RBSE SS Public Administration flashcards

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

POSDCORB

Gulick and Urwick's acronym for the managerial functions of the chief executive: Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting and Budgeting. It represents the managerial view of public administration's scope.

Integral view

The view that administration includes all persons, from the top executive to the lowest clerk, who carry out the work of government. It contrasts with the managerial view, which covers only those who direct and supervise.

Politics-administration dichotomy

Woodrow Wilson and Frank Goodnow's proposition that politics sets the tasks of the state while administration merely executes them. Later scholars rejected the separation as unrealistic because civil servants also shape policy.

Prismatic society

F. W. Riggs' term for a transitional, developing society in which administrative features are mixed: formalism, heterogeneity and overlapping characterise its bureaucracy. It lies between the fused and diffracted ideal types.

Span of control

The number of subordinates who report directly to one superior. A narrow span produces a tall hierarchy with many levels; a wide span produces a flat structure. Graicunas showed relationships multiply geometrically.

Line and staff agencies

Line agencies have direct authority and operational responsibility for achieving objectives; staff agencies advise, service and support them without command authority. Conflict between the two is a recurring organisational problem.

Delegation

The assignment of work and grant of authority by a superior to a subordinate, creating accountability for results. Authority may be delegated, but the superior remains ultimately responsible and accountable.

Article 74

Provides that there shall be a Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister at the head to aid and advise the President, who shall act in accordance with that advice. It makes the President a constitutional head.

Cabinet Secretariat

The staff agency created in 1947 that services the Cabinet, prepares agendas and minutes, coordinates inter-ministerial business, and supports the Prime Minister and Cabinet Committees. It has no executive authority over departments.

Parliamentary executive

A form of government in which the executive is drawn from the legislature and remains collectively responsible to it, so a no-confidence vote can remove it. India, the United Kingdom and Japan follow this form.

Article 356

Permits the President, on the Governor's report, to assume the functions of a State government when constitutional machinery has failed. Its use is subject to judicial review after the S. R. Bommai judgment.

All India Services

The Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service, whose officers are recruited by the Union but serve both Union and States. Article 312 empowers Parliament to create such services.

Article 315

Establishes a Public Service Commission for the Union and a Public Service Commission for each State. Commissions advise on recruitment, appointments, promotions and disciplinary matters, and their independence is constitutionally protected.

Article 311

Protects civil servants from dismissal or removal by an authority subordinate to the appointing authority, and from removal without an inquiry giving a reasonable opportunity of being heard.

Spoils system

A practice of filling public posts through political patronage and party loyalty rather than merit. The United States Pendleton Act of 1883 began replacing it with competitive examination and a merit system.

Article 112

Requires the President to cause the Annual Financial Statement, showing estimated receipts and expenditure of the Government of India, to be laid before both Houses of Parliament. This statement is the Indian budget.

Consolidated Fund of India

Created by Article 266, it receives all revenues, loans and receipts of the Union. No money may be appropriated from it except by law, making parliamentary authorisation essential for spending.

Comptroller and Auditor General

The constitutional auditor under Articles 148-151 who audits all Union and State accounts and reports to Parliament through the President. The office is independent, and the CAG is called the guardian of the public purse.

Money Bill

A Bill dealing only with taxation, borrowing, the Consolidated or Contingency Fund, or related financial matters, certified by the Speaker under Article 110. It can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha.

Audi alteram partem

The natural justice rule that no person should be condemned unheard; the affected party must be given notice and a fair opportunity to present his or her case before an adverse administrative decision.

Mandamus

A writ issued by a court commanding a public authority to perform a public duty that it has refused or failed to perform. It is available under Articles 32 and 226 of the Constitution.

Delegated legislation

Rules, regulations and orders made by the executive under authority conferred by a statute. It is controlled by parliamentary scrutiny committees, publication requirements and judicial review for ultra vires.

Lokpal and Lokayuktas

Statutory ombudsman institutions created by the 2013 Act to inquire into allegations of corruption against public functionaries at Union and State levels. The Lokpal covers the Union; States appoint Lokayuktas.

Minnowbrook Conference

The 1968 gathering of young scholars at Syracuse University that gave rise to New Public Administration, emphasising social equity, relevance, values and change rather than value-neutral efficiency.

New Public Management

A reform movement applying private-sector techniques to government: competition, contracting out, performance measurement, executive agencies and citizen choice. It treats citizens as customers and managers as entrepreneurs.

Good governance

A normative standard for public management emphasising participation, rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, equity, effectiveness, accountability and strategic vision. International agencies such as UNDP and the World Bank promote it.

Incremental model

Charles Lindblom's description of policy-making as small, successive adjustments to existing policy rather than comprehensive rational analysis. It is realistic and politically feasible but may neglect radical alternatives.

NITI Aayog

The policy institution created on 1 January 2015 to replace the Planning Commission. It is a think tank promoting cooperative and competitive federalism and advising on strategy rather than allocating plan funds.

Development administration

The branch of administration concerned with managing planned social and economic change and building administrative capacity in developing countries. Edward Weidner and Fred Riggs are associated with its study.

73rd Amendment Act

The 1992 amendment inserting Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule, giving constitutional status to Panchayats with three tiers, five-year terms, reservations and State Election and Finance Commissions. It came into force in 1993.

Gram Sabha

Under Article 243A, the body of all persons registered in the electoral rolls of a village within a Panchayat area. It exercises powers and functions assigned by State law and is the foundation of Panchayati Raj.

Nagaur inauguration

On 2 October 1959 Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated the Panchayati Raj system at Nagaur in Rajasthan, making Rajasthan the first Indian State to implement the Balwant Rai Mehta recommendations.