PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
PAPER – I
Administrative Theory
1. Introduction:
Meaning, scope and significance of Public Administration; Wilson’s vision of Public
Administration; Evolution of the discipline and its present status; New Public
Administration; Public Choice approach; Challenges of liberalization, Privatisation,
Globalisation; Good Governance: concept and application; New Public Management.
2. Administrative Thought:
Scientific Management and Scientific Management movement; Classical Theory;
Weber’s bureaucratic model—its critique and post-Weberian Developments; Dynamic
Administration (Mary Parker Follett); Human Relations School (Elton Mayo and others);
Functions of the Executive (C.I. Barnard); Simon’s decision-making theory; Participative
Management (R. Likert, C.Argyris, D.McGregor).
3. Administrative Behaviour:
Process and techniques of decision-making; Communication; Morale; Motivation
Theories—content, process and contemporary; Theories of Leadership: Traditional and
Modern.
4. Organisations:
Theories—systems, contingency; Structure and forms: Ministries and Departments,
Corporations, Companies, Boards and Commissions;
Ad hoc and advisory bodies; Headquarters and Field relationships; Regulatory
Authorities; Public-Private Partnerships.
5. Accountability and control:
Concepts of accountability and control; Legislative, Executive and Judicial control over
administration; Citizen and Administration; Role of media, interest groups, voluntary
organizations; Civil society; Citizen’s Charters; Right to Information; Social audit.
6. Administrative Law:
Meaning, scope and significance; Dicey on Administrative law; Delegated legislation;
Administrative Tribunals.
7. Comparative Public Administration:
Historical and sociological factors affecting administrative systems; Administration and
politics in different countries; Current status of Comparative Public Administration;
Ecology and administration; Riggsian models and their critique.
8. Development Dynamics:
Concept of development; Changing profile of development administration; ‘Anti-
development thesis’; Bureaucracy and development; Strong state versus the market
debate; Impact of liberalisation on administration in developing countries; Women and
development—the self-help group movement.
9. Personnel Administration:
Importance of human resource development; Recruitment, training, career advancement,
position classification, discipline, performance appraisal, promotion, pay and service
conditions; employer-employee relations, grievance redressal mechanism; Code of
conduct; Administrative ethics.
10. Public Policy:
Models of policy-making and their critique; Processes of conceptualisation, planning,
implementation, monitoring, evaluation and review and their limitations; State theories
and public policy formulation.
11. Techniques of Administrative Improvement:
Organisation and methods, Work study and work management;
e-governance and information technology; Management aid tools like network analysis,
MIS, PERT, CPM.
12. Financial Administration:
Monetary and fiscal policies; Public borrowings and public debt Budgets- types and
forms; Budgetary process; Financial accountability; Accounts and audit.
PAPER - II
Indian Administration :
1. 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.
2. Philosophical and Constitutional framework of Government:
Salient features and value premises; Constitutionalism; Political culture; Bureaucracy and
democracy; Bureaucracy and development.
3. Public Sector Undertakings:
Public sector in modern India; Forms of Public Sector Undertakings; Problems of
autonomy, accountability and control; Impact of liberalization and privatization.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. District Administration since Independence:
Changing role of the Collector; Union-state-local relations; Imperatives of development
management and law and order administration; District administration and democratic
decentralization.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. Administrative Reforms since Independence:
Major concerns; Important Committees and Commissions; Reforms in financial
management and human resource development; Problems of implementation.
11. Rural Development:
Institutions and agencies since independence; Rural development programmes: foci and
strategies; Decentralization and Panchayati Raj; 73rd Constitutional amendment.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. Significant issues in Indian Administration :
Values in public service; Regulatory Commissions; National Human Rights Commission;
Problems of administration in coalition regimes; Citizen-administration; inter—face;
Corruption and administration Disaster management.
