works.
• Those states which have not done social audits will not be given NREGA funds.
• The government should make it mandatory for all welfare schemes to have a social
audit.
• Funds should be released to state governments, only when, the reports of social
audit committees are uploaded on the websites, along with the action taken reports.
• Women and development – important topic for 4 papers. 1 q every yer on
women in essay

Self-help groups: (6:44 PM)

• Need for SHGs:

• Since the beginning of civilization for a long period of time, the world in general
and the country in specific has witnessed patriarchal societies.
• Women are treated as second-grade citizens, not deserving any rights or privileges.
• Even after independence, the constitution focused on other forms of inequality
than gender.
• Almost all the governments, since independence, focused only on other
disadvantageous sections of society rather than women, in their welfare and
developmental schemes.
• The reasons are mostly political in nature. i.e. women are not powerful and
organized pressure groups like caste-based organizations and religious groups.
• Since neither society nor the government was willing to help women in their quest
for empowerment, women had to come together in a voluntary manner, to help
themselves, resulting in the emergence of SHGs.
• According to a survey conducted by the UN in the early 1990s, when a woman is
educated and is an earning member of the family, it results in overall
empowerment of a family, whereas in the case of men, it only benefits themselves
and not the family.
• From the overall perspective of society, women's empowerment is more significant
than that of men.

• History of SHGs: (7:21 PM)

• SHGs had their origin in Bangladesh.
• It was Muhammad Yunus, who was the chairman of the Bangladesh Gramin Bank
in the early 1990s, that introduced SHGs. He was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for
his efforts.
• Later, the same was introduced in India in the mid-1990s, initially in South-Indian
states.

• Important features of SHGs:

• These SHGS are restricted to only rural areas.
• The maximum strength of an SHG can be 20.
 • Mostly, women from socially and economically backward sections in rural areas
are part of SHGs.
• They collect their small savings and use that money to produce goods for local
consumption.
• The revenues from the sale of goods are shared equally by the members of the
SHGs.
• It can result in their economic independence, which ultimately can lead to the
overall empowerment of their family.

Class 10
Problems of SHGs- 5:01 PM

• Historical and sociological factors-

• For a long period of time, India has witnessed a patriarchal society wherein women
are always treated as second-grade citizens
• They are not given even basic human rights also, especially in rural areas there is
another problem with their safety and security also.
• Since the Independence government has not paid any attention to the problems of
women, they are not considered a powerful pressure group as they do not influence
electoral outcomes.
• When SHGs had come to India in the mid-1990s they were mostly restricted to
south Indian states.
• Historically south Indian states are considered more egalitarian in terms of the
rights and freedoms of women.
• Initially, the SHGs movement was not successful in the rest of the country.
• As suggested by the 2nd ARC most of the other states have implemented many
reforms to make SHGs successful.
• Civil society organizations and NGOs along with the media were used to create
awareness among women about the significance of SHG in empowering them.
• Apart from these measures the government also must also focus on ensuring the
safety and security of women, especially in rural areas through innovative
measures so that they can actively participate in SHG movements.
• Members of SHGs should be encouraged to contest elections to local bodies so that
their economic independence can be transformed into political empowerment also.
• Another major problem faced by SHGs is regarding their finances.
• The 2nd ARC suggested the reforms implemented by the AP (Andhra Pradesh)
state government to overcome financial issues.
• AP state government has provided matching grants to the amount of money raised
by the SHGs so that they can have a significant initial investment.
• The state government has also introduced a subsidized interest loan scheme for
SHG.
• These SHGs are provided loans at 0.25%, recently they are also given interest-free
loans.
• In recent times the state government also had written off the loans of SHG so that
they can use the same to expand their businesses.
• But at the same time, members SHGs faced many problems regarding taking loans
from banks.
 • The attitude of bank officials has become a major obstacle since most of these
members are illiterate, backward rural women, it becomes almost impossible for
them to complete the procedure and financial assistance from banks.
• Micro financial institutions (MFIs) came into existence to fill in the gap between
the SHGs and banks.
• They provide loans to members of SHGs without much paperwork but they charge
high rates of interest compared to banks.
• SHG bank linkage is very less in big states like UP, Bihar, MP, and others but in
recent times it was found that these MFIs started exploring the SHGs by charging
very high rates of interest, States like AP have banned MFIs also

• Solutions:
• RBI has directed NABARD to make sure that regional rural banks and other
financial institutions in rural areas must provide a portion of their loans to
members of SHGs.
• Similarly, gender budgeting also can provide solutions to the financial problems of
SHGs.
• Most of the developmental and welfare schemes can be implemented with the help
of SHGs.
• Sensitivity training should be given to bank officials so that they can change their
behavior towards SHGs.
• The state must also take measures to reduce the influence of money lenders and
also control and regulate the activities of MFIs.

