Paper 2
Indian Administration
A. Evolution of Indian Administration
- Kautilya’s Arthashastra;
- Mughal administration; Legacy of British rule in politics and administration – Indianization of public services, revenue administration, district administration, local self-government.
B. Philosophical and Constitutional framework of government
- Salient features and value premises;
- Constitutionalism;
- Political culture;
- Bureaucracy and democracy;
- Bureaucracy and development.
C. Public Sector Undertakings
- Public sector in modern India;
- Forms of Public Sector Undertakings;
- Problems of autonomy, accountability and control;
- Impact of liberalization and privatization.
D. Union Government and Administration
- Executive, Parliament, Judiciary – structure, functions, work processes;
- Recent trends;
- Intragovernmental relations;
- Cabinet Secretariat;
- Prime Minister’s Office;
- Central Secretariat;
- Ministries and Departments;
- Boards; Commissions;
- Attached offices;
- Field organizations.
E. Plans and Priorities
- Machinery of planning;
- Role, composition and functions of the Planning Commission and the National Development Council;
- ‘Indicative’ planning;
- Process of plan formulation at Union and State levels;
- Constitutional Amendments (1992) and decentralized planning for economic development and social justice.
F. State Government and Administration
- Union-State administrative, legislative and financial relations;
- Role of the Finance Commission;
- Governor; Chief Minister;
- Council of Ministers;
- Chief Secretary;
- State Secretariat;
- Directorates.
G. District Administration since Independence
- Changing role of the Collector;
- Unionstate- local relations;
- Imperatives of development management and law and order administration;
- District administration and democratic decentralization.
H. Civil Services
- Constitutional position;
- Structure, recruitment, training and capacity-building;
- Good governance initiatives;
- Code of conduct and discipline;
- Staff associations;
- Political rights;
- Grievance redressal mechanism;
- Civil service neutrality;
- Civil service activism.
I. Financial Management
- Budget as a political instrument;
- Parliamentary control of public expenditure;
- Role of finance ministry in monetary and fiscal area;
- Accounting techniques;
- Audit;
- Role of Controller General of Accounts and Comptroller and Auditor General of India
J. Administrative Reforms since Independence
- Major concerns;
- Important Committees and Commissions;
- Reforms in financial management and human resource development;
- Problems of implementation.
K. Rural Development
- Institutions and agencies since independence;
- Rural development programmes: foci and strategies;
- Decentralization and Panchayati Raj;
- 73rd Constitutional amendment.
L. 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.
M. 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;
- Criminalisation of politics and administration;
- Police- public relations;
- Reforms in Police.
N. Significant issues in Indian Administration
- Values in public service;
- Regulatory Commissions;
- National Human Rights Commission;
- Problems of administration in coalition regimes;
- Citizen-administration interface;
- Corruption and administration;
- Disaster management.