Administrative Reforms Since Independence

Answer : Out of major commissions or committees set up to review the working of the Constitution or the administrative culture in India, the National Commission to Review Working of Constitution (NCRWC)’s recommendations are more practical and feasible, than all other its counterparts.

The focus of NCRWC’s work on administration in India has been to move forward and alleviate itself from the colonial hangover and status quo mentality. The NCRWC clearly indicated that, the then Indian Civil Services, was meant for exploiting Indian resources and for sustaining the colonial British administration in India. But after independence, the regime changed. The focus changed from colonialism to welfarism, therefore the then ICS changed its attitude towards the welfare of the people.

The NCRWC suggested that the law and order has been a major concern. Therefore, in order to increase its efficiency and effectiveness and to make it more people oriented, the law and order must be handed over to elected representatives at district level, in compatibility with the process of decentralization in Indian administrative set up.

The NCRWC further suggested that there is need for more specialization in Indian civil services, i.e. rising above administrative culture. This emphasizes upon reducing at all the higher posts. It stressed upon generalizing the specialists and specializing the generalists.

It stressed upon making the civil servants more amenable to discipline. For this itrecommended rationalizing the safeguards given under Article 311 of the Constitution, orientation change training and programmes. A control mechanism for combating against corruption is also required.

For this, the institution of lok pal must be established and strengthened in all possible manners. The mechanism of social audit must also be devised to make them more accountable. Further, regarding civil servants, it recommended that the non-performers must be weeded out from the organization and the available talent must be taken in, even on contractual basis. Therefore, it favours talented entry in and out of the organization.

It also stressed upon rationalising the personnel management of Civil Servants. There should be a Civil Services Board to look after the transfer, posting, promotion and other related matters of the Civil Servants. There should be a planned and well-defined career management.

The NCRWS highlighted the importance of the Right to Information to the citizens. It said that it comes naturally with two patent advantages, i.e. transparency and accountability in the administration. The mechanism of social audit must be promoted. It stressed upon importance of protection for whistle blowers.

To sum up, certainly, the recommendations of NCRWC, if accepted in true spirits, can well change the administration and Civil Services of India into a truly welfaristic mode.

Answer : Reforms are essential for any administration to cope up with the changing environment. Without reforms the administration becomes a closed system which can easily disintegrate. In India there have been made many attempts to reform the administration but due to the rigidity of bureaucracy and their reluctance to change coupled with unwillingness of political executives to reform administration have resulted in a very lesser degree of reforms.

The main responsibility of administration rests with political executive who uses the administrative apparatus for his policy implementation. So to reform the administration becomes imperative for him to tackle new complex situation and to delete all those workings that has become obsolete. For this purpose many committee were set up which gave their recommendations.

But still due to the reluctance shown by the bureaucracy the reforms have not been much successful in India. Bureaucracy is the main force against reforms as it thinks that reforms will undermine their positions. After reforms they will be left with less power and prestige. The reforms will work against their bureaucratic ethics and culture. On the other hand even the politician do not want to reform the administration either due to the pressure exerted on them by the strong lobby of Bureaucracy or due to their personal reasons, because reforms will work against the immoral practices, corruption, nepotism, despotism etc. In this way the corrupt politicians do not want to force the reforms.

This is the main reason due to which not much reforms have been made in the administration of India, which is detrimental to our future development and progress

Answer : After independence federal system of government was adopted in India. The partition and the system of federation made if necessary to adopt revolutionary administration reforms. Both central and state governments were feeling for a long period the need for administrative reforms to set up a new political, social and economic order and to satisfy the aspiration of the people. The problem of administrative reforms in India is larger and more complex than in nearly every other country in the world. There is the matter of sheer size and diversity of population.

To the above we may add two other factors which are responsible for making the problem of administrative reform extremely complicated and difficult. First, we have to get away from the heritage of pre-independence, which was left by the British in which the wishes of the people were wholly ignored. Second, the Government of India have adopted the goal of welfare state.

The government and material are continuously changing, and if administration is to serve its purpose it has to continuously changing, and if administration is to serve its purpose it has to continuously adopt itself to these changes.

The nature and scope of reforms vary depending on the magnitude of the problem. Reform can be conceived very narrowly as has been done in the past, both at the centre and in the state.

Answer : During the first decade after independence, it was found that the inherited administration of the country with its law and order and partition as well as the new charter of responsibilities of social and political development that were entrusted upon the country with the adoption of the ideology of welfare state.

As a consequence, the idea of setting up of a commission to make comprehensive study of the administration gained ground.

The Administrative Reform Commission major suggestions like, problems of public grievances, administrative machinery of Union Government, planning machinery, centre-state relations, finance audit and accounts ete.

