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Public administration sol
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B. A. (Programme)–Major Paper-I
DSC-1 (A/B)
Semester-I
Course Credit-4
(Department of Political Science)
As per the UGCF - 2022 and National Education Policy 2020

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Public Administration in India
Editorial Board
Dr. Mangal Deo
Dr. Shakti Pradayani Rout
Content Writers
Dr. Mangal Deo, Ms. Revathy V Menon,
Vishal Kumar Gupta, Kumari Sushma, Ashna Moga
Academic Coordinator
Deekshant Awasthi
© Department of Distance and Continuing Education

IBSN: 978-93-95774-63-5
Ist edition: 2022
E-mail: ddceprinting@col.du.ac.in
politicalscience@col.du.ac.in
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the aegis of Campus of Open Learning/School of Open Learning,
University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Printed by:
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© Department of Distance & Continuing Education, Campus of Open Learning,


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B.A. Programme
• The present study material is a modified version of the earlier study material by the same name under
the CBCS Semester system. Unit-I, Unit-IV and Unit-VI are written afresh.
• Corrections/Modifications/Suggestions proposed by Statutory Body, DU/Stakeholder/s in the Self
Learning Material (SLM) will be incorporated in the next edition. However, these
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B. A. (Programme)–Major Paper-I
DSC-1 (A/B)
Study Material: Unit 1-6
Table of Contents
Sl. No. Title Writer Pg.No.
Unit-1 Indian Administration Vishal Kumar Gupta 01
Unit-2 Decentralization Ms. Revathy V Menon 16
Unit-3 Budget:
(a) Concept of Budget and Budget Cycle in Vishal Kumar Gupta 35
India
(b) Budget Types: Line Budgeting, Kumari Sushma 52
Performance Planning Budgeting, Zero Vishal Kumar Gupta
Based Budgeting (c) Budget: Role of
Finance Ministry
Unit-4 Technology and Public Administration in India Dr. Mangal Deo 66
Unit-5 Social Welfare Administration: 81
(a) Education: Right to Education (b) Health: Kumar Anupam
National Health Mission Ashna Moga
Unit-6 Issues and Debates in Indian Administration Ashna Moga 101
About Contributors
Contributor’s Name Designation
Vishal Kumar Gupta Research Scholar, Department of Adult, Continuing Education &
Extension, DU
Ms. Revathy V Menon Assistant Professor, Deshbandhu College, DU
Kumari Sushma Research Scholar, Department of Political Science, DU
Dr. Mangal Deo Assistant Professor, P.G.D.A.V. College, DU
Kumar Anupam Research Scholar, Department of Political Science, DU
Ashna Moga Assistant, Professor, Delhi College Of Arts & Commerce, DU


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Unit-1
INDIAN ADMINISTRATION
Vishal Kumar Gupta
Research Scholar
Social Science Faculty, University of Delhi
vishaldujnu@gmail.com
STRUCTURE
1.1 Learning Objectives

1.2 Introduction
1.3 Structure of The Civil Services
1.3.1 Colonial legacy
1.3.2 Civil Services in the Constitutional Framework; Appointment training,
Promotion
1.3.3 PMO, Cabinet Secretariat
1.3.4 Major Initiatives in Administrative Reforms
1.4 Summary
1.5 Glossary
1.6 Self-Assessment Questions
1.7 References
1.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of this chapter:

• Structure of the Civil Services in India during the British colonial period
• To know about the role of PMO and Secretariat
• All-inclusive development of Public Administration in India
• Constitutional framework of Civil services in Public Administration
• Major initiatives taken by government for social change.
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1.2 INTRODUCTION
The journey of Public Administration as an independent and new discipline goes back almost
a century. The beginning of the theme of Public Administration in India, get back to 1937;
when the Diploma in Public Administration (DPA) course was started in the Department of
Political Science at the University of Madras. In 1943, the Diploma course in Public
Administration was started in Lucknow University. In 1950, the Department of Public
Administration and Local Self-Government was established in Nagpur University. In 1954,
the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) in New Delhi was established, which
conducts training for the officials of various departments and ministries of Centre and State
Governments. Public administration institutions and academies were established in the states
in the fifth and sixth decades to meet the training and orientation needs of the officers of the
state services. In this sequence, the Harish Chandra Mathur Rajasthan State Institute of Public
Administration (HSM RIPA) was established in Jaipur, Rajasthan in 1957. Presently, there
are around thirty State Administrative Training Institutes existing in India.
Indian Administration is precisely as old as our society. It is an activity, but with the
essay of Woodrow Wilson the study of public administration is originated. It occurs in
private and public organisations. So, it is basically categorised into two parts-
a) Private Administration
b) Public Administration
According to Woodrow Wilson, “Public Administration is the systematic and detailed
application of law.”
According to F.A. Nigro and L.G Nigro, Public Administration is:
• Co-operative group effort
• It covers legislature, executive and judicial
• Different in significant ways from private administration
• Significant role in policy formulation
The Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi (Indian Journal of Public
Administration) and state institutions regularly published academic journals of public
administration. The National Academy of Administration was established at Mussoorie in
Uttarakhand by abolishing the Training School, Delhi and the Staff College at Shimla. Since
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2nd October 1972, which is known as Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of
Administration, which is also the main training institute of All-India Services and Central
Services.
Since 1986, the Union Public Service Commission has declared Public
Administration as a distinct discipline and given the alternative to the candidates.
Furthermore, the Public Service Commission of the states has also considered public
administration as an independent discipline.
1.3 STRUCTURE OF THE CIVIL SERVICES
At the time of British East India company, the structure of the civil services had divided into
three categories: Military, Naval Services and Commercial Affairs.
Those who were involved in the commercial activities or affairs, in order to
distinguish the servants from the people employed in military and naval services basically
they known as 'Civil Services'. Charles Cornwallis (Governor General of India 1786-
1793) was a British army general and official at that time, who was the first to bring the civil
services into the existence; so, this is the reason, he is also known as the father of the Civil
Services of India. In fact, the commercial affairs were happened in the company, since the
time of Warren Hastings (Governor General of Bengal 1773-1785). During those days, Civil
servants were not appointed through any competition, rather they were nominated through the
Court of the directors.
During Cornwallis, these civil servants were given more responsibilities and there
were two categories of civil services:
• Covenanted: It means ‘higher post’ in the Civil Services and it was only for British.
• Uncovenanted: Uncovenanted services means ‘Lower post' in the Civil Services and
it was not only for British but also for Indians.
At the time, Corruption was increasing day by day, therefore to eliminate corruption
Cornwallis took many steps to abolished the corruption. Like, he raised the salary of the Civil
servants. The civil servants could not be involved in any kind of private trade; therefore, he
made some strict rules for that and strictly enforced the rules against the private trades. Apart
from this, Cornwallis promoted civil servants on based on seniority within 5 to 6 years. Just
like Cornwallis, Richard Wellesley (Governor General of India 1798-1805) also did many
works and reforms for the Civil Service. He established Fort William College (Founded on
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10th July, 1800) in Calcutta to train the newly recruited Civil Servants in India. His retirement
in 1806, the Court of Directors disapproved his Fort William College and set up another
college for civil service at Haileybury, London to train the new recruits.
After introducing The Charter Act 1853, many changes also took place in it. The
recruitment to be through and open competition so it started the open competition in civil
services. To conduct the exam, it was necessary that a body should be formed, therefore Civil
service commission was established in London in 1854. These examinations were conducted
from 1855 onwards but this examination was held only in London and the age limit for
appearing in this examination was also fixed at 23 years.
After the Charter Act 1853, now Indians could also be the part of this Civil service
exam and they could also join the Covenanted Services in 1861.The Indian Civil Services Act
was passed in the same year 1861 under the Lord Canning. It provided the reservation to
some officers in the Covenanted services. This exam was conducted in English language only
and it was based on classical learning of Greek and Latin. By 1855, the age limit for
appearing in this exam was 23, which was reduced to 22 in 1860. Also, these exams were
held in London till now. In 1863 the elder brother of Rabindranath Tagore, Satyendranath
Tagore became the first Indian who was qualified for the Indian Civil Service. He was just 21
years old at that time. After this in 1866, the age limit in this exam was reduced to 21.
Despite this, In the very next year, four Indians also qualified this examination. In 1878, Lord
Lytton reduced the maximum age limit in this exam from 21 to 19. Only 1/6th of Covenanted
posts could be filled by Indians, who were nominated by the local government but this
subject to approved by the secretary of a state and the viceroy. After sometime, it failed
miserably and abolished.
In 1885, The Indian National Congress was formed, and it raised so many demands
related to reforms in the Civil Services. Because of this, it affected The Government of India
Act 1919. In 1924, Lee commission also recommended some changes in the Civil Services,
proposed an equal number of British and Indian members in the Civil Services. According to
Lee Commission, it should be 20% Indians promoted from the provincial services, also 40%
Indians directly recruited through the exams and also the equal percentage of direct recruited
40% British for Civil Services.
1.3.1 Colonial legacy
Basically, The System landed over by the Britishers to the Indians, so this system was
followed by the Indian system is known as legacy of colonialism in India. These Britishers
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ruled over India for almost 200 years, the Britishers started coming to India formerly after the
establishment of the British East India Company; they had to come in India as traders. But,
later on, they got involved in the power struggle in the environment which created by the
downfall of the Mughal Empire and the presence of rival friends and Dutch trading
companies in India. The Emergence of control of British over India can be traced from:
• The foundation of British rule India started with the defeat of Commander Siraj ud-
Daulah (1733-1757), in the battle of Plassey (1757). The end of his reign marked the
start of the rule of the East India company in India. Battle of Plassey marks a significant
break in the modern Indian history. The East India company, whose original purpose was
commercial gain was now transformed self into a ruling territorial power in India.
• The British forces defeated over the French in 1763 in India. The British and French
ended with the Treaty of Paris and in that war, France lost all claims on Canada.
• The Battle of Buxar (1764), the joint armies of Mir Qasim were defeated by the British.
Therefore, from 1765 to 1857, The East India Company ruled over India. Then in the year
1857, the unsuccessful first Indian Rebellion Revolt, was a major uprising in India.
Thereafter, the national movements were a series of historic events in India, to eventually aim
of ending the rule of British. There were took place several changes like social, political and
administrative etc. which have contributed to the emergence of contemporary India and we
got independence in 1947.
1.3.2 Civil Services in the Constitutional Framework; Appointment training,
Promotion
All India services are common to both Central and state government and at present time, All-
India services are categorized into three levels, which are-
1. Indian Administrative Service
2. Indian Police Service
3. Indian forest Service
Article 309 is actually, empowers the parliament and regulate and recruit the service
condition of person which is appointed to Central services and for the post.
According to Article 310, that member of All-India services and Central services post hold
their offices during pleasure of the president of India.
In Article 311, no member of central government and All-India services shall be dismissed or
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to be removed by an authority subordinate.

According to Article 312 of the Constitution of India, the parliament of India create new all-
India services, because of a resolution passed by Rajya Sabha to the effect. It controlled
jointly, by the state government and the central government of India and, the salaries and
pensions are met by the states; but the disciplinary action against these officers can only be
taken by Central Government of India. The central civil services are directly concerned with
the permanent bureaucracy and administration of India. The central civil services are
classified into group a and group b, along with All India service. In article 312 is all about
the creation of new all-India services.
Article 323, in which allows the parliament to provide for the setting up of an Administrative
tribunal for the adjudication of trial of disputes and complaints regarding recruitment and
service condition of person appointed to Central services and post in Indian services.
And According to Article 335, it claims that the SC/ST citizens of India, shall be taken into
consideration a making appointment to the central services and posts.
According to Article 320, UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) is among required to
be consulted on all matters which are relating to the recruitment in civil services and posts in
India.
The recruitment in civil services made by the following methods
1) Direct Recruitment through examination
2) Promotion
3) Transfer
The UPSC is a nationwide competitive examination in India for recruitment to various civil
services. Examination is conducted in three phases: Preliminary Examination, Main
examination and at last the Personality test. The present system of recruitment all-India
services and the higher Central services is actually based on the recommendation made by
Macaulay Committee, Kothari Committee and Satish Chandra Committee. The present
scheme of All-India Services Examination is laid down by Kothari committee and Satish
Chandra committee.
Promotion in Civil Services:
The word ‘Promotion' is derived from the ‘Promovere’ which is a Latin word and it means
‘to move forward.’ Promotion is also known as direct recruitment, because of promotion
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increases responsibilities and duties, increment in allowances and salary; and also get a
higher position in the job or service. William G Torpey, “Promotion refers to the movement
of an employee from one position to another position having a higher grade and salary.”
However, there are some elements of promotion and it changes: Responsibilities, Duties,
Salary, Title or Position.
There are types of promotion which are following as:
• From lower service to higher service: from State Civil Services to Indian
Administrative Service
• From lower grade to higher grade: from junior typist to senior typist post
• Lower class to higher class: It’s from clerical, two executive class
These promotions are based on three principles of promotion which are Seniority, Merit,
Seniority come merit. Also, there are few terms which are usually using in Promotion, they
are:
• Transfer: It means the change of work within the same position and grade.
• Reassignment: When change of work in the same agency with no change in ranks.
• Advancement: It refers to increase in pay.
POST OF IAS/IPS OFFICER IN STATE
POST OF IAS POST OF IPS
• SDM- Sub divisional magistrate • SDO (P)- Sub divisional Officer of
• SDO- Sub Divisional Officer Police
• ADM- Additional district magistrate • ASP- Assistant Superintendent of
Police
• ADC- Additional Deputy
Commissioner • SP- Superintendent of Police (Small
district)
• DM- District magistrate
• SSP- Senior Superintendent of Police
• DC- Deputy commissioner (Small
(Big District)
district)
• DIG- Deputy Inspector General of
• DM- District magistrate (Big
Police
district)
• IG- Inspector General of Police
• DC- District Commissioner
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• Divisional Commissioner • ADG- Additional Director General of

• Principal Secretary of Department Police
• Additional Chief Secretary • DGP- Director General of Police
• Chief Secretary of State
Administration
1.3.3 PMO, Cabinet Secretariat

As we can say that, public administration cannot be exist in a policy vacuum and it must have
administrative structures. Basically, Policy making is the major function of the political
executive in a parliamentary democracy. The country like India, the policy making is inherent
in the political executive which is the cabinet. Now, here we will discuss about the role of
Prime Minister's office and the role of Cabinet Secretariat in policy making.
The Role of Cabinet Secretariat
An important place in the public administration is the role of the Cabinet secretariat. The
Cabinet Secretariat is responsible for, the administration of Government of India (Transaction
of business rules) 1961, and Government of India (Allocation of Business Rules) 1961. The
Cabinet Secretariat works under the Prime Minister of India. The Cabinet Secretariat of India
is also the administrative head of the secretariat who is also the ex-official chairman of the
Civil Services Board.
The following subjects are allotted to the secretariat:
I. The secretarial assistance to the Rules of business, Cabinet Committees and the
cabinet.
II. Responsible for the administration of the Government of India.
III. To facilitating smooth transaction of business in the departments of the government
by ensuring to be rules are followed.
IV. To developing cooperation amongst every departments.
V. Assists in decision making by removing differences amongst departments.
The Cabinet Secretariat ensures that the President, the Ministers and the Vice President of
India are kept informed of the major activities of all ministries or departments through their
monthly summary activities.
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The coordination is also required for removing issues or difficulties, overcoming

delays. Each ministry is responsible for expeditious implementation of Government
programmes, policies and plans. For the discussing specific issue or matter, Committees are
made up and these meetings are held under the Cabinet Secretary.
However, the secretarial help provided by Cabinet Secretariat to the Cabinet
Committees and the Cabinet includes given below:
1. The agenda’s circulation and the preparation.
2. Cases related circulation of papers on the agenda.
3. Monitoring the decisions and implementation taken by the Cabinet.
4. Preparation of a record of discussions.
The function and role of Cabinet Secretariat is of servicing the proceedings of the Committee
of Secretaries, Cabinet, Cabinet Committees. The Cabinet Secretariat is neither an activity
instrument nor enforcement agency in the policy making of administration.
The Role of PMO
The Prime Minister of India is the head of the union government, since India has adopted the
parliamentary democracy, it is a Prime Minister who is responsible for the functioning of the
government and the prime minister is assisted by his council of minister. As Head of council
of ministers, the Prime Minister supervises the work of all the ministries. The Prime
minister’s office (PMO) provide secretarial assistant to the Prime Minister who is headed by
the principal secretary to prime minister the PMO includes the Anti-corruption unit. In cases,
where the PM is the Minister in charge of all matters which is requiring ministerial approval
are not assigned to the minister of state of deputy commissioner, if any are submitted for
orders. Even the Prime minister’s national relief fund and National defence fund also directly
operated from the PMO. The Prime Minister of India is also the chairman of the NITI Aayog
(National Institution for Transforming India) which is a non-statutory and also non-
constitutional body. Apart from this, the PM’s personal attention include as following given
below:
• Defence related issues
• Judicial appointments for which preference approval is required
• Those policy matters which are relating to the administration of the civil services and
Reforms
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• All major decisions which are relating to the Cabinet Secretariat

• Major issues of policy formulationsD
• Prime minister’s special packages announced for the states
• The request for a grant of agreement for foreign heads of commission posted to India
• The appointments of State Administrative Tribunals and the Central Administrative
Tribunal appointments, appointments of election Commission, member of constitutional
committees and commissions and Union Public Service Commission.
The Prime Minister also may use his office to review and monitor the policy, is an activity of
some ministers. Even PM can seek the information on development on certain levels and also
create a special agency for suggestion or advice and monitoring of policy. Therefore, In the
Indian context, The Prime Minister of India and his office plays a prime role in policy
formulation.
1.3.4 Major Initiatives in Administrative Reforms
Central vigilance commission came into effect in 1964, to prevent corruption in the central
government offices. The first Administrative Reforms Commission, ARC (1966) was headed
by Morarji Desai and initially later on by K. Hanumanthiah IN 2005, the second ARC made
up and was chaired by Veerappa Moily.
On 19th February, 1999 the Prime minister of India, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
addresses to the National development council meeting about existence of exploitation and
the corruption in the bureaucracy and how this corruption in bureaucracy needs to be stopped
and how to make bureaucracy directly corruption free, and How-to bring transparency in the
bureaucracy.
In order to this, what is Administrative Reforms in the administrative system:
• Administrative system should be reformed, so that it can meet the new demands of
society.
• All these reforms are known as changes, but all changes cannot be considered as reforms.
• The Administration of State, can never be permanent or be apply in all cases.
• According to Gerald Caidan, “The artificial inducement of Administrative
transformation against resistance.” Furthermore, he clarified that Reform is different
from reorganisation.
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Caiden in his book, ‘Dynamics of Public Administration’ has said that, the Reform of Public
Administration can be dated to second half of the 19th century. According to his opinion,
USA was the Pioneer in the field of Administrative reforms and because of American
capitalism started its progress in all over the world and resulted in large amount of
investments. In one of Woodrow Wilson’s (28th U.S President) essay in 1887, He wrote that
because of Capitalism and privatisation, the public service and public administration lagged
behind the growth of private and public investment and necessity for reforming the public
administration was felt. There were two reasons to reform the administration throughout the
world:
1. It is mandatory for the administration to create a congenial atmosphere for the
investment.
2. Public administration must be more ethical, moral and efficient for the common
people.
Woodrow Wilson, the former US President is also known as the father of public
administration. He also suggested that special research institute should be established for the
constant and effective research in the field of public administration. Bureaucracy is the actual
root cause of many evils like corruption, ineffectiveness etc. and the only way of controlling
it, through way to reforming public administration. Here is an interesting question raises that
how to bring reforms in public administration? As we already know, there is a clear gap
between the existing system and what peoples expect in actual. After the colonies achieved
political independence, it was found that the administrative colonial system could not meet
the actual requirement of the newly independent States of India. In order to, incorporate this
the salient factors of ecology upon the public administration is mandatory and prevailing
system of administration should be reformed.
In general, the public administration has been built up in the background of
bureaucracy, which was built up in the beginning of the last century. For the reforms of
public administration, globalisation and liberalization have caused. The advancement of
democracy has made people very active and alert; and they are striving to influence
administration.
There are some forms of reforms, therefore Reform is a slow and constant process, it
can either improved in these three ways:
1) Structural reform: The structural reform is new methods or system which are
introduced to the public administration.
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2) Behavioural reform: In behavioural reforms, it has been found that the public
administrators do not behave properly with the people, so it is necessary for authority
to advise the person of department concerned to behave properly to them.
3) Organisational development: According to Nicholas Henry, “Organisation
development is a planned organisation wide attempt, directed from the top that is
designed to increase organisation effectiveness and viability through calculated
intervention in the active workings of the organisation using knowledge from the
behavioural sciences.”
After bringing changes in public administration, it is important to implement reforms as soon
as possible in the administration. These Administrative reforms can be implemented as per
following:
• Political Revolution: Countries like China and Russia, where reforms happened after
their revolution in the country.
• Legal Ways: Countries like India and United States of America, where enacting a law
and decision and advisory of judges can reform.
• Public Pressure: Sometimes, the authority forces to implement or reforms being
pressurized by public.
Let us now think about it, if you will have time to work in the Civil Services, then how will
you bring and implement reforms in the public administration. So, here the following areas
should be included, whenever attempts are made to reforms public administration:
• Related problems and space loss
• Through Electoral system
• Foreign affairs
• Educational Institutions
• Drug control
• Population control and growth
• Public hygiene
At last, we need to know, how and why do these reforms failed? The problem of
Administrative reforms that it cannot be implemented successfully; because these reforms
may not be able to meet the demands of the people. The reforms must be a long-term process
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not a single day affair; therefore, it takes a long time period to change anything. It is not
possible for the administrator to expect the future, a section of society wants reforms but
while the other section, may feel that it is an unnecessary for them and without public
participation it cannot be sustained for so long. But it is necessary to bring changes in our
administration that, the authority must be much more serious and sincerer about it. The
reforms in public administration bring about desired and improved outcomes.
1.4 SUMMARY
In this preceding chapter, the Legacy of the past modern form of Indian administration may
be mainly a result of British colonial rule, but in reality, it is results from a long historical
development. The present Indian rule is largely influenced by its ancient and medieval form
and results from a gradual development. Since, the transferring power in India was done from
British hands to partition of India into two nations named as India and Pakistan, but naturally
the preceding features are still visible today. Just as the influence of the Mughal Persian
language is still visible in the administration of revenue and justice, similarly the laws, rules,
procedures developed by the British are reflected in the Indian public administration. All
India Services and other public services, national unity, administrative anonymity and
secrecy, committee system, secretarial systems, strict bureaucracy, federal system, district
administration, revenue administration, police administration, financial administration and
local administration etc. are the main effects of British rule; which are still visible in Indian
administration in the present day.
With passaging of time, we can see the changes in the federal and unitary aspects of
Indian administration are also clearly visible. Presently, the lack of one-party dominance and
powerful leadership, the importance of provincial parties, provincial leadership, liberalism,
disinvestment, globalization, etc. have affected these aspects in some way or the other.
Therefore, today the Central Government cannot completely ignore the demand for autonomy
of the states. As of now, the role of public administration more over to governance.
1.5 GLOSSARY
• Executive: A group responsible for the administrative project

• Legislature: A group of people who have power to make changes in laws
• Adjudication: Act of judging a case
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• Transparency: decisions taken done in a certain manner which follows rules and
regulation of government.
• Reforms: In order to change a system in a better way
• Revolution: Action taken by group of people to change the system or government of a
country
• Liberalism: A political and economic doctrine that emphasize on individual economy,
equal opportunity and the protection of rights
1.6 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
1. What was the structure of the Civil Services in British India?