• Other problems and solutions-

• 1. Most of the members of SHGs are illiterate and unskilled personnel, they do not
have the skills to produce quality goods and services.
• The government should focus on imparting skills to members of SHGs.
• Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana to improve the skills of SHGs members so
that they could produce quality Goods and services.
• 2. Marketing of their products- SHGs do not have the infrastructure to market their
products at the national and global levels.
• B-B and B-C solutions can be used to create markets for the products of SHGs.
• The government should also focus on improving the education levels of members
of SHGs so that they can also use this knowledge to empower themselves better.

E-Governance (e-gov)- 6:02 PM

Q. Why is it not as successful in India as it should have been?

• The functioning of bureaucracy in India is characterized by many weaknesses

including- Centralization of power, red-tapism, time and cost overrun, and goal
displacement.
• Rules and regulations have become the new goals of bureaucracy instead of
maximizing the wealth of people.
• Complete absence of citizen participation in governance.
• Absence of grievance redressal mechanisms.
• High levels of secrecy.
• Inefficient service delivery mechanisms.
• One of the instruments to overcome these weaknesses is e-gov.
• E-gov may be defined as the use of information and communication technologies
to improve the quality of service of delivery mechanisms.
• In a neo-liberal state, the government considers itself a service provider and treats
citizens as consumers.
• The emphasis is on improving the quality of service of delivery mechanisms using
e-gov.
• E-gov in India has its origins in the 1970s with the establishment of the
Departments of Science and Technology.
• By the 1990s all departments and ministries from the Union level to the district
level were connected through e-gov.

• E-gov has four important stages:

•
• 1. Computerization- It emphasizes replacing manual work with the help of
computers.

• 2. Developing intra-network and inter-network - It focuses on integrating

ministries and departments through internal networks.

• 3. Online presence- Developing websites for ministries and departments so that

they can share information with citizens.

• 4. Online interaction- It facilitates speedy and efficient governance with citizens

having access to applications, licenses, and other useful information.
• They can be in touch with the concerned departments through e-gov.
• They do not have to visit government offices for submitting applications and other
documents.

• E-gov has many advantages:

• 1. It can improve the efficiency of government, and bureaucracy.
• 2. It can help in the decentralization of power.
• 3. It can also ensure transparency in administration.
• 4. It can improve the quality of service of delivery mechanisms.
• 5. It can also ensure effective responsive mechanisms.
• But as pointed out by the 2nd ARC in its report on e-gov, initiatives of e-gov in
India have not achieved the desired outcomes.

• The following are the reasons for the failure of e-gov in India-
• In the name of e-gov India has mostly implemented e-government only.
• Governance is the process of taking decisions and ensuring their effective
implementation.
• Government is one of the actors in governance.
• In India, e-gov is mostly restricted to the computerization of ministries and
departments it did not result in improving efficiency decision-making, and
implementation processes.

• E-gov can be successful only when other governance reforms are implemented
simultaneously including -
 • Reducing the number of ministries present 57 to less than 37.
• The merger of ministries and departments.
• Reducing the number of hierarchy levels in the departments from 16 to 4.
• Introduction of a single window clearance scheme to reduce red-tapism.
• Making citizen charters mandatory for all ministries and departments only with the
participation of stakeholders.
• Effective implementation of section 4 of RTI.
• Making sure that all ministries and departments have timely and effective
responsive mechanisms.

Other problems-
• E-gov in India has only resulted in the digital divide, it divided the country into
haves and have-nots.
• It has benefitted only people from the urban middle class and the educated section
of society.
• A vast section of society in villages from poorer backgrounds could not benefit
from e-gov.
• The absence of infrastructure is the major issue for example only 23% of people
have access to broadband internet, electricity is also a major issue in rural areas.
• E-gov is supposed to result in good governance by focusing on inclusiveness and
equity but ultimately resulted in bad governance due to the digital divide.

Problems & Solutions- 7:35 PM

• The focus should be on improving the infrastructure, especially in rural areas,
digital India is one of the flagship schemes of the government to improve digital
infrastructure.
• 15th Finance commission also made it mandatory for the state governments to
improve digital infrastructure to receive central assistance.
• State governments also have realized the significance of e-gov in improving the
quality of service of delivery mechanisms.
• Mobile governance can be used to overcome infrastructural bottlenecks.
• Departments especially at the lower levels must focus on developing simple
applications to make them user-friendly for people in rural areas.
• Cyber-security, data protection, and privacy- India is still using the second or third
generation of cyber security measures whereas in Europe they are using fifth-
generation technologies.
• Both public sector and private sector organizations must focus on improving cyber
security measures as the entire e-gov depends on the credibility of cyber security
systems.
• In recent times data protection and data privacy have become major issues.
• The government has brought draft legislation regarding the same and invited
suggestions from stakeholders.
• Lack of awareness among stakeholders about the benefits of e-gov.
• Civil society organizations along with media and the private sector should be used
to create awareness, especially among weaker sections of society in rural areas
about the benefits of e-gov.
• For example, use of JAM (Jan-Dhan Adhar and mobile) has reduced corruption
drastically in the implementation of developmental and welfare schemes.
• Similarly, the focus should be on fixing accountability on the part of bureaucracy
using e-gov.
 • The ineffective implementation of e-gov has only resulted in the centralization of
power.
• Both central and state governments have used technology to centralize decision-
making processes.