The government has not accepted all the recommendation of appointing ‘Lokpal’ and ‘Lok ayukta’. For personnel, a separate personnel department has been reorganized on the recommendations of the commission. National Development Council was also reorganized.

The interference in bureaucracy is the principal cause of delay in implementation of the recommendation of Administrative Reforms Commission. It is an open fact that the bureaucracy does not change. But the paradox is that even the reformers are not interested in the administrative reforms.

Further, several obstacles come in the way of administrative reforms such as lack of indomitable political and bureaucratic will power, lack of adequate resources, chauvinism, parochialism etc. For its proper implementation, these drawback should be removed i.e., these should be strong political will power, strong bureaucratic will power and adequate resources as well as continuous basic to make the administration effective and efficient. Otherwise, it may not cope up with new emerging challenges of the plural society like ours.

Reforms implies from departure from status quo. The reform proposals are unconventional in nature, not widely acclaimed and appreciated. Therefore, a reformer must be strong enough to carry out reform proposals. He may face a lot of pulls, pressures, obstacles, challenges etc. from the society but he will have to withstand all these challenges, only then reform proposal can be carried out. Thus keeping in mind all these, what widen has said seems to be true.

Answer : Administrative improvement like in most of the countries have met with limited success in India. The problems of administrative improvement in India are larger and ore complex than in nearly every other country in the world. There is the matter of big size and diversity of population. More than 100 crore of people, most of them still illiterate, are participants in the present great Herculean effort for self-improvement. They speak many different languages, they are separated by great distances and inadequate transportation links; they hold many different religious beliefs; many of them suffer from inadequate food; the environment dooms to many early deaths and the strong forces of tradition and habit enforce the continuation of practices which are no longer pertinent to contemporary realities.

The government and the material are continuously changing, and if administration is to serve its purpose it has to continuously adapt itself to these changes. Moreover, it is not feasible to lay down a blue-print of a perfect administrative system. Nor is such perfection achievable practically. But what is practicable is to improve on the quality of an existing administration by exercising a constant and vigilant watch over the areas of deficiency, and effecting a timely change whenever necessary. There always is a need, and scope, for reforms in any administration.

The nature and scope of reforms vary depending on the magnitude of the problems. Reform can be conceived very narrowly as has been done in the past, both at the centre and in the state, in the form of procedural improvements such as the single-file system, the officer oriented pattern and increases in financial and administrative delegation.

The problem of administrative reforms in India is obviously a very difficult one. Some of the most glaring defects of the existing administrative system are: faulty administrative organization and structure; delay in the dispatch of business; inefficiency and lack of integrity or corruption.

Last but not the least important, issue faced by us today is that of the relationship between ministers, and civil servants. It is certain that no administration can successfully discharge its duties unless it is left alone and allowed to implement the policies of the government.

Answer : Most of the committees and commissions appointed for recommending administrative reforms in India have had specific objectives that involved the examination of only a few selected aspects of the administrative system. It could be Secretariat reorganization, civil service recruitment, training, pay structure, urban government, rural administration, prevention of corruption and so on.

It was only Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) (1966-70) that had been given the task of scrutinizing almost the whole of the Indian Administrative System. The scope of ARC was much comprehensive than that of Hoover Commission in the U.S.A. and the Royal Commission on the federal government level in their respective countries. The ARC in India, however, surveyed the administrative system at all the vertical levels and its range encompassed a host of functional areas.

We have seen in the above discussion that we have various committee which recommended changes to meet Administrative reform to bring efficiency and economy in managing the various administrative organization of government of India like, we have Secretariat Reorganisation Committee for procedural changes in Secretariat and we have Pay Commission, we had Committee on the Prevention of Corruption and above all the ARC (1966-70). So, in India we can not give credit to one single agency for bringing administrative reform. In fact it is coordinated effort of various commission and committee.

Answer : Administrative reforms refer to enhancement is the capacity of an administrative system to achieve its assigned goals. It involves “artificial inducement of administrative transformation against resistance.” Reforming a system implies a modification in its ‘form’, but it does not mean that administrative reform deal with only structural changes in a system. It is much broader in its scope and includes in its ambit improvements in structures, process, behaviour of the administrative system and its component.

The underlying assumption behind such reforms is that only an administrative system that revitalizes itself constantly by it gathers the capabilities to respond to and even direct its socio-economic environment of which the most crucial point is its clientele. Unless this process of reform become incessant, the administrative system is likely to lose its effectiveness.

