Public Administration
Paper-I :
Administrative Theory
The historical dimension of Public Administration - Wilson’s Vision.
Major paradigms in the evolution of the discipline and its present status.
British philosophy of Public Administration.
Re-conceptualization of Public Administration: (i)Minnowbrook I, Minnowbrook II,
Minnowbrook III; (ii) Development Administration and its changing profile; (iii) Comparative
Public Administration and the search for theories; (iv) Gender and administration.
Comparative study of Administrative systems: U.K., France, U.S.A, Brazil and China developments since 1980s.
Masters of Administrative thought and critical evaluation of their contributions: F. W. Taylor,
Karl Marx, Max Weber, Chester I. Barnard, M.P Follett, Elton Mayo, Herbert A. Simon, Harold
Lasswell, Fred W. Riggs, Geoffrey Vickers, Dwight Waldo, Yehezkel Dror.
Non-Western tradition in Public Administration: Sun-tzu, M. K. Gandhi, Mao, Nyerere.
Theories of Public Administration: (i) theories of public control of bureaucracy; (ii) theories of
bureaucratic politics; (iii) Public Institutional Theory; (iv) theories of public management; (v)
theories of public choice; (vi) post-positivist theories – (a) Critical Theory of Public Organization,
(b) Postmodernism and Poststructuralism in Public Administration.
Public Administration and governance – (i) government and governance; (ii) Good Governanceconcept, evolution and applications; (iii) Democratic Governance-concept and
contextualization; (iv) E-Government, E-Governance and M-Governance.
(i) Organization Theory: Classical, Neo-Classical, Systems, Structural, Structural-Functional, neoHuman Relations, Pluralist, Organizational- Social Psychological, Strategic-contingencies,
Market, Interpretive-Critical.
(ii) Organizational decision-making: (a) Synoptic or Rational- Deductive (Dewey); (b)
Incremental and Mutual Partisan Adjustment (C.E. Lindblom); (c) Disjointed Incremental (D.
Braybrooke and C.E. Lindblom); (d) Mixed Scanning (A. Etzioni).
Administration and organizational culture- social political and economic determinants.
Modern Organization in society- creativity factor- motivation and needs (Abraham Maslow, R.
Likert, C. Argyris, D. McGregor, John Herzberg) – alternative organizational assumptions about
people and Psychological Contract: Rational Economic Man, Social Man, Self-Actualizing Man,
Complex Man – Aliens and Locals.
Leadership as: ‘Influential Increment’, manager of environmental contingencies, event
management, situated action, management of meaning, negotiation, upward influence.
Approaches to organizational communication (processes of socialization, conflict management,
organizational change and leadership, organizational diversity, technology).
Organizational rationality: theoretical evolution.
Public Policy Making – Concepts, models and its critique.
Public Policy Analysis – Various approaches at:
Formulation stage – (a) Output Studies (Dawson and Robinson), (b) Policy content (T.A.Lowi, Ira
Sharkansky),
Implementation (N.Pressman, A. Wildavsky, George C. Edwards),
Evaluation (David Nachmias, H.E.Freeman and Ilene N. Bernstein).
New developments in ‘policy’ analysis (Paul A. Sabatier and J.W.Kingdon).
Rethinking the development dynamics: `Anti-Development Thesis’; democracy, bureaucracy
and development; development and Non-State Actors; Sovereign State, Supermarket State and
development; human development; gendered development.
Administration in society-(i) administrators; promoters, resisters, accommodators, detractors;
(ii) accountability and control-(a) legislative, executive and judicial control, (ii) role of media,
civil society organizations and NGOs, (c) judicial activism, (d) whistle blowers, (e) Ombudsman,
(f) Citizens’ Charter, Right to Information, Social Audit.
Techniques of Administrative Improvement – (i) Social Impact Assessment, (ii) CBA, (iii)
Network Analysis, MIS, PERT, CPM, (iv) Forms of budget and budgetary processes; (v) MBO; (vi)
Public Program Evaluation.
Ethics in Governance-issues and institutions; Public Administrator’s ethical involvement –
Applied ethical choice and its tools and concepts; Administrative corruption-problems and
remedies; Relationship between political and career executives-ethical dimensions.
Administrative Law - Meaning, scope and significance; Administrative Law in France, U. K. and
Germany.
Concept and theories of Local Government - Alexis de Tocqueville, John Stuart Mill,
M.K.Gandhi, Cynthia Cockburn, Manuel Castells.
Public Administration: emerging crisis and new directions.