• Solutions-
• The government must clearly define the objective of e-gov in clear-cut terms.
• Their objectives should include decentralization of power and participation of
stakeholders at the lowest level.
• Objective performance evaluation should be done by involving stakeholders i.e
regular social audit, especially at the lowest level.

Class 11
A Brief Overview of the Previous Class - (12:59 PM)

Q. asked in ethics repeatedly – role of public administration.

Q. – Do you think, the process of globalization has negatively impacted the sovereignty
of the nations?

Role of Civil Services in a Democracy (Discussion and explanation) -(01:02 PM)

• In a democracy, we have 2 important institutions -

• 1) political executive -
• Policy formulation.
• Interest in short-term political consideration.

• 2) Bureaucracy -
• Policy implementation.
• They are part of the permanent executive.
• Their suggestion should be based only on constitutional and larger public interest.
• The policy should be implemented strictly based on rules and regulations.

• Regulatory functions-

• a) Maintainance of law and order -

• Strict implementation of rule of law is possible in a democracy when the civil
servants are completely impartial.
• There should not be any scope for personal biases.

• b) Generation of revenue-
• Stability and continuity to administrative process during times of political
instability.
• Socio-economic transformation of the civil society- empowerment of vulnerable
sections of the society by increasing GDP, PCI, industrialization, and
infrastructural development.
• They are also responsible for running public sector enterprises.
• They are expected to be role models for society.

Role of Civil Services in a Democracy (Dictation) - (01:47 PM)

• 1) In a parliamentary democracy, there is a clear-cut division of functions and
responsibilities between the political executive and bureaucracy.
• The political executive is responsible for policy formulation whereas the
bureaucracy is responsible for its implementation.
• The cabinet is the highest policy-making body of our country but the cabinet
consists of people who are professional politicians, who do not have any specific
domain knowledge regarding administration.
• Policy formulation is a technical activity that demands knowledge experience and
expertise.
• Bureaucrats are expected to provide technical support to politicians in the
formulation of policies.
• They are expected to provide, unbiased, meritorious, and impartial suggestions to
the political executive.
• The political executive is mostly concerned with winning elections.
• Their policies are influenced by short-term political considerations which can lead
to long-term adverse consequences in the future.
• As rightly pointed out by Sardar Vallabh bhai Patel, the first home minister of
India, "I want my secretary to say no to what I say and not to say yes, he is being
paid by the government only to say no".
• Civil servants are part of the permanent executive and are not concerned about
getting elected after every 5 years.
• They must give suggestions based on economic rationality and be guided by
constitutional philosophy.

• 2) Civil servants are expected to implement policies formulated by the political

executive, while implementing policies they must strictly follow rules and
regulations.
• There cannot be any scope for nepotism or favoritism, corruption, or misuse of
power in the implementation process.
• Civil servants are also expected to perform regulatory functions in a democracy.
• Maintainance of law and order, regular conduct of elections, and generation of
revenue and some of the regulatory functions.
• They are expected to perform them strictly according to established laws, rules,
and regulations.
• Civil servants are also expected to ensure stability and continuity in the
administrative process during times of political instability.
• For example, when a state is under the president's rule it is the civil servant who
should make sure that ordinary citizens are unaffected by political instability.
• As part of the welfare state, civil servants are expected to run large-scale public
sector enterprises.
• After Independence, India opted for a centralized planning process and public
sector enterprises are identified as instruments of growth and welfare.
• Civil servants are also expected to bring about the much-needed socio-economic
transformation of our society.
• Social transformation in the form of empowerment of backward sections like -
SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities, and women.
• They are also expected to ensure the rapid economic growth of the country.
 • For Example- increasing GDP, PCI (per capita income), improving standards of
living, providing equality, education, and health, removing inequalities in the
distribution of income and wealth, and job-led growth.
• In recent times, disaster management has become an integral part of governance.
• Civil servants must be proactive and dynamic in anticipating disasters and in
coming out with solutions.

• 3) Civil servants are expected to act as role models for others in society.
• Their impeccable honesty and integrity can influence the attitudes and values of
ordinary citizens.