2. Who organised the structure of the Civil Services in India?
3. What is the structure of Civil Services in India after Independence?
4. What is the legacy of colonialism in India?
5. Write about the Civil Services in the constitutional framework.
6. Write the role of cabinet secretariat in the public administration.
1.7 REFERENCES
• Guha, Ramchandra. 2007. India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest
Democracy. London: Picador.
• Low, D. A. 1997. Britain and Indian Nationalism: The Imprint of Ambiguity, 1929-
1942. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Kothari, Rajni. 2002. Memoirs. New Delhi: Rupa & Co.
• Nandy, Ashis. 1989. The Intimate Enemy: Loss and Recovery of Self under
Colonialism. Reprint, New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
• Kohli, Atul. 1987. The State and Poverty in India: The Politics of Reform.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Maheshwari, S. R. 1984. Indian Administration. Reprint, New Delhi: Orient
Longman.
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• Chakrabarty, Bidyut, and Pandey, Rajendra. 2008. Indian Government and Politics.
New Delhi: SAGE.
• Austin, Granville. 1999. Working a Democratic Constitution: The Indian Experience.
New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
• Wheare, K. C. 1988. Modern Constitutions. New Delhi: S. Chand and Company.
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Unit-2
DECENTRALIZATION
Ms. Revathy V Menon
STRUCTURE
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Concept of Decentralization
2.3 Significance of Decentralization
2.4 Approaches to the study of Decentralization
2.5 Different types of Decentralization
2.6 Decentralization in India
2.7 Local Self Governance: Rural
2.8 Local Self Governance: Urban
2.9 Conclusion
2.10 Check Your Progress
2.11 References
2.1 INTRODUCTION
India is a democratic nation with republic-parliamentary form of governance at national level
comprising of the Council of Ministers who are collectively accountable to the elected House
of People or the Lok Sabha. Similar structure of governance is replicated at the State level as
well as which together constitute to form the Union of India. Further to carry forward the
development plans and programmes of the Union to the ‘soul of India’ which lies in our
villages, the local self-government bodies were constitutionalized at the urban and rural
levels.
To ensure proper growth and development of an emerging economy like India which
possess such vast diversity in culture, traditions and thought-process, a system ushering in
good governance is felt. Even the present era of globalization, urbanization and marketization
have brought us to the juncture where we need to strengthen and integrate the market and
technological innovations in order to adhere to the requirements of the time through a
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decentralized form of governance. This in turn can ensure that the needs of all sections of the
society, majorly those of the ‘poorest of the poor’, marginalized sections of the society, are
properly addressed.
Since the early 1990s, India has witnessed major policy imperatives like the economic
reforms, the Panchayati Raj system, etc. Initiatives to ensure democracy at the grass-root
levels were mandated constitutionally through the 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts. The Acts
further reinforce the local democracy by empowering the local self-governing institutions and
such decentralization experiments in India are counted under the ‘democratic
decentralization’. Moreover, the Ninth Five Year Plan (1997-2002) initiated during the
Prime-Ministership of Shri. (Late) Atal Bihari Vajpayee posited the principle of ‘Cooperative
Federalism’ with major devolution of power and resources between the three tiers of
governance-Centre, State and local and was also seen as one of the major attempt to bring in
people’s active participation in the governance process and for a planned campaign to bring
in development to the grassroots. In spite of the continued efforts, the actual progress of
decentralization is considered to be uneven across the various levels of governance.
2.2 CONCEPT OF DECENTRALIZATION

The idea of decentralization is seen as a major initiative to support grass root level of
democracy. The basic idea is to transfer part of the powers enjoyed by the central or state
government to the concerned regional or local authorities. Thus, centralization can be seen as
an attempt to enhance the national unity while decentralization depicts the demands of
diversity and the need to attend those. In modern time there is a need to mutual co-existence
of both these forms of administration. Experiences from highly centralized and decentralised
nations were found to be disastrous and therefore it is found to be necessary to put in place a
system of collaboration and co-ordination between the national, regional and local levels of
decision making and administration is found to be effective. Such a system can be visualized
in developing countries like India, adherence to the idea of decentralization lies in the fact
that the greater the people’s participation at grass root levels the better and competent the
public institutions and administration work. Moreover Decentralization through the centuries
have strengthened democracy in the country and enhanced the central government’s
commitment towards the growth and development of the grass root levels.
The term decentralisation can be traced back to 1820s and is evident from writings of
Alexis de Tocqueville. He provided a concrete background of the legislative history of
decentralization began with the French revolution as “…in the beginning, invariably a push
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towards decentralization,… in the end an extension of centralization…in sum, the last word
always remains with the centralization which to be honest, increases in depth at the same time
it diminishes in appearance…”1 The concept has ‘evolved over centuries taking on diverse
and varied meanings, objectives and forms’.
Traditionally, decentralization was conceptualized with an organizational perspective to
ease off the pressure of over-bureaucratized public organizations. Further, decentralization in
the 1970s and 1980s majorly focused on the deconcentrating hierarchical government
structure and bureaucracies. India, being one of the largest democracies, its efforts in
decentralization has been viewed as an attempt to formulate an antidote of authoritarianism
and bureaucratization. Probably from the mid-1980s, the foci were ‘broadened to include
power sharing, democratization and market liberalization, expanding the scope for private
sector decision making’2. Analyzing the system in India during 1990s, one can easily identify
that during this period, decentralization has opened up ‘governance to wider public
participation through the involvement of civil society organizations’3. Further
decentralization, according to Cheema and Rondinelli (1983 & 2007), was defined as the
transfer of authority, responsibility and resources - through deconcentration, delegation or
devolution - from the centre to the lower levels of administration.4
Decentralization is often perplexed with similar ideas like deconcentration, delegation
and devolution and privatization. We need to understand and differentiate these similar terms
as they are associated with the sharing or transfer of administrative power or authority from
higher to a lower level, while the nature and degree of such transfers vary from term to term.
• Deconcentration can be defined as the shift of administrative responsibilities from
central ministries and departments to regional and local administrative levels by
establishing field offices of national departments and transferring some authority for
decision making to regional field staff.
• Devolution aimed to strengthen local governments by granting them the authority,
responsibility, and resources to provide services and infrastructure, protect public
health and safety, and formulate and implement local policies.
1
De Tocqueville, A. (1982). Alexis de Tocqueville on Democracy, Revolution, and Society, University of
Chicago Press, p.343
2
Cheema, G. S., & Rondinelli, D. A. (eds.). (2007). Decentralizing Governance: Emerging Concepts and
Practices. Brookings Institution Press, p.2.
3
ibid, p.3
4
ibid, p.3
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• Through delegation, national governments

shift management authority for specific
functions to semiautonomous or parastatal
organizations and state enterprises, regional
planning and area development agencies, and
multi- and single-purpose public authorities.5
But these can be in other terms seen as the various
stages to finally achieving decentralization (figure 1).
Let’s look at various definition of decentralization as given by the administrative thinkers:
• L D White: The transfer of powers of administrative authority from lower to higher
level of government is called centralization and covers decentralization.
• Dwight Waldo: In centralized administration, the co-ordination is at the top with
resulting delays, jealousies and jurisdictional disputes. In decentralized
administration, the aim is to create a whole purpose, personalities and instrumentalists
which are greater than the sum of the various constituent elements.
• Friedman: “Decentralization is also seen as a process of transfer of responsibility,
authority, and functions from a ‘superior’ governmental unit to a ‘lower’
governmental unit.”
• Louis A. Allen: “Decentralization refers to tire systematic effort to delegate to the
lowest levels all authority except that which can only be exercised at central points.”
• Earl. P. Strong: “Decentralization means the division of a group of functions and
activities into relatively autonomous units with overall authority and responsibility for
their operation delegate to time of cacti unit.”
• Government of India in 1957: The study team on community projects and National
Extension Service appointed defined decentralization as a process whereby the
governments diverts itself completely of certain duties and responsibilities and
devolves them on to some other authority.
• Cheema &Rodinelli: Decentralization refers to transfer of planning, decision making
or administrative authority from central government to its field organization, local
administrative units, semi-autonomous and pastoral organizations, local government
or non-governmental organization.
5
ibid, p.3-4
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• M P Sharma: The fewer subordinate centers decision on organization has the more
centralization there would be.
To sum up, decentralization encompasses not only the transfer of power, authority and
responsibility within government but also the sharing of authority and resources for shaping
public policy within society. A decentralized local authority, in this sense, would have a
separate legal existence, its own budget and the authority to allocate substantial resources on
a range of different functions, and decisions would be made by the representatives of the
local people, who constitute the body. The degree of decentralisation can be determined by:
nature of the authority delegated, how far down in the organization it is delegated, how
consistently it is delegated.
Characteristics of Decentralization
According to Bidyut Chakrabarty and Prakash Chand, the concept of decentralization has the
following characteristics:
• It is both a philosophy and institutional mechanism, which seeks to de-centre the
power from its traditional centres to far-flung areas with a view to empowering local
communities.
• Autonomy forms the heart of decentralization and yardstick to measure the nature of
decentralization.
• Decentralization has no fixed ideological sanctuary; it is in fact used by both the Left
and the Right for justifying their respective positions.
• The recent spate of enthusiasm for decentralization can be attributed to globalization
as the votaries of globalization are actively advocating for localization through
decentralization for development.
• Decentralization facilitates people’s participation by creating new institutional space
beyond the centre and thereby ensures further deepening of democracy.
• Decentralization also instills confidence among local communities to govern their
own affairs thus, creates a sense of responsibility in local decision-making agencies
with more or less independent existence and powers.
• The basic idea of decentralization is, therefore, sharing the decision-making authority
with lower levels in organizations, thereby improving their efficiency, effectiveness,
and responsiveness.
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2.3 SIGNIFICANCE OF DECENTRALIZATION

Decentralization ensures the strengthening of democracy through increased people’s
participation and control on governance when the powers of the centre and state governments
are decentralized to the lower levels like districts, blocks and villages. This further makes the
democracy representative, accountable and responsive in true manner and that’s why it is
considered to be the crux of democratic decentralization. In this context, the following
significances of decentralization can be identified:
• In a diverse and heterogeneous society like India, the central and state governments
may find it difficult to address the basic requirements of every particular region and
the centralized policies may not be efficient to address the requirements of all regions
equitably. Decentralization can contribute to identify the crucial and significant issues
pertained to a particular region, further can contribute to overcoming the severe
limitations of centrally controlled public policies. With the participation of citizens in
development planning, it:
a) Leads to more creative, innovative and flexible administration,
b) Reduces cost of planning,
c) Ensures political stability,
d) Increased number of public goods, etc.
• The decentralization of activities and functions, reassigning of central officials to
local levels, can enhance the knowledge and sensitivity of officials to local problems
further ensures a close interaction between the government and governed. This can
thus result in the administrative and skill development of the executives and also lead
to rapid decision making and reduced red tapesim.
• One of the major aims of decentralization is to ensure active people’s participation in
decision making process. The greater representation of various political, social, ethnic
and tribal groups in the decision making process can reduce the burden on top
executives/administrators, increase the administrative capacity and capabilities and
promotes motivation of local institutions.
According to Rajni Kothari, decentralization is an alternative system of governance based on
‘people-centered approach’ to sort out the local level problems. He argues that ‘’the entire
process would be for locating people at the centre of power so that they become the basic
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engine of the development process and not, as hitherto, merely its beneficiaries’6.
Decentralization can thus be seen as one of the crucial elements of governance in the present
times even though there may arise problems of co-ordination between various levels of
governance and also that uniform policies cannot be followed as different units need diverse
techniques/policies.
2.4 APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF DECENTRALIZATION
James W Fesler in his paper “Approaches to the Understanding of Decentralization” has

categorized the approaches to decentralization into four heads. They are as follows:
1. The doctrinal approach: It regards decentralization as an end in itself rather than
equally considering the means adhered to achieve the institutional efficiency and
effectiveness. The approach focus on the empowerment of grass root or the local
levels through which the decision making and functional authority can gradually be
handed over to the people.
2. The political approach: This approach believes that the idea to create decentralized
units of administration and providing them with functional autonomy is based on a
political decision and thus considers decentralization as a major political commitment
occuring in a political setting.
3. The administrative approach: In this approach the aim is to achieve efficiency and
effectiveness, by creating several administrative units working between the central
and local administration. Through this process the decision making and grievance
redressal mechanisms work better.
4. The dual role approach: The dual role deals with the conflict between tradition and
change in the field administration. The duality happens when the maintenance of law
and order from the traditional administration comes in conflict with the socio-
economic development or the social welfare consideration of the present times.The
social welfare administration requires proper coordination among the units of
governance and also people’s participation which in turn requires a highly
decentralized, innovative and participative administration.
Thus, W. Fesler addresses the various issues and challenges faced in the realization of
decentralization. The doctrinal approach treats decentralization as an end in itself; political
approach highlights political character of decentralization; administrative approach base itself
6
Kothari, Rajni (1988). State against Democracy: In Search of Human Governance. New Delhi: Ajanta, p. 48
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on the efficiency, effectiveness and rationality principle while the conflict between traditional
and social welfare administration is dealt by the dual role approach.
2.5 DIFFERENT TYPES OF DECENTRALIZATION

Based on different political settings and administrative conditions, decentralization can be
classified into four types: political, administrative, fiscal and functional decentralization.
1. Political Decentralization occurs when the decision making powers are transferred
from a higher level of political authority or the government to a lower level. It also
assures that the institutions assigned for local governance are managed by the local
people, thus bringing in a greater participation of the people in the governance system
which in turn leads to increased legitimacy and more political stability of
governments. For instance, the 73rd and the 74th constitutional amendments for setting
up the rural and urban governance system in India is a form of the political
decentralization.
2. Administrative Decentralization means the delegation of some of the power and
functions of a politically independent unit to its subordinate units within the
organization which may be either territorial or functional.
3. Fiscal Decentralization involves the devolution of financial power to lower levels of
governance. To realize the actual goal of political decentralization, the lower levels
need to be assured with fiscal decentralization or the power to collect and generate
taxes and revenues within their administrative units. Fiscal decentralization also
enables the units to fulfill their basic requirements and few responsibilities with the
income generated rather than completely relying on the state and central governments
for the funds.
4. Functional decentralization refers to the transfer of functions from Central or state
government to local bodies in order to enable them to discharge assigned functions
and responsibilities. For instance, in India, the 73rd constitutional amendment act
assigns 29 functions to Panchayati Raj institutions and 18 functions to the urban local
bodies under the 11th and 12th Schedule respectively of the Constitution of India.
These are few of the major types of decentralization which is favored for the easy access,
participation and responsiveness of the citizens. We may also note that decentralization takes
the form based on the situation it has to act on and thus cannot be an absolute term in itself.
In other words, the above four types of decentralization took different forms in the different
political and administrative settings.
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2.6 DECENTRALIZATION IN INDIA

From the previous sections, we can sum up that when the power, functions or responsibilities
are shared between the central government and local units of governance, we call it the
decentralization. The basic idea behind the decentralization is to locally address the issues
and problems by enhanced people’s participation as there is a saying that every problem has a
solution in its roots. Further, when we deal with decentralization in the Indian context, the
term democratic decentralization is most commonly used. The term ‘democratic’ lends the
special characteristic to the concept of decentralization and it cannot be treated as an end in
itself. In fact the democratic prefix makes the decentralization an effective and efficient tool
of development. Democratic decentralization forms two different perspectives—institutional
(it is viewed as an institution of self-government instrumental perspective) and instrumental
(an instrument of ensuring participatory development by empowering the local communities).
Hence, decentralization is the mechanism or avenue through which the nature of local
governance can be ascertained.
One of the major steps towards the decentralization in India happened in 1992 with the
73rd amendment act of the Constitution of India. The Constitution was amended to bring in a
three-tier structure of governance at the grass root level popularly known as the Panchayati
Raj or the rural local government. This was followed by the 74th constitutional amendment
act bringing in a similar structure at the urban level called the urban local government. Both
the local governments share almost similar features like:
• A three-tier governance structure at both rural and urban level
• Constitutionally making it mandatory to hold regular elections to the local
government bodies
• Reservation of at least one-third seats to women and proportional reservations to
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes
• Creation of State Election Commission to conduct the panchayat and municipal
elections
• Provision of State Finance Commission to adhere the fiscal decentralization
• Functional decentralization has been administered by assigning various functions
under the 11th and 12th Schedules of the Constitution of India, etc.
The democratic decentralization in other terms brings out the governmental jurisdictions
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below the state level in India which is otherwise called the local government. The local
government administers the locality wherein the officials (like Patwari, District Magistrate,
The Tehsildar, The Deputy Collector, etc.) are appointed by the state. The local self-
government manages the local affairs of the natives of the area through representatives or by
itself. It is considered as a democratic body in the real sense. It consists of Municipal
Councillors, Sarpanch and the Gram Pardhan, etc.
Federal governments generally have two or more tiers of governments but a vast country
like India cannot be run only through these two-tiers as states like Maharashtra is as big as
Germany, Uttar Pradesh is bigger than Russia, many are internally diverse. Thus, there is a
need for power sharing within these states. Federal power sharing in India needs another tier
of government, below that of the state governments and this is the rationale for
decentralization of power which resulted in a third-tier of government, called local
government. While, local self-government implies the transference of the power to rule to the
lowest rungs of the political order. It is a form of democratic decentralization where the
participation of even the grass root level of the society is ensured in the process of
administration. Historically, the form of local self-governance finds evidence in the Rig-Veda
(1700 BC) that dealt with self-governing village bodies called ‘sabhas’ existed within the
self-sufficient and self-governing village communities. With the passage of time, these bodies
became panchayats (council of five persons). Later there no serious attempts were undertaken
to revive the huge potentials of the village republics either by the colonial rulers or by the
independent Indian rulers except few visionary thinkers like Tagore and Gandhi.
The introduction of local government in rural areas is assumed to begin through the
Bengal Village Chowkidari Act, 1870, though the underlying objective was solely to serve
the interest of the Empire to fortify British rule in India. The real intention was to strengthen
the economic and the security aspects of the Empire as the law had authorized the village
Panchayats to mop up local taxes for maintaining village Chowkidars and also to set up
reliable intelligence mechanism deep into the countryside to keep a tab on the activities of the
people. As a part of its housekeeping functions, the British colonial state had adopted several
constitutional measures to streamline local self-government in India including the Ripon
Resolution, 1882; the Bengal Local Self-Government Act, 1885; the Bengal Village Self-
Government Act, 1919; among others. Out of the said measures, the Bengal Village Self-
Government Act of 1919 may be regarded as the beginning of local self-government in India,
providing a two-tier structure. However, those self-governing structures were neither self nor
local as those bodies were marked by the perennial resource crunch, over-bureaucratization,
and dominance of local landed gentry.
Moreover, repeated advocacy of Mahatma Gandhi for Gram Swaraj, it remained a far cry
even in Independent India. Inheriting the colonial mindset regarding local governance, the
framers of the Constitution had belied the hope of strong and vibrant local governance by
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confining it to a non-enforceable section of the Constitution, that is, the Directive Principles
of the State Policy. The conceptualization of the system of local self-government in India
took place through the formation and effort of four important committees from the year 1957
to 1986.
• Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957): The committee was originally appointed by the
Government of India to examine community development initiatives and to recommend
improvement measures; the committee submitted its report in November 1957, in which
the term ‘democratic decentralization’ first appears. The major recommendations related
to decentralization were:
▪ Establishment of a three-tier Panchayati Raj system – gram panchayat at village level
(direct election), panchayat Samiti at the block level and Zila Parishad at the district
level (indirect election).
▪ District Collector to be the chairman of Zila Parishad.
▪ Transfer of resources and power to these bodies to be ensured.
The existent National Development Council accepted the recommendations. However, it
did not insist on a single, definite pattern to be followed in the establishment of these
institutions. Rather, it allowed the states to devise their own patterns, while the broad
fundamentals were to be the same throughout the country. Rajasthan (1959) adopted the
system first, followed by Andhra Pradesh in the same year. Some states even went ahead
to create four-tier systems and Nyaya panchayats, which served as judicial bodies.
• Ashok Mehta Committee (1977-1978): The committee was constituted by the Janata
government of the time to study Panchayati Raj institutions. It identified a combination of
factors undermines PRIs - unsympathetic bureaucracy, absence of political will, lack of
involvement in planning and implementation on a substantial scale, domination of local
institutions by the economic and social rural elite, etc. Out of a total of 132
recommendations made by it, the most important ones are:
▪ Three-tier system to be replaced by a two-tier system with district being basic unit of
planning, coordination, and resource allocation.
▪ Demanded constitutional recognition for Panchyats.
▪ Political parties should participate at all levels in the elections.
▪ Compulsory powers of taxation to be given to these institutions.
▪ Zila Parishad to be made responsible for planning at the state level.
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▪ A minister for Panchayati Raj to be appointed by the state council of ministers.

▪ Constitutional recognition to be given to Panchayati Raj institutions.
Even though states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and West Bengal passed new
legislations based on the Ashok Mehta Committee Report, unfortunately, the Janata
government collapsed before action could be taken on these recommendations.
• G V K Rao Commitee (1985): Appointed by the Planning Commission, the committee
concluded that the developmental procedures were gradually being taken away from the
local self-government institutions, resulting in a system comparable to ‘grass without
roots’. The major recommendations of this committee are:
▪ Zila Parishad to be given prime importance and all developmental programs at that
level to be handed to it.
▪ Post of District Development Commissioner to be created, acting as the chief
executive officer of the Zila Parishad.
▪ Regular elections to be held.
• L M Singhvi Commitee (1986): Constituted by the Rajiv Gandhi government on
‘Revitalization of Panchayati Raj institutions for Democracy and Development’, its
important recommendations are:
▪ Constitutional recognition for PRI institutions.
▪ Nyaya Panchayats to be established for clusters of villages
Though the 64th Constitutional Amendment bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 1989
itself, Rajya Sabha opposed it. It was only during the Narasimha Rao government’s term that
the idea finally became a reality in the form of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment
acts, 1992. The acts of 1992 added two new parts IX and IX-A to the constitution. It also
added two new schedules – 11th and 12th which contains the lists of functional items of
Panchayats and Municipalities. It provides for a three-tier system of Panchayati Raj in every
state – at the village, intermediate and district levels. The 73rd and 74th Constitutional
Amendments in 1992-93 have ushered in the present phase where panchayats are described
as institutions of local self-government, and are expected to prepare plans for economic
development and social justice.
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2.7 LOCAL SELF GOVERNANCE: RURAL

Panchayati Raj Institutions are the institutionalized
form of rural local governance that came into
existence with the passage of the 73rd Constitution
Amendment Act, 1992. The act has heralded three-
tier PRIs across the country. Moreover, the passage
of the act has empowered the local bodies to
formulate and implement development plans of
their own and form an efficient delivery mechanism
for development.
The 73rd Constitution Amendment Act, 1992
has inserted Part IX with Articles 243 to 243 O in
the Constitution. This amendment implements the
article 40 of the DPSP which says that “State shall take steps to organize village panchayats
and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to
function as units of self-government” and have upgraded them from non-justifiable to
justifiable part of the constitution and has put constitutional obligation upon states to enact
the Panchayati Raj Acts as per provisions of the Part IX. However, states have been given
enough freedom to take their geographical, politico-administrative and others conditions into
account while adopting the Panchayati Raj System.
The significant features of the act include:
• Article 243A: Organization of Gram Sabhas, the body of the electorate of the Gram
Panchayats, which may exercise such powers and perform such functions at the
village level as the Legislature of a State may, by law, provide;
• Article 243B: Constitution of Panchayats at the village, intermediate and district
levels in every state. Also, three-tier PRIs with Zilla Parishad at the top, the
Panchayats Samitis at the intermediate level, and Panchayats at the bottom
• Article 243D: reservation of seats for SCs and STs in all Panchayats at all levels in
proportion to their respective shares in the Panchayat & one-third to be reserved for
the women
• Article 243E: duration of the Panchayats or every Panchayat shall continue for five
years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer
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• Article 243G: devolved power, authority and responsibilities to rural local bodies to
enable them to function as the institutions of self-government
• Article 243H & Article 243I: fiscal decentralization or powers to impose taxes by,
and funds of, the Panchayats; state government to constitute independent state-level
finance commissions to review financial position respectively
• Article 243J: Audit of the Panchayat accounts
• Article 243K: constitution of a state level Election Commission for a period of five
years to ensure free and fair elections in local bodies
Also, the state legislatures are needed to enact laws to endow powers and authority to the
Panchayats to enable them functions of local government. The 11th schedule enshrines the
distribution of powers between the State legislature and the Panchayats. These 29 subjects are
listed below:
• Agriculture, including agricultural • Health and sanitation, including hospitals,
extension. primary health centers and dispensaries
• Animal husbandry, dairying and • Social forestry and farm forestry
poultry • Social welfare, including welfare of the
• Poverty alleviation programme. handicapped and mentally retarded
• Fisheries • Khadi, village and cottage industries
• Fuel and fodder • Welfare of the weaker sections, and in
• Family welfare particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the
• Education, including primary and Scheduled Tribes.
secondary schools. • Rural housing
• Cultural activities • Roads, culverts, bridges, ferries, waterways
• Adult and non-formal education and other means of communication
• Minor forest produce • Women and child development
• Technical training and vocational • Land improvement, implementation of land
education. reforms, land consolidation and soil
conservation
• Markets and fairs
• Drinking water
• Libraries.
• Rural electrification, including distribution
• Small scale industries, including food of electricity
processing industries
• Public distribution system
• Minor irrigation, water management
and watershed development. • Maintenance of community assets
• Non-conventional energy sources
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The positive impact of the 73rd Amendment in rural India is clearly visible as it has changed
power equations significantly. As per the data provided by Election Commission of India,
elections to the Panchayats in most states are being held regularly. Through over 600 District
Panchayats, around 6000 Intermediate Panchayats and 2.3 lakh Gram Panchayats, more than
28 lakh persons now have a formal position in our representative democracy.
Still, this bill lacks the proper definition of the role of the bureaucracy. It does not clearly
define the role of the state government. On practical level, people are illiterate in India and
they are actually not aware of these novel features. The Panchayats are dominated by
effluents in some parts of the country. The 3 tiers of the Panchayati Raj have still very limited
financial powers and their viability is entirely dependent upon the political will of the states.
Critically appraising the role of democratic decentralization in delivering development and
social justice following steps have been taken:
• panchayat, as the institution of local self-governance has been suffering from an
identity crisis
• culture of subservience gone against the fullest realization of decentralization in post
independent India
• over-politicization of the panchayats
• strong centralizing tendency with the centrality of development and state has been
implicit in the decentralization initiatives in independent India
• proxy participation of the women candidate – ‘pradhanpati syndrome’ and rigid
patriarchal structure inhibits the participation of backward castes and women in
village governance
• first timers with little or no prior knowledge of functioning of PRIs
• distribution of rural assets and powers is heavily skewed in India - opportunities and
social choice shrink for the really deprived villages at the grass roots level
• inadequate financial resources and inflexibility in spending the allocated budget
• little investment in enabling and strengthening local governments to raise their own
taxes and user charges
• untimely and delayed elections,
• Corruption, etc.
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2.8 LOCAL SELF GOVERNANCE: URBAN
The 74th Constitution Amendment Act, 1993 mandated the devolution of powers and thereby
setting up the urban local bodies (ULBs) with city governments as the local unit of
governance at the urban level. Power was mandated to be given to the people via the local
bodies generally referred to as municipalities, via Municipal Corporations, Councils and
Nagar Panchayats, which would have representatives that are elected regularly and have a
decisive role in planning, provision and delivery of services. The act has inserted Part IXA
with Articles 243P to 243ZG in the Constitution.
The key provisions of the 74th Constitutional
Amendment which pertains to urban local bodies:
• Article 243Q: Constitution of Municipalities-
a Nagar Panchayat for the transitional area
from a rural area to an urban area; a Municipal
Council for a smaller urban area; and a
Municipal Corporation for a larger urban area.
• Article 243R: Composition of Municipalities
and seats to be filled by persons chosen
through direct elections.
• Article 243S: Constitution and composition of Wards Committees, etc.
• Article 243T: Reservation of seats for SCs and STs in all Municipality at all levels in
proportion to their respective shares in the Panchayat & one-third to be reserved for
the women.
• Article 243U: Duration of Municipalities- Every Municipality shall continue for five
years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer.
• Article 243W: Powers, authority and responsibilities of Municipalities, etc.
• Article 243X: Power to impose taxes by, and Funds of the Municipalities.
• Article 243Y: The Finance Commission constituted under article 243-I shall also
review the financial position of the Municipalities and make recommendations to the
Governor.
• Article 243Z: Audit of accounts of Municipalities.
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• Article 243ZA: Elections to the Municipalities under the superintendence, direction

