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Public Administration Syllabus

January 15, 2023 by admin Leave a Comment


Paper – I Administrative Theory

1. Introduction: 

  • Meaning, scope, and significance of Public Administration ( Extra: nature 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, and 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 – 2 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, and 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 interface
  • Corruption and administration
  • Disaster management

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