Changing role of public administration in the age of globalization - (02:12 PM)

• Before 1991- the Indian economy and administration were characterized by the
following -
• 1) Centralized planning process
• 2) Monopoly of public sector enterprises
• 3) Autarcy (asked in prelims 2021) - a closed economic system wherein the
central government will impose heavy restrictions on trade and investment.
• 4) License quota permit Raj, wherein the private sector was controlled by the
government and the bureaucracy through licenses, quotas, and permits.
• 5) Fixed exchange rates.
• 6) Bureaucracy-centric developments.
• 7) Central planning commission would formulate plans for the entire country.
• 8) Top-down approach to implementation.
• 9) In the development process people were treated only as passive outside
beneficiaries, not as active participants.
• 10) This bureaucracy-centric state-controlled development process had failed to
realize the objectives of growth and development.
• Administration performed every function from policy making to its
implementation and finally its evaluation also.
• They were running public sector enterprises, collecting revenues, implementing
developmental and welfare schemes, and performing regulatory functions also.
• It resulted in the failure of the state, forcing the government to opt for
liberalization, privatization, and globalization.

Changing role of the state or public administration in the age of globalization - (02:47
PM)
• In the age of globalization, the activities to be performed by the administration
can broadly be divided into 3 categories -
• a) Those activities that should be exclusively performed by the state, even in the
age of complete Globalization and liberalization, are Lawmaking, security, and
defense-related activities, judicial administration, international relations regulatory
administrations, and concerns related to sustainable development.
• b) Those functions which can be extensively performed if not exclusively by the
private sector.
• Any activity related to profit maximization can be extensively performed by the
private sector. The government has no business to be in business.
• c) Those functions which can be performed by both the state and market include
infrastructure, industrialization, and social sector development.
• Public administration is expected to perform the following functions in the age
of globalization and liberalization-
• 1) The functioning of markets mostly results in the creation of monopolies and
oligopolies.
• It can distort markets and can cause huge losses to consumers.
• It is the responsibility of the state to take care of the interest of consumers and also
to prevent crony capitalism in the age of globalization, governance means
regulation.

• 2) Globalization also has resulted in widening inequalities in the distribution of

income and wealth.
• This uneven development process cannot be sustained for longer periods of time.
• Through better policy formulation and effective implementation, the state must
work to reduce these inequalities.
• Capitalism can ensure rapid economic growth but inclusive growth is possible only
with state intervention.
• Through public policies, there should be a balance between immediate short-term
welfare and long-term sustainable development.
• The administration must play a proactive role as politics are mostly guided by
short-term political populism.

• 3) Development process also has resulted in the creation of islands of prosperity

in an ocean of poverty.
• Very few states have benefitted from liberalization.
• Growing regional inequalities can be linked to unwanted consequences in the form
of growing demands for regionalism and secessionism.
• It is the responsibility of the state to ensure balanced regional developments.

• 4) Private sector is not concerned about the negative externalities of their actions,
they are only motivated by profit concerns.
• Environmental degradation is one of the major negative consequences of
globalization.
• It is the responsibility of the state to promote ecological equilibrium.
• Rural areas are mostly kept out of the development process.
• After Globalization, the entire development process is concentrated around urban
centers.
• The service sector benefitted immensely because of globalization and it is
concentrated only around metropolitan cities.
• It is the responsibility of the state to ensure the development of rural areas at par
with their urban counterparts, otherwise, it can lead to growing challenges and
problems related to urbanization.
• The private sector is also not concerned about equity-related aspects of
development.
• Socially backward sections do not get the same opportunities as that developed
communities to be part of the development process.
• The state must take care of the needs of the people at the bottom of the pyramids.
• They should be empowered from all dimensions, so, that they can compete with
others on a level playing field.
 • Before liberalization, the state was the sole institution responsible for the
development process, with the adoption of LPG multiple institutions had come up
in the process of governance.
• It is the responsibility of the state to make sure that all these institutions are given
equal opportunities to be part of governance.

Multi -Actor Paradigm model in governance - (03:47 PM)

• Before 1991-
• The entire governance was the sole responsibility of the state.
• The state also controls the private sector through quotas and licenses.
• So, the private sector could play only a marginal role.
• All decisions were solely made by the state.

• After 1991, LPG -

• The governance witnessed a radical transformation.
• The various institutions of governance had seen the end of the monopoly of the
state in governance.
• Neo-liberal state - multi-actor paradigm in governance.
• It means multiple institutions are now responsible for governance-
• Union government
• state government
• local self-government
• Permanent bureaucracy.
• Private sector/ markets
• Multinational companies
• Multilateral institutions -
• For example -if you are part of WTO, you must give the Most Favoured nation
status to countries.
• NGO'S
• Self-help group
• Trade Unions
• Green NGO'S
• So, all these multilateral institutions are part of governance in the age of the Multi-
Actor paradigm.
• What state should do in the age of the Multi-Actor paradigm?