and control of the State Election Commission referred to in article 243K.
• Article 243ZD: Committee for district planning at the district level to consolidate the
plans prepared by the Panchayats and the Municipalities in the district and to prepare
a draft development plan for the district as a whole.
• Article 243ZE: Committee for metropolitan planning constituted in every
Metropolitan area to prepare a draft development plan for the Metropolitan area as a
whole.
A local self-government at the urban level has addressed several serious issues of
administration and governance so far. Most States have amended their acts to include part or
in some case all of these and only marginal changes that were regarded as mandatory, have
been carried out. A comparison of the State legislation’ with central Act reveal that few state
governments have availed of the opportunity presented by the 74th Constitutional Amendment
to clarify municipal functions listed as ‘obligatory’ and ‘discretionary’ and avoids
overlapping institutional functional and geographic jurisdictions. Besides these there are
general problems faced by the urban local bodies include:
• acute scarcity of finance
• people’s participation in urban bodies is still negligible
• urban local bodies work within limits of state control
• no clear demarcation of functions between different local units of the urban local
government
2.9 CONCLUSION
Devolution, envisioned by the Constitution, is not mere delegation and it has been achieved
through the democratic decentralization which in turn has facilitated greater direct
participation of citizens in governance. India’s efforts in decentralisation represent one of the
largest experiments in deepening democracy. As Gram Panchayat is for rural areas, similarly
we have Municipalities for urban areas. This new system of local government is the largest
experiment in democracy conducted anywhere in the world. Constitutional status for local
government has helped to deepen democracy in our country. It has also increased women’s
representation and voice in our democracy. The 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts implies –
constitutionalization, deepening of democracy, decentralized planning, administrative
autonomy, financial autonomy, transparency in governance, accountability in governance,
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popular participation, gender empowerment, social justice via empowerment of least

advantaged.
On a critical side, there exist an absence of the clear definition of the term ‘self’
government; absence of a clear-cut demarcation of power, functions, and responsibilities
between rural and urban local bodies; lack of clarity with regard to tax assignments and
expenditure responsibilities; existence of an artificial dichotomy between rural and urban
when all previous thinking has stressed a continuum between the two.
As a way forward, since the panchayats have now come to stay as a constitutionally
recognised tier of governance, it is time to strengthen them so that they can discharge the
duties cast on them in the best manner possible. In areas which have been left to the
discretion of the State Governments under the Act, it is possible for the State Governments to
bring in improvements either through administrative orders of the Government or by
amending the State statutes appropriately like it should also be ensured that grants are utilized
in a proper and effective manner with Panchayats and Municipalities being encouraged to
carry out local audits regularly so that Finance Commission grants are not delayed. In a
recent report of the Standing Committee on Rural Development (2018) it was recommended
that state governments should put a quorum in gram sabha meetings for participation of
panchayat representatives, including women and members of SCs, STs etc. Efforts should be
made to address the lack of technical and manpower support for the functioning of local
bodies. A need for bottom-up planning at the district levels are felt many-a-times as one of
the rationales behind decentralization was that local problems have a local solution with
efficient management of resources and so on.
2.10 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Q.1. Define the concept of Decentralization in India, after 73th Amendment.
Q.2. What is the approaches to the study of Decentralization in India?
Q.3. Explain the local self governance, urban and rural in India.
2.11 REFERENCES
• Chakrabarty, B. (2007). Reinventing Public Administration: The Indian Experience.
Orient Longman.
• Cheema, G. S., &Rondinelli, D. A. (Eds.). (2007). Decentralizing Governance:
Emerging Concepts and Practices. Brookings Institution Press.
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• Fesler, J. W. (1965). Approaches to the Understanding of Decentralization. The

Journal of Politics, 27(3), 536-566.
• Chakravarty, Sukhamoy (1987). Development Planning: The Indian Experience.
Oxford University Press, Delhi.
• Human Development Resource Centre, Decentralization in India Challenges &
Opportunities, UNDP New Delhi.
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Unit-3: Budget
(a) CONCEPT OF BUDGET AND BUDGET CYCLE IN INDIA
Vishal Kumar Gupta
STRUCTURE
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Meaning and Definition of Budget
3.3 Objectives of Budget
3.4 Characteristics of Budget
3.5 Important Principles of Budgeting
3.6 Socio-Economic Implications of the Budget
3.7 History of Budget System in India
3.8 Budget System in Pre-colonial Period
3.9 Budget System in Colonial Period
3.10 Budget System in the Post-colonial Period
3.11 Budget Cycle
3.11.1 Budget Preparation
3.11.2 Enactment of the Budget
3.11.3 Execution of the Budget
3.12 Conclusion
3.13 Important Questions
3.14 References
3.1 INTRODUCTION
The process of adjusting the income-expenditure has been the general trend of human nature.
Not only every human being, but the Government, Business organizations and NGOs also try
to adjust their income and expenses. A single item of public expenditure or revenue cannot be
examined separately. While public expenditure is the goal of public welfare, on the other
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hand, the taxes are passed on to the tax payers. The financial arrangements of the
government, utility and inefficiency of the implementation of the activities, welfare and cost
should be balanced. Humans wants to make maximum and efficient use of his limited
resources available to achieve a decent life. To achieve this objective, he prepares an action
plan. He expected to use his available resources to achieve these objectives as planning, with
the least time and effort to achieve these objectives. In this context, the budget is a tool
through which the administration prepares its forward-looking action plan. The basic
parameters determine the objective. Efforts are made to establishing combined effect in the
objectives and activities of various departments of administration. Thus, effective budget
plays an important role in the success of any government and administration. In short, the
future plan of the administration is prepared after analyzing the past results and experiences
and considering the current trends under the budget. Budgets have become very complex and
wide over the last few decades. According to Gladstone, “It is nothing longer only related to
mathematics, but in a thousand of ways goes to the roots of the prosperity of individuals, the
relations of classes and strength of kingdoms.” Therefore, the budget makers are now
concerned not only with financial matters, that is, with the balance of expenditure and
revenue, but also with the economic, political, social and administrative nature. A budget can
serve many purposes.
3.2 MEANING AND DEFINITION OF BUDGET
The budget basically deals with future projections of ‘Income and Expenditure’, in which the
future strategy of administration is prepared by taking the work and data executed in the past
as the basis and analyzing the current activities. The word Budget is derived from the French
word Bougette. The first use of the word budget in the modern sense was in 1733, when the
Finance Minister of England presented the documents related to his financial proposals to the
House of Common (Lok Sabha), for the first time it was said as a joke that the Finance
Minister gave his budget (from leather manufactured bag) opened. From the same day, the
word ‘Budget’ started to be used for the Financial Statement of the government’s annual
income expenditure.
The budget system was developed in the post-medieval era. In this period, arbitrary
governance was found in England and Europe. The budget was a statement of revenue and
expenditure, but it was considered to be the king’s personal subject and state secret. The main
reason for this was that the revenue was derived from the king’s own property. But during the
war, it became compulsory to resort to taxes. As a result, at such times, the elite were given
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the opportunity to express their views and reactions on revenue resources, especially on war.
The principle of ‘No tax without Representation’ was recognized at the time of the 1688
Glorious revolution. But at that time all administrative expenses were not subjected to the
parliamentary control. Full legislative control over finance has been established in this
century. Thus, the concept of budget as a central tool of financial direction and control is
relatively new.
The budget plan and budget document is a blueprint of the future work to be done by the
government. There is a detailed description of the allocation of budget instruments, proposed
taxes to be levied or the measures to be taken. The budget has been defined by different
scholars in different times and contexts, which are as follows:
President Roosevelt stated in his 1941 budget speech that “The budget is merely a
description of the work done by the government to the public in the form of budget and it is
the only detail of the amount provided in the form of tax to the government by citizens.”
According to J. Pois, “Budgeting is the process by which the financial policy of a
government agency can be decided and governed.”
According to G. Jeze, “Budget is a forecast and an estimate of all the public receipts and
expenses and for certain expenses and receipts, an authorization to incur them and to collect
them.”
According to Stourm, “Budget is a document containing a preliminary approved plan of
public revenue and expenditure.”
According to Dimock, “A budget is a financial plan summarizing the financial
experience of the past, stating a current plan and projection it over a specified period of time
in future.”
According to Munro, “Budget is a plan of financing for the incoming fiscal year. This
involves an itemised estimate of all revenues on the one hand and all expenditures on the
other.”
According to Willoughby, “It is…at once a report, an estimate and a proposal. It is….a
document through which the chief executive comes before the fund raising and fund granting
authority and makes full report regarding the manner in which he or his subordinates have
administered affairs during last completed year, in which he exhibits the present condition of
the public treasury, and on the basis of such information, sets forth his programme of work
for the year to come and the manner in which he hopes that such work shall be financed.”
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According to Robert S. Harman, “For an economist, the budget significantly influences

the economy, a politician has to criticize the government’s actions or defend the party’s
programme, the businessman would be shown a vehicle with a budget, a means for a public
servant to demonstrate his or her sufferings, a budget to an administrator is a means of formal
movement and administrative discipline over all footsteps; A citizen’s budget is a form of
government’s programme, activity, government finances and tax burden on it. But the
importance of these most budgets is that it highlighted on various perspectives related to
policy making.”
What does it mean by budget? This can be understood from the Finance Administration
Report of the State of Michigan, “Budget formulation generally refers to the process by
which a government agency’s financial policy is formulated. Enactment is carried out and
implemented.”
According to the Policy Holder Bureau of New York, “The budget system is a systematic
process by which information from past and present has to be collected and based on them
financial plans are prepared for the future. After that it is reported how those plans were
implemented. “
Thus, in the present era, the budget has become the motivator of economic and social
activities. Production can be increased or limited by tax policy in the budget, class disparities
and variations can be eliminated or eradicate, unemployment can be reduced and unequal
distribution of wealth can be reduced. In this way, the budget has a significant impact on the
social and economic life of the nation. The nature of the welfare state can be gauged from the
huge expenditure incurred on social services under the budget. In short, a budget includes the
following information:
❖ New schemes, programs, projects, measures and activities proposed for the current
and upcoming year.
❖ Resource position and income from various sources, including taxes and additional
tax revenue.
❖ Actual receipts and expenses of the previous year, and
❖ Economic, statistical and accounting data related to the financial and physical
performances of various governmental institutions and organs.
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3.3 OBJECTIVES OF BUDGET
The budget seeks to achieve predetermined objectives at the lowest cost. Preparation of work
policy, editing of coordination and controlling functions in an effective manner, setting
standards and doing comparative analysis with actual performance, maximizing the benefits
of administration and making communication strong and effective, etc. can be considered as
the main objectives of the government budget. In other words, the objectives of the budget
are:
• To help in mobilizing financial resources for administration.
• Coordinate and clearly determine the activities of various departments of the
administration.
• By coordinating the activities of the departments related to administration, an attempt
is made to achieve the predetermined goals with minimum cost, time and efforts.
• Measurement of efficiency and strengthening the process of control, etc.
3.4 CHARACTERISTICS OF BUDGET
The important features of the budget have been outlined by various scholars in the following
form:
1. The budget relates to a fixed period of time, which can be of short, medium and long
term.
2. Budget is an important tool for administration, which carries out planning and control
functions in highly effective manners.
3. Budget is a tool to achieve pre-determined objectives and goals.
4. Comparative study of predetermined objectives and actual performance. Thus, the
budget is a measure in which positive deviations are accepted and negative deviations
are neglected.
5. This is a future action plan.
6. Efforts are made to coordinate the activities of all the departments of administration.
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3.5 IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES OF BUDGETING
1. Publicity: There should be wide publicity of the budget so that the public,
newspapers and public representatives can present their views in the context of
various schemes of different taxes or expenses. Due to the proper publicity and
publication of the budget, the public and journalists can give their opinion about it.
2. Clarity: Every citizen should understand the budget with ease and effortlessly. The
significance of the budget is that it should be so clear that the citizens can understand
it easily and can express their views.
3. Accuracy: All the information which are based on estimate budget should be
submitted sequentially and in detail so that the evaluation can be done easily. There
should not be an attempt to destroy the precision of the budget by hiding the facts,
declaring the revenue low.
4. Unity: For the financial arrangements of all expenses, all the receipts of the
government should be collected in a common fund. Separating revenue is the
hallmark of an ideal budget.
5. Comprehensiveness: The entire fiscal programme of the government should be
concluded in the budget. The budget should be understood by the general public.
Estimates of new taxes and new expenses should be made available to the common
man through the study of the budget. New loans should be clearly mentioned in the
budget.
6. Integrity: The fiscal programme should be shaped in the same way as the legislature
has made. With the spirit on which the budget has been formed, should also be
implemented with the same spirit. The administration should fulfill the objectives set
at the time of budget formation with complete honesty and efficiency.
7. Periodicity: The government should have the right to only spend till the budget
period, that is, after the fixed period, the money should be re-authorized. For this
reason, the legislature should pass the budget in time.
3.6 SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF BUDGET
In modern times, the budget plays an important role in the perspective of the social and
economic life of a nation. There was a time when the budget was merely a description of the
projected wealth collection and expenditure. It had two objectives: First, that the government
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had to determine how much money it had to extract from the taxpayers’ pockets in order to
run its work efficiently. Second, the legislature had to give funding approval. Essentially in
this context, they wanted to know the plan of the outlay. Similarly, in the days of ‘Free-
Trade’, there was a simple assessment of the budget’s income and expenditure.
With the acceleration of the concept of public welfare states in modern times, it has
become necessary to increase the magnitude and type of government functions. Government
activities now cover almost all aspects of life. The government budget is a huge tool by
which public resources are planned and controlled in a such situation. Thus, the budget is a
tool for the conceptualization of governmental functions, which are adjusted with the entire
economy of the country. This affects the development and production, the size and
distribution of income and the achievement of human energy and materials. Through the
budget, citizens understand what benefits they will get from government schemes and
programs and how much tax they will have to pay. Through the budget, many of the
demands, aspirations, needs and interests of the citizens are taken on priority and offering
them in various programs. The government’s taxation policy seeks to reduce social inequality
and class discrimination by reflecting in the budget. The budget policy of the government is
directed towards the objectives of eradication of poverty, eradication of unemployment and
reducing unequal distribution of wealth. Thus, if we see, the socio-economic application of
the budget in the context of a public welfare state the role of state is too wide.
3.7 HISTORY OF BUDGET SYSTEM IN INDIA

It is often said by some scholars that the budget is a byproduct of modern phenomena, but in
ancient and medieval India, there was a provision of budget and that budget was made in
huge detail. Unquestionably, the modern budget system was launched only after when the
British government directly took over the reins of the country. In India, the study of the
emergence of the budget system and the evolutionary developments can be studied by
dividing it into three periods for convenience, which is as follows.
3.8 BUDGET SYSTEM IN PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD
It is known from various historical sources that there was an advanced budget system in
ancient India. The systematic confirmation of this fact comes from the Arthashastra written
by Kautilya, which describes the Mauryan administration. This is an example of a good
budget system. It has indetailed and comprehensive rules which related to maintenance,
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submission and scrutiny of accounts. Every year, the Finance Minister used to keep an
account of the opening balance in the treasury and all the current expenditures including the
projects being run and the projects being completed. Along with this, the details of receipts
coming from all the sources and the possible balance at the end of the year were kept all
receipts and expenditure of revenue capital accounts in full and micro accounts. All proposed
new and investment-oriented expenditure plans were made and included in the budget.
Estimates for the coming year and actual results for the previous year were included in
the accounts. The entire cabinet had a secret meeting in which they were reviewed and their
accuracy, fullness and satisfactory nature were decided upon all subjects. Their task was to
verify the actual data, check the conformity of the expenditure incurred by receipts and
certificates, confirm that the value of every penny spent has been recovered. Whether or not
he has performed his duty with honesty and efficiency. In order to make the system effective,
there was also a system of punishments and rewards. The punishments and awards were
given to clerks, high officials, superintendents and even the Auditor General alike. The
financial system of the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire was also no
different from that of the Mauryan system. This fact is confirmed in the writings of various
historians with reference to the reigns of Akbar and Jahangir.
3.9 BUDGET SYSTEM IN COLONIAL PERIOD
After the advent of British rule, the Indian financial system effectively came under the
control of the East India Company. Till 1833, the Presidencies of Bombay, Calcutta and
Madras were independent in financial matters and there was no centralized financial system.
This situation changed with the Charter Act of 1833 as the right to supervise, direction and
control all revenues was transferred to the Governor General of India-in-council through this
Act. The main intention of the East India Company was territorial expansion, so expenditure
was increased due to the war. Huge money was remitted to Britain in the name of interest to
the Indian debt, investment on railways and interest on civil and military expenses incurred
by Britain in the name of India and maintenance of office of East India Company in India.
After the revolution of 1857, there was chaos in financial administration. After that
British Empire took the administration of India under its control, the financial system became
in line with the system prevailing in Britain. Provision of highly centralized financial system
and administrative control was made to cater to the imperialist interests. The first formal
budget in India was presented in 1860 by Sir James Wilson, the finance member of the
Governor-General-in-Council. At that time there was no elected legislature in India. (When
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the first modern budget was presented in 1860, the budget adopted by the government came
into the effect from 1 May to 30 April. Subsequently, in the beginning of 1866, the financial
year was changed to April-March. As it was in accordance with the custom prevalent in
Britain.) The budget was not even presented before the British Parliament. However, the
budget made the Governor General of the Viceroy’s Council accountable to the Council-in-
State Secretaries in London, which looked after Indian affairs as a member of the British
Cabinet. The Secretary of State became the primary source of complete power.
The Government of India Act,1935 blow to his powers. In addition to the control of
services, the Secretary of State relinquished most of his powers. The Governor General and
the Governors had privileges and authority over reserved subjects which were outside the
purview of legislative financial control with items in charge. They could also relocate any
demands rejected or reduced by the legislature. Additionally, no such expenditure could be
incurred, even if it was passed by the legislature in a lawful manner, unless it was included in
the Governor General’s or the Governor’s authenticated Expenditure Notification.
In short, the system of financial control was very rigorous, rule-oriented and complex
during the time of budget formation and approval of expenditure. This system naturally
discouraged any important initiative motivation towards change and development. Hence
control over financial administration was only helpful to imperialist interests. This
independence of India from British government, inherited this financial system, full of
disorders and harshness.
3.10 BUDGET SYSTEM IN THE POST-COLONIAL PERIOD
After the independence, there were major changes in the objectives, policy structures of
financial administration. The conflict between aspirations and policies and procedures
targeting public opinion and financial administration came to an end in a single day.
Unquestionably, the basic features of the Government of India Act 1935 were retained, but
there was no inconsistency between these instruments and national priorities. These tools
could be changed to suit the changed goals and the same was done.
The budget procedure in India follows the provisions given in Articles 112 to 117 of the
Constitution. Accordingly, the annual budget of the Union, which is called the ‘Financial
Statement’ of the Income-Expenditure Estimates, should be presented to both the Houses of
Parliament in respect of each financial year. The budget shows the receipts and payments of
the government in three parts, under which government accounts are classified:
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Consolidated Fund: All the revenue received by the government, such as customs, excise,
income tax, estate duty, other taxes and duties and the money received by the government
from the recovery of loans, are all deposited in the Consolidated Fund. After the approval of
the Parliament, the government bears all its expenses with this fund. That is why it is called
the Consolidated Fund of India.
Contingency Fund: According to Article 267, Parliament has been given the power to set up
a fund. This fund is called the Contingency Fund of India. The fund is periodically deposited
through laws passed by Parliament. This fund is under the control of the President and to
meet the contingent needs of the country, funds are made available by the President to the
government through this fund.
Public Account: Apart from Consolidated funds, there are some such transactions in the
government accounts for general income expenditure by the government in relation to which
the government acts like a banker; In other words, the money which deposited in the account
does not belong to the government and this money has to be returned at a time to the
individuals or officials who deposit it. Therefore, parliamentary approval is not required for
payment from a public account.
Charged Expenditure
Some of the items of expenditure under the Constitution such as the President’s emoluments,
the salary and allowances of the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the Deputy Chairman and the
Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the salary and pension of the Judges of the
supreme court and Auditor General, loans and interest received by the Government Payments
etc. are made from Consolidated funds to comply with the payment and order of the court. It
is not voted by the Parliament. The expenditure incurred from the Consolidated fund is
shown separately in the budget.
3.11 BUDGET CYCLE

To provide timeliness to executive and legislative processes, the budgeting process is made in
a circular manner. In a responsible government, the process of approval or acceptance is very
important. There are four stages in this cycle.
1. Preparation of income-expenditure estimates for the coming financial year;
2. Receipt by Parliament in the form of Revenue Acts and Appropriation Acts;
3. Implementation of Revenue Acts and Appropriation Acts; And
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4. Review and control of financial activities by audit on behalf of the Parliament.

