Public Administration Syllabus UPSC Mains Exam

Public Administration Syllabus Paper – I → Administrative Theory 

Introduction

• Meaning, scope and significance of Public Administration;
• Wilson’s vision of Public Administration; Evolution of the discipline and its present status;
• New Public Administration; Public Choice approach; Challenges of liberalization, Privatisation, Globalisation;
• Good Governance → concept and application; New Public Management.

Administrative Thought

• Scientific Management and Scientific Management movement; Classical Theory;
• Weber’s bureaucratic model – its critique and post-Weberian Developments;
• Dynamic Administration (Mary Parker Follett); Human Relations School (Elton Mayo and others); Functions of the Executive (C.I. Barnard);
• Simon’s decision-making theory; Participative Management (R. Likert, C. Argyris, D. McGregor).

Administrative Behaviour

• Process and techniques of decision-making; Communication; Morale;
• Motivation Theories – content, process and contemporary;
• Theories of Leadership → Traditional and Modern

Organisations

• Theories – systems, contingency; Structure and forms→ Ministries and Departments, Corporations, Companies, Boards and Commissions;
• Ad hoc and advisory bodies; Headquarters and Field relationships;
• Regulatory Authorities; Public – Private Partnerships

Accountability and control

• Concepts of accountability and control; Legislative, Executive and Judicial control over administration;
• Citizen and Administration; Role of media, interest groups, voluntary organizations;
• Civil society; Citizen’s Charters; Right to Information; Social audit. 

Administrative Law

• Meaning, scope and significance; Dicey on Administrative law;
• Delegated legislation; Administrative Tribunals.

Comparative Public Administration

• Historical and sociological factors affecting administrative systems;
• Administration and politics in different countries; Current status of Comparative Public Administration;
• Ecology and administration; Riggsian models and their critique.

Development Dynamics

• Concept of development; Changing profile of development administration;
• ‘Antidevelopment thesis’; Bureaucracy and development; Strong state versus the market debate;
• Impact of liberalisation on administration in developing countries;
• Women and development – the self-help group movement.

Personnel Administration

• Importance of human resource development;
• Recruitment, training, career advancement, position classification, discipline, performance appraisal, promotion, pay and service conditions;
• Employer-employee relations, grievance redressal mechanism; Code of conduct; Administrative ethics

Public Policy

• Models of policy-making and their critique;
• Processes of conceptualisation, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and review and their limitations;
• State theories and public policy formulation.

Techniques of Administrative Improvement

• Organisation and methods, Work study and work management;
• e-governance and information technology;
• Management aid tools like network analysis, MIS, PERT, CPM.

Financial Administration

• Monetary and fiscal policies;
• Public borrowings and public debt Budgets – types and forms;
• Budgetary process; Financial accountability; Accounts and audit.

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Public Administration Syllabus Paper – II → Indian Administration 

Evolution of Indian Administration

• Kautilya’s Arthashastra; Mughal administration;
• Legacy of British rule in politics and administration – Indianization of public services, revenue administration, district administration, local self-government.

Philosophical and Constitutional framework of government

• Salient features and value premises; Constitutionalism; Political culture;
• Bureaucracy and democracy; Bureaucracy and development.

Public Sector Undertakings

• Public sector in modern India; Forms of Public Sector Undertakings;
• Problems of autonomy, accountability and control;
• Impact of liberalization and privatization

Union Government and Administration

• Executive, Parliament, Judiciary – structure, functions, work processes; Recent trends;
• Intra-governmental relations; Cabinet Secretariat; Prime Minister’s Office; Central Secretariat; Ministries and Departments;
• Boards; Commissions; Attached offices; Field organizations

Plans and Priorities

• Machinery of planning; Role, composition and functions of the Planning Commission and the National Development Council;
• ‘Indicative’ planning; Process of plan formulation at Union and State levels;
• Constitutional Amendments (1992) and decentralized planning for economic development and social justice

State Government and Administration

• Union-State administrative, legislative and financial relations;
• Role of the Finance Commission; Governor; Chief Minister; Council of Ministers; Chief Secretary; State Secretariat; Directorates.

District Administration since Independence

• Changing role of the Collector; Unionstate-local relations;
• Imperatives of development management and law and order administration;
• District administration and democratic decentralization.

Civil Services

• Constitutional position; Structure, recruitment, training and capacity-building;
• Good governance initiatives; Code of conduct and discipline; Staff associations;
• Political rights; Grievance redressal mechanism; Civil service neutrality; Civil service activism

Financial Management

• Budget as a political instrument; Parliamentary control of public expenditure; Role of finance ministry in monetary and fiscal area;
• Accounting techniques; Audit; Role of Controller General of Accounts and Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

Administrative Reforms since Independence

• Major concerns; Important Committees and Commissions;
• Reforms in financial management and human resource development; Problems of implementation.

Rural Development

• Institutions and agencies since independence;
• Rural development programmes → foci and strategies; Decentralization and Panchayati Raj; 73rd Constitutional amendment.

Urban Local Government

• Municipal governance → main features, structures, finance and problem areas;
• 74th Constitutional Amendment; Global local debate; New localism; Development dynamics, politics and administration with special reference to city management.

Law and Order Administration

• British legacy; National Police Commission; Investigative agencies;
• Role of central and state agencies including paramilitary forces in maintenance of law and order and countering insurgency and terrorism;
• Criminalisation of politics and administration; Police-public relations; Reforms in Police

Significant issues in Indian Administration

• Values in public service; Regulatory Commissions; National Human Rights Commission;
• Problems of administration in coalition regimes; Citizen-administration interface;
• Corruption and administration; Disaster management

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