Class 12
Q. asked in 2022 regarding public-private paertnerships.
[5:00 PM]- Multi-actor paradigm in Governance
• Between 1947 and 1991 the country had witnessed a state monopoly in
governance.
• The state was solely responsible for both regulatory and developmental functions.
• Failure of state-led development has forced the country to opt for liberalization,
privatization, and globalization.
• Initially, governance was mainly restricted to PPP (public private partnerships) in
the age of liberalization and privatization.
 • Since 2000 the country started witnessing rapid expansion of the third sector
which includes civil society organizations, NGOs, pressure groups, media, and
other organizations.
• The nature and scope of governance have been radically transformed with the
entry of multiple institutions.
• Presently, countries around the world are experiencing a multi-actor paradigm in
their governance systems.
• In India, many institutions are now part of governance including the union
government, state government, local self-government, domestic industries, multi-
national companies, multi-lateral institutions, permanent bureaucracy, civil society
organizations, NGOs, and so on.
• Governance has become much more complicated because all these institutions
have their own vested interest.
• These vested interests more often than not are also conflicting in nature, It mostly
results in a two-person zero-sum game.
• Previously the government would make decisions on its own and impose those
decisions on people without involving stakeholders but this model of governance
cannot be successful in the changing circumstances.
• The process of globalization and the rapid spread of media, especially social media
has created a lot of awareness among people who are at the bottom of the pyramid.
• When government takes decisions on its own without involving these sections of
society, it can be linked to many problems in implementation.
• Sometimes governments are also forced to withdraw those decisions due to
protests by people.
• In spite of the fact that those decisions would ultimately benefit people only.
• For example, three farm bills were withdrawn because of the protest by people.
• Similarly, more than eight hundred infrastructure projects are struck because of
opposition from various sections of society.
• This policy paralysis in policy implementation ultimately can be linked to the
underutilization of resources.
• The solution lies in adopting new public governance where all these actors
involved in governance are given an opportunity to participate in decision-making
and implementation processes.

[5:55 PM]- Steps involved in the multi-actor paradigm

• 1. Burueacracy must ensure that all those actors are coming together to participate
in governance.
• 2. Networking governance can be used to ensure continuous communication
between all of them, for example, the 2nd ARC has recommended
institutionalization of the relationship between the government and other
institutions involved in governance.
• 3. All of them should be given complete freedom to express their opinion
regarding policy decisions.
• 4. Bureaucracy must use their interpersonal communication skills and skills of
persuasion to convince the rest of the actors to accept broad consensus regarding
policy decisions.
• This consensus can be included in citizen charters.
• Once consensus is reached, all those should be given an opportunity to participate
in the implementation process also so that that cannot be any scope for conflicts in
implementation.
 • 5. Stakeholders should be given an opportunity to evaluate the performance to
see whether benefits have reached the targeted sections of society or not.
• This can ensure an effective and smooth implementation process.

[6:45 PM]- Max Weber's bureaucratic theory (explained on board)

• Max weber was a German sociologist.
• There are three types of authorities in any society.

• Traditional- Rulers exercise authority over subjects

• Charismatic-Rule by personality, but temporary in nature and dictatorial

functioning, examples- Jawahar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Modi ji

• Legal- Legal and rational exercise by bureaucracy.

• Spoil system - people are selected on the basis of their proximity to the chief
executive.
• No skills or knowledge is required to hold positions.

• Bureaucracy- recruitment on basis of merit, value neutrality, and political

neutrality, the individual is different from organization assets, positions are not
hereditary, rationality, written communication, rule, and regulations.

Class 13
Max Weber's Bureaucratic theory of organization- [5:02 PM]

• Max weber a German sociologist converted his bureaucratic theory of

organization in the early 1920s.
• Being a sociologist, he was interested in finding the dynamics of power
relationships in society.
• On the basis of the research he had conducted, he concluded that there are three
different types of authority in any society.

• 1. Traditional authority-
Here the ruler exercises authority because followers have respect for traditions and
customs.
• According to Weber this traditional authority is irrational and is also temporary in
nature.
• Examples of traditional authority include authority exercised by tribal leaders,
religious and caste-based organizations, and family.

• 2. Charismatic authority-
• Here the leader exercises authority because followers believe that the leader has
supernatural qualities.
• Again, this authority is temporary and irrational examples include political
authority.

• 3. Legal authority-
• According to Weber authority is exercised strictly according to established laws,
rules, and regulations.
• There is no scope for misuse or abuse of authority, it is also rational i.e authority is
exercised only to realize the objectives of the organization.
• According to Max Weber, this legal authority is exercised by bureaucracy.

• Important features of bureaucracy-

• Germany during the early part of the 20th century suffered from political
instability, it also has a spoiled system in the functioning of its administration i.e
people are appointed to positions of power on the basis of their proximity to the
political executive.
• Since there is no rule of law it resulted in a massive level of corruption.
• Max Weber had come out with his bureaucratic theory of organization as a
solution to the problems of the spoils system.
• 1. Recruitment on the basis of merit through open competitive examination.
• 2. The clear-cut separation between income and organizational assets.
• 3. Bureaucrats are paid regular income in monetary terms for the services they are
providing to the organization.
• They cannot own the assets of the organization.
• 4. Positions are not hereditary in nature.
• Top-level positions can be filled in only through promotions on the basis of merit
and efficiency.