At a particular point of time, several cycles are in operation and they are overlapping.
Different segments of the budget cycle have different operating periods.
The budget formulation process in India begins formally during September/October, six
months before the presentation of the budget, on the receipt of a circular from the Ministry of
Finance. In the different circulars of the plan and non-plan miscellaneous items, the list of the
time of sending final estimates and the guidelines for testing the budget estimates made by
the concerned department are also given. According to the budget and accounting
classification, the budget estimates prepared by the Ministries and Departments are analyzed
by the Financial Advisors concerned. The plan items of the Union Budget are finalized in
consultation with the NITI Aayog and are based on the Annual Plan.
The budget in Parliament passes through five stages:
1. Presentation of Budget,
2. General Discussion,
3. Voting on Demands for Grants
4. Passing of Appropriation Bill,
5. Passing of Finance Bill.
1. Presentation of Budget: The budget session of the Indian Parliament starts in the mid-
February. The budget is presented in Parliament into two parts, the Railway Budget and
the General Budget. The Railway Budget contains the details of Railways’ income and
their expenditure and is presented by the Railway Minister. The general budget is
related to the demands of all other departments except the Railways. It is presented by
the Finance Minister in the Parliament.
Integration of Railway and General Budget: Since 1924, the tradition of presenting the
Railway Budget separately from the General Budget started. In the beginning of 2016,
the NITI Aayog also suggested to merge these two budgets again. That is, the railway
budget should be presented in conjunction with the general budget. From the financial
year 2017-18, the same budget has now started to be presented.
2. General Discussion: General discussion on the budget starts a few days after its
presentation. Normally, this discussion of three to four days goes on in both the houses
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of Parliament. It is a British tradition and heritage. At this stage, the Lok Sabha can
discuss the entire budget or any theoretical aspect of it, but during this time neither a
motion can be introduced nor the budget can be put up for voting in the House. At the
end of the discussion, the Finance Minister is authorized to give a general answer.
3. Voting on Demands for Grants: At the end of the general discussion, the Lok Sabha
begins the process of voting on the Demands for Grants which is not a weighted
expenditure on the Consolidated Fund of India. Separate voting can take place for every
demand. At this stage, MPs can discuss the details of the budget. They can also propose
to reduce or decrease the demand for a particular grant. These proposals are also called
‘Cut Motions’. These are of three types:
Policy Cut Motion: It refers to the rejection of the policy on demand. Accordingly, the
amount of demand can be reduced to a certain amount (which may be a one-time
reduction in demand or non-inclusion or reduction of any one item in the demand).
Economic Cut Motion: This proposal is introduced to reduce the amount of money in a
fixed budget from the point of view of economy due to out of demand. If an MP feels
that unnecessary expenditure is being incurred in a demand, then he can present it.
Token Cut Motion: It brings forth the complaint/problem which is under the
jurisdiction of the Government of India. Under this, 100 rupees can be deducted from
the total amount of demand.
Voting on demands is entirely the prerogative of the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha does
not participate in it. Twenty-six days have been set for voting in India like Britain. It is
clear from this limited time system that many demands are passed without any
discussion. The Speaker, in consultation with the Leader of the House, determines the
time for which demand or demand group and for the entire expenditure part of the
budget. As soon as the deadline is over, the demand is immediately put up for voting,
whether it has been discussed or not. This is called ‘Guillotine’.
4. Passage of Appropriation Bill: The next step is to pass the annual Appropriation Bill.
According to Article 114 of the Constitution, "No money shall be withdrawn from the
Consolidated Fund of India without appropriation by the law." In other words, all the
expenses and investments made in the context of public welfare of the Government of
India are mentioned in the Appropriation Bill. Hence, the Appropriation Bill has
introduced, so that funds can be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund of India for the
grant and charged expenditure sanctioned by the Lok Sabha.
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No amendment can be introduced in either House of Parliament on the

Appropriation Bill which changes the amount of grant sanctioned or changes its
destination, or reduces the amount of any expenditure charged from the Consolidated
Fund of India or You do more. The Appropriation Bill, after the assent of the President,
becomes an Appropriation Act. The Act legalizes the payments to the Consolidated
Fund of India. This means that until the Appropriation Bill becomes an Act, the
Government cannot withdraw any kind of money from the Consolidated Fund of India.
It takes time and usually runs till the end of April, but after 31 March, the government
needs money for its normal functioning. To overcome this functional difficulty, the Lok
Sabha has been empowered by the Constitution to grant any advance grant for the
estimated expenditure for a part of the financial year till the completion of the voting
process on the Demands for Grants and the passing of the Appropriation Bill. This
arrangement is called Vote on Account. It is passed after the completion of the general
discussion on the budget. Typically, this occurs for two months.
5. Passing of Finance Bill: The Appropriation Act empowers the government to withdraw
funds from the Consolidated Fund, but it has not yet been arranged where the money
will come from. Hence, there is a system of collecting money by taxation. A Finance
Bill is introduced in the House for this purpose. The bill contains financial proposals of
the government for the next year. The details of various taxes, fees etc. levied by the
Government of India are given in the Finance Bill. ‘Finance Bill’, under Rule 219 of the
Lok Sabha, means a Bill which is introduced for the purpose of implementing the
financial proposals by Government of India for the coming financial year and a bill to
implement the supplementary financial proposals of any period is included.
Amendments may be made to the rejection or reduction of any tax in respect of the
reversal of the appropriation bill. According to the Tax Collection Act, 1931, a financial
bill should be enacted or passed in Parliament within 75 days and approved by the
President.
Implementation of the budget is the responsibility of the executive government. The process
of implementation of the budget depends on the distribution and delegation of powers at
various operating levels. As soon as the Appropriation Act is passed, the Ministry of Finance
advises the spending ministries and departments about their allocated funds. Then the
controlling officers of each ministry and department provide allocation and advice to
different disbursing officers. The expenditure is organized in such a way that the amount
given in the hands of the spending authority is not spent before the additional amount is
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received. In short, the financial system is made up of the adjustment of the following
elements:
A. The Controlling Officer, generally the head of the Ministry and Department, acts as
the Controlling Officer,
B. A system of capable officers that grants financial approval,
C. Arrangement of imperatives and disbursing officers, and
D. Arrangement of payments, receipts and accounts.
The Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance controls and supervises the system of
collection of direct and indirect taxes. This control is maintained by the Central Board of
Direct Taxes and Central Board of Indirect Taxes. The board is the central bank which is
implementing various tax laws. Nationalized banks and treasury agencies are also executing
finance collection and distribution services.
Audit
The executive spends public funds which are authorized by the legislature. The Government
conducts an audit of public expenditure by an independent agency to determine its liability to
the Parliament. For this work, the Constitution provides the post of Comptroller and Auditor
General of India. It is his duty to ensure that the allocation of funds to various agencies of the
government is done by the law, the rules, orders and procedures to governing such
expenditure have been followed, the value of the money spent has been received. The
documents of the loan have been kept, compiled and submitted to the competent authority.
This is the last phase of the budget cycle.
3.12 CONCLUSION
Thus, we can say that there is a long procedure of budget formulation and enactment in India.
Many reforms were brought by the colonial rule, especially in 1919 and thereafter in 1935.
The system of finance inherited by India in 1947 was highly rigid, rule-oriented and complex.
Essentially it was for the achievement of fundamental colonial objectives and not for the
solution of national problems. Undoubtedly, public welfare is the main objective of the
budget. Therefore, according to their expectations and requirements for the development of
Indian people, the budget is presented every year by the government. In this context, the
efficiency and transparency of the budget cycle plays a useful and decisive role.
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Thus, we can say that the budget is an action plan for the long term i.e. the budget is the
blueprint of the government’s activities. These estimates are set for a fixed time period. This
period is called the budget period. This budget period can be from one month to more than a
year. But in general, Budget is a one-year financial statement which includes the
government’s forecast of revenue and expenditure for a financial year.
In the early stages it was considered an instrument of legislative control and
accountability. But in modern times, budgets have become management-oriented and they
also act as a means of implementing the development plans of the nation.
3.13 IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
1. Write an analytical note on the history of Budget in India?

2. What do you understand by ‘Cut Motions’?
3. Highlight the provisions related to the Budget in the Indian Constitution?
4. Write an essay on various stages of the Budget Cycle?
5. What do you understand by the Execution of the Budget?
6. What do you understand by the Budget?
7. Highlight the main objectives of the Budget?
8. Comment on the characteristics of the Budget?
9. Write an essay on Significant Principles of the Budget?
10. Discuss the socio-economic implications of the Budget in detail?
3.14 REFERENCES
• Thavaraj, M.J.K., 1978. ‘Financial Administration of India’. Delhi: Sultan Chand &
Sons.
• Cox III, Raymond W., Susan J. Buck, and Betty N. Morgan. 1994. ‘Public
Administration in Theory and Practice’. India: Pearson.
• Premchand A, 1983. ‘Government Budgeting and Expenditure Control: Theory and
Practice’, IMF: Washington DC.
• Burkhead, Jesse, 1956. ‘Government Budgeting’. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
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• Henry Nicholas. 1986. ‘Public Administration and Public Affairs’, Prentice Hall.
• Goel, S.L. 2010. ‘Social Welfare Administration, Part II’. New Delhi: Deep and
Deep Publications.
• Holzer, Marc and Richard W. Schwester. 2011. ‘Public Administration: An Intro-
duction’. New Delhi: PHI Learning.
• Bhattacharya, Mohit.2013. ‘New Horizons of Public Administration’, New Delhi:
Jawahar Publishers and Distributors.
• Chakrabarty, Bidyut and Chand, Prakash. 2012. ‘Public Administration in a
Globalizing World’, New Delhi: SAGE Publication India Pvt Ltd.
• Kashyap, Subhash C. 1999. ‘A New Parliamentary Initiative: Subject-based
Standing Committees of Parliament’, Economic and Political Weekly, 6 October:
3247.
• Maheshwari, Arasthiand. 2010. ‘Public Administration’. Agra: Lakshmi Narain
Agarwal.
• Prasad, Kamala. 2006. ‘Indian Administration: Politics, Policies and Prospects’.
New Delhi: Pearson Longman.
• Rao, M. Govind. 2009. ‘The Fiscal Situation and a Reform Agenda for the New
Government’, in Economic and Political Weekly, 20 June.
• Singh, Amita. 2002. ‘Public Administration: Roots Are Wings’. New Delhi:
Galgotia Publishing.
• The Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, vols. III and IV.
• Asian Development Bank. 2009. ‘Macroeconomic Management and Government
Finances’. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
• Cox III, Raymond W., Susan J. Buck, and Betty N. Morgan. 1994. ‘Public
Administration in Theory and Practice’. India: Pearson.
• Premchand A, 1983. ‘Government Budgeting and Expenditure Control: Theory and
Practice’, IMF: Washington DC
• Thavaraj, M.J.K., 1978. ‘Financial Administration of India’. Delhi: Sultan Chand &
Sons.
• Henry Nicholas. 1986. ‘Public Administration and Public Affairs’, Prentice Hall.
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• Goel, S.L. 2010. ‘Social Welfare Administration, Part II’. New Delhi: Deep and
Deep Publications.
• Holzer, Marc and Richard W. Schwester. 2011. ‘Public Administration: An Intro-
duction’. New Delhi: PHI Learning.
• Bhattacharya, Mohit.2013. ‘New Horizons of Public Administration’, New Delhi:
• Chakrabarty, Bidyut and Chand, Prakash. 2012. ‘Public Administration in a
Globalizing World’, New Delhi: SAGE Publication India Pvt Ltd.
• Kashyap, Subhash C. 1999. ‘A New Parliamentary Initiative: Subject-based
Standing Committees of Parliament’, Economic and Political Weekly, 6 October:
3247.
• Maheshwari, Arasthiand. 2010. ‘Public Administration’. Agra: Lakshmi Narain
Agarwal.
• Prasad, Kamala. 2006. ‘Indian Administration: Politics, Policies and Prospects’.
New Delhi: Pearson Longman.
• Rao, M. Govind. 2009. ‘The Fiscal Situation and a Reform Agenda for the New
Government’, in Economic and Political Weekly, 20 June.
• Singh, Amita. 2002. ‘Public Administration: Roots Are Wings’. New Delhi:
Galgotia Publishing.
• The Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, vols. III and IV.
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(b) BUDGET TYPES: LINE BUDGETING, PERFORMANCE

PLANNING BUDGETING, ZERO BASED BUDGETING
(c) BUDGET: ROLE OF FINANCE MINISTRY
Kumari Sushma
Vishal Kumar Gupta
STRUCTURE
3.1 What is Budget?
3.2 What is Budgeting?
3.3 What are the Various Approaches of Budgeting?
3.4 What are the Types of Budget?
3.4.1 Budget Cycle
3.4.5 Audit
3.5 Conclusion
3.1 WHAT IS BUDGET?

As we are a social person and try to live a stable life, budget or budgeting can be understood
as an inseparable part of our life. Budgeting is a common activity, in some extent everyone
use it. So as a common phenomena Budget is a quantitative/ numerical plan to achieve
required goals. Budgeting is an important activity for planned economy. There are three
aspects of budget: accountability, management and economic determination. In the aspect of
accountability and economic determination it gives the direction of economy and expenses,
as it leads the uses of resources in more beneficial way. And the same way as a economic
determinant, it promotes the economic balance between taxes and expenses.
It can be seen as a tool of management for economic planning and programming. When
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we see it in the scope of governmental budget, it is a part of economic planning in the form of
statement. This statement contains a forecast of revenues and expenditures for a period of
time. So in this sense we can see that Budget has some important components and features
like its’ quantitative nature, economic plan for future expenditure and its’ time components,
that means it is made for a fixed time period. In the context of governmental budget, budget
can be seen as a medium for achieving the policy objectives (schemes, welfare programmes,
projects etc.), set by a government. In the one hand, Budget is a reflection of future goals,
expenditure and on the other hand, it is detail allocation of proposed taxation and resources.
We can say that budget is the accountability of government to their citizens and as well as it
is the future financial allocation of resources.
3.2 WHAT IS BUDGETING?
It is the instrument of economic management. It is a type of financial policy of respective

organization. It can also understand as a tool of political management as it works for
operational documentation of expense, time and dimensions and aspects of expected results.
In the sense of common phenomena, Budgeting is the process or act of preparing a budget. It
is a process of selection of medium and ends. In one part it is an informative documentation
for resource allocation and in the second part it is a process of gathering right and relevant
information. This is the informative documentation as it gives the information for
consumption, investment and transfer with the identification of sectors. This information
helps to allocate the resources. On the other side it gathered the data for the same. In the
context of public/ governmental budgeting involves in
- Political exercise as it analyse the government expenses
- The distribution of financial or economic resources between private and public
sectors.
- Budgeting examines how the organization’s resources have been used in the past
- Analyzing what has been used in the past
- Analyzing what has been accomplished and at what cost, and a charting a course for
the future by allocating resources for the coming budget period.7
- Assigning responsibility to units for achieving the determined results.
7
Public budgeting system by Robert De Ley Pp-2
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- Regulating and controlling expenditure and accountability.

- Basically Budgeting is related to accountability control: work description of
administrative agencies, political process (determining the social objectives for certain
time period) and adaptation of some commercial principle intended goals; efficiency
control: production efficiency, distribution of functions, centralization and
decentralization and distribution of responsibility between public and private sector;
economic control: annual budget framework distribution of taxes and decision over
expenditures.8
3.3 WHAT ARE THE VARIOUS APPROACHES OF BUDGETING?
Leading the balance between income and expenses are difficult task and if it is about the all
three aspects (accountability, management and economic determination), the level of
responsibility towards the right decision makes it think and employed work. On the other
hand to the achievement of final goal, a big goal takes time, reaching to the final goal
regularity is prerequisite. This difficult task has get importance to analyse, as it identified the
central point of development goal. But the early writing and scholarly analysis was not
operational or empirical. It was based on the normative study. Those studies were about the
assumptions of income and its distribution towards the expenditure. Early time the dominant
trend in the context of budget studies or financial expenditures was influences by the day to
day study of budgeting administration. It was useful to understand the art of budgeting. In the
Eighteenth century budget got separate attention as a fiscal department from the just
administrative work. By this process, gradually, pattern of analysis and the study of budget
also had changed. In the Nineteenth century James Mill and J S Mill had introduced fiscal
matters as a central force of administrative and political activities. Gradually study of budget
got empirical form, as it focuses on the study of not only the expenses but the relationship of
these expenses with demands. New aspect of these study represent the approaches where the
demand of services, expenditure of finance and allocation of resources are interlinked.
Marginal Utility Approach
Marginal utility is a part of economic aspect of budgeting. It is a school of thought that
focuses on the rational or normative aspects of budget. It determines the formation of
organizational expenditure and budgeting. This school of thought was developed in 1920s for
8
Premchand A, 1983. Ciovernrnerit Budgeting and Expenditure Control: Theory and
Practice, JMF: Washington DC
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fiscal control. According to this school an individual will spend to satisfy his/her wants in a
manner that will achieve a certain balance among various types of expenditure and ensure
that the marginal return of satisfaction is the same for all of them.9 As pigou10 explained,
Marginal utility is all about the balance between resources and different expenditures.
Balance between them indicates that resources should be distributed to various uses and try to
satisfy everyone with marginal rates. As every human being try to balance between their
satisfaction of need and their income just like government should do the same. By budgeting
government should provide marginal utility of resources to all class of society. Under the
marginal utility budgeting is an activity in which organisers do comparison among relative
results obtained from various types of uses of funds.
This approach is a debatable, because of their normative nature it is difficult to transfer
in practical and empirical level. On the other side measurement of utility is as difficult as its
normative conceptual understanding to empirical explanation.
Public Goods Approach
Public Goods approach is related to neoclassical fiscal theory (in 1950s). It is all about the
public goods and process of their selection in budget. Selection and needs of Public goods
directs the Budget expenditure. Objective of this approach are to determinant the expenditure
and implement the objectives of policies. Within it planner set preferences for private and
public goods to maximize the utility of resources. The target of this approach is to promote
the utility of goods. There are two models of this approach first operational (Samuelson) and
second mechanical (Musgrave). Operational model focuses on determining and process of
identifying the objectives of budgeting. According to this model, planner focuses on both the
factors for framing the budget-demands of individuals and collective needs. Public goods
means the amount of uses are similar and equal for all. In the context of public goods there
are two aspects to understand, first there is not private mechanism to precede it and second
goods are equally consumed by all, which means who have not capable to pay or paid for
those goods, cannot be excluded to use. In simple understanding we can say that public goods
mean all goods and services provided by government.
With the understanding of Musgrave11 we can say governmental budgeting is framed by
three functions of government – allocation, distribution and stabilization. Allocation means to
9
Premchand A, 1983. Ciovernrnerit Budgeting and Expenditure Control: Theory and Practice, JMF:
Washington DC P. No.-44
10
A. C. Pigou (1956), p. 31.
11
See R. A. Musgrave 0959), pp. 3-27.
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allocate the preferences of uses and distribution means specified the needs and demands and
the other hand stabilization ensures the relevant utilization of resources. Basically this model
focuses on mechanical aspects of budgeting. It relate budget to political sphere. But as it is
explained by different theorist with different point of view, it is considered as an unclear and
incomplete theory which has two aspects of understanding but with the different perspectives.
Public Choice Approach
Public choice approach focuses on the importance of public preferences in the context of
political process. It emphasises on the political process which involves in identifying the
public choices and non-market issues in democratic society. According to Anthony Downs
government plans expenditure and revenues to maximizes their own chances of winning.12
According to this approach, allocation of funds and resources are a political process. The
analysis of budget proposals is based on ‘what voters want’ not on the calculation of gain and
loss. Budgeting is the process in which adaptation of objective are actually about the public
needs but with the specifying nature of selection public group. As Downs explains Budgeting
is the process where we can find various force to direct the objectives of budget as
government (especially in democratic states) believes in satisfying the voters to win.
Taxpayers evaluate the projects and budget objectives according to their benefits, and they
are effective to change it. So budget is all about the voters choice not for the welfare of the
people.
Downs theory of Public choice has more limitation. As he has presented a mechanical
aspect of budget and he ignores the role of state in the process of tax distribution and
collective project fund allocation. Voters choice cannot be consider only as a direct benefit
but it is also related with externalities.
Wicksell’s theory of government can be seen as an extended version of public choice
approach. This view adds the process of mechanization rather than its mechanical function.
Government determines the relevant mechanism to maximize the utility according to market
behaviour. This determinant behaviour has affected by the elected representative, interest
groups and government agencies.
This approach neglect the process of equilibrium in allocation of resource and in the
decision making process. It also neglects the balanced behaviour among policies, objectives
and demands.
12
See Anthony Downs (1960). Reprinted in E. S. Phelps, ed., Private Wanes and Public Needs (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1965).
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Positive Approach
Positive approach deals with empirical aspect of expenditures. It is also about the formulation
of policies and verification of its objectives. This approach developed in 1960s. It works for
the financial hypothesis, where it tests the growth of public expenditures. It depends on the
empirical laws as it does the empirical study of formulated programmes and finds the reasons
behind the difficulties.
So there is different kind of approaches to the process of budgeting. Approaches are
depending on the features of organization. To understand the private organization’s budget
process we can follow the other approaches as well. Top-down and bottom-up approaches
can be following to understand the private or hierarchical organization. Top-down budget
approach is about the managerial process, as in this system senior manager of the department
has responsibility to make the budget and other managers of different department (as every
organisation has different department to manage various work) do work to successful
implementation of that budget. They can make budget to their specific. On the other hand
bottom to top budget approach is used to prepare a budget from the department. Every
department makes plan for organization’s proposed goals, their work reflect the idea of
organization but the completing process get started by the down to top route.
3.4 WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF BUDGET?
As we know that Budget is the part of governments’ administrative process, it is made for the
better and efficient use of resources, so according to administrative features and preferences
we can see there are different kind of Budgeting. In these, difference can be seen about the
structural aspects, preferential factors and manner of implementation.
Performance Budgeting
It is the traditional budget system. It is about activities, functions and programmes and
projects of government. Basically it is outcome oriented. It focuses on the outcome of
services and specific use of resources under the fixed time period. But it is also about the
allocation as it has some features of programme budgeting. So it is about evaluation and
allocation of the resources and services.
Performance budgeting was brought up in response to two questions: A) What should be
the desirable quantity of expenditure for a government? And what should be the proportion of
expenditure and government resources or gross national products? B) How efficiently and
effectively programmes can be executed within limited time period? And what kind of
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alternate arrangements can find to complete the programme with less cost but in satisfactory
manner? American administrative reform commission Hoover Commission13 (1947) was
dealing with these questions. It was exploring the alternative of contemporary federal system
of governance. This commission recommended the performance budgeting as an alternative.
With the recommendation they suggest three features for that: 1. Classification of
government’s expenditures, 2. Measurement of performances and 3 Reporting of outcomes or
performance of services. These recommendations can be seen as features of Performance
Budgeting.
Scientific management is the main factor of Performance budgeting as it is based on the
factual analysis of outcomes. This budget system is more structured than any other. It
describes programme in separate way. It requires classification of expenditures and work. It
depends on the very advanced programming. It relates the programme to purpose of doing.
By this budget system we try to shift the focus on review of input to review of performance-
oriented programme. It also focuses on the cost analysis of work.
This budget system is difficult to execute as it requires high and many level of
programming. Its’ focuses on cost orientation and separate analysis leads the difficulties of
measurement of work and its productivity. So this budget system’s ideal form is difficult to
achieve but it is in activity with desirable form and it programme budgeting.
Programme Budgeting
Programme budget is the desirable form of structured performance budgeting. It has all the
features of Performance budgeting, but in the feasible manner. It was introduced by the same
committee (Hoover Commission) in 1955. Budget focuses on the classification of
expenditure, governments work and analysis of costs. Basically this budget can be consider
as a primary and essential step of Performance budgeting.
There are basically two differences can be find between Performance and Programme
budgeting. First performance budgeting is about management and controlling, as it focuses on
the analysis of the previous services and allocation. On the other hand Programme budgeting
focuses on the planning and its analysis is about the forward oriented. It was emphasised to
competing the claim. Second, Performance budgeting is to allocate the past outcomes for the
future plans, its’ main concern is past allocation, as it justifies the reasons of failure and
success of planning. On the other hand Programme budgeting also focuses on the past
13
Hoover Commission was the organization of executive Branch of the US Government. Main concern of this
commission was to suggest the changes in the federal administrative system of United State.
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allocation for planning but its’ main concern is about classification of work and planning
according to their respective issues. It works for programme objectives.
This budget system did not get full attention as it got failed in the context of long term
planning.
Planning Programming Budget (PPB)
Planning Programming Budget (1965) has introduced with this claim that it is able to do
programming for better life at lowest cost. It involves in specification of goals, plans and
their formulation. It was similar with the old system in some extend, as it also focuses on the
analysis of past plans. But it was different in the context of approach. That is the Pragmatic
approach, which was the base of this system. By this approach finding of alternatives
according to specific works was the centre point of analysis. Within this American
government has introduced three levels:
Policy Management: it was about the identification of requirements, alternatives of
programmes and the allocation of present resources and services.
Resource Management: on this level management of resources with the reference of old
budget system is used. It establishes the strong structure for the budget and allocates the
financial management.
Programme management: on this level analysis, reporting and evaluation of plan are the
main concern.
These levels can be seen as features of Planning Programming Budgeting system. These are
very similar to the traditional budget system, but the identification of needs and formulation
of plan for objectives make it different. This budget has also complex issues as others have.
The orientation about the specification of objectives becomes a difficult task when the
programme is to be made for long term.
Line-Item Budgeting
Line-Item Budget is the simplest kind of budget. It is used for the small and short term
budget. It advocates that there are different kind of income sources and different type of
expenses. Basically it allocates the cost. It focuses on the reduction of cost to make planning
more practical. With the reduction of cost it works to control the expenditure on the one item
to save the budget for other necessary items. In this budget system top authority has
responsibility to control the all expenditures. This budget system is used by the government’s
branches as it cannot be useful for whole government’s expenditure.
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Zero-Base Budgeting
Zero-Base budgeting is useful for the agriculture budgeting and was, first, introduced in the
context of agriculture itself. Continuation of programmes and plans are not allowed in this
budget system as it focuses on the start with ground-up programming. It finds the new
satisfactory plans for contemporary and new issues as it never prefers to make changes or
search alternates of existing plans. It focuses on the base of formulation plans. Base is equally
important for this budget system and by this increment of the base become possible as it is
difficult to the other budget systems.
In this budget system administration consider as a more responsible institution as it is
present everywhere in the budget making process, implementation to execution. Medium
term budget and sunset budgeting are made by that budget system. Implementation of zero
base budgeting is less difficult in compare to the other budget systems. This is not about the
conceptual valediction of the old budget systems and nor it requires new instruments or
applications for the making of budget but it is the similar one with the controlled expenditure.
Critique says that it is the type of institutionalization of budget system as it does not give
attention to the process of programme or policy analysis. Attention towards base of budgeting
give it managerial feature (rigid behaviour towards budget decisions) so according to the
critics it is more administrative budget system and it can be used by government and for the
other institutions it is less-developing. On the other hand it is believed that finding the
essential and unnecessary expenditure is difficult task which is a primary need of Zero base
budgeting.
3.4.1 Budget Cycle
To provide timeliness to executive and legislative processes, the budgeting process is made in
a circular manner. In a responsible government, the process of approval or acceptance is very
important. There are four following stages in this cycle:
1. Preparation of income-expenditure estimates for the coming financial year;
2. Receipt by Parliament in the form of Revenue Acts and Appropriation Acts;
3. Implementation of Revenue Acts and Appropriation Acts; And
4. Review and control of financial activities by audit on behalf of the Parliament.
At a particular point of time, several cycles are in operation and they are overlapping.
Different segments of the budget cycle have different operating periods.
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The budget formulation process in India begins formally during September/October, six
months before the presentation of the budget, on the receipt of a circular from the Ministry of
Finance. In the different circulars of the plan and non-plan miscellaneous items, the list of the
time of sending final estimates and the guidelines for testing the budget estimates made by
the concerned department are also given. According to the budget and accounting
classification, the budget estimates prepared by the Ministries and Departments are analyzed
by the Financial Advisors concerned. The plan items of the Union Budget are finalized in
consultation with the NITI Aayog and are based on the Annual Plan.
The budget in Parliament passes through following five stages:
1. Presentation of Budget,
2. General Discussion,
3. Voting on Demands for Grants
4. Passing of Appropriation Bill,
5. Passing of Finance Bill.
1. Presentation of Budget: The budget session of the Indian Parliament starts in the mid-
February. The budget is presented in Parliament into two parts, the Railway Budget and
the General Budget. The Railway Budget contains the details of Railways’ income and
their expenditure and is presented by the Railway Minister. The general budget is
related to the demands of all other departments except the Railways. It is presented by
the Finance Minister in the Parliament.
Integration of Railway and General Budget: Since 1924, the tradition of presenting the
Railway Budget separately from the General Budget started. In the beginning of 2016,
the NITI Aayog also suggested to merge these two budgets again. That is, the railway
budget should be presented in conjunction with the general budget. From the financial
year 2017-18, the same budget has now started to be presented.
2. General Discussion: General discussion on the budget starts a few days after its
presentation. Normally, this discussion of three to four days goes on in both the houses
of Parliament. It is a British tradition and heritage. At this stage, the Lok Sabha can
discuss the entire budget or any theoretical aspect of it, but during this time neither a
motion can be introduced nor the budget can be put up for voting in the House. At the
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end of the discussion, the Finance Minister is authorized to give a general answer.
3. Voting on Demands for Grants: At the end of the general discussion, the Lok Sabha
begins the process of voting on the Demands for Grants which is not a weighted
expenditure on the Consolidated Fund of India. Separate voting can take place for every
demand. At this stage, MPs can discuss the details of the budget. They can also propose
to reduce or decrease the demand for a particular grant. These proposals are also called
‘Cut Motions’. These are of three types:
Policy Cut Motion: It refers to the rejection of the policy on demand. Accordingly, the
amount of demand can be reduced to a certain amount (which may be a one-time
reduction in demand or non-inclusion or reduction of any one item in the demand).
Economic Cut Motion: This proposal is introduced to reduce the amount of money in a
fixed budget from the point of view of economy due to out of demand. If an MP feels
that unnecessary expenditure is being incurred in a demand, then he can present it.
Token Cut Motion: It brings forth the complaint/problem which is under the jurisdiction
of the Government of India. Under this, 100 rupees can be deducted from the total
amount of demand.
Voting on demands is entirely the prerogative of the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha does
not participate in it. Twenty-six days have been set for voting in India like Britain. It is
clear from this limited time system that many demands are passed without any
discussion. The Speaker, in consultation with the Leader of the House, determines the
time for which demand or demand group and for the entire expenditure part of the
budget. As soon as the deadline is over, the demand is immediately put up for voting,
whether it has been discussed or not. This is called ‘Guillotine’.
4. Passage of Appropriation Bill: The next step is to pass the annual Appropriation Bill.
According to Article 114 of the Constitution, "No money shall be withdrawn from the
Consolidated Fund of India without appropriation by the law." In other words, all the
expenses and investments made in the context of public welfare of the Government of
India are mentioned in the Appropriation Bill. Hence, the Appropriation Bill has
introduced, so that funds can be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund of India for the
grant and charged expenditure sanctioned by the Lok Sabha.
No amendment can be introduced in either House of Parliament on the
Appropriation Bill which changes the amount of grant sanctioned or changes its
destination, or reduces the amount of any expenditure charged from the Consolidated
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Fund of India. The Appropriation Bill, after the assent of the President, becomes an
Appropriation Act. The Act legalizes the payments to the Consolidated Fund of India.
This means that until the Appropriation Bill becomes an Act, the Government cannot
withdraw any kind of money from the Consolidated Fund of India. It takes time and
usually runs till the end of April, but after 31 March, the government needs money for
its normal functioning. To overcome this functional difficulty, the Lok Sabha has been
empowered by the Constitution to grant any advance grant for the estimated
expenditure for a part of the financial year till the completion of the voting process on
the Demands for Grants and the passing of the Appropriation Bill. This arrangement is
called Vote on Account. It is passed after the completion of the general discussion on
the budget. Typically, this occurs for two months.
5. Passing of Finance Bill: The Appropriation Act empowers the government to withdraw
funds from the Consolidated Fund, but it has not yet been arranged where the money
will come from. Hence, there is a system of collecting money by taxation. A Finance
Bill is introduced in the House for this purpose. The bill contains financial proposals of
the government for the next year. The details of various taxes, fees etc. levied by the
Government of India are given in the Finance Bill. ‘Finance Bill’, under Rule 219 of the
Lok Sabha, means a Bill which is introduced for the purpose of implementing the
financial proposals by Government of India for the coming financial year and a bill to
implement the supplementary financial proposals of any period is included.
Amendments may be made to the rejection or reduction of any tax in respect of the
reversal of the appropriation bill. According to the Tax Collection Act, 1931, a financial
bill should be enacted or passed in Parliament within 75 days and approved by the
President.
Implementation of the budget is the responsibility of the executive government. The process
of implementation of the budget depends on the distribution and delegation of powers at
various operating levels. As soon as the Appropriation Act is passed, the Ministry of Finance
advises the spending ministries and departments about their allocated funds. Then the
controlling officers of each ministry and department provide allocation and advice to
different disbursing officers. The expenditure is organized in such a way that the amount
given in the hands of the spending authority is not spent before the additional amount is
received. In short, the financial system is made up of the adjustment of the following
elements:
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A. The Controlling Officer, generally the head of the Ministry and Department, acts as
the Controlling Officer;
B. A system of capable officers that grants financial approval;
C. Arrangement of imperatives and disbursing officers, and
D. Arrangement of payments, receipts and accounts.
The Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance controls and supervises the system of
collection of direct and indirect taxes. This control is maintained by the Central Board of
Direct Taxes and Central Board of Indirect Taxes. The board is the central bank which is
implementing various tax laws. Nationalized banks and treasury agencies are also executing
finance collection and distribution services.
3.4.5 Audit
The executive spends public funds which are authorized by the legislature. The Government
conducts an audit of public expenditure by an independent agency to determine its liability to
the Parliament. For this work, the Constitution provides the post of Comptroller and Auditor
General of India. It is his duty to ensure that the allocation of funds to various agencies of the
government is done by the law, the rules, orders and procedures to governing such
expenditure have been followed, the value of the money spent has been received. The
documents of the loan have been kept compiled and submitted to the competent authority.
This is the last phase of the budget cycle.
3.5 CONCLUSION
According to the above explanation budget can be understand as a future stability and growth
plan. As at starting it reflected the accountability of legislature towards the people. After the
development of understanding the concept now it must be understand by the broader manner
as now it reflects the future growth possibility and limitations or management of expenses for
that growth. Every nation has its own pattern of budget implementation. Actually the features
and structure of budget depends on the nation’s financial status, as developing countries have
their own list of expenditure and different goal from the developed countries. On the other
hand developed countries expenditures can be trace by their next achievement goals.
Various parts of budget are also can be seen as there are gender budgeting, environment, rail
etc. budget pattern are in trend, which are only the part of main budget, just because of the
extension of budget process it got separated to the main budget. But they all are made by the
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pursuance of the main budget.