PAPER II: Indian Administration
Evolution of Indian Administration:
Kautilya’s Arthashastra; “Artha” as political economy; law – seven elements of State; Civil Service and Personnel
Administration; Corruption: forms and redressal.
Medieval Administration:
Administrative thought: (a) Barni: Tariak-i-ferozeshahi, Fatwa-i-Jahandari; (b) Abul Fazal: Ain-i-Akbari.
Administrative Practices: (a) Sher Shah: Land Revenue Administration; (b) Akbar: Secular Administration; Land
Revenue Administration.
Salient features of Medieval administration.
British Influence:
Legacy of British Rule in politics and administration: Indianization of public services, revenue administration,
district administration, Local Self Government.
Philosophical and Constitutional Framework of Government:
Salient features and value premises; Constitutionalism; Political culture; Bureaucracy and democracy; Bureaucracy
and development.
Gandhian and Nehruvian approaches to development: critical assessment.
Planning in India:
Origins; Models; Institutions and Mechanisms; Planning Commission= niti aayog; National Development Council;
Process of plan formulation at the Union, the state and local levels.
Public Sector Undertakings:
Growth and decline; Impact of liberalization and privatization; divestment; status of Nav Ratna undertakings;
issues in autonomy, accountability and control.
Union Government and Administration:
Executive, Parliament, Judiciary – structure, functions, work processes; Cabinet Secretariat; Prime Minister’s
Office; Central Secretariat; Ministries and Departments; Boards; Commissions; Attached Offices; Field
Organizations; Regulatory Authorities (SEBI, IRDA, TRAI etc.)
State Government and Administration:
Governor; Chief Minister; Council of Ministers; Chief Secretary; State Secretariat; Directorates; State Finance
Commissions, State control over local governments.
Emerging Trends in Union-State Relations:
Recent trends in inter and intra governmental relations in the context of federalism;
Legislative, administrative and financial relations; Finance Commission; Chief Ministerialization of State
Governments in the contexts of liberalization and coalition governments
District Administration since Independence:
Changing role of the Collector; state-local relations; imperatives of development management and law and order
administration; district administration and democratic decentralization.
Civil Services:
Constitutional position; structure, recruitment, training and capacity-building; Good Governance initiatives;
recommendations of the 5th and 6th Pay Commissions on Civil Services; code of conduct and discipline; staff
associations; political rights; civil service neutrality; civil service activism; administrative corruption.
Grievance Redressal Mechanism:
Lok Pal, Lok Ayukta, CVC, State Vigilance Commissions, Minorities Commission, Women’s Commission, SC/ST
Commission.
Financial Management:
Budget as a political instrument; budget and administered prices; role of finance ministry and RBI in monetary and
fiscal area; budgetary process; Parliamentary control of public expenditure; accounting techniques; audit; role of
Controller General of Accounts and Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Administrative Reforms since Independence:
Major concerns; important committees and commissions; a critical review of ARC I and ARC II; problems of
implementation; Performance Mointoring and Evaluation Systems (PMES) and Results Framework Document(RFD);
social and political obstacles to reform.
Rural Development:
Ideas of Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave and Jayaprakash Narain; institutions and agencies since independence;
rural development programmes; foci and strategies; decentralization and Panchayati Raj; 73rd Constitutional
Amendment and PESA Act.
Urban Local Government:
Municipal governance: main features, structures, finance and problem areas; 74th Constitutional Amendment;
Global-local debate; New Localism; development dynamics, politics and administration with special reference to
city management; specialized agencies in urban development.
Social Welfare Administration:
Social policies and legislations since Independence; institutions and agencies; vertical national development
programmes in the areas of poverty alleviation; employment generation, rural and urban housing, health,
education and women’s empowerment. Role of NGOs SHGs. Tribal development administration.
Human Rights Administration:
National Human Rights Commission; State Human Rights Commissions; role of civil liberty groups.
Law and Order Administration:
British legacy; National Police Commission; Investigative agencies; role of central and state agencies including
paramilitary forces in maintenance of law and order and countering insurgency and terrorism; criminalization of
politics and administration; police-public relations; reforms in Police.
Crisis Administration:
Disaster management – nature and types of disasters – role of governments, NGOs Mass Media; institutional
framework for disaster management at the central, state and local levels.
Water management in the context of emerging problems of Waterlordism;
Environment and sustainable development.
Contemporary issues in Indian Administration:
Problems of administration in coalition regimes; SEZ; land acquisition for development; women in administration –
glass ceiling and sexual violence; transparency and RTI; liberal economic reforms; NGOs, CSOs and development;
corporate social responsibility.