• 5. Rationality-
• Max weber defined rationality in terms of the ability of bureaucracy to strictly
implement rules and regulations.
• They can do so only when they possess complete value neutrality and political
neutrality.
• Weber believed that bureaucrats are the only instruments in the hands of political
executives to implement policies.
• Political executives will take into consideration values while formulating policies
and bureaucracy is expected to implement those policies strictly according to rules
and regulations.
• They can do so only when they are completely value-neutral, as instruments they
should not concern themselves about the outcomes of their actions.
• Weber also emphasized on the concept of political neutrality, since bureaucrats are
part of the permanent executive, they are expected to serve different political
masters during their long tenure.
• They should not be committed to the ideology of the ruling political party in
power, they should only be committed to the ideals of the constitution.
• They should be completely non-partisan in their functioning.

• 6. Written communication-
• It is necessary as people are not appointed permanently for different positions
within the organization.
• it ensures the continuity of organizational activity. it is also necessary to fix
accountability, evaluate performance, eliminate the scope for misuse and abuse of
power, and also to reduce corruption.

• 7. Rules and regulations-

 • They are necessary to prevent the negative behavior of bureaucracy in the form of
unprofessional attitude, indiscipline, and inefficiency, and also to eliminate
conflict of interest.

• 8. Discipline-
• it is necessary to ensure coordination and also to remove conflicts between people
working in the organization.
• This discipline ensures unity of purpose within the organization.
• Discipline is ensured with the help of hierarchy, written communication, rules and
regulations and code of conduct.

• Hierarchy-
• It defines the relationship between the superior and the subordinate within the
organization.
• The Superior has the power to give orders and the subordinate has the
responsibility to implement those orders.
• Hierarchy ensures coordination, helps in conflict resolution, and improves the
overall efficiency of the organization.
• Hierarchy defines the physical structure of the organization.

• Secrecy-
• Max Weber strongly believed bureaucracy can strictly implement the rule of law
only when they are completely isolated from the rest of the world, they should not
be influenced by the functioning of the political, economic, social, and cultural
system.
• High levels of secrecy are needed to ensure their effective functioning.

Civil Services reforms (Explained on board)- [6:20 PM]

• But this model of bureaucracy has failed in India.
• As there is a need to bring about changes - in terms of values like - empathy.
• In Weberian bureaucracy, there is no scope for values like sympathy and empathy.

• Recruitment-
• Started during the British times.
• It has so many weaknesses.
• Like higher age, there is a need that people should reach field services at a younger
age.
• For different types of services, the recruitment exam is the same.
• Baswan Committee suggested that the age of recruitment shall be relaxed.
• The Optional subject is of no use considering the services.

Need of Specialist in the organization (Explained on board)- [7:25 PM]

• In India, there is Rank Classification- which is based on Generalist, not specialist.
• As there are no benefits to being efficient as all the positions are filled up through
promotions.
• There is no competition, so no motivation to be efficient.
• So, there is a need for Lateral Entry - People to be appointed at the middle and
higher levels.

• The politicization of Civil Service-

 • Political executives dominate the functioning of the bureaucracy.
• Through transfers, not giving significant postings.
• The government wants the bureaucrats to simply follow orders, so there is a need
to have more than civil services reforms.

• Mission Karmyogi-
• It focuses on selfless action and not focus/ attaching oneself to the outcome

Class 14
Discussion on Civil services reforms continues [05:02 pm]

Atleast 2-3 case studies of 25 marks each are asked from the class material provided in
this class.

• Need for Civil Services reforms

• Initially, Imperial Civil Service (ICS) was created with the objective of
performing regulatory functions like maintenance of law and order and generation
of revenue.
• After independence, ICS was renamed IAS. It was given the responsibility of
developmental functions also, as India had opted for a welfare state.
• By the 1990s, the welfare state proved to be a failure resulting in the economic
crisis of 1991.

• Change in the role of Civil services

• India was forced to adopt liberalization, privatization, and Globalisation (LPG
reforms) to overcome the economic crisis.
• The role of Civil services also changed in the age of globalization.
• Many other changes also had taken place during this period including the
implementation of the 73rd and 74th amendments, a rights-based approach to
governance, Digital governance, and the increasing role played by the private
sector. But Civil services in India have failed to implement these changes
successfully.
• 2nd Administrative reforms commission has identified the major strengths of
civil services in India in the form of their ability to protect the unity and integrity
of the nation, regular conduct of elections, efficient performance in regulatory
functions like maintenance of law and order and generation of revenues but at the
same time

there are many weaknesses in their functioning:

• i) Politicization in the functioning of Civil services.
• ii) Their failure to perform developmental functions.
• iii) Inability to bring socio-economic transformations.
• iv) Failure to ensure the participation of citizens in governance
• v) Status quo nature.
• vi) Unwilling to take radical decisions.
• vii)Failure to ensure effective accountability mechanisms within the administration
and so on
• viii)Failure of civil services in India necessitated reforms in the functioning of civil
services.
 • Major reforms suggested by the 2nd ARC in its report on personnel
administration and ethics in governance.
• i) Reforms in recruitment
• Baswan committee was appointed to suggest reforms in recruitment. The
committee submitted its report in 2017.
• i) Age limit for entering into civil services should be between 21 to 26 years and
the maximum number of attempts should be 3. Relaxation can be given to OBCs,
SCs, STs
• ii) Separate examinations should be conducted for IAS, IPS, and other central
services.
• iii) Optional should be removed from the main examination.
• iv) Two additional papers can be included in the general studies in the form of
public administration and law.
• v) Changes should also be made to the Personality test.