As we know that such administrative reforms can be successful only if the political and administrative will are present. Political will implies that political leaders must initiate such reforms by making on enacting appropriate laws and the bureaucratic structures or administrators should implement such law effectively and timely. But it should be borne is mind that most administrative reforms have political cost, as they change the power position of the actors. So there is always resistance against change from political leadership of the country and other groups which have vested interest in such reforms and whose interest can be affected greatly. That is why administrative reform in India is very slow and gradual, because of all such undesirable factors.

Answer : Reform is more than a series of incremental changes or marginal adjustments, though it may result from the cumulation of small changes which periodically creates requirements for comprehensive and systematic efforts. Administrative Reform is a creative destruction; it means that an old order is broken down to pave the way for a new order. It refers to the formal mechanistic and pre-thought process of structured change. But Indian reform effort has been conservative or orthodox, not breaking radically newer ground, but only modifying the existing structures and processes. The problems of administrative improvement in India are larger and more complex than in nearly every other country in the world. Administration is shaped and influenced by political forces. The Indian Political Scene has been based on orthodox and conservative platform since time immemorial. This resists any reform which would heart them. Also Bureaucracy shows its rigidness to respond to administrative reform. These only modifies the already existing administrative system to that level which would not challenge their basic structure.

Hundred crore and more people, most of them still illiterate, are participants in the present great Herculean effort for self-improvement. They speak many different languages, they are separated by great distances and inadequate transportation links, they hold many different religious beliefs; many of them suffer from inadequate food, the environment dooms to many early deaths and the strong forces of tradition and habit enforce the continuation of practices which are no longer pertinent to contemporary realities.

To the above we may add two other factors which are responsible for making the problem of administrative reform extremely complicated and difficult. First we have to get away from the heritage of pre-independence which was left by the British in which the wishes of the people were wholly ignored. Second the government of India has adopted the goal of welfare state. Since independence, the reform effort has not been so fruitful as it should have been in the changing socio-economic condition.

The government and the material are continuously changing, and if administration is to serve its purpose it has to continuously changing, and if administration is to serve its purpose it has to continuously adapt itself to these changes. Moreover it is not feasible to lay down a blue-print of a perfect administrative system. Nor is such perfection achievable pragmatically. But what is practicable is to improve on the quality of an existing administration by exercising a constant and vigilant watch over the areas of deficiency, and effecting a timely change whenever necessary. There is always need, and scope, for reforms in any administration.

Answer : Administrative reforms become essential when administration is unable to satisfy its personnel, is not able to solve citizen’s grievances, is not able to ascertain the problems around it and is unable to think about proper methods to deal with the activities going on in the organization.Administrative reform is a dependent variable. Indeed, successful reforms need to be preceded or at least accompanied by necessary variation in political as well as administrative will.

The administrative reform thus cannot, and does not, exist in vacuum, immunized or isolated from other socio-political influences. Since Public Administration functions within a political context, its basic character, content and style of functioning must be greatly influenced by the political environment, its institutional dynamics and processes, is not merely setting national goals, priorities or deciding between competing values, allocating resources but also in devising the most effective instrument for translating these policies into successful programme realities. Today’s India significantly testifies this interactive interdependence of the political and reformatory processes.

Also Reforms depends on the capacity of an administrative system to take decisions in order to meets the ever increasing demands coming from the environment and with the objective of achieving larger political and socio-economic goals. There should be cultural change in administration. The colonial administrative culture is, unsuitable to the changed socio-political ethos of the developing world. Our British legacy has adversely affected the administration. In any developing country, administrative modernization necessarily gets a back stage role in national development drama, for the centre of the state is, by the very nature of things, by political reform. The need for building up of administrative capability as an integral part of all round development often escape everyone’s attention.

Answer : Satish Chandra Committee (1989) was appointed to review the effects of the changes that were introduced in the selection process of civil servants during late 1970s on the recommendations of Kothari Committee.

The committee reviewed the existing system and recommended no departure from the practice of holding a common examination in respect of Indian Foreign Service, the Indian Police Service, the Account Groups Services and Revenue and Taxation Services. But one of the recommendation was to increase the marks of personality test from 250 to 300. An additional paper of essay was to be introduced. This is because when the entry of specialists like doctors and engineers were allowed in the late1970s they were getting more and more benefits due to high scoring optional of science to cater this problem and essay paper of 200 was introduced.

One more recommendation was to comprehensively spell out the syllabi of optional subjects which was till now not spelled. It has been observed that enhancement of marks for personality test and introduction of essay paper are likely to make a better judgement of a candidate’s level of articulation and leadership potential – two crucial qualities in a good administrator.

The proposal to drop a large number of foreign or antiquated languages from the list of optional paper is also a welcome move. According to an Editorial, “Even if belatedly, the Satish Chandra Committee has made a valiant attempt to correct the imbalances unnecessarily introduced in the selection process for civil servants during late 1970s.”