So it can be considered as a pure financial activities and it is part and partial part of every
management. With the goal of masterly utilization of available resources it reflects the
national growth orientation.
Thus, we can say that there is a long procedure of budget formulation and enactment in India.
Many reforms were brought by the colonial rule, especially in 1919 and thereafter in 1935.
The system of finance inherited by India in 1947 was highly rigid, rule-oriented and complex.
Essentially it was for the achievement of fundamental colonial objectives and not for the
solution of national problems. Undoubtedly, public welfare is the main objective of the
budget. Therefore, according to their expectations and requirements for the development of
Indian people, the budget is presented every year by the government. In this context, the
efficiency and transparency of the budget cycle plays a useful and decisive role.
Q.1. What is the meaning of Budget? Explain the objectives of Budget in India?
Q.2. Define the Budget and explain the characteristics and types of Budget.
Q.3. Examine the various approaches of Budgeting in India.
Q.4. Critically examine the Socio-Economic implications of the Budget.
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Unit-4
TECHNOLOGY AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN INDIA
Dr. Mangal Deo
STRUCTURE
4.1 Learning Objectives

4.2 Introduction
4.3 Concept of Good Governance
4.4 Good Governance in India
4.5 E-Governance-A Component of Good Governance
4.6 Dimensions of E-Governance
4.7 Model of E-Governance
4.8 The Journey of E-Governance in India
4.8.1 Features of E-Governance
4.8.2 Benefits of E-Governance
4.8.3 Limitations of E-Governance
4.9 E-Governance: Government Initiatives
4.10 Digital India Programme
4.10.1 Key Pillars of Digital India
4.11 Conclusion
4.12 Questions
4.13 References
4.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• Understanding the concept of governance and good governance in a democracy

• Study of e-Governance as a Component of Good Governance
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• Study of the development, components, successes, and limitations of E-Governance in

India
• Study of government policies related to e-governance
4.2 INTRODUCTION
The ultimate objective of democracy as a system of governance is to provide basic amenities

for the welfare of the citizens and their quality of life. Governance plays an important role in
taking the benefits of welfare schemes to the people, Governance is run by the government,
of which the legislature, executive, and judiciary are the heads. Governance always
formulates and applies new policies for public welfare, where initially the role of government
and governance was limited, whereas today, in the era of globalisation and liberalization, the
role of increasing information and communication technology has made governance
accessible. Today, the benefits of government-run schemes are reaching the general public
through information and communication technology in a timely and transparent manner.
Today, along with the government, the role of the market and civil society has also become
important. Today, the concept of good governance is being disseminated globally, an
important component of which is e-governance, i.e., electronic governance based on
information technology.
4.3 CONCEPT OF GOOD GOVERNANCE
Good governance refers to the process of good governance when markets, civil society, local
governments, voluntary organizations, community organisations, interest groups, the media,
etc. play a role in government as well as public policy making, implementation, and
evaluation. In other words, the network of relationships between the state market and civil
society is called “good governance.” Good governance is an interactive process where the
government wants to impose its will, but its approval depends on the consensus of the other
two actions. In this situation, one institution is dependent on another institution, which
scholars have called the power dependency relationship. Thus, good governance is a more
inclusive, citizen-oriented, people-friendly, sensitive, and democratic concept.
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In this way, we can also look at good governance as follows:

1. Good governance is a concept that goes beyond the government. That is, good
governance is a complex relationship among three entities or institutions.
2. In good governance, the walls created between the state, the market, and civil society
were dismantled so that social, economic problems and issues could be addressed in a
proper manner.
3. Under good governance, the three institutions work collectively, and for this reason,
there is a power dependency relationship between them.
4. Good governance is a type of institutional governance distinguished by institutions
that are autonomous in their respective disciplines or fields. But let’s work together
for our common interests.
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5. Good governance is a process that provides the government with new tools to play
societal, economic and international roles while also increasing the government’s
international standing.
4.4 GOOD GOVERNANCE IN INDIA

The concept of good governance, as practised by Ram Rajya in India, dates back to antiquity.
Kautilya tried to highlight the signs of good governance through “Arthashatra.” In this
context, he said that:
्ቚजासख
ु े सख
ु ं रा्ሺः ्ቚजानां तु हिते हितम,् नात्मह्ቚयं हितं रा्ሺः ्ቚजानां तु ह्ቚयं हितम् ॥
which means that the happiness of the people should be called the happiness of the king, and
he should look after his own interests in the interests of the people. And ideas like “Sarve
Bhavantu Sukhin,” “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,” and “Asto Ma Sadgamas” appear in Vedic
literature about good governance. In the 75 years of constitutional history after independence,
efforts were made in all three fields social, economic, and political—to give practicality to
the concept of good governance. The characteristics of good governance in the Indian
Constitution and government can be seen as follows:
4.5 E-GOVERNANCE: A COMPONENT OF GOOD GOVERNANCE
E-Governance is the use of information and communication technology in government

operations and functions to transform government into smart governance. The advent of
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information and communication technology has provided its users with faster and better
means of communication, whether ordinary individuals, groups, businesses, employees, or
themselves at the level of government, also important means of gathering, processing, data
retrieval, and the exchange of information. Government functions and processes have been
rebuilt through e-governance, and the computerization of government functions has made the
government more capable of managing public resources.
E-Governance revolutionises the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to
provide public service at the doorstep of the people and the government’s interaction with
businesses. It simplifies and eases citizens’ access to governance, fixes the responsibility of
public administrators, brings transparency to governance, and in essence, establishes good
governance. The main objectives of E-Governance are to simplify the service delivery system
provided to the citizens, simplify the processes of government, make governance
participatory, transform governance into good governance, bring transparency,
accountability, responsiveness in governance, and establish the citizen at the centre of
government.
Thus, E-Governance seeks to make governance more comprehensive by applying information
and communication technology (ICT). According to the World Bank, e-governance refers to
the use of information technology (WAN), the internet, mobile devices, and computers in
governance by government agencies. Having the ability to change relations with citizens,
businesses, and other organs of government These technologies can accomplish various
goals.
• Better delivery of government services to citizens;
• Interaction with business and industry;
• Empowering citizens through access to information; and
• More efficient government information management.
E-governance is not a computer or website of any kind, but it is the name of the service
provided to citizens and businesses. E-governance does not just refer to the translation of
government processes; it is also related to transforming government. Thus, e-governance is
concerned with transforming the business of the government, modernising government
processes and functions, and establishing a better public service mechanism through ICT. The
broad definition of e-governance may be that it changes dimensions related to government.
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4.6 DIMENSIONS OF E-GOVERNANCE
1. G2G (Government to Government): It is used to exchange information, data, public

documents, reports, orders, instructions, etc. between government organizations. Its
primary objective is to increase the capacity, performance, and productivity of the
government, execute projects efficiently at low time, energy cost, and strengthen
internal administration. For example, the Smart Government Project is a secretariat
project of Andhra Pradesh taken up by the government of Andhra Pradesh where all
ministries and departments have been computerized. Government functions,
processes, and operations have been computerized. That is, the smart gear paper file
was replaced with the e-file. So that the government can monitor the movement and
performance of individuals and officials through electronic files.
2. G2C (Government to Consumer): There is interaction between the government and
the citizens so that the citizens can receive competent service in public services.
While G2C expands the availability and accessibility of public services, it also
improves the quality of services. It gives citizens the option to choose when to interact
with the government (24x7x365) and where to interact with the government. How to
interact with the government (in a government office, service centre, cyber cafe, or
from home or the workplace) through internet fax, e-mail video, mobile, or online.
This primary objective is to make governance citizen and citizen-friendly, to make
administrators responsive to the demands and needs of the citizens and the services
sought, to bring quality to public services, etc.
3. G2B (Government to Business): It involves the use of e-governance tools to develop
business boundaries with the government. In this way, the government integrates its
activities with those of the business world, such as online trading and extracting
online tenders.
4. G2C (Government to Employee): In this, the government interacts with its
employees on a regular basis, just like the largest employer and any other
organization, which is a two-way process. By using G2E, the government can ensure
the level of satisfaction among employees, their performance, skill development, and
their effective role in governance.
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4.7 A MODEL OF E-GOVERNANCE
Broadcasting model
This section is about the promotion and dissemination of information related to governance.
Based on dissemination, which transmits information through ICT to a much wider public
domain, its main objective is to provide correct and relevant information to the citizens, make
them informed citizens so that they can better understand the rules and procedures of
governance and form their own opinions about them.
Critical Flow Model
This model is based on the targeted one. The model bridges distances using ICT and aims to
provide information to utility groups at the right time through easy and accessible means.
Comparative Analysis Model
This model is of utmost importance to developing countries and is used for the empowerment
of the people.
E-Advocacy Models
This model builds the momentum of real-world interaction by connecting the opinions and
problems posed by the advocacy communities. Policy action helps impact diversity in
society.
Interactive Service Model
It opens the way for direct individual participation in governance and makes the public
decision-making process more realistic and transparent through ICT. E-voting is directly
available to the citizens, as is online redress of complaints related to the election of the
government through E-voting. On various issues, mediums like opinion and e-democracy are
adopted.
4.8 THE JOURNEY OF E-GOVERNANCE IN INDIA
The introduction of e-governance in India is believed to have occurred in 1970. Initially,

information and communication technology were used to manage data related to planning,
economic surveillance and defence, as well as censuses, elections, tax administration, etc.,
where most of the tasks were related to a single application. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was
also used in the state-wide region. With the creation of a state-wide area network, all districts
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and local areas were connected to the communication technology network. Since the early
1990s, national and state governments have begun to adopt this system, with most
governments and states adopting the communication technology system.
The Government of India enacted the Information Technology Act, 2000, to strengthen
electronic communication, through which the use of information technology was legitimized,
and similar laws and mechanisms were also developed by many state governments. The
development of e-Governance in India can be seen in the following stages.
Computerization: In this phase, the availability of PCs (Personal Computers) is made
available in government offices, and government offices are equipped with the necessary
material related to them. It involves the use of computers, digitization or computerization of
government documents, files, data, and information, with an emphasis on public information
management.
Networking: In this phase, government organisations are connected and information and data
are exchanged between them so that horizontal and vertical communication is intensified.
National Informatics Centre—Network is effective for this in India.
Online Presence: In this case, webpages and websites are created by government
departments and organizations, and their public presence is made through internet
connectivity.
Online Interaction: The natural result of online presence is open communication between
government organisations and citizens (G2G, G2C, G2B and G2E). It includes open
communication, electronic voting, electronic democracy, online tendering, an online public
forum, an online survey, etc.
4.8.1 Features of E-Governance
1. E-Governance is a method of acquiring the concept of smart government, which means
SMART.
S–Small – The bureaucratic process can be limited as much as possible.
M–Moral – To establish the sense of morality in governance as much as
possible and root out the spirit of corruption in it.
A–Accountable – To establish a sense of accountability in public services as much
as possible and to keep all the information related to the
government in front of the public.
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R–Responsiveness – Keeping the information related to all the schemes of the

government in front of the public through information
technology and also taking their feedback from time to time.
T–Transparency – Through this means bringing transparency in all the policies of
the government, their decisions, their works and their services.
2. E-governance integrates governance and administration with information and
technology.
3. E-governance improves the quality of governance. Through this, information is made
available, citizens are represented and their participation is ensured.
4. E-Governance is a combination of governance, administration, and information
technology that aims to bring transparency, efficiency, and efficiency to governance.
This includes E-democracy, E-citizenship, and E-governance.
5. The practical form of e-governance is the use of the internet and information
technology in the work of administrative departments and institutions.
6. E-government reduces paperwork and red tape in governance; e-government
encourages teleconferencing rather than supervising and supervising officers’ private
visits.
7. E-governance not only facilitates governance but also facilitates access to government
services for citizens.
4.8.2 Benefits of E-Governance
1. Information technology has made the policies and schemes of the government
accessible to all, i.e., everyone’s access to information has become equal today.
2. E-Governance has not only ensured access to quality services for citizens, but it has
also narrowed the gap between rich and poor, urban and rural.
3. Through e-governance, the administration has reached remote areas, which benefits
both the government and the citizen. This has increased the ease of governance.
4. E-Governance has made governance more responsive and accountable so that
governance can be connected with the spirit of morality.
5. Through E-governance, citizens will be provided with services like “where,” “how,”
and “when,” which benefit the citizens.
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6. E-governance has reduced corruption, curbed tax evasion, increased revenue, and
reduced costs. That is, good governance can be established in fact through
transparency and openness in governance.
4.8.3 Limitations of E-Governance
1. Lack of E-literacy: The level of literacy rate in India is low, and the population of
e-literate people is even smaller, due to which the benefits of government information
and schemes are not available to everyone.
2. ICT is one of the most important tools of E-governance, but due to inadequate ICT
and a lack of infrastructure in India, a large section of the population does not have
adequate means of ICT, due to which the benefits of e-governance and its objectives
are not being met equally.
3. The language medium of information technology is mainly English; due to a lack of
availability in local languages, it is not used due to language.
4. The use of ICT in governance and administration has increased, but the procedures
and laws related to it have not been redefined. Due to this, it is not implemented
smoothly.
5. Many E-governance projects are currently being implemented in India, but these
projects have not been able to simplify governance, nor have they been able to
connect people with governance. There has to be a change in administrative culture
and mood and it is necessary to train administrators and reinterpret administrative
processes.
6. The projects currently underway emphasise demonstrating technical capabilities. In
place of centrality, technical centrality is found.
7. In terms of information transparency, most of the information and rights provided in
the context of e-governance are either misleading or not complete, concise, simple,
and comprehensible.
8. Legal issues include personal liberty of individuals, privacy issues, intellectual
property issues, financial transfer issues, and general misuse of data and information
as per e-governance.
9. So far, most of the e-governance projects in India are in the information stage, and
they have to face difficult paths to reach interaction and actual service delivery
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(online) because e-governance cannot be achieved by mere computerization of

departments and automation of government work processes.
10. India still lacks skilled and trained human resources, due to which resources and
schemes related to e-governance are not used efficiently.
4.9 E-GOVERNANCE: GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
India has been at the forefront of the information technology revolution, which has increased
its application in government institutions, service delivery, rural development, local self-
institutions, education, training, the economy and many other areas. Towards this end, the
government legalised digital governance through the Information Technology Act, 2000
which provides a legal format for transactions made through electronic data exchange.
Mother. C. To give further impetus to T-based e-governance, the National e-Governance Plan
2003 was launched with the objective of accelerating the delivery of public services across
the country in an effective and transparent manner. Currently, 749 million people in India are
using the internet, and broadband connections are expected to reach 5,50,000 villages by
2022.
E-government originated in India during the 1970s with a focus on the development and
deployment of information technology to manage data-intensive tasks related to elections,
censuses, tax administration, etc. Most of the projects were standalone applications. During
the 1980s, the National Informatics Centre’s effort to connect all district headquarters was an
important step. Local area networks and statewide networks were created, connecting all
districts through ICT networks.
Since the late 1990s, central and state governments have been implementing ICT by
establishing core infrastructure, web-based technology, data centers, common service areas
(SWAN) and the internet. Most ministries and departments have developed their own
websites where they provide basic information about the ministry, contact person, RTI,
citizen’s charter, and annual report. For example, for some applications at the passport office,
community information centres have been set up in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and
Kashmir, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.
Achievements
Main achievements of India Government are following:
• The Information Technology Act 2000 legalises the electronic exchange of
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information between the government and various agencies.

