Public Administration in India: The Higher Civil Service

Public Administration in India is often synonymous with the role and performance of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). This book narrates the inception, development, and role of the Higher Civil Services–the IAS and its allied services. It discusses the importance of the civil service and the nature and variety of challenges that a developing democracy offers to civil servants. The volume discusses the strategic positions members of the civil service occupy in all sectors of the government and how they participate in public policy-making. It explores how their decisions influence the lives of all sections of society; how they execute laws and implement policies and decisions of the government. In addition, it also focuses on the role of the bureaucracy as the accredited adviser to the political executive on policy-making. S.R. Maheshwari stresses the indispensability of the civil service in a democratic polity like India. The civil service — the action arm of the government–has played a decisive role in assisting with the social and economic development of the country. However, there is today an urgent need for its reorientation to adapt to several emerging challenges. The book underscores the importance of designing a civil service system that engages more with privatization, strengthening the government’s partnership role with private and non-profit organizations. In addition, the volume pays special attention to the selection and training of civil servants, staffing of the top management in government, the differences between the All India and central services, promotions, conditions of service, and the issue of accountability. The book also examines growing corruption in the bureaucracy and the question of ethics and morality, and how the Union Public Service Commission recruits from among lakhs of applicants. Concluding with an erudite analysis of the report of the Fifth Pay Commission and the Committees constituted for Civil Service Reform, this volume will be indispensable to scholars of public administration and training institutions of the civil service, bureaucrats and aspirants to the civil service as also to journalists and informed lay readers.