Administrative Reforms in India

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this report is to examine the changes in the administrative system in India in relation with various challenges for the administration and future prospects of the reforms.

Methodology: The report is mainly based on the secondary sources of information and it uses a combination of descriptive and analytical methods as well as inductive and deductive methodology.

Findings: The report shows that although there have been several committees and commissions making a plethora of recommendations, the implementation is largely missing. The public bureaucracy in India continues to suffer from inefficiencies, unwarranted delays, corruption, political interference, lack of specialization and a host of other problems.

Introduction

Administration is the systematic use of resources in pursuit of a conscious purpose. The word administration has been derived from Latin word ‘adminstrare’ meaning ‘to serve’. In the realm of public governance administration in the words of Woodrow Wilson, the father of Science of Public Administration is “the government in action, the executive, the operative”. More significantly in the 21st century it is being interpreted within widest possible margins to include the role as policy maker, giving direction to the economy and fore looking in the era of globalization.

Thus administration is virtually operating at the heart of modern nation states performing a plethora of roles in terms of giving momentum to the democratically elected government at various levels of federalism in India, operating several public services, maintenance of political stability, generating the public opinion, performing regulatory functions for economy, maintaining law and order in the country.

How is administration linked to environment?

Therefore by its nature and scope of duties, administration has a basic linkage with the environment. Administration works for the society, the economy and the polity. However the human environment is dynamic. The pace of scientific research and subsequent technological developments have created an element of uncertainty and along side created huge challenges for the administration. The spread of US financial crisis to the globe resulting into global economic slowdown indicates the level of integration in a globalized world.

When the environment changes, the administration has to change because it cannot work in isolation, it has to establish a synchronization with the social, economic and political sphere of the environmental system. There is a state of constant interaction between administration and environment. Thus there is an everlasting need for inducing changes in the administration which leads us to the issue of administrative reforms.

Administrative Reforms:

Administrative Reform in the words of Gerald Caiden are “artificial inducement of administrative transformation against resistance”.

Environment

Administration

Environment

Change in Environment

Need for change in Administration

Leads to

John Montgomery has defined it as, “Political process that adjusts the relationship between a bureaucracy and other elements of society, or within the bureaucracy itself, in order to change the behavior of public service.”

Thus ‘administrative reform’ is a value pregnant concept. It is a planned exercise and goal-oriented, the goals are set by the large polity and are thus societal in origin and legitimacy.

These are conscious changes brought about in the system of administration to correlate with the environment. It usually is introduced to improve the capacities of the system to make it capable of performing the tasks in the new environment. The realm of administrative reforms has become now a core area of research and study especially in the developing countries such as those of South Asia.

Administration has been a universal process and it existed much before even when the science of administration as an academic endeavor began in the 18th and 19th century. The modern states have evolved over a period of time some going through tumultuous phases of rapid transition from feudalism to democracy whereas some going through steady phases of changes ultimately resulting into contemporary formats. These transitory periods have seen various changes in the respective administrative systems.

Significance of Administrative Reforms:

The developing countries have widespread challenges in terms of poverty, education, decent standard of living and adequate employment opportunities. The resources to achieve these elements of development are limited. The success of the planned system of resource utilization followed as a conscious policy decision to achieve the objectives largely depends upon the delivery mechanisms. If the resources are to be utilized efficiently and are intended to make the impact improving the lives of common man and in the words of Jawaharlal Nehru, “opening to them opportunities for a richer and more varied life” (8 December 1952, parliament, during presentation of Ist Five Year Plan). Around two decades ago, Lt Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi lamented that only sixteen paisa of every one rupee spent by the government reaches the needy poor citizens. It is almost ironical that the fact was repeated by none other than the Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission recently.

Prof R.K Sapru rightly remarks in “Development Administration”, 1994, that the current challenges are not economic or political but administrative.

Scope of administrative Reforms:

The process of administration is universal. The transition of India like many other countries into a welfare state derived from the Constitution of India, resulted in to tremendous expansion of the functions of the state which further increased the size of bureaucracy. Administrative reforms thus in India have a wide scope which includes several aspects.