• The National e-Governance Plan, 2003, envisaged by the Department of Information
and Technology, aims to improve speed, transparency among citizens who seek such
information.
• The Right to Information, an active social law, entered the history of Indian
democracy in 2005, forcing public institutions to provide information to citizens who
request it.
• The National e-Governance Plan, 2006, comprises 27 mission-mode projects at the
central, state, and grassroots levels to enable citizen-centric governance. Within
NEGP, “mission mode” means projects clearly define objectives, scope,
implementation, and timelines, as well as measurable outcomes and service levels.
1. Computerized Rural Information System Project: Under this scheme, the
Government of India has to make the Rural Development Agency in each district aware
of such facilities so that it can monitor the implementation of poverty alleviation
programmes under all district computer-based information systems.
2. E-Chaupal: Under e-Chaupal, rural farmers in India have access to marketing their
agricultural products through technological tools. Under this, arrangements have been
made to solve the problems of farmers connected to the village level through ITC
Limited in India.
3. Tata Kisan Kendra: In order to help the farmers of the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab,
and Haryana, Tata Chemical Limited has launched a project under which information
related to farmers on issues such as ground water problems, soil problems, and weather
related problems is made available through the Geographic Information System.
4. Lokmitra: The project was launched by the National Informatics Center in Himachal
Pradesh, making it easier for all remote areas to access the internet so that their problems
can be overcome.
5. Gyandut: The presence of disadvantaged tribals in Madhya Pradesh has been made
possible through technologically innovative and permanent information quizzes with
community ownership in rural areas.
6. Drishti: In states like Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana, a vision has been set up
under which a network has been developed to address the problems related to the
distribution and promotion of consumer goods and basic goods, which are based on the
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rural model. Under this, users are being informed about many services through the
Internet.
7. Akashganga: Shri Kamdhenu Electronics Private Limited started a project in 1960,
known as Akashganga, under which milk producers are started directly from milk
collection and facilities are provided to rural milk producers with the help of information
and communication technology.
8. Vasudha Kendra: Vasudha Kendra has been set up in rural areas of Bihar, where
everyone can easily access an internet-like service at reasonable prices such as railway
tickets, an Aadhar card, etc.
4.10 DIGITAL INDIA PROGRAMME
The Digital India programme is a unique initiative of the Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology. The main objective of which is to enable India in digital form and
transform it into a knowledge-based economy, as well as to reshape processes linked to
government work, introduce digitised services in them, make information available
electronically, and make government services accessible to citizens.
According to projections till December 2022, the percentage of mobile subscribers in India is
90% of the total population, making India the world’s second largest mobile subscriber.
According to a Google report, about 30 percent of people in India have access to a smart
phone. Smartphones are a key component in transforming the Digital India programme.
There are three main areas of digital India: 1. “Digital Empowerment of Citizens’,”
2. “Infrastructure as a Civic Tool,” and 3. “Demand-determined governance-based services.”
4.10.1 Key Pillars of Digital India
There are nine major pillars of digital India, which are as follows:
1. Broadband Highways: “Broadband Highways will enable broadband for all rural and
urban areas of the national information infrastructure and its integration.”
2. Access to Mobile: “The main objective of the second pillar is to create infrastructure
for universal mobile connectivity.”
3. Public Internet: “The third pillar emphasises increasing the number of Internet users.”
4. Improving the government system with the help of e-governance technology—”The
fourth pillar is e-governance.” The purpose of this column is the most detailed.
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Through this, the government is bringing about reforms in various areas. This
business is to be combined with process re-engineering, which includes farm
simplification, integration of online applications and platforms, automation of
workflows, and the commission of an automated public grievance redressal system for
citizen case resolution, etc.”
5. Electronic Delivery of e-Kranti Services: “The fifth pillar is associated with e-Kranti,
which deals with electronic delivery of services.” It has two parts: e-education and e-
health.”
6. Information to all – “The sixth pillar is for citizens to update all government
information. However, the portal has already been launched for this purpose.”
7. Zero imports in electronics manufacturing– “The seventh pillar is related to
electronics manufacturing. Its main objective is to reduce the import of electronic
goods to zero by 2020.”
8. For jobs, “information- and technology-based employment has to be created through
the eighth pillar. To achieve this objective, the government is working to train people
living in small towns and villages for jobs in the IT sector.”
9. Early Harvest Program, “Ninth and Final Early Harvest Program. Under this, it is
aimed to set up IT platforms mainly to promote electronic greetings and the use of
biometric devices, etc., in government offices.”
4.11 CONCLUSION
The objective of democratic governance can be achieved only when there is good governance
in the present era of globalization and the establishment of good governance is possible only
when e-governance is promoted in the technological age. On the basis of the steps taken by
the Government of India in this direction, can it be said that today India is promoting the use
of technology not only between various institutions of government but also e-governance
between the government and the public and in the market? So today citizens are getting the
benefits of the right facilities and schemes from time to time. However, in addition to a lack
of infrastructure, a lack of e-literacy is proving to be a barrier in this regard. Therefore, it can
be said that today e-governance is being used extensively in India, and the government is also
trying to implement it fully.
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4.12 QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the various dimensions of e-Governance as a component of good governance.

2. Explain the different models of e-governance.
3. Review the progress made in the direction in India while defining e-governance.
4. Examine the policies related to e-Governance of the Government of India.
4.13 REFERENCES
• Bennis, Warren. 1973. Beyond Bureaucracy. New Delhi: McGraw Hill.

• Garson, D. 2004. The promise of Digital Government. Hersey, PA. Idea Publishers.
• Prabhu, C.S.R. 2004, E-Governance: Concepts and Cases Studies. Delhi: Prentice
Hall of India.
• Sharma, Pankaj. 2004. E-Governance: The New Age Governance. New Delhi: APH
Publishers.
• Singh, Shivani. 2016. Governance: Issues and Challenges. Sage publication India
Pvt. Ltd
• Singh, Prasad Abhay. and Murari, Krishna. 2018. Governance: Issues and
Challenges. Orient BlackSwan Pvt. Ltd.
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Unit-5: Social Welfare Administration

(a) EDUCATION: RIGHT TO EDUCATION
(b) HEALTH: NATIONAL HEALTH MISSION
Kumari Anupam
Ashna Moga
STRUCTURE
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Social Welfare Administration
5.3 Concept of Social Welfare
5.4 Social Welfare in India
5.5 Education: Right to Education
5.6 Health: National Health Mission
5.7 Conclusion
5.9 References
5.1 INTRODUCTION
Social welfare Administration is an inclusive disciplinary, which means to scientific process

which Promotes Social work Practices in administration. Social works are like social
services, social dignity and the importance of human relationship and person’s worth, etc. In
other words, we can say that Social Welfare Administration is a mechanism which translate
Social Policies or Social Programs and Social legislations in to the Practice.
Firstly, we need to know What is social welfare Administration? and then What is Social
Welfare? and what is relationship between the Social Welfare and Social Policies? In this
sense Social Welfare contains two words ‘Social’ and ‘Welfare’. ‘Social’ means a large
number of people which are related to each other in many circumstances, their shared
problems and their shared solutions. In other side ‘Welfare’ means some kind of Social Work
that efforts to eliminate or reduce the incidence of Social problems. We can say that any
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social interference that are earmarked to enhance the social functioning of human being, then
we can call it as a Social Welfare. When we talk about the antiquity of social welfare, this is
an evolution of benevolent works, which is related to organized activities, related to social
reforms movements and public social services or non-profit organizations, which are planned
to benefit or protect individual’s families and for the citizens of the Society.
5.2 SOCIAL WELFARE ADMINISTRATION
Social welfare administration is the process by which a social institution is determined by its
policy and for the purpose of professional efficiency and content uses. In order to provide
effective and strong services to the community, the Social organization needs to do some
administrative, financial and legal regulations. The combinations of these three are called
social welfare Administrations.
Social Welfare Administration from the above analysis of various synonyms and this is
why social welfare administration, it is concluded that the meaning of social welfare
administration is very broad, under which various social services for the benefit of common
people whether they are under public administration or private social welfare. This is due to
the administration being provided under the aegis of the organization. If we talk about the
objective of Social Welfare Administration than these points are important–
Protection of the nation and protection of law and order
In the event of emergency, the Social welfare administration helps the people in relation to
the arrangement of civil Security and increases the enthusiasm of the public. Despite the
occurrence of worrying events the mental balance remains, the Social welfare administration
is also involving in finding a long-term solution to the reduction of adult, youth and child
criminals.
Economic Development
In a developing country, the main function of the state is economic development. And
cooperation of social welfare administration is necessary in economic development;
especially social welfare administration contributes to economic development in the
following way:
▪ It develops work capabilities with the level of aspirations of the people.
▪ It increases industrial productivity. For this, the social welfare administration
encourages industrialists, managers and workers to establish good traditional
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relations, education and technology provides for teaching, housing and health
services.
▪ Social welfare administration encourages economic development works, stabilizes
progressive increase in their standard of living, prevents wastage of income and
arrange adequate food, clothing, housing, education, health, welfare services, etc. for
all.As a result of which there is real welfare of common people.
Social Development
The Social Welfare Administration for maximum development of manpower provides
nutrition, health, education, training, employment, etc.Various types of social welfare
services are often provided to those who have been deprived of their personality development
and social functionalities in the society due to their weak and low status.In these services,
welfare programs have been included for women and children, youth, aged, laborers, poor,
socially disabled, handicapped, people who do not work due to diseases etc. These services
are implemented through government and private institutions.
Social Institutions
Social institutions are required to organize remedial and preventive social welfare services so
that the methods of social work can be used to fulfil the objectives of the institution according
to the needs and means of the community. There are two types of social institutions:
(a) Government Institutions: Government institution, established and operated by
the government’s income, means and resources and run by office bearers.
Governmental entities are regulated by governmental laws.
(b) Voluntary Institutions: Voluntary institutions run by bye-laws by the community
and the money stored by the community bear the expense of this. However
voluntary organizations also receive grants from government funds. Voluntary
organizations are groups of people who organizes themselves as responsibly
incorporated body.
After independence, traditional administrative methods were generally adopted with little
change in all the areas so as to fulfil the political, social and economic needs of the country.
On the contrary, an administrative organization was established for social welfare, which
earlier was not an example. An organization of government representatives, voluntary social
workers and representatives of Parliament was established in the year 1953 under the name of
Central Social Welfare Board. Such boards were formed in each state. The main function of
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the Central Social Welfare Board is to develop the technical, organizational, administrative
and financial aspects of voluntary organizations functioning across the country and to
encourage the establishment of new voluntary institutions.
5.3 CONCEPT OF SOCIAL WELFARE
The United Nation has defined Social Welfare as ‘a State of complete physical, mental and
Social well-being’ and not merely the amelioration of Specific Social evils. Such a goal
inevitably leads to a shift of emphasis from the principles of laissez-faire to the concept of
welfare state. (Saksena, 2017)
The main characteristic of the welfare state is the responsibility of minimum standard of
economic and Social Security for all its citizen. The Welfare state’s obligation to guarantee
the satisfaction of fundamental needs like food and shelter and security at minimal level and
render help to the individuals in adverse circumstances these needs are most important and
constitute the core of social policy. We can say that Welfare State sets a pattern for humane
and progressive society.(Saksena,2017)
The consciousness about the social responsibility is a sociological concept, in this sense
social welfare is an institution, designed to assist individuals and group, to achieve
satisfactory standards of life and health.
When we talk about the concept of Social Welfare, then we firstly need to understand what is
the welfare means in individual level and what it differs in social level.
Welfare
Social welfare is not just the sum total of welfare of different individuals. All persons may
have some in common, but there are some such interests which are contradictory among
themselves, that is, there may be conflict between the interests of any two persons. If seen in
detail, welfare refers to an act that is good for all people, which benefits them. And if we
understand ‘welfare’ in a narrow form, then it is only a provision providing services in the
society. Such as care, housing, social security, education and other social work. From the
remedial point of view, people who have faced or are facing unfair situations due to some
reason, they should get treatment. In a society where every individual is valued, it is well-
being to ensure that each person gets it according to his ability. For example, to provide
protection for the poor, for the old people and for the handicapped against their problems.
However, it is not necessary that this welfare arrangement should be made only for those who
get these services.
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Social Welfare
The welfare of society is a goal set to solve diverse problems of society. Every initiative of
social life includes in this, because of this there is no fix definition of social welfare. It is a
goal not only the welfare of the particular class and the individual but the whole society. Its
approved target is the progressive standard of living of the general public, mandatory
requirement of the individual care in condition of illness, education and recreations reforms
in anti-social groups and cooperation between the different classes, are important factors.
Both the concepts of ‘necessity’ and ‘welfare’ are intertwined on the basis that society is
made up of individuals, and different individuals have different needs. And on this basis, if
we talk about social welfare, then it is made up of different individual welfare, it is a sum of
different individual welfare.
Jeremy Bentham, who is considered one of the most historical and important writers on
welfare issues, believes that community is a fictitious body made up of individuals who are
constituted as members of this community A community interest on this basis is the sum of
the interests of the members constituting it.
In the Social welfare, there are services organized for those people, who are the weaker
section of the society.
Definitions of Social Welfare
Social welfare is an establishment, consisting laws, governed by the prepared activities of
private or governmental (public) agencies, through this, individuals and households have
defined some consumption rights and money and minimum social services, for the
distribution. The aim of contributing to mitigating or solving recognized social problems, in
addition to the norms prevailing in groups, market places or systems, in the same way
directly enhance the individual’s well-being, communities and groups. Social welfare is a
systematized resource’s provision and services for society to solve social problems.
In the view of Ralph Dolgoff– Social welfare can be defined as a social intervention that aims
to boost or continue the social works of the people in the society.
In the view of Richard Titmuss to satisfy some important requirements of the individual and
to attend the larger interest of society, all related collective activities is called social welfare.
In a narrower sense, social welfare includes those non-benefited acts of society, public or
charitable, that are expressly aimed at reduce distress and poverty or improving the causal
circumstances of society.
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In the view of Amy Gutmann: All programs that are intended to protecting adults and children
from the uncertainty of ignorance, disease, disability, joblessness and the decline of poverty
includes in social welfare.
Social welfare normally refers to the whole range of planned activities of voluntary and
government organization that seeks to prevent and solve recognized social problems and for
the betterment of individuals, groups and communities.
According to Elizabeth– Social welfare is a system of laws, programs, benefits and services
that strengthen or assure the welfare of the population and the provision of meeting social
needs recognized as basic to the functioning of the social system.
Provisions relating to social welfare refers to a government program that seek out to provide
a minimum income and service or other assistance to the caregivers, such as elderly, poor,
unpaid workers, disabled, students, disadvantaged people, etc. and services related to social
welfare are usually free or nominal fee is provided.
Approaches of Social Welfare
The purpose of social welfare is to provide opportunity for every person’s progress and to
provide support for that progress. Therefore, any state in which such a system exists, we call
it a Welfare state. And any welfare state adopts various approaches to implement social
welfare. These are as follows:
Correctional approach: When we accept the goal of social policy for the welfare of the
society, then it is necessary to determine the means to achieve it, rearrangements is essential
for the welfare of society, but in current condition rearrangements is not possible till then
desired change made. This desired change is a social reform. Through this desired change we
want to achieve the goal of social welfare. If we want to make very progressive process of
reform then in this sense, system of law performs very essential role. Social reforms have
been getting legitimacy through social laws. In the zone of social laws, the labour laws have
very important place. Factory laws, laws which are related to protection of child and women
labours, laws related to compensation and maternity benefit, laws related to welfare and
social security etc., have been helpful in achieving the goal of social welfare.
Protective approach: Damage, accident, sickness, inability, and unemployment are the
conditions in a person’s life when external help becomes necessary for him. Therefore, the
system of protection against these different types of risk is called social security. It is an
important foundation for the attainment of social welfare. Under this, social insurance, social
assistance and business insurance schemes are included. Under the insurance, the insured
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person has to provide benefits in case of loss and inability. Social assistance is provided by
the state to the person in times of crisis.
Democratic approach: Initially, the social welfare was limited to the individual, family, the
business associations and the religious people who the inspired by the religious sentiments,
for the purpose of benevolence. Until the nineteenth century it was believed that no state
intervention was required for social welfare. According to the developmental theory, the
person who does not have the ability to live, nature ends itself. But this attitude has changed
today.
Community approach: The state and the individual are equally responsible for the welfare
work. Therefore, under the Five-Year Plans in India, community approach has been adopted
to fulfil the goal of welfare works. An attempt has been made to develop social welfare works
to that extent. The extent to which the local community is ready to bear the responsibility of
these welfare works on its shoulders. For this, such policies have been adopted by the state,
which are trying to protect the weaker parts of society and to make them as supportive as
possible. While conducting the scheme, care has been taken to ensure that it is beneficial for
all the parts of the society. All people have equal responsibility to make the plan successful
for achieving this goal.
Therefore, under the community program, the state provides assistance to the people, so that
they can be able to make their progress with their efforts. Following are the main things
under this program
Self-help and traditional help.
Maximum utilization of local resources through organized community efforts.
Participation in cooperative efforts.
Economic progress, social reform and cultural development.
Human has always strived for a happy and prosperous life. Family, community and
administration have been making efforts since the beginning to rid man of disability disease,
poverty and other problems. The importance of citizens is considered to be of utmost
importance in a democratic system and in the current working state system, the responsibility
of the citizens has become the responsibility of the government, in such circumstances, the
importance of social welfare administration becomes more important as a system of social
work.
There are different types of needs in different societies and an important need of one
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society is not necessarily equally important for another society, therefore it is a complex task
to define social welfare universally, in this context social welfare can be define in two
different point of view, first one should be done only for those people who need it like for
poor people or social welfare we can see as a right of every person.
In the sense of policies:–
The Residual and The Institutional are two different approaches to define social welfare.
First is for needy people and second is for as a right of every citizen.
The residual model normally holds that the government should be involved in social
welfare matters only as a last resort when all other measures have failed. On the other hand,
the institutional model believes that the government should continue to intervene as needed,
on this basis both the essential model and the institutional model have different approaches to
play the role of welfare in the society, the residual approach where talks about only the needy
are in dire need. On the other hand, the institutional model talks about providing assistance to
all in general.
The Residual Model
The residual model of social welfare sees government intervention support for citizens and
people as a last resort when people close to those in need are not able to get support from the
market or in their capacity, from family or other social relationships. If he is not able or he is
not able to, then the intervention of the government is required and only then the government
should take necessary steps and not for everyone, but now only for the needy people.
Programs designed under this model, normally are considered to be limited to the poor.
Aid is stopped when people have access to help from elsewhere. As a result, such programs
may be cheaper to administer than other models and may be more in line with people’s
perceptions of justice as it does not help all people, only those who needs it as utmost
necessity, but they may be less expensive than programs produced under different models.But
due to this the support of this model is also less, under this it is also clear that the victim or
the needy have to first prove that we are needy and we are not getting help from many other
places.
The Institutional Model
Under this model, social welfare is necessarily provided to all the rich and poor without any
discrimination in the society and social welfare is considered as an important part of the
government program for the citizens. In this model, there is no need to change the categories
of social welfare recipients, it is for everyone, it is not that if someone is getting help from
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other places, then the government will not give them facilities again. Although it proves to be
costly to administer and at the same time this model also attracts the anger of those people
who are supporters of the limited government.
The Residual Welfare
• The literal meaning of residual is remaining things.
• It is related to welfare which is done by the government for such needy people who
are poor unemployed people and unable to fix their own standard of living and they
are not getting help from any other place like from family friends and other
relationships.
• That is, this system first ensures that the needy people are not getting any help from
any other place like family friend, job and donation etc.
• Services are non-permanent and short-term services as these services are discontinued
after getting a job that has been received from elsewhere.
• Under this, it is assessed that there is no other medium other than the government that
can give help to the needy related to them or the needy can take help from them.
• Social welfare acts as a safety net under this model, it acts like a system for people
suffering from serious problems who are not getting any help from anywhere else.
• Remedial method because under this the state acts only when the problem is clearly
visible is used as an immediate program.
• A one type of Stigma attached with it because under this view it traces poor
conditioned people and helpless people etc.
The Institutional Welfare
• In the institutional model, welfare is not only for needy people but for the everyone.
• Under the institutional model, welfare provided for all population in the universal
level like public services for example roads, hospitals, school. it gives equal
opportunity for all whatever their conditions.
• The institutional approach of the social welfare is the planned or organized method
for fulfilling needs of the people.
• In the modern Industrial society, social welfare is considered to be the first line
safeguard with the institutional model of social welfare. (This is the most important
and useful method to deal with the problems of the society).
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• It is a prevention action for the problems, which has the possibility to come any time.
This preventive activity provides services before waiting for problems occur.
• In this model of Social Welfare, no any stigma attached with it, because these services
are as a right to everyone. There is no any discrimination between needy people and
normal people. It can be available for anyone who wants it.
• In the institutional model of social welfare, state have very important obligation to
ensure well-being and maintain the living standard of its citizens. That is why people
have the right to get these benefits or services.
5.4 SOCIAL WELFARE IN INDIA
In the context of social welfare, Indian traditional approach is based on dharma, alms, mercy,
dakshina and renunciation, the essence of which is self-sacrifice, self-government and helpful
thoughts for others. The welfare of all depends on these values and moral feelings through
individual or collective welfare of individual or through community medium. These
objectives have been discussed in all the religions present on earth. In ancient times, the help
provided by the kings in emergency can be considered its origin, such as in the context of
flood, drought, earthquake, arson etc.
The concept of social welfare in India is very ancient concept. Human beings initially
lived as disorganized groups and tribes and Poverty, disease, suffering have always existed in
human life. This is why this life was insecure and disorganized. As a result, man gave rise to
a macro-system in the form of group, community, society and state. As a result of this
system, desalination developed in the society and division of labour took place. (Saksena,
1974)
Due to this division of labour, the means of production in the society were separated
from each other. Labour and capital went into the hands of two separate individuals. This led
to exploitation, oppression and unequal distribution of property and power in the society. Due
to uneven distribution many social problems were born and social welfare was developed to
solve these problems. (Saksena, 1974)
In Contemporary time, The Constitution of India guaranteed to its citizen or people – the
Political, Socio-economic justice and worship among them all society, guaranteeing the
dignity of the individual and unity of the nation. In timely India is involve to implement all
these guarantees through its development and different policy activities. (Saksena, 1974)
In India, both the objectives of social policies and the means of implementing them are
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full of controversies, but generally there is a consensus about them, that social policies
mainly related to social welfare have been adopted in India from the United Nations based on
the principles enunciated by the Atlantic Charter pledged on the basis of mutual agreement.
Under the concept of social welfare, all those arrangements are included which provide
proper employment to those in need of employment or proper arrangements for earning
livelihood according to their capacity, adequate wages, proper leave, proper medical and
proper care, provide adequate facilities of entertainment. The system also provides equal
opportunities for business and also provides facilities for education and training, proper
arrangements for work have also been included in this.
The Constitution of India has given to justice for the Indian citizens, Justice of Political
and socio-economic, and freedom of language and expression and worship and belief,
equality of opportunity and status, and at the same time promoted fraternity and fraternity
among citizens and the self-respect of the individual and unity has been assured, and the
plans and activities being adopted. In contemporary India these values are very important for
the objectives defined in the Indian Constitution. Establishment of Planning Commission in
India and presently NITI Aayog etc. are the efforts of Government of India in this context.
In another words, the main feature of the Indian Constitution is to do social welfare of
the people of India. It is clear from the ‘Preamble’ of the Constitution and ‘directive principle
of state policy’ that the objective of the constitution of India is social welfare. The preamble
of the Indian Constitution promises to secure socio-economic and political-justice for the
Indian people.
Part – 4 of the Constitution of India which is “Directive principles of state policy” are
we can say that totally related to the idea of social welfare in India by the state policies,
which is declaring that India is a welfare state.
Some articles are important in this part of the Indian Constitution which are directed for
the welfare to make the Indian government as a welfare state:
• According to Article 38: The State shall endeavor to effectively secure and preserve
a social order in which socio-economic and Political justice, social, shall inform all
institutions of general life, to promote the welfare of the people.
• According to Article 39a: Citizens men and women have the equal right to an
adequate means of livelihood.
• According to Article 43: It is the responsibility of the state that it will endeavor to
provide work, a subsistence wage, a decent standard of living to all workers in
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agriculture, industrial and agriculture by suitable legislation. Apart from this, to

ensure full enjoyment of leisure, try to ensure working conditions and try to promote
cottage industries.
• According to Article 41: The state will make such provisions by which it can ensure
public assistance, unemployment, old age, disease, works for the disabled, education,
etc. Within its economic capacity.
• According to Article 46: The state shall protect the people from social injustice and
all forms of exploitation shall promote the educational and economic interests of the
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes i.e., weaker sections with special care.
These directions of the constitution of India reflects the philosophy of a welfare state. Indian
government tries to fulfill these objectives through economic planning.
India follows both approaches of social welfare Residual and institutional approaches. In
the basis of these Articles Indian state determined towards the comparable objectives, this
gateway provides state specific content and information in India, language on entitlements,
schemes, programs and institution details related to women, children, SC, ST, OBC,
Minorities, Senior Citizens, differently-abled and others. (History of central social welfare
program, n.d.)
Social welfare Administration in India
After independence the government of India accept the old administrative pattern with some
necessary changes for evolving new political, economic and social changes in India. Till first
five-year plan Indian government adopted for the administration an autonomous board named
CSWB (Central Social welfare Board) in 1953. And in the state level social welfare advisory
board were established.
Till 1964 in India Social welfare program managed by different ministries, for example
labor, education, industries, home etc. But in 1960 recommendation presented by the Renuka
ray committee in its reports– establishment of the Department of social security. In that time
Department of social security deals with the matter social welfare, social security, backward
classes, handicrafts and khadi etc. In 1966 it was renamed as social welfare department. In
1984 its name changed again with the name of ministry of social and women welfare. It was
reorganized with the creation of a separate department of women and child development in
the ministry of human resource development and was renamed as the ministry of welfare in
1985 and later as the Ministry of social justice and Empowerment.
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In the year 1985-86, the erstwhile Ministry of welfare was bifurcated into the
Department of women and child Development and the Department of welfare.
Simultaneously, the Scheduled castes Development division, Tribal development division
and the minorities and Backward classes welfare Division were moved from the Ministry of
Home affairs and also the wakf division from the ministry of law to from the then Ministry of
welfare. (Ministry of social justice and empowerment)
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT (SAMAJIK NYAYA
AUR ADHIKARITA VIBHAG)
The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment shall be the nodal Department for the
overall policy, planning and coordination of programs for the development of the groups
mentioned at in the included in the concurrent list. However, overall management and
monitoring etc. of the sectoral programs in respect of these groups shall be the responsibility
of the concerned Central Ministries, State Governments and Union Territory Administrations.
Each Central Ministry or Department shall discharge nodal responsibility concerning its
sector. (Ministry of social justice and empowerment) e.g., scholarships, hostels, residential
schools, skill training, concession loans and subsidy for self-employment, etc. The Scheduled
Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 (in so far as it relates to
the Scheduled Castes, excluding administration of criminal justice in regard to offences under
the Act).
National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993. The Maintenance and Welfare of
Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007. National Commission for Scheduled Castes. National
Commission for Safai Karmacharis. National Commission for Backward Classes. National
Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation. National Safai Karamcharis
Finance and Development Corporation. National Backward Classes Finance and
Development Corporation. National Institute of Social Defense.
Health welfare related Indian schemes for example Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Rastriya
Bal Swasthya karyakarm (RBSK), Rastriya Kishor swasthya karyakaram (RKSK), Janani
Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK)for pragnent lady. Mission indradhanush yojana etc.
Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equity related program like National commission
for Women, Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK), the Juvenile Justice. Child and Development
policies are the good example for India’s Welfare policies. All these acts and activities show
that the Indian government is doing important work for all the areas related to Indian citizens
for example health, education, empowerment, employment etc. which shows that Indian is a
social welfare state.
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5.5 EDUCATION: RIGHT TO EDUCATION

