SYNOPSIS: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OPTIONAL – Paper 2- TLP UPSC Mains Answer Writing [25th August, 2020] – Day 15

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1. Is there a need for 3rd ARC for India? If so, suggest some reforms which you feel could be included in the list.                            15 marks (250 words)

Approach 

This is a futuristic question; and there is no model answer for it. Try to provide creative ideas and reforms. The selection and rendering of your suggestions will be evaluated here.

From Paper1

We can suggest some of the international best practices as the needed reforms. However, the thinkers, quotes and keywords from the 1st paper are mandatory as usual.

Introduction

Resolution57/277 of the UN General Assembly on Public Administration and Development states that, “an efficient, accountable, effective and transparent public administration, at both the national and international levels, has a key role to play in the implementation of internationally agreed goals.

In the context of these above words, it is necessary to note that with the change in time, the aims and aspirations of the nations and the world change. And it is essential to fine tune the administration, to make it efficient to achieve such goals.

Body

Thus, 3rd ARC seems to be essential for India. This is not only for the sake of fine tuning but also for various other reasons as well.

• 15years have been passed after the recommendation of second ARC. And the goals of the nation and the world have changed. We are moving from the MDGs to SDGs. Hence, there is a need for the administration to be strengthened.
• Further, after such a long gap, there are chances of entropy setting inside the government organizations. And an Administrative Reforms Commission comes as an energy booster, so that the obsolescence, status quoism, stereotypes, etc, are nipped out from these organizations.

Ex: 6th Central Pay Commission states the government offices as, the dusty and dingy moth eaten hovels, which are harassing in nature and anti-diluvium in character.

• Also, there are several recommendations in the 2nd ARC which are yet to be implemented. And giving another push, by stressing on these reforms in the 3rd ARC; can give a jolt to the slumbering administration to implement them as early as possible.

Ex: Replacing the oath of secrecy with the oath of transparency for the ministers. Opening a civil service university, so the civil service aspirants can be trained first and then inducted, etc.

• With the advent of modern administrative methodologies in the world, the government has an urgency to emulate these techniques. At the same time lack of political will is holding back the government to incorporate them at the earliest. 3rd ARC can give a boost to such instincts, so that the latest administrative techniques are implemented speedily. This helps the Indian administration to be on par with the leading administrative systems of the world.

Ex: Block Chain technology, Data protection rules, Maintenance of Biometric databases etc.

This brings us to the second part;

The following are some of the reforms that the 3ARC could implement;

• India needs a Right to Recall. That is if the people of a constituency are not happy with the performance of their representative. They can appeal the high court with an election petition to conduct a re-election in the constituency.
• Further on the lines of reforms brought in some of the states. The 3rd ARC should recommend for a Right to Reject. I.e. if NOTA wins in any constituency, instead of declaring the second highest vote gainer as the winner; a re-election has to be held and none of the candidates who had contested currently, should be allowed to contest in the re-election.
• Also, a Right to Service bill has to be recommended, so that any delay, denial, or the provision of dubious services on the part of government officers will be punished under this law.
• Added to these, India needs an Anti-torture law, which can deal with the police tortures, custodial deaths and 3rd degree treatments that are meted out on the accused, who are under the police custody.
• The rules and regulation for the immigration and inhabitation of refugees is also necessary, as India is facing worldwide criticism for neither ratifying the UN refugee convention nor having a domestic law in this regard.
• The new ARC should recommend devising a separate strategy for training the civil servants in morals, values, ethics and ethos.
• Lastly, it should recommend for Code of Ethics for the civil servants and Code of Conduct for the parliamentarians.    

You can add other examples as well; 

Conclusion

Thus we can conclude that there are many more recommendations that the 3rd ARC has in its front. However, care should be taken that not too radical reforms are being recommended. Else, even the 3rd ARC suffers the same fate of other 2 ARCs, which are biting the dust in the government offices with the least interest for any governments to implement them. 

“Administrative reforms are like a correction slips to the constitution”. – Rajni Ghoyal.

2. Paul Appleby concentrated only on the structural reforms in Indian Administration. Comment critically.                        10 marks (150 words) 

Approach

Question asks to comment on various observations made by Paul Appleby in his 1953 survey of Indian administration. It is mandatory to provide both sides of the argument, i.e. to prove, how he concentrated on the structural reforms but not that alone. We need to be thorough regarding the Paul Appleby’s survey to answer this question.

From Paper2

We can link Appleby’s survey to Classical Theories, Behavioral Theories, and so on.

Introduction

Paul H Appleby, the dean of Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, was called upon by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to study and suggest some of the reforms for the betterment of Indian Public Administration. 

As a consequence of this came his 1953 survey named, Public Administration in India: A report of a survey. Further, he was also instrumental in the establishment of the Indian Institute of Public Administration in India.

Body

We feel that Paul Appleby’s recommendations were mostly related to structural reforms, because of the following reasons;

• At the foremost it feels that Appleby concentrated on the Structural Reforms because, he recommended for creation of different organizational structures for any crises, be it corruption, favoritism, frauds, etc.
• He recommended for a profound division of functions and responsibilities to avoid dishonesty in the organization (which is equivalent to the functional foremanship of F.W.Taylor).
• Further, Appleby supported an alternative hierarchy, called the Programmatic Agency Hierarchies, for every organizations hierarchy so that proper checks and balance can be maintained within the organization.
• Appleby was of the opinion that, the audit functions need to be performed by the administrators themselves for ‘elementarily’ good management. Because, this will reveal more to them than to a general auditing organization. (Accounting and auditing activities were stressed by several Structural thinkers like Fayol, Gullick and Urwick.)
• Lastly, he said that the areas of money transaction are the thriving places of corruption; this implicitly indicates that Appleby had judged that, the officials in the government work only for the economic gains [Rational Economic Man].

However, the scholar also recommended other moral and behavioral reforms as well;

• He was of the opinion that, because of the rigid cadre management and the recruitment methods, both the administration efficiency and ‘human relations’ will be destroyed.
• His recommendation of functional division was mainly aimed to curb dishonesty. He believed that when more people carry out a function; it is difficult for the citizens to bribe all the team members, and it is also impossible for the officials to keep the secrecy of the malfeasance. Hence, along with the structure, he was also concerned with the team work, morale and the communication process of the organization.
• In a case study regarding the frauds in the railway station, he not only suggested appointing ‘spotters’ which is a structural reform. He also opted for technical solution like the paid gateway, as we have in our metro stations.

Further, he also wanted the government to sensitize the citizens regarding the fraud, so that a change can be brought in the behavior of the citizens; who get deceived over and over again, because of their ignorance and carelessness.

• Also, Paul Appleby stressed on the morality and honesty of the bureaucrats as much as he did on the structural reforms. 

Conclusion

By all this debate we can come to a conclusion that, Paul Appleby’s recommendation was a blend of Structural, behavioral, technical and even moral suggestions. And it is not fair to criticize him on the lines like; he just wanted to provide solutions to all the problems of Indian administration by replacing the Indian structures with that of the foreign one.

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