Institutional Reforms:Institutions are the basic blocks of any administrative system. For example, election commission is an institution which has over the last 60 years successfully conducted elections in India at central and state level. Institutional reforms call for setting up new structures which can preserve the democratic framework of governance in the country.

Procedural Reforms:The systems, methods of doing work in organizations constitute the procedures. With the dawn of technological revolution, this aspect has emerged as the most dynamic. Several committees and commissions have stressed upon the need to reform the methods of doing work. The bureaucratic organizational structure often introduces delay in the organizations which is root cause of corruption.

Personnel Reforms:“Personnel is the sovereign factor in administration”, remarked Herman Finer, Theory and practice of modern government, 1932. These include basic changes in the recruitment, training of personnel, the performance assessment, ethics of personnel

Scope ofAdministrati

veReforms

Decentralization

Financial Reforms

Institutional orOrganizational

Personnel Reforms

Citizen GovtInteraction

Procedural Reforms

involved in the administration etc. In this area some initiatives have been taken, but those remain far from being part of a systematic action plan for modernizing the civil services in India.

Financial Reforms:Finance is as universal in administration as oxygen in atmosphere. The financial reforms call for shift in the government financial procedures, budgeting, accounting and auditing functions. India still follows the traditional system of budgeting in departments of central government and state governments. The parliamentary audit has largely become a formal process with government escaping the accountability through delays in presenting the action taken reports on CAG’s observations.

Citizen Government Interaction:Democracy is a system of government of the people, by the people and for the people. The raison d'être of a government is the citizen. The effectiveness of the governance to a large extent depends on the nature of citizen government interaction. A poor interface between the two leads to inability of the government to deliver the basic services meant for the poor and also to perpetual dissatisfaction of the citizens towards the government.

Decentralization:The vision of Mahatma Gandhi was realization of local governance through self governance. The decentralization of administrative set up mandated under the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments still has not been achieved in letter and spirit. A large and ethnically diverse country like India can achieve the ideal intersection of democracy and federalism through application of democratic decentralization. However this is yet to become a complete reality and is evident from a perusal of ‘The State of Panchayats — A Mid-Term Appraisal’ (Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India, 2006). It revealed that only Assam, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Tripura had devolved all the 29 subjects on the PRIs through their respective Panchayati Raj Acts.

Corruption and Immorality:All our efforts to achieve rapid and inclusive growth are being thwarted due to the widespread corruption. Unless the governance mechanisms are transparent and corruption free, the basic services will be out of reach of the poor and vulnerable.

“Corruption and hypocrisy not ought to be inevitable products of a democracy as they inevitable are today”,

- Mahatma Gandhi

India has over the years fallen in Transparency International Corruption Index dropping as low to 87th position in 2009. Public scams involving high level politicians and bureaucrats only erode the confidence of people hitting right at the fabric of democracy.

Transparent and Accountable Administration:Public Accountability and Public relations are the key aspects of public administration in a democracy. Transparency is the free flow of information to the citizens. “Everybody knows corruption thrives in secret places”, remarked Woodrow Wilson. The Right to Information Act, 2005 enforced on 13 October, 2005 is causing major shift in power from the corridors of bureaucracy to the citizens. Accountability flows from information but this is only aspect in our governance setup which is based on the system of checks and balances.

Reforms in India, Looking with Hindsight:

Reforms during British Times

The British after assuming control of the India, systematically tried to induce changes in the administrative system.Cornwallis in late 18th century was charged by the directors of the British East India Company to overhaul and reform its administration in India.

Cornwallis inaugurated the policy of making appointments mainly on the basis of merit thereby laying the foundation of the Indian Civil Service. He also introduced the much admired system of District Magistrate in the country. In 1829 Lord William Bentick introduced the Divisional Commissioner system. In 1861, the organized system of Police was started with the control of police in the district being given to DM, and he was to be the head of all government departments in district.