Right to Education and associated phenomena have their genesis in The United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It defines the Right to Education in Article 26 as
everyone has the right to get free education in the elementary and fundamental stages. It
should be administered for the overall development of the personality and to nourish the
culture of human dignity. (Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948)
The stalwart of the Indian Education System, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, defined
Education as the medium for cultural, economic and social change. Education is the
realization of the soul that eliminates unconsciousness and inexperience and lights up the
person. (Hashia 2020) The Chief architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar,
emphasizes Education as a mode through which an individual opens the gate of light and
discernment to get rid of the darkness of ignorance. (Rajadhyaksha 2016) Intellectuals like
Amartya Sen viewed Education as something more significant than only a starting point of
other capabilities to completely enlarge the significant freedom to live the life they appreciate
and to amplify their natural choices. He believes Education should include the
interdependence of teaching, learning, and the individual’s overall growth. (Rajapakse 2016)
The Indian Constitution envisages provisions to ensure state-sponsored accessible
Education. In its original enactment, the Constitution defined Education as a state subject.
However, an amendment was added in 1976, and Education became a subject of the
concurrent list, enabling the central government to legislate. Further, India is also a signatory
to several international covenants like the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
(UNCRC), Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Sustainable Development Goals (SDG),
and South-Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Declaration, making
education a reality for all children.
At the time of Independence, the scenario of education was gloomy and disappointing. In
the year 1951, the literacy rate stood at a meager percentage, 18.3 percent. (Mehta) The Gross
Enrolment Ratio, in primary schools, age group 6-11 years was 43 percent, and in the age
group 11-14, that is, from class 6 to 8, the ratio was as low as 13 percent. (Mehta) This was
the result of the unproductive Education provided by the British colonial government.
However, Successive governments after the Independence fabricate Education as the focal
point of social welfare policies. They tried that every child should get the right to full-time
elementary Education, satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school that satisfies
certain essential norms and standards. (Ministry of Human Resource Development 2010)
Therefore the government has introduced the Right to Education Act, 2009, to provide
universal free elementary education.
The 86th Amendment Act, 2002 of the Constitution, added up Article 21-A to grant free
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of charge and mandatory Education to every child, of 6-14 year’s age group, as a
Fundamental Right. (Ministry of Human Resource Development 2010) Articles 21-A and the
RTE Act were passed, and laws were framed in the Lok Sabha in 2009 but came into effect
on 1st April 2010, in the subcontinent, except Kashmir. (Ministry of Human Resource
Development 2010) The subject of the Act contained the words ‘free and compulsory’. It
includes provisions for a child in the age group of 6-14 years who are not admitted to any
school to be granted admission to an age-appropriate class. The Act makes it obligatory for
the government to ensure that each child gets free elementary Education. India became one of
the major developing countries to make Education a fundamental right of every child. ‘Free
education’ implies that every child admitted to any government school should not be made to
pay any cost, fee, or charges (tuition fee, uniform, books, and study material). Provisions of
this Act also include that these children are allowed admission to elementary schools within
the ‘defined area or limits of the neighborhood’. (Ministry of Human Resource Development
2010)
The Right to Education Act, 2009, introduces the assessment process in continuous and
Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE). The students were evaluated using a series of curricular
and extra-curricular evaluations accompanied by academics. Right to Education seeks to
provide comprehensive Education; however, there are grey areas about the quality and
accessibility of Education, especially in the peripheral areas. (Ministry of Human Resource
Development 2010) According to United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) India, various
evaluations have shown that many school-going children cannot learn even the basic skills or
the fundamentals of literacy, which is essential for their overall development (UNICEF).
Moreover, experts of UNICEF mentioned that substandard quality education has led to poor
results, eventually leading more and more children to the vicious circle of labour, abuse, and
poverty. Due to this, India is not able to compete with the international standards and lags in
Education, resulting in a substandard quality human resource, thereby increasing
unemployment.
YEAR LITERACY RATE

1951 18.32%
2001 65.38%
2011 72.98%
2020 77.70%
The table represents the Literacy Rate before and after the implementation of the RTE
Act in India.
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Against in the backdrop of all these situations, the Government of India has come up with a
new Education Policy. The Union Ministry passed the National Education Policy (NEP) in
July 2020 with the objective of universalization of Education from pre-school to secondary
level. (Ministry of Human Resource Development 2020) The target of the policy is to
strengthen the Indian education system by 2040 to induce quality, accessible, affordable, and
market-compatible Education. (Ministry of Human Resource Development 2020) The
country has witnessed a phenomenal expansion of educational opportunities in the post-
independence period. The NEP 2020 aims to further improve the country’s educational
system by focusing on the individual’s overall development, with vocational Education, the
creative culmination of subjects, and the pliable syllabus. The NEP 2020 also emphasizes
removing disparities and equalizing educational opportunities by attending to the specific
needs of those who have been denied equality so far. (Ministry of Human Resource
Development 2020)
5.6 HEALTH: NATIONAL HEALTH MISSION
The health sector always remains in the neglected zone for developing countries like India,
which has many epidemics and millions of causalities due to inappropriate health
infrastructure. Additionally, India is a tropical country prone to many diseases, primarily due
to sanitation. These poor health facilities increase the chances of transmission of various fatal
diseases. Poverty is a significant factor in the communication of diseases like tuberculosis
and respiratory infections such as pneumonia. Overcrowded, poor living conditions, lack of
hygiene, and sanitation all contribute to the spread of various infections. Dependence upon
open fires and the chulah (traditional stoves) are responsible for fatal indoor air pollution.
Moreover, no proper access to safe drinking water may cause dangerous diseases like
cholera, diarrhea, and typhoid. Moreover, a lack of nutritious food may lead to malnutrition,
especially in children. Other factors may also be responsible for poverty-related diseases,
such as lack of information, education, safety precautions, and prevention methods. The poor
people may also not be able to afford medical tests, medicines, treatment.
At the time of Independence, the average life expectancy in India was as low as 32 years,
compared to 69.42 years in 2018. Moreover, in 1947, there were only 7000 hospitals in the
whole country, with only 50000 doctors for the whole population of 35 crores. However, this
condition has improved notably to a doctor per 1456 people as per 2019-20. The infant
mortality rate in 1950 was 26.8 deaths per 1000 live births. The health-related expenditure as
a percentage of national income was 0.42% during the initial years of Independence. Further,
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India did not have any health insurance facilities before 1986. In 1986 the Indian government
launched ‘Mediclaim.’ However, the cost of healthcare has also risen since then. The
treatment procedure that used to cost INR 10000 now costs more than INR 50000. Also, the
medical inflation is currently over 18% which individuals from their pocket bear. This out-of-
pocket expenditure on medical facilities further leads to poverty and deprivation. A vicious
cycle of poverty, unemployment, and diseases turns out to curse the nation. To break this
vicious cycle and promote affordable and universal health facilities to the masses, the
government of India has come up with the National Health Mission.
The National health Mission comprises two sub-missions: the National Rural Health
Mission and National Urban Health Mission. Its primary programs aim to improve the health
system in rural and urban areas. (G. o. India, National Health Mission 2005) One of the
significant objectives of the program is to strengthen the Reproductive-Maternal-Neonatal-
Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) and combat Communicable and Non-
Communicable Diseases. (G. o. India, National Health Mission 2005)
There are four components of the mission:
1. National Rural Health Mission
2. National Urban Health Mission
3. Tertiary Care Programs
4. Human Resource for Health and Medical Education (G. o. India, National Health
Mission 2005)
The vision of the mission is to provide adequate healthcare in rural areas with more focus on
less developed states which have weak public health indicators. It further aims to increase the
expenditure on healthcare from 0.9% to 2-3% of the GDP. The program’s primary objectives
are to advance the previous missions on reproductive and child health and to confront both
types of diseases- including Communicable and Non–Communicable. Further, it aims to
provide momentum to the healthcare facilities and infrastructure at the District and Sub-
Districts levels. (G. o. India, National Health Mission 2005)
The main aim of the mission is to reduce the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) to 2.1. The
second goal is to bring the Infant Mortality Rate to 25 deaths per 1000 live births and reduce
the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) to 1 per 1000 live births. Through this programme, the
government aims to reduce the Malaria infection cases to less than 1 per 1000 population,
reduce the tuberculosis cases by half and prevent anemia in women in the age group of 15-49
years. (G. o. India, National Health Mission 2005)
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However, the Mission made remarkable changes in the Rural and Urban healthcare
facilities and infrastructure, but it has not been able to meet the desired outcomes. India’s
public health expenditure is only around 1.2 to 1.6 percent of the GDP, within 2008-09 and
2019-20. It has been advised by The Economic Survey year to increase the expenditure to
2.5-3 percent of the GDP. Thus, there is a need for many actions to be taken by the
government to improve Urban and Rural health infrastructure in particular and public health
in general. To achieve these desired outcomes, ameliorate the conditions of deprived sections,
and reduce the burden of out-of-pocket medical expenditure, the government has introduced a
universal health program named Ayushman Bharat.
The Ayushman Bharat Program was launched in 2018 to improve healthcare at all three
levels – primary, secondary, and tertiary.
It consists of two constituents–
1. The first component is Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), earlier known
as the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS).
2. The second component is Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs). (G. o. India,
Ayushman Bharat Yojana 2018)
Ayushman Bharat is a combined proposal containing health insurance and addresses primary,
secondary and tertiary medical care. The objective of the PM-JAY is to provide financial
protection for healthcare services at the secondary and tertiary levels. The objective of the
HWCs is to provide cheap and quality healthcare services at the primary level (G. o. India,
Ayushman Bharat Yojana 2018). Ayushman Bharat scheme would enhance access to
healthcare, including detection and treatment facilities for the subaltern sections of the
society. Thus, Ayushman Bharat is an integrated umbrella healthcare scheme providing
health care benefits to the economically deprived population and thereby serving the
government’s goal in providing accessible and affordable medical services to its citizens.
5.7 CONCLUSION
Social welfare is a function of which in this time every state needs to perform, we can say
that, in today’s world social welfare is a currency of democratic power of every state. In India
being a world’s largest democracy “Social welfare” is the very importent tool for the
development of the state. This is why it is very important to understand how social welfare
done by the government in India. In contemporary time in changing circumstances
government role in implementing social welfare policies is a very tough work, because in this
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time we can’t find who are the more needy people. This is why government should use the
both approaches residual and institutional in very flexible way.
1. Explain the different approaches of social welfare in India.

2. What is social welfare? Explain the social welfare administration in India.
3. Explain the success and failure of social welfare in India.
5.9 REFERENCES
• Saksena, R. N. (1974). SOCIAL RESEARCH AND SOCIAL WELFARE IN

INDIA—BASE FOR AN INTER-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH. Sociological
Bulletin, 23(2), 193–201. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23618942?seq=
1#metadata_info_tab_contents
• Kenneth J. Arrow (1950) Difficulty in the concept of Social welfare. The Journal of
Political Economy, Vol.58, No.4, pp.328-346 URL-
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-3808%28195008%2958%3A4%3C328%3AADIT
CO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-
• Spicker, Paul (n.d.). Principle of Social welfare: An introduction to thinking about the
welfare State. Social%20welfare/Paul%20Spicker%20-%20Principles%20of%
20Social%20Welfare.pdf
• Hoefer, R. (1996). A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR STUDYING SOCIAL
WELFARE POLICY COMPARATIVELY. Journal of Social Work Education, 32(1),
101-113. Retrieved May 21, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23042743
• Oakeshott M, (1975). The vocabulary European state’, Political studies, 23(2-3), pp.
319-341.
• https://www.academia.edu/11508823/History_of_Social_Welfare_Administration_an
d_Social_Welfare_Programmes_of_India
• https://pocketsense.com/what-is-heloc-vs-home-equity-loan-13763730.htm
• Residual vs institutional welfareSocial%20welfare/5%20Residual%20Vs%
20Institutional%20Welfare.pdf
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• Rengasamy, S (n.d.), Social welfare administration: Arrangements for Social welfare

in India.
Social%20welfare/IGNTU-eContent-642461769227-MSW-2-Dr Ramesh B. Social
Welfare Administration and Social Legislations-1, 2, 3, 4, 5.pdf
• Sinclair, S. (2016). Introduction to social policy Analysis: Illuminating welfare.
Policy press. https://books.google.co.in/books?id=aTqgCwAAQBAJ&dq=
1cb22603d718a691ce7e453da684fa0463eccf3b&source=gbs_navlinks_s
• Ministry of social justice and empowerment https://socialjustice.gov.in/
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Unit-6
ISSUES AND DEBATES IN INDIAN ADMINISTRATION
Ashna Moga
STRUCTURE
6.1 Introduction
(a) Ethics in Administration: Integrity vs Corruption
(b) Accountability: RTI, Lokpal, Citizen’s Charter
(c) Relationship between Political Executive and Permanent Executive
(d) Generalists and Specialists
(e) Gender Sensitivity and Gender Participation
6.2 Conclusion
6.3 References
6.1 INTRODUCTION
The administration has a vital bearing on the country and its people. The foundation of the
Indian Administration lies in Democracy. For the proper functioning of the democratic state,
it is necessary to ensure transparency, integrity, accountability, rule of law, social equity and
cordial relation between the permanent executive and political executive. The future of this
budding developing democracy depends upon the attitude of its political and administrative
elite. This chapter discusses issues and debates concerning the Indian Administration. The
foremost challenge that the administrative machinery encounters is between integrity and
corruption. To combat corruption various governance measures have been undertaken to hold
the political and permanent executive accountable. This unit deals with the challenges faced
by the Indian administration and the initiatives adopted by the state to make the
administration efficient, effective and citizen-centred.
(a) Ethics in Administration: Integrity vs. Corruption
Integrity is described as having strong moral values, having a character of unblemished
virtues, being upright, honest and sincere. Indeed, the most important quality of a powerful
state is integrity. The first five-year plan correctly emphasized, “Integrity in public affairs and
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administration is essential and there must, thus, be an asseveration on it in every branch by

public exertion. The influence of corruption is insidious. It undermines the administration’s
structure and the public’s confidence in the administration. There must, thus, be a nonstop
war against every species of corruption within the administration”.
It is generally acknowledged that manipulation and a lack of ethics have detrimental
consequences on the organization’s effectiveness. The organisations may change their
methods and environment from giving direction, control and surveillance to offering aid,
support and instruction with this significant value commitment. Self-control, mutual support
and cooperation between leaders and followers are crucial for building an organic
organisation. Deviation from accepted standards or a lack of integrity manifests itself in a
variety of ways, including corruption, patronage, illiberalism, patronage based on
community, nepotism, favoritism, and undue influence.
Corrupt behaviour is generally understood to be the intentional exploitation of one’s position,
status, either directly or indirectly, for personal gain, whether it be financial gain or an
increase in power, prestige, or influence beyond what is legal or permitted by generally
accepted morals, harming the interests of other people or the community as a whole. The
excessive spending of public plutocrats is another type of corruption that is not typically
recognised as corruption. Public plutocrats’ extravagant spending equates to imposing an
overdue fee on the general public by using public funds for unnecessary reasons or going
overboard with required ones.
Section 161 of the Indian Penal Code defines’ corruption’ in legal terms, as “Anyone who is
or is awaiting public service and accepts, obtains, agrees to accept, or attempts to gain from
another person any delectation other than legal remuneration as a motive or price for
performing or refraining from performing any sanctioned act, or for showing, or to show,
favour or disfavour to any person in the course of performing his or her sanctioned function,
or for providing or attempting to provide any service to or injustice to any person, or for
providing or attempting to provide any service or injustice to any person, with the Central
Government, any State Government, the Parliament, or the Legislature of any State, or with
any public menial as similar, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a
term that may extend to three times, with fine, or with both”.
There are many discrepancies between belief and behaviour in modern society, which results
in the dishonesty of public retainers. The government and politics of today openly
acknowledge how the nation is weakened by corruption and power abuse. India is
experiencing a crisis of values, as evidenced by a culture of rapacity, widespread corruption,
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and a lack of regard for one’s fellow human beings. The effective execution of public policies
and programmes determines whether the state’s conditioning succeeds or fails. No strategy
no matter how good it is, cannot succeed without clear, efficient, and impartial
administration.
The majority of issues in public administration are caused by political meddling and
corruption. The leadership credibility gulf between the political and administrative spheres is
widening. The majority of commissions, committees and the daily press have emphasised
how serious the situation is. No organisation can advance unless and until its political leaders
act ethically. The entire devaluing of moral principles and ethical standards in public life and
government, according to Mr. H.V. Kamath, one of the founding fathers of the Indian
Constitution, has given rise to the current rat race for status, power, and pelf by any means,
more by crook than by hook.
After discussing the many elements that impact the integrity of public officials, it is critical to
construct and evaluate the legislative framework intended to fight corruption. In 1947, the
Prevention of Corruption Act was enacted. Public employees are subject to a variety of
behaviour standards. In addition, other committees, like the Santhanam Committee, have
been formed to evaluate the present instruments for combating corruption. Additionally,
vigilance commissions at the national and state levels have been formed. The Lokpal and
Lokayukta institutions, the Central Bureau of Investigation and other organisations all exist to
fight corruption.
The political elite must consistently work and inspire confidence in their fairness and
impartiality among their subordinates. When faith is created, it spreads like a contagious
disease and unites the many tiers of the administration. In such an organisation, the political
elite’s whims override the organization’s needs in all decisions. In order to fulfill the
promises given to the people to live a decent, clean life, it is necessary to instruct the political
elite and to urge them to seek principles to guide. Written or spoken words are useless unless
they are put into practice. Performance should be prioritised over formal planning. If the
nation wants to advance and grow, the public services must serve as an example of a high
level of behaviour and ethical actions. To do this, the State must provide an ethical
framework that is appropriate for public services to grow and prosper. The most developed
nations that score highly on the good governance indicator have established strong ethical
frameworks, such as a Code of Values and Ethics for Public Retainers, from which we may
learn valuable lessons.
In order to achieve legality and consistency of the body politic, society establishes standards
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reflective of the general moral heart and incorporates them into the laws for the state to
administer and distribute justice. Promoting an environment that fosters moral principles and
a high standard of conduct in society is primarily the state’s job. This requires a
comprehensive strategy that includes providing the proper education to children and youth in
seminaries and other institutions, promoting ethical behaviour among those providing public
services, including politicians and cultivating an environment of honesty and trust that will
enable businesses and professions to flourish. The need of instilling values has also been
underlined by several bodies, including the administrative Standing panels.
The significance of ethics in administration can be explained in the following manner:
• To check the arbitrary conduct of Civil retainers
• To promote a sense of executive responsibility
• To establish and promote good relations between the citizen and public
administration
• To save and promote social well-being, public interest, and common good
• To control that part of executive power and discretion which cannot be controlled
by formal laws styles and procedures
• To ameliorate the effectiveness of the executive process
• To strengthen the legality and credibility of public administration
• To foster and maintain high morals among all orders of civil retainers
• To control corruption which has increased dramatically and substantially by the
political class.
(b) Accountability: RTI, Lokpal, Citizen’s Charter
(i) Right to Information Act, 2005
Indian people have the right to ask for information from any public institution or agency on
any matter that promotes accountability and openness in its operations under the Right to
Information Act of 2005. Its main objectives are to root out corruption and enable all public
institutions to meet the demands of the populace. Additionally, it tries to educate the populace
and provide them with the knowledge they need to keep a close eye on how well the
government and its institutions are run. This law seeks to increase transparency in
government organisations while focusing on improving participatory democracy and
establishing people-centered governance. To make it easier for citizens to access, the RTI
online site has been expanded to include all public authorities registered with the Central
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Information Commission (CIC).

With the passage of the RTI Act, individuals now have the right to seek information from any
authority, agency, or self-government organisation established by, subject to, or otherwise
governed by, the Constitution, as well as from any other legislation enacted by the Parliament
or a state legislature. Institutions or agencies that get a substantial percentage of their money
from the state governments are also included in the concept of “public authority.” The RTI
entails taking certified samples of the material held by the public institution/public authority
as well as inspecting the work, papers, and records. It also covers any private entity-related
information that a public authority may access in accordance with any existing in effect law.
Each public authority is obligated to publish certain kinds of information on its own.
In order to get information under the RTI, a request must be made in writing to the Public
Information Officer (PIO) of the relevant office and include both the requested information
and the address to which it should be supplied. The request can be sent through postal
service, in person, or by email, either in Hindi, English or the regional official language. If
the application does not get the information within 30 days or is dissatisfied with the response
given, the petitioner may appeal within 30 days to the appellate authority, who is an officer
above the PIO. The appellate authority shall decide the appeal within thirty (30) days of
receipt.
In addition, if the applicant is dissatisfied with the decision of the appeal authority, he or she
has 90 days to register a second appeal with the Central Information Commission or the State
Information Commission, as applicable. The Central Information Commission hears appeals
pertaining to these entities under the jurisdiction of the central government and the union
territories, while the State Information Commission handles appeals pertaining to offices,
financial institutions, public sector undertakings, etc. under the jurisdiction of the concerned
state government. Any order, including those mandating the disclosure of information or the
designation of PIOs, may be issued by the Commission in order to guarantee that the law is
obeyed.
The Central Information Commission and the State Information Commissions, which were
constituted by the Act, are competent, independent organisations with the power to prosecute
PIOs that violate their obligations. The RTI Act is a comprehensive piece of legislation that
affects almost all spheres of authority, including that of the central, state and municipal ones.
It also applies to people who get financial aid from the government. With rare exceptions,
this Act offers extensive access to information. The conventional culture of secrecy in
government operations has progressively been replaced by one of openness and transparency
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due to the Right to Information Act.

