Impact of changes in Civils Mains on Polity and Public Administration

It is natural that most of the civils aspirants are upset over the changes in mains examination pattern. They are uneasy over the changes, as there is very little time to manage the two extra papers introduced in the general studies. Of course, they were compensated by the reduction in the number of optionals (from two to one) subjects. While change is always welcome, it should not be too sudden to catch them unaware. Moreover, it is undemocratic and unfair to introduce changes without consulting the Stake holders - the aspirants, the parents, intellectuals and the academia. It speaks of the arrogance on the part of UPSC and insensitivity of the PMO to the concerns of the public. Let us take a look at the changes in the syllabus and identify the topics /issues that are relevant to Polity and Public Administration.

paper-II (Gen.Studies-1)

The topics:

1. Post independence consolidation and reorganisation with in the country is related to the re-drawing of the political map in independent India by the merger of native states (political integration) with the rest of India, the reorganisation of states on linguistic basis.
2. Two World Wars, colonization and decolonization, political phi-losophies like communism, capi-talism, socialism are partly histo-rical and partly political issues.
3. The role of women and women's organisation, population, poverty and developmental issues, urba-nisation, the problems and reme-dies are partly sociological, partly political and partly admini-strative.
4. Effects of globalisation on Indian society is not just economic, but equally political and sociological issue.
5. Social empowerment, communa-lism, regionalism and secularism are the current paradigms of Indian society and administrative vocabulary.

Nearly one fourth of the paper-II syllabus requires basic knowledge in polity, sociology and public admini-stration. NCERT Text Books of X, XI, XII (Civics, political Science) are the best source.

Paper-III, deals with

1. Salient features of the consti-tution.
2. The function of the Union, State and Local Governments and their financial relations.
3. Intra governmental relations -legislative, executive and judici-ary, the confrontation and coope-ration among them.
4. Comparative study of major con-stitutional forms-unitary, federal, presidential and parliamentary.
5. The structure and functioning of parliament and state legislatives and the reasons for their decline etc.
6. The political and permanent (Civil Service) executive, the hierarchy of judiciary Supreme Court, High Court, District Courts and their role in the dispensation of justice, the organisation of ministries and departments, the emerging civil society, pressure groups- their role in policy making an important topic in public administration.
7. Representation of peoples Act, 1951-qualifications to contest parliament and state legislature elections, grounds of disquali-fications, conduct of elections, political parties and their registration with election commi-ssion etc. The loopholes in the provisions of the act lead to criminalisation of politics.
8. Compositions and functions of constitutional bodies: Besides the higher judiciary, CAG, Election commission, AG, Advo-cate General,State Election Commissions and their role.
9. Statutory and regulatory bodies RBI, SEBI, National and state Electricity regulatory commiss-ions, IRDA, TRAI, Nuclear Reg-ulatory commissions, NHRC etc.
10. The role of NGOs in monitoring welfare programmes, SHGs and their impact on women empow-erment etc.
11. PDS, MNREG programmes,old age pensions, fee reimbursement, subsidised LPG, etc and their role in alleviating poverty. The causes of their poor implementation.
12. Right to education, National Health Mission and their impact on education and health.
13. Accountability on the part of government through e-governance, citizen charters.
14. The increasing role of civil society (eg. pressure on government to come up with effective lokpal Institutions) in policy making, monitoring its implementation and evolution.
15. Indian's relations with neighbours, look east policy, SAARC, NAM and its increasing role in global politics as and emerging power.
16. UN, WTO, IMF,WB, ADB,G-20, BRICS, etc.

The paper deals with the emerging socio-economic goals that can be realised through relevant political institutions assisted by administrative machinery. It is mostly politics and public administration in practice. Candi-dates who opt for PA as optional subject can fare better than others.

Text books at graduate level dealing with

1. Indian government and politics.
2. Indian Administration are the relevant source of information. Regular reading of standard news paper like The Hindu, Magazines like Yojana, Kurukshetra, Frontline etc. is a must. If time permits watching lok sabha and Rajya sabha TV channels would be of great use. Online magazines like eurasiareview .com are good at providing latest information on international issues. indiatogether.org is another popular online source for an objective analysis cotem-porary economic, social and political issues of India.
   
   

Few issues in Paper-IV are related politics and administration:

1. Government budgeting - the preparation, enactment and execution of the budget. It is part of financial Administration.
2. conservation, environmental pollution and degradation environmental impact assess-ment is very much part of public policy of all modern states.
3. Disaster and disaster manage ment, prevention, mitigation and rehabilitation are the core issues of disaster management under taken by the state.
4. Internal and External security challenges, cyber crime, money laundering, terrorism etc. are dealt by NIA, CBI, RAW, IB etc.

Paper-II of PA as an optional subjects deals with the above issues.

Paper V has the following topics relevant to public administration:

1. Aptitude and foundational values for Civil service, integrity, impartiality etc.,are part of admi-nistrative ethics- a component of personnel administration.
2. Public/civil services values and eth-ics in public administration is again part of personnel administration.
3. Probity in governance is facilitated through right to infor-mation, code of conduct, citizen charters etc., are the components of accountability and control in public administration.
   
   

The above issues are dealt in paper 1 of PA as optional subject.

The essay part in paper 1 usually includes at least one or two questions that are related to contemporary socio, economic issues. They would be linked to political, administrative problems. Candidates with social sciences background (Political science, Sociology, Economics, Geography and public Admn) would be in a better position to deal with. To sum up nearly half of the syllabus in five papers is linked to Indian polity and Admn. Those who have reasonable familiarity with Indian political system and Indian public Admn. can do well. The changed pattern is really a boon for them. It is blessing in disguise.

Published date : 13 Apr 2013 01:38PM