The British took certain measures to induce decentralization in the system. The first step in the direction of separating central and provincial finances was taken in 1870 by Lord Mayo.

Reforms since Independence

India at the time of independence emerged as a highly impoverished country. The system of administration developed during the British no longer could serve the need and aspirations of the people. India got independence in 1947 after 300 years of alien rule.

In 1948, the Government set up, the “Economy committee” to review the increase in the civil expenditure of the central government since 1938-39 and to make recommendations for the promotion of true economy in the administration by the elimination of unnecessary, wasteful and extravagant expenditure.

A year later, N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar, a civil servant reported on the organizational and procedural changes, in his “Report on Reorganization of the Government Machinery”. He recommended for grouping of central governmental ministries into four bureaus: Bureau of Natural Resources & Agriculture, Bureau of Industry & Commerce, Bureau of Transport & Communications and Bureau of Labor & Social Services.

In 1950, at the instance of Planning Commission A.D.Gorwala, a retired Civil Servant submitted two reports- ‘Report on Public Administration’ and ‘Report on the Efficient Conduct of State Enterprises’.

Another Civil Servant, R. A. Gopalaswami submitted in 1952 a memorandum to the cabinet secretary on improving the efficiency in the secretariat.

A bigger milestone in the history of administrative reforms was in the form of two reports by Paul H. Appleby, an American expert on public administration submitted in 1953 and 1956 two reports – ‘Public Administration in India: Report of a Survey’ and ‘Re-examination of India’s Administrative System with Special Reference to Administration of Government Industrial and Commercial Enterprise’.

Among the twelve recommendations made, the two recommendations on the setting up of an O&M (Organization and Methods) organization in the central government and of an Institute of Public Administration was realized.

In 1954, Asoka Chanda submitted his report entitled “Notes on changes Necessary in system of Budgetary and Financial Control and in other Matters” to eliminate delays in execution of projects” at the instance of Jawaharlal Nehru.

In the same year of 1954 a standing machinery for administrative improvement was set up in the shape of the O&M division. In 1964 the O&M division was merged with the Dept of Administrative reforms. The O&M division was located in the Cabinet Secretariat so that it could function directly under the Prime Minister and thus secure better cooperation and collaboration from other ministries and departments in the central government as well as from the states. In 1960, the Planning Commission asked V.T. Krishnamachari to study the questions relating to administrative personnel at different levels in the states, and the issues arising from the introduction of democratic institutions at the district and block levels and suggestions for improvements. The report was submitted in 1962 and by and large the government accepted all his recommendations.

In 1963, a “Committee on Prevention of Corruption” under the chairmanship of K. Santhanam (then a Member of Parliament) was formulated which presented its report in 1964. The Committee recommended for setting up of an organization to be called “Central Vigilance Commission” armed with adequate powers. The committee recommended a code of conduct for ministers on par with the Chief Ministers of all states.

The Government appointed a high-power Administrative Reform Commission (ARC) in 1966, with Morarji Desai as its chairman and on his becoming Deputy Prime Minister, K. Hanumanthaiya, took over from him.

The First Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) was set up in 1966. The ARC set up 20 study teams, 13 working groups and 1 Task Force. It gave 20 Reports making a total of 581 recommendations in a period spread over 1966-70.It gave Reports on the following subjects:

Machinery of Government of India and its procedures. Personnel Administration. Redress of Citizen’s Grievances. Centre-State Relations. State Administration. Administration of Union Territories. Machinery for Planning. Economic Administration. Finance, Accounts and Audit. Delegation of Financial and Administrative Powers. Railways. Post and Telegraph and others

Studies/Reports after the First Administrative Reforms Commission

Committee on Recruitment Policy and Selection Methods (D.S.Kothari)-1976 Economic Reforms Commission under the chairmanship of LK Jha (1980) The Commission on Centre-State Relations (Sarkaria)-1983.