Lateral entry into Civil services [05:21 pm]

• In the age of globalization, governance means specialization.
• Lateral entry means entering into Civil Services at the rank of Joint Secretary and
above in a secretariat organization.

• Arguments in favor of Lateral entry into civil services

• i) IAS officers are generalist civil servants and they do not possess any domain
expertise. When they formulate policies, because of the absence of technical
knowledge, policies can be a failure. Globalization demands technical skills.
• ii) Since IAS officers spend their entire life in Civil Services, they do not have any
practical knowledge about the challenges and problems faced at the ground level.
Policies formulated by them can result in failure as they do not reflect ground-level
realities.
• iii) If people from the private sector and NGOs come into the administration, they
can help in formulating better policies that reflect ground-level realities.
• iv) Promotions to higher-level positions are mostly on the basis of merit. All these
positions are reserved only for IAS officers. Lateral entry can ensure better
competition for positions at middle and higher levels in secretariat organizations.
• v) Since there is competition for positions, it will also force IAS officers to become
efficient as they have to compete with people from the private sector for those
positions.
• vi) If people from the private sector come to the administration they can come out
with innovative suggestions as they are not burdened by past legacies.
• They would have to worry about Bureaucratic structures and can use their
creativity and innovations.
• It can make the administration much more dynamic, visionary, creative, and
innovative.

• Arguments against lateral entry into civil services

• There can be a conflict of interest. If people from the private sector come to the
administration for a temporary period of time, they may formulate policies that can
benefit their previous employers resulting in a conflict of interest.
 • ii) As they do not have any practical experience regarding policy implementation
within the government, Policies formulated by them may not match with
implementation processes and procedures, resulting in their failure.
• iii) According to some critics, lateral entry can be used by the ruling political party
to politicize the functioning of civil services. They can induct only those people
who are biased in favor of the ruling party's ideology.
• iv) Administration is an activity that has many interlinkages. When Specialists
come into civil services, they would not have sufficient knowledge to understand
these interlinkages. They will see the functioning of government only through the
perspective of their department or Ministry. It can lead to conflict between the
ministries and departments.
• v) The Govt may not attract the best talent from the private sector through lateral
entry because of a huge amount of disparity between salary and other service
conditions in the private sector and government.
• vi)It can also lead to a decline in the motivation levels of IAS officers as their
career opportunities can come down due to lateral entry. It can also result in
conflict between IAS officers and specialists recruited through lateral entry.
• 2nd ARC recommended lateral entry into civil services in a progressive manner.
At present, there are 350 officers working in various ministries and departments
recruited through lateral entry.
• Over a period of time, the Govt must convert generalist IAS officers into
specialists through domain expertise.
• Mission Karmayogi was launched in 2020 to realize this objective.

The politicization of Civil services [05:46 pm]

• Parliamentary democracy functions on the basis of a balanced polity. The political
executive is responsible for Policy formulation and Bureaucracy for its
implementation.
• Bureaucracy is expected to provide unbiased meritorious, and impartial
suggestions to Political executives in policy formulation.
• Bureaucracy must be given complete independence to implement policies strictly
according to rules and regulations.
• Articles 309, 310, and 311 provide security of tenure. They cannot be removed by
any other authority which is lower in the hierarchy than the authority that
appointed them. They are appointed by the President of India. This security of
tenure is given to them to ensure their independent functioning.
• At the same time, the Political executive is also given the power to control the
functioning of the Bureaucracy. This is to ensure democratic control over
Bureaucratic functioning.
• Bureaucrats are controlled through instruments like postings, transfers,
promotions, positions, suspensions, and removals. This led to the politicization of
Bureaucracy.
• As rightly pointed out by the 2nd ARC, there is only ex-ante accountability of
civil servants to their political masters i.e. the minister evaluated the performance
of bureaucrats in terms of the ability of bureaucrats to implement the orders given
by him.
• Neither the Constitution nor civil services conduct rules and regulations give any
power to the Bureaucracy to reject unconstitutional and illegal orders by political
executives.
 • On the other hand, the political executive can take disciplinary action against civil
servants for insubordination, if the orders are not implemented.
• It has resulted in the politicization of civil services both at the central as well as at
state levels.
• In recent times, the country also witnessed post-retirement positions for retired
bureaucrats.
• The political executive is willing to give their most loyal bureaucrats with post-
retirement positions in various central secretariat organizations.

