Public Administration and Good Governance
What this domain tests
Meaning and scope of public administration, the civil services, accountability institutions, RTI, and the principles of good governance are tested.
Core rules
- Public administration is the implementation of government policy. Woodrow Wilson's 'politics-administration dichotomy' separated the two, while later thinkers stressed their interdependence.
- In India, the civil services include All-India Services (IAS, IPS, IFoS) created under Article 312, central services, and state services. The UPSC (Articles 315-323) conducts recruitment; it is advisory, and the government may differ from its advice with reasons.
- Accountability tools: Parliament (questions, committees, CAG), the judiciary, the Central Vigilance Commission, the Lokpal (2013, statutory), and the RTI Act, 2005.
- RTI: a citizen may request information from a public authority; the Public Information Officer must reply within 30 days (48 hours for life and liberty). First appeal lies with an officer senior to the PIO; second appeal with the Information Commission.
- Good governance: transparency, accountability, participation, rule of law, responsiveness, effectiveness and equity.
Worked example
An applicant seeks details of a tender from a municipal corporation and gets no reply for 45 days. What next? Reasoning: the PIO has violated the 30-day limit. The applicant files a first appeal within 30 days to the appellate authority and, if unresolved, a second appeal to the State Information Commission. Delay can attract a penalty of Rs 250 per day, capped at Rs 25,000, on the PIO.
Traps
- Calling the Lokpal a constitutional body; it is statutory.
- Saying the UPSC's advice is binding.
- Mixing the RTI's 30-day and 48-hour timelines.
- Writing that e-governance is only about computers; it is about service delivery and transparency.