The Fourth Central Pay Commission Report-1986 The Committee to Review the Scheme of the Civil Services Examination

(Satish Chandra, 1989) The Economic Administration Reforms Commission. The Fifth Pay Commission (1993) Surendra Nath’s Committee Report (2003) Committee on Civil Services Reforms (2004)

Analysis:

Major Issue areas in Indian Administration:The major challenges or reforms areas in Indian administration are:

(1) Efficiency and Economy- This has turned out into a major challenge of Indian administration. The basic reason for this is that in any administrative system it is 1required to augment its capacities in order to suit the requirements of the environment but we are sticking to age old practices. Since we are a transition economy facing acute developmental challenges, the efficient and economical administrative system is need of the time.

(2) Specialization- This is age of technology and specialization. For an administration to become more efficient and economic specialization is a prerequisite. The functions of administration have diversified to various areas these days, the saying that administration is in from “womb to tomb” is not inappropriate. Openness for the administration to per form these jobs efficiently specialization has been turned out into an important challenge of administration.

(3) Administration and Development of Personnel- Personnel forms the backbone of every organization. An effective and smooth functioning personnel system is very important for the efficient administration. We are facing many challenges on this front, the important being lack of responsibility and accountability on the part of employees. This has an important negative effect in achieving our developmental goals.

(4) Integrity in Public Service- The one factor which has emerged as the most important challenge for our administrative system is the lack of integrity in public service. The concept of an efficient and effective administration relies heavily on the integrity of the public service. The Indian administrative system is witnessing a huge lack of integrity nowadays; corruption is pervasive and is hampering the cause of the development. One of the basic reasons sighted for the corruption is the lack of administrative ethics among our public servants. This has been pointed out by many reforms committees and honorable Supreme Court of India. Thus we can say that integrity in public service is one of the major challenges of our administration.

(5) Responsiveness and Public Accountability-The responsive, value based administration and public accountability is the major block on which reforms are required in an immediate way. Since the challenges before India are not only to guide our country towards development but also to carry forward the masses who are lagging behind. Since ours is diverse country with a very complex society with each having its distinct requirements. The administration has to be responsive in order to address the requirements of

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every section of the society so that sustainable and equitable growth could be achieved. Public accountability is another important aspect of administrative reforms. This has become all more important with the rise huge number of scams and reports of wastage of public money. The accountability towards public is required to arrest these shortcomings.

(6) Decentralization and Democratization- For an administration to become more responsible and responsive the decision making and implementation powers should have to be devolved to the grassroots. This not only provides more accurate and suitable decision making but also the participation of the civil society which is an important aspect of the democratic system of government. This has also important effect on bringing more transparency and accountability in the administration. We have started the process of decentralization way back by divulging many functions to Panchayats and municipalities. But after almost two decades the actual decentralization of powers that is finance and functionaries is not being done in an appropriate manner. To realize the dream of equitable and democratic development it is need of the hour to bring about required reforms in this area so that administration could reach to the lowermost people.

Suggestions:(1) The recommendations of second ARC are very important and exhaustive.

Although at one go its hard to implement but wee need to implement it an effective manner1.

(2) We need to give more teeth to CVC. The CVC should we provided an independent investigating agency apart from that CVC should we provided the power of making suo motu inquiry.

(3) Lokayukta bill should be passed immediately. This agency will have statutory, effective and independent investigating and prosecuting multidisciplinary agency paid from consolidated fund of India.

(4) In the political wing of the Government some reforms are very necessary .The major concern being criminalization of politics and rising inefficiency of our politicians. Reforms are required in people’s representation act, 1951 to arrest the trend of criminalization of politics. Money power is another gray area of politics, election commission should have to place a proper mechanism such as efficient auditing to curb this practice.

(5) Some reforms are urgently needed in judiciary as the selection procedure of judges. Besides that the proposed Judicial Standards and Accountability Bill should be passed immediately.

(6) The whistleblower’s Act should be passed.

(7) Although RTI is doing a good job, but more information about RTI to general public should be disseminated. Voluntary disclosure of information should be encouraged.