Challenges in the operation of RTI
The efficient implementation of RTI is fraught with problems and difficulties. People are not
aware of RTI or its provisions that allow them to seek the necessary information from public
entities. Information provided to applicants by public bodies is insufficient and of poor
quality. The public authorities may violate the deadline of 30 days for releasing information.
Additionally, the public information officers at a majority of organisations lack the necessary
qualifications as well as dedication and enthusiasm. Inadequate infrastructure and inefficient
record management constitute other major concerns for the public authorities.
(ii) Lokpal
In accordance with the recommendations of the Administrative Reforms Commission (1966),
the Government proposed the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 1968, and it was tabled in
Parliament in May 1968; however, the Bill was unable to get the approval of the Parliament.
It was introduced nine times in Parliament (1968, 1969, 1971, 1977, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001,
and 2011). On December 22, 2011, the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, the ninth in the series,
was introduced in the Lok Sabha as a result of widespread public demonstrations organised
by anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare and his allies. On December 27, 2011, the House
adopted the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill 2011. The Bill was adopted by both chambers of
parliament in December 2013. After securing the President’s approval, it was made into an
Act and entered into force on January 16, 2014.
The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, which was approved by the Indian Parliament in 2013, is a
significant achievement in Indian history. The establishment of the Lokpal and Lokayukta
institutions at the national and provincial level, respectively, is made possible by this. The
Swedish Ombudsman is the model for these organisations. Investigating allegations of
corruption against public officials and authorities, as well as investigating associated
concerns, is the main objective of this organisation.
The Lokpal Act calls for the nomination of a chairperson and eight members, of whom half
must be judges and the other half must be members of the SC/ST/OBC, minorities, or
women. A person who is or has held the position of Chief Justice of India or a judge on the
Supreme Court is qualified for appointment as the Chairperson of Lokpal. Members of the
Lokpal must be of the highest character, have extraordinary talent, and be particularly
knowledgeable and skilled in at least 25 years’ worth of fields related to anti-corruption
policy, public administration, vigilance, finance, including insurance and banking, law, and
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management. After being selected, the chairman and members will hold their offices for five
years, or until they age 70. The Lokpal chairman would receive the same pay and benefits as
the Chief Justice of India. The members will get the same salary and benefits as a Supreme
Court judge.
The Lokpal Selection Committee is comprised of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) or a sitting
Supreme Court judge (nominated by the CJI), the Prime Minister (PM), the Speaker of the
Lok Sabha, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and one eminent jurist. In order to
maintain impartiality, it is mandated that the Chairperson and Lokpal members shall not hold
any positions of profit, shall not be members of the Legislature or of any political party and
shall not be eligible for any appointment under the State after the expiration of their tenure.
Misbehavior and incompetence are the only reasons for removal from office by the President
of India.
Jurisdiction: Government employees, judges, ministers, serving and former MPs, and those
employed by the public sector would all fall within the Lokpal’s purview. Additionally, the
Lokpal has power over public officials, nonprofit organisation trustees, and board members
who yearly receive more than Rs. 10 lakh in foreign funding or more than Rs. 1 crore in
government funding (FCRA).
Power of Superintendence: For matters reported to them by the anti-corruption ombudsman,
the Lokpal is granted the authority to supervise and instruct any investigating agency,
including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Enquiry and Investigation: Within seven years of the claimed offense’s date of omission,
the Lokpal may receive a complaint backed by an affidavit. The Lokpal may also be asked by
the President of India to investigate a claim against a public official. The Lokpal may conduct
a comprehensive examination following the preliminary examination, which will resemble
closed-door judicial procedures. The Lokpal may choose a process relevant to the situation
while keeping in mind the basics of procedural fairness.
According to the Act, an investigation of the PM must be conducted behind closed doors and
must have the permission of two-thirds of the Lokpal’s complete bench. The Lokpal has been
granted the ability to summon witnesses and issue orders for the seizure of documents for any
investigation.
Prosecution: According to the Act, the CBI Director would have ultimate responsibility over
the Directorate of Prosecution. The Lokpal must file charges through its Prosecution Wing
before the Special Court and the trial must be concluded within two years of the filing of the
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charges. Additionally, even while an investigation is ongoing, the Act contains procedures for
the attachment and seizure of property obtained dishonestly. Additionally, the Act adequately
protects upright and fair public employees, including whistleblowers.
Offences and Penalty: There is a provision for imprisonment up to one year and a fine up to
Rs. 1 lakh in the case of false and frivolous allegations. For public employees, the maximum
sentence is seven years in jail. The maximum jail sentence for criminal wrongdoing and
routinely encouraging corruption is ten years.
Bar to Proceedings: The Lokpal institution stipulates that no actions or decisions of the
Lokpal should be subject to review, reversal, annulment or other judicial scrutiny. This might
limit the civil courts’ ability to hear cases, but it won’t affect the Supreme Court’s and the
High Courts’ ability to hear cases in accordance with Articles 32 and 226 of the Constitution.
Challenges
The Lokpal institution is very important as a constitutional tool against corruption. The
“administrative watchdog” or the “protector of the small man” have both been used to
describe this. There are still loopholes and shortcomings that need to be remedied despite the
Lokpal institution’s efforts to bring about a much-needed change in the battle against
corruption in India’s administrative system. Five years into its implementation of the Lokpal
and Lokayuktas Act 2013, not a single Lokpal has been appointed, indicating a lack of
political will. The Lokpal statute also mandates that states appoint a Lokayukta within a year
of the law’s implementation. However, the Lokayukta has only been constituted by 16 states.
As representatives of political parties make up the appointment committee, Lokpal is not
immune from political influence. Since there is no set standard for determining who qualifies
as an “eminent jurist” or “a person of integrity”, the appointment of the Lokpal can be
influenced in certain way. The judiciary is excluded from the Lokpal’s jurisdiction, which is
the largest disparity. The Lokpal is not supported by the constitution, and there are not
enough safeguards in place to allow for an appeal.
(iii) Citizen’s Charter
A Citizen Charter is a document that outlines the organization’s commitment to its citizens in
terms of service standards, information, freedom of choice and consultation, accessibility and
nondiscrimination, grievance redress, courtesy and value for money. Expectations of the
Organization from the Citizen for upholding the Organization’s commitment are also
included in this. By ensuring that public services are responsive to the citizens they serve,
Citizens Charter places an emphasis on citizens as customers. It includes the organization’s
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vision and mission statements, which outline the desired results and a general plan of action
to accomplish them. Citizens’ charters are not binding legal contracts. They are merely
suggestions to improve how citizens are served. The basic objective of the citizen’s charters
is to empower citizens through the delivery of public services.
The Conservative government of John Major first introduced and put into practice the idea in
the UK in 1991 with the intention of continually raising the standard of public services for the
country’s citizens so that they would meet their requirements and preferences. The notion of
a citizen’s charter was initially accepted in India at a ‘Conference of Chief Ministers of
various States and Union Territories’ held in the capital city in May 1997. The national and
state governments’ decision to create Citizen’s Charters, starting with industries with
significant public interfaces like railroads, telecom, postal, PDS etc., was one of the
conference’s key outcomes.
The charters were required to include provisions for neutral review by consumer/citizen
organisations, service standards, the amount of time that consumers may anticipate being
served, processes for resolving complaints and a time restriction on service expectations.
Citizens’ charters are coordinated, developed and put into effect by the Department of
Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). In this context, the term
‘citizens’ can refer to people and stakeholders, including consumers, clients, beneficiaries,
government departments and agencies, state and local governments, etc.
The concept of Citizens’ Charter enshrines the trust between the service provider and its
users. The following are the Citizens Charter’s main tenets:
• Quality: raising the standard of services.
• Choice: whenever possible, provide them a range of options.
• Standards: defining expectations within a given period of time.
• Value: for the money spent by the taxpayers.
• Accountability: of the service provider (both individually and collectively).
• Transparency: of rules, methods and systems for handling complaints.
• Participatory: Involve and consult.
Challenges in implementing the Citizen’s Charter in India
Citizens’ charters are crucial because they offer citizens more control over public services. It
improves accountability for providing public services. By establishing quantifiable criteria, it
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fosters good governance and increases organisational effectiveness. By including an internal

and external monitoring organisation, it improves the quality of services provided. It fosters a
professional and client-focused atmosphere for the delivery of services since it is citizen-
centric. Additionally, it improves transparency and openness and raises employee morale.
These charters do, however, come with significant disadvantages.
A general perception is that citizen charter is seen as a mere formality. There is no
involvement from the personnel and citizens and the whole exercise is carried out because it
was a command from the top. It overburdens the organizations and government agencies.
Improper training of the staff leads to the charter being merely drafted and not implemented
properly. In certain cases, unrealistic charters are drafted. This can lead to expectations not
being met. Further, the citizen’s charter is not legally enforceable. This has made them
ineffective in a real sense. Generally, these charters are drafted unilaterally by the service
provider without taking into consideration the opinions and feedback of the customers. There
is a need for a team effort to implement the charter in its true spirit. There is a hierarchy gap
between officers and field staff, which leads to a lack of coordination and motivation. The
charters are not periodically revised.
(c) Relationship between Political executive and Permanent executive
Human history has always embraced the idea of a nation. It has long served as a
representation of a society’s cultural and social life. Likewise not new to history is the idea of
the state. Even when efforts were made to create a social order, it persisted. However, it was
not until the onset of the industrial revolution that the state and the nation became
synonymous. Significant changes have been occurring within the nation-state. Power
consolidation and real attempts to maintain pluralism have both occurred. In the process, it
has become clear that power concentration in any form or inside any institution often has
unfavourable long-term effects. It was in the wake of this realisation that the system was
sought to be built on the concept of separation of powers.
Governments all around the world, regardless of being unitary or federal democracies,
possess three organs of government, at all existing levels. These three organs of the
government are the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. These organs operate on a
system of Checks and Balances, wherein all three organs balance each others’ powers and
ensure smooth functioning of all organs. The executive is the organ of the government which
makes up the center. It is of two kinds- Political and permanent. Political executive consists
of the elected representatives who make up the government, namely- the Prime Minister, the
Council of ministers. The permanent executive is made up of all the officials and
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functionaries who assist the council of ministers in executing their duties properly. These
include the Civil Servants, Bureaucrats and officials who ensure the proper execution of all
government schemes.
The political executives are elected in the general elections every five years, and are
composed of the ruling party in the legislature. They are not permanent and are subject to
change with every successive general election, based on the choices made by the public. They
are in charge of making decisions regarding governance, introducing and passing bills in the
Parliament and initiating welfare schemes, among many other policy decisions. On the other
hand, the permanent executive are not elected, but selected. They are permanent, as implied,
and are employed by the government for a complete tenure, after which they retire. They
have to clear an eligibility exam, such as the Union Public Service commission (UPSC) and
are to serve the government regardless of which ruling party is in power. They help execute
the decisions made by the political executive, and provide assistance to the executive in
making policy decisions. The permanent executive is subject to the political executive since
the political executive represents the people and contemporary governments are founded on
the idea of popular sovereignty. In essence, the political executive in a parliamentary form of
government is answerable to the legislature, which in turn answerable to the general
populace. In this setup, the executive, which is both political and permanent, confirms and
enforces the laws while the court ensures that government, is based on constitutional
principles.
The permanent executive have a very major role in the executive which often goes ignored,
as their work is mainly conducted behind the scenes. The political executive is often ill
equipped to solely make policy decisions, for a variety of reasons. In some cases the political
executive may lack the skill and experience to analyze trends. Often times the political
executive may not possess the necessary educational qualifications, or past experience in
policy formation. It is here that the permanent executive steps in and aids the political
executive. The permanent executive has a distinctly different role. It does not focus on
ideologies but on facts. Its role is more methodical and deals with collection and analysis of
information. Its sole job is to provide details to the policy makers regarding the policy’s
success rate, based on current trends. The permanent executive has to ensure that all the
conditions for the policy to be successful are fulfilled, and the execution of the policy is free
of obstacles. The permanent executive has the managerial expertise and the technical know-
how to ensure proper implementation of the policy, which is supposed to be its sole function.
This dichotomy is considered to be the base of the relationship between the two executives.
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The distinction between the political and permanent executive was highlighted first by
Woodrow Wilson, in his article “The Study of Administration”, in the year 1887. According
to him, the Political executive was in charge of formulation of policy. The task of the
permanent executive was concerned with execution of the policies made by the political
executive. This is popularly known as the dichotomy of policy and administration. This view
is unique as it draws a clear line of differentiation between the making and the
implementation of a policy. Policy is supposed to be the main function of the political
executive, as policy is rooted in ideology. The ideology of different political parties is what
makes them different from each other. The ideologies act as different routes to solving
problems and forming policy, and the ideology of the political party and in turn, the political
executive, is based on the preferences of that party regarding its particular ideology.
The dichotomy model has received support from scholars such as LD White and Pfiffner, but
has also faced criticism. Critics say that the role of the permanent executive is strictly factual
only in theory, while in practice, there is a difficulty faced by the permanent executive to
separate facts from values. The critics point out the question of whether the permanent
executive will be able to separate their personal values and beliefs from the factual process,
and if they will be able to perform a proper job in implementing policies they do not truly
subscribe to. They feel that both the presence as well as the absence of personal biases can
influence the working of the permanent executive. Despite this, it is widely agreed that the
factual nature of the task of the permanent executive leaves little room for personal bias.
There is an essential condition on the permanent executive to act as neutral parties. Due to the
changing nature of the political executive, the permanent executive cannot afford to be partial
in its workings to any one set of people, parties or ideologies. The permanent executive, as
mentioned above, are elected and not selected. The meritorious nature of their occupation
means that their attachment to any one set of ideas can compromise the process of execution
of government policies, which shall doom the governance oriented role of the entire
executive. The permanent executive is also expected to maintain their anonymity in their
task. It is the job of the Political executive to be in the limelight and the clerical nature of the
permanent executive implies working behind the scenes. The relationship between the
political and the permanent executive cannot be remarked as dynamic. The roles for both
these wings are clearly demarcated, though the functions performed by these wings are
subject to change over time and the political state of the nation at large.
(d) Generalists and Specialists
The duties of administration have expanded and become more complicated in recent times.
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The state performs several economic and welfare activities in addition to upholding law and
order and handling regulatory duties. Setting up fundamental industries like steel, mining,
and heavy electricals has been taken by the state. The wellbeing of physically handicapped
people, as well as the health of the elderly, the infirm, and the young, are also taken care of
by the state. Not only that, but the state is also involved with nuclear energy generation,
performing scientific research and introducing technological advancements. The
administration of any country requires different categories of personnel to carry out its
functions. The personnel ought to have the necessary knowledge, skills and qualities to be
able to perform the various administrative functions. In administration, there are both vertical
and horizontal divisions. The horizontal divisions are marked according to the territorial or
regional levels at which the personnel are located. The vertical divisions, on the other hand,
are demarcated according to the functions or tasks allotted to the employees or their groups.
The generalist and specialist categories are further envisioned as belonging to the vertical
divisions.
In a nation like India, where administration make up the majority of the population in
addition to performing the aforementioned tasks, the state is also concerned with providing
them with resources such as money, technical knowledge, and other inputs. All of this has
placed a significant burden on the government. The duties of administration have multiplied,
changed, and grown in complexity. This trend became apparent in the west, particularly after
the First World War, as well as in India after the country’s independence. Specialists and
generalists are engaged in administration in increasing numbers at various levels, in various
departments, and in multiple ministries to handle the various responsibilities in a welfare
state.
An administrator without technical or specialised training is referred to as a generalist. A
generalist in India is someone who works for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), which
is similar to the British Administrative Service. A generalist entrant to the civil service would
have a bachelor’s degree (B.A., B.Sc., B.Com., B.Tech., or M.B.B.S.), preferably in one of
the humanities, social sciences, physical or biological sciences, mathematics, business,
accounting, engineering, or medicine. He or she is unfit to be placed in a certain department
executing a specific function, such as agriculture, health, social service, etc., based on the
quality of their graduating topics, which may differ from the specialisation required for the
position provided. The subject of a generalist civil servants’ education, further training, or
administrative experience has no bearing on where they are posted, whether it is in a
department or at the regional level of administration. His or her selection to the civil service
following a competitive examination open to all graduates in any discipline—including the
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arts, social sciences, sciences, commerce, engineering, technology, and medicine—is

sufficient to entitle him or her to an occupation in a department or at a regional level, such as
a district or a division, (a group of districts), or in the secretariat.
A generalist usually performs the POSDCORB functions (planning, organising, supervising,
directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting). A specialist, on the other hand, is an expert
who is limited to a department or area of expertise and holds the technical position in the
administrative hierarchy. They are in charge of giving the generalist administrator technical
guidance. Specialists are civil personnel who have gained expertise in the administration of
particular disciplines through their education and work experience. Doctors of medicine,
engineers, scientists, etc. are among them. Regardless of the disciplines included in their
degree, generalists in administration are chosen based on their university graduation. Unlike
the experts, they are chosen based on having attained a particular (minimum) degree of
education, which signifies the fundamentally minimal extent of intellectual and mental
development.
Resolving the Gulf between Generalists and Specialists
One of the main suggestions made by the ARC to bridge the gap between generalists and
specialists was to create a distinct cadre for all positions needing in-depth knowledge of a
particular field (i.e., service). These positions should be designated for the officers of the
service since they "create a functional service." But the mobility of individuals at various
levels of the functional service is not to be automated; rather, each level must make a
thorough selection of the individuals. The ARC’s proposed uniform grading scheme aimed to
facilitate the selection procedure.
The administration does not choose generalists based on their expertise in a specific field of
study, field of study specialisation, or level of training or experience in that field. It’s been
suggested that generalists start to specialise in administration as a whole. There are several
arguments made in favour of generalists. They can adapt to any department and position at
any level, have a broad view and a flexible attitude, and think out and make judgments on
any administrative problem. Their capacity to hold higher positions in any department and
post is strengthened as they move the generalists’ capacity to integrate various functional,
public, and political experiences.
Additionally, it is asserted that the generalist serves as an intermediary, a judge between the
expert and the politician, the populace and the government, pressure groups and the public
interest represented by the legislative branch and the political executive, as well as the
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competing viewpoints and factors. It is stated that generalists have a greater understanding of
the "minister’s mentality" than specialists. The viewpoints taken by technocrats or
professionals are less extreme and angular because of them. According to a common belief,
specialists prefer expensive ideas that generalists can evaluate.
A specialist is a person with advanced expertise in a particular area. Specialists in
administration are hired in cadres, i.e., groups of public services like engineers, doctors,
statisticians, agricultural scientists, computer scientists, etc., to systematise their work
processes. Specialists are also employed by the chief executive, such as the prime minister,
chief minister, or the mayor, as advisers, special/administrative assistants, and researchers.
Instead of functioning as a line agency, they do as here as a staff agency. The administration
receives assistance from experts like attorneys or statisticians in line agencies, i.e.,
departments or public companies.
Despite its flaws, the generalist Indian Administrative Service has proven to be useful for
both national and state-level administration. Scholarly works, contemporary journals,
magazines, and newspapers have questioned its purported omniscience, domineering attitude
toward experts, insufficient "professionalism," and out-of-date information in the scientific
and technical administration sectors. But it has served to maintain the State government in the
national mainstream owing to its vision on the nation. The national administration has been
kept aware of the need to promote relationships between various administrative sectors as
well as between the centre and the states attributed to its integrated approach.
At the same time, it is important to recognise the significance of the specialists’ contribution
and role in administration, both at the national and state levels. India has made great strides in
the realms of science, industry, transportation, communication, agriculture, education and
other areas. It is important to acknowledge the specialists’ contribution to this multifaceted
national growth as well as the supporting administrative framework and procedures. As a
result, the creation and execution of policies are crucial aspects of administration. It is
impossible to evaluate generalists’ and specialists’ contributions to this process inside of
rigid, impermeable enclosures. In today’s world, it is necessary to have both in-depth
understanding of administrative work and specialised expertise, as well as competency in
organisational and policymaking abilities.
(e) Gender Sensitivity and Gender Participation
Gender can be described as being the socially defined differences between the sexes. These
‘man-made’ differences can change and vary from region to region consistent with race,
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religion, class and social values. But all of them have one thing in common – their enormous
influence on the lives of girls and women and society’s attitude and behaviour to girls and
boys and women and men. It changes the relationship between the sexes – sex being the
physical differences between men and women over which we have no control. Gender
sensitivity is the ability to be aware of and understand the different ways that men and
women think, feel, and behave. It is also the ability to see and appreciate the value of both
genders equally. Gender participation, on the other hand is the active involvement of both
men and women in all areas of life. This includes involvement within the home, the
workplace, the community, and therefore the economy. It also includes participation in
decision-making, leadership, and public life.
Gender sensitivity and gender participation are important for achieving gender equality. They
are also important for creating a more just, peaceful and prosperous world for all. The
concept of gender sensitivity has been developed as how to reduce barriers to personal and
economic development created by sexism. Gender sensitivity helps to get respect for the
individual regardless of sex. Gender sensitivity isn’t about pitting women against men. On
the contrary, it regards gender-sensitive benefits members of both sexes. It helps them
determine which assumptions in matters of gender are valid and which are stereotyped
generalizations. Gender awareness requires not only intellectual effort but also sensitivity and
open-mindedness. It exposes the widest possible range of life options for both women and
men.
Gender disparity in education is widely known. It threatens to outlive this generation and
many more to come. Social, cultural and economic norms nurtured by traditional societies
frequently block access of women and women to education and thus weaken their
participation in, and contribution to, their families and their societies. Gender-sensitive
education has value for all members of society. It is probably the best education for creating
a learning atmosphere that is fair and sustainable for all. It promises to be a viable
alternative for the building of putting up with progress in Education for All. Giving
education to women means giving education to the whole family. Education plays an
important role in building self-confidence among women. It also enables people to change
she/her status in society. Education enables and builds confidence to make decisions in a
better way. The Education policy needs to be more inclusive to ensure girls right to
education and their right to be free from discrimination within educational institutions.
The female sex has traditionally been perceived as inferior to men. Today in some areas of
the planet new born boys are a cause for celebration, but the birth of a woman spreads fear
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and foreboding and is seen as a financial burden. Parents in traditional societies see girls as
‘transient’ members of the family to be married off to a different family, while boys are heirs
to hold on to the family name.
From Women Development to Women Led Development
Women’s participation in decision-making is important for women’s interests to be
incorporated into governance. It has been widely experienced that governance structures
which do not provide for adequate participation of women, often suffer from state
interventions which are neither inclusive nor democratic. Including women, especially in
local governments is an important step towards creating gender-equal opportunities and
gender-sensitive policies. Since women have different needs and perspectives on social and
political issues, it is important to involve women in governments to incorporate all of the
societal viewpoints in policy and decision-making processes. Women are actively involved in
household and community work and hence cognizant of real issues faced by common people.
Countries globally, including India, have agreed to fulfill the Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) – a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that
all people enjoy peace and prosperity. Bringing gender equality (SDG 5) is seen as a key
goal, both in itself and for achieving other goals. Inclusive nationalism propounded by
Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal Nehru and others during the struggle for
Independence encouraged women to break the familial and cultural shackles and enter the
freedom struggle. However, after independence, this wave of social transformation got
fizzled out, and women again got confined to the household work. This restricted the
prospects of higher education for girls. Apart from this, organisational factors have also
played a big role in preventing gender parity. Lack of women leaders and women role models
may be preventing more women from entering these fields.
The principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution. The Constitution not
only guarantees equality to women, but also provides the State with the power to take
measures of positive discrimination in favor of women in order to mitigate their cumulative
socio-economic and political disadvantages. Women have fundamental rights to not be
discriminated on the grounds of sex (Article 15) and get equal protection under the law
(Article 14). It also imposes on every citizen to renounce the practices derogatory to the
dignity of women. The form and extent of work, political participation, levels of education,
state of health, representation in decision making bodies, access to property etc. are some
relevant indicators of status of the individual members in a society. However, not all
members of a society, especially women, have equal access to the factors which constitute
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these indicators of status. Patriarchal norms restrict Indian women’s education and
employment choices, from the choice to acquire education to the entry into the workforce and
to the nature of work.
Subdued gender participation emanates from social-economic issues, which can be treated by
bringing behavioural change. This can be changed if more women are given leadership
positions. For this, the Indian scientific community should act as a pressure group to build
greater focus on the issue and push for concrete measures to address the problem. Women-
oriented government initiatives such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Knowledge Involvement in
Research Advancement through Nurturing (KIRAN) Scheme, represent steps in the right
direction. Women should be reimagined as architects of India’s progress and development,
rather than being passive recipients of the fruits of development. The ripple effects of Women
Led Development are undeniable as an educated and empowered woman will ensure
education and empowerment for future generations.
6.2 CONCLUSION
India’s administration has experienced several challenges since it became independent. The
country has gone a long way, but much work still has to be done to realize the full potentials
of a diverse nation. An efficient and competent administration is required to serve the public
in this way. To ensure transparency, accountability, gender inclusion, and the general welfare
of the populace, especially the socially excluded. The political executive and permanent
executive play a crucial role in it. The government periodically undertakes various
governance measures to guarantee administrative accountability and to uphold a healthy
system of checks and balances, therefore attaining true sense of democracy.
6.3 REFERENCES
• Bhattacharya, M. (2011), New Horizons of Public Administration. New Delhi, India:

• Chakrabarty, B. & Bhattacharya, M. (Eds.). (2008), The Governance Discourse: A
Reader. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press.
• Chakrabarty, B. & Chand, P. (2012). Public Administration in a Globalizing World:
New Delhi, India: Sage Publications.
• Chakrabarty, B. & Chand, P. (2017). Public Administration from Government to
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Governance. Hyderabad, India: Orient Black Swan.

• Dhameja, A. & Mishra, S. (Eds). (2016). Public Administration: Approaches and
Applications. New Delhi, India. Pearson.
• Medury, U. (2010). Public Administration in the Globalisation Era. The New Public
Management Perspective. New Delhi, India: Orient Black Swan.
• Sapru, R.K. &Sapru, Y.S. (2014). Good Governance through E-Governance. New
Delhi, India: Sage Publications.
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1.1 Learning Objectives

1.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

The main objectives of this chapter:

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1.3 STRUCTURE OF THE CIVIL SERVICES

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to be removed by an authority subordinate.

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• Divisional Commissioner • ADG- Additional Director General of

1.3.3 PMO, Cabinet Secretariat

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The coordination is also required for removing issues or difficulties, overcoming

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• All major decisions which are relating to the Cabinet Secretariat

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• Executive: A group responsible for the administrative project

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1.6 SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS

1. What was the structure of the Civil Services in British India?