• Suggestions
• 2nd ARC recommended setting up of a Central civil services board to determine
all career-related aspects of civil servants including their promotions, transfers,
postings, suspensions, and others.
• They should be decided on the basis of objective performance evaluation to
completely depoliticize the functioning of civil services.
• ii) 2nd ARC also recommended that ex Post (after the event takes place)
accountability be replaced with ex Ante (before the event takes place)
accountability i.e. Civil servants should be given the freedom to reject any
unconstitutional order by their political masters.
• While doing so, they cannot be punished for insubordination. Civil services
conduct rules and regulations of 1959 and 1964 can be amended to include the
changes to depoliticize the functioning of Civil Services.
• iii) Govt should also end this practice of post-retirement positions to retired
Bureaucrats.
• It reduces the scope for promotions for existing bureaucrats. It also sends a signal
that only loyal bureaucrats will be rewarded. It can adversely impact the impartial
functioning of the bureaucracy.

Accountability of Civil servants [06:20 pm]

• In a parliamentary democracy, Civil servants are not directly accountable to
citizens for their performance.
• They are only accountable to their superiors and to their political masters, which
has mostly resulted in the politicization of Civil services.
• It has also made Bureaucracy inefficient as there are no accountability
mechanisms.

• Solutions
• i) Individual accountability of Bureaucracy can be ensured by implementing
various governance reforms.
• ii) Reports of social audit committees can be used to evaluate the performance of
Civil servants working at the field level. It can fix the accountability of
bureaucracy directly toward citizens.
• iii) Implementation of RTI both in letter and spirit can ensure complete
transparency in governance. This transparency can ultimately lead to
accountability.
• iii) Time limit can be fixed for the disposal of files by bureaucrats working at
different levels in the hierarchy to improve their efficiency and also to fix
accountability.
• iv) E-governance can also be used to fox accountability on the part of Civil
servants. Citizen charters can be made popular with the help of e-governance so
 that citizens can demand quality service delivery mechanisms which can ultimately
make the Bureaucracy accountable
• v) Many states have also implemented public service delivery acts to fix
accountability on the part of bureaucrats. Their promotions can be linked to their
performance in implementing citizen charters and public service delivery acts.

• Training of Civil Servants [06:47 pm]

• Training of Civil servants happens at two different stages in their career
• i) Induction training
• ii) In-service training
• Induction training is given at the time of joining Civil services whereas in-service
training is given to improve their performance during their tenure.
• It has been found that Civil servants have failed to cope with fast-changing
developments in political, economic, technological, social, and cultural systems.
• Most of the structural reforms have not realized their pre-defined objectives due to
the inefficiency of civil servants.
• Their status quo attitude and over-emphasis on rules and regulations, unwillingness
to take up responsibilities, and failure to involve stakeholders in a multi-actor
paradigm model of governance have resulted in the overall failure of Civil
servants.
• Mission Karmayogi was launched by the Govt in 2020 as part of Atmanirbhar
Bharat Abhiyan.
• The objective is to improve the capacity building of Civil servants by changing
their attitudes and also by improving their skills and capabilities.

• Objectives of Mission Karmayogi

• Supporting the transition from rule-based services by shifting the focus from off-
site learning to on-site learning (from academic to field level training)
• To make available to all civil servants an opportunity to continuously build and
strengthen their behavioral, functional, and domain competencies.
• To make civil servants more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative,
proactive, progressive, professional, energetic, transparent, and technology-
enabled. The focus will be on efficient service delivery mechanisms of the highest
quality standards.
• This training program will be delivered by I-GoT(integrated govt online training
program) Karmayogi platform.
• 46 lakh govt employees will benefit from this program. A total sum of 510 crores
RS will be spent over a period of 5 years from 2020-2025.

• Answer writing was discussed [07:10 pm]

• Structure of answer:

• Introduction - Focus on the Why of the question rather than the what. It should
cover approximately 15-20 % of your answer. Should be impactful and unique to
grab the attention of the examiner.
• Explanation - Multiple dimensions should be covered (example – cultural
dimension, political dimension, economic dimension, social dimension and then
link all these dimensions together). It should cover approximately 80% of your
total answer. Always support with facts.
 • Conclusion - Should give suggestions, and it should be futuristic, problem-solving,
optimistic. Always write the conclusion in a manner which gives the impression of
you analyzing and not just simply providing facts.
• Always write in points and avoid long paragraphs.
• For a 10 marks q not more than 6 minutes.

QUESTION DISCUSSION AND ANSWER WRITING.

Q.) Reforming the government delivery system through the direct benefit transfer scheme is a
progressive step, but it has limitations too. Comment.
Ans) India has opted for a welfare state immediately after independence.
100s of developmental schemes were implemented and it resulted in massy levels of
corruption. Out of every 100 rupees spent by the government only 15 rupees is benefitting the
poorest sections. (Quote by Rajiv Gandhi) ……