(8) For effective implementation of government schemes, the social audit mechanism should be followed effectively. For that mechanism like SSAT (society for social audit accountability transparency) an institutional agency in A.P. meant for social audit could be put in place2.

(9) We are encouraging participation of NGOs in implementation of many programmes. Lot of finances are provided to them but without any accountability we need to put in place some mechanism like “NGOs Norms and Standards” mechanism to fix their accountability.

(10) Corporate governance should have to be put in place in order to protect investors and smooth functioning of markets.

(11) Media is an important organ of Democracy. In recent times lots of controversies are associated with media such as paid news. Reforms in media are also required to make it more accountable and transparent.

(12) The panchayats and municipalities are facing serious lacunae in implementing the programmes assigned to them. The major factor for that is lack of finances innovative mechanism like municipal bonds should be encouraged to overcome this challenge3.

(13) Community budgeting concept should be followed at the grassroots level organizations4.

(14) Like Singapore we can follow Strategic civil service concept. In this concept civil servants are pre pared to meet the future challenges.

(15) We need to put 360 degree type performance appraisal mechanism in place.

(16) Citizen Charter scheme should be implemented more effectively.

(17) Use of technology such as mobile telephony should be encouraged to reach to the last person. Using technology information regarding prices, distribution of food grains through PDS could be disseminated.

(18) Coupon system could be introduced in PDS to reduce malpractices as suggested in Economic Survey5.

Future Prospects:

The new era of globalization and liberalization demand a new paradigm for governance. The citizens are increasingly becoming aware of their rights. The governments in developing countries entrusted with the responsibility of providing modern ways of life can not afford to delay the reform process. The Weberian model of bureaucracy is everywhere out of favor and is to give way to a more creative system marked by flexibility, innovativeness, consultative spirit, result orientation.The administration must seek a qualitative departure form old ways of doing work which are characterized by rigidity, inefficiency and delays. In short, in the words of Gaebler and Osborne, the public administration is in urgent need of reinventing.The elected governments in India at both Central and State level has taken several steps as per the recommendations of various hitherto mentioned committees.

Implementation

The last 60 years have witnessed formation of several august committees displaying government eagerness to induce conscious changes in the administrative system to propel India on the path of development. However even after voluminous work, much is still unaccomplished. The key for administrative reforms therefore lies in the implementation of these recommendations.

“For the forms of government let the fools contest, What is administered best is the best”.

- Alexander Pope

Implementation is an integral part of administrative reform. This must be emphatically underlined, for in India implementation has always been sporadic and hesitant. Lord Curzon highlighted this weakness by remarking, “Government here has

become very ponderous and slow. When I suggest six weeks, the attitude is one of pained surprise; if six days, one of pathetic protest; if six hours, one of stupedified resignation.1

A.K Hanumanthia, Chairman Ist ARC remarked, “Our bureaucracy has virtually the capacity to set at naught the recommendation of any administrative reforms body no matter how august it may be”.

Whatever the form of effort, several prerequisites are essential for that success of administrative reform. Various Steps for Implementation:

1. Getting the Required Political Support including the will at the apex level. This is vital to enable those responsible for reform to overcome resistance and ensure implementation.

2. Demonstrating the benefits of such administrative reforms. The chief executive must also understand comprehensively the reform process and command able leadership at all times.

3. Motivating the Civil Servants to aggressively pursue for changes in the system. The maximum resistance is offered by career civil servants. They have to be made a part of the process and must be motivated to take the lead.

4. Setting a timeline for implementation of the reforms. 5. Creating a Central Monitoring Organization under the chief executive tasked

with constant oversight on the reform activities being undertaken in various departments.

6. Creating widespread citizen awareness and building public pressure to fast track the pace of implementation.

7. Garnering Civil Society organizations support including the media.8. Reform is a continuous process and not a one time job. Efficiency is not a

matter of chance but it must be ensured.-

Two Facets for administrative reforms

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