BSEH SS Public Admin flashcards

34 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Public Administration

The executive branch in action: implementation of public policy through organised governmental activity, covering both process (POSDCORB) and substantive welfare functions of the state.

Politics–Administration Dichotomy

Woodrow Wilson's proposition that politics sets the tasks while administration executes them; later scholars rejected the separation as unrealistic because administrators shape policy.

POSDCORB

Luther Gulick's acronym for the functions of the chief executive: Planning, Organising, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting and Budgeting.

New Public Management

Reform doctrine stressing results over process: managerial autonomy, performance contracts, competition, citizen charters and market-style service delivery in government.

Span of Control

The number of subordinates a superior can directly supervise effectively; a wider span flattens hierarchy while a narrow span creates tall structures with closer supervision.

Unity of Command

Fayol's principle that an employee should receive orders from only one superior, preventing conflicting instructions and preserving clear accountability in the organisation.

Delegation

Assignment of duties by a superior to a subordinate together with the authority needed to perform them; authority can be delegated but accountability for results cannot.

Decentralisation

Dispersal of decision-making authority to lower organisational levels or field units; it is a matter of degree and is contrasted with centralisation at the top.

Scientific Management

Taylor's approach using time and motion study, scientific selection, differential piece rates and functional foremanship to raise efficiency through the 'one best way'.

Ideal-Type Bureaucracy

Weber's model resting on legal-rational authority: hierarchy, written rules, impersonality, technical competence and career officials, valued for predictability and efficiency.

Bounded Rationality

Simon's concept that decision-makers face limited information and cognitive capacity, so they satisfice - choosing a satisfactory rather than an optimal alternative.

Two-Factor Theory

Herzberg's distinction between hygiene factors (pay, conditions, policy) that prevent dissatisfaction and motivators (achievement, recognition, growth) that generate satisfaction.

Theory X and Theory Y

McGregor's contrasting assumptions: Theory X sees workers as work-averse and needing coercion; Theory Y sees work as natural and people as seeking responsibility.

Chief Executive Functions

Political leadership, administrative management (organisation, staffing, coordination) and ceremonial representation, exercised through appointment, direction, budgeting and rule-making powers.

Line Agencies

Units directly engaged in achieving the organisation's primary objectives, exercising command authority over subordinates in the chain of operations.

Staff Agencies

Advisory and supportive units such as personnel, finance, legal and planning that assist line departments but normally lack authority to command line operations.

Auxiliary Agencies

Service-rendering units that support the whole organisation without commanding line operations, such as purchasing, printing, housekeeping and stores.

All India Services

Services common to the Union and states, created under Article 312, whose officers serve state cadres but are recruited and controlled nationally; IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service.

Article 311 Protection

Constitutional safeguard preventing dismissal or reduction in rank of a civil servant without an inquiry, except in specified circumstances such as conviction on a criminal charge.

UPSC

The Union Public Service Commission, a constitutional body under Article 315, which conducts the Civil Services Examination and advises on recruitment and disciplinary matters.

Mission Karmayogi

A 2020 national programme for civil service capacity building, shifting from rule-based to role-based competency development through the iGOT digital learning platform.

Policy Cycle

The sequence of agenda setting, formulation, adoption, implementation, evaluation and termination through which public policies are made and reviewed.

Multiple Streams Framework

Kingdon's model in which problem, policy and politics streams converge at a policy window, allowing policy entrepreneurs to push an issue onto the agenda.

NITI Aayog

Policy think tank created in 2015 replacing the Planning Commission; its Governing Council includes the Prime Minister and all Chief Ministers.

Annual Financial Statement

The budget required by Article 112, laid before Parliament annually, showing estimated receipts and expenditure of the government on revenue and capital accounts.

Consolidated Fund of India

Fund under Article 266 into which all revenues and loans are credited; no money can be withdrawn without parliamentary appropriation.

Money Bill

A bill dealing solely with taxation, borrowing or fund matters, defined in Article 110, introduced only in the Lok Sabha on the President's recommendation.

Comptroller and Auditor General

Constitutional auditor under Article 148 who audits Union and State accounts and reports to Parliament and legislatures, supporting the Public Accounts Committee.

Natural Justice

Twin administrative-law principles: audi alteram partem (hear the other side) and nemo judex in causa sua (no one may judge their own cause).

Writ of Mandamus

A command from a court to a public authority to perform a duty it has refused or failed to perform; available under Articles 32 and 226.

Second ARC

The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2005–09, chaired by Veerappa Moily), whose fifteen reports covered RTI, ethics, e-governance, local governance and crisis management.

73rd Amendment

The 1992 amendment inserting Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule, giving constitutional status to Panchayati Raj Institutions with 29 listed subjects.

74th Amendment

The 1992 amendment inserting Part IX-A and the Twelfth Schedule, giving constitutional status to urban local bodies with 18 listed municipal subjects.

District Planning Committee

A body under Article 243-ZD that consolidates plans prepared by panchayats and municipalities in a district and forwards them to the state government.