The New Development Administration

in India-Issues and Challenges

Mr.Bishnu Prasad Mohapatra, Researcher

Centre for Economic and Social Studies,
Hyderabad - 500 016
 Outline of the Presentation
Introduction
Theories of Administration-the Case of India
The Concept of ‘New’ in Development Administration
The Rise of Development Administration in India
Issues and Challenges
Summary and Conclusion
 INTRODUCTION

 The emerging debate on the issues of administrative effectiveness has attracted

the attention of scholars and policy makers of the developing and transitional
economies of the world to explore the various aspects of such issues and their
link with administration and development.
 In the contemporary era of development, the importance of Administration has
been enhanced over the period of time which contributed a lot to the discipline of
political science and public administration.
 Administration can be considered as an integral part of the political process for
the smooth running of the system and management of affairs for public good.
 The much debated concept of development administration provides two new
approaches in the study of public administration such as ‘administrative system
approach’ and ‘social system approach’ .
 Ilchman (1965) views development administration as a sub-discipline and
therefore divides the practitioners into two broad schools such as the
administrative system approach and the social system approach.
 Riggs refers to development administration as “an organised effort to carry out
programmes or projects initiated by those involved in serving development
objectives”.
 Continuing…..
 The concept of development administration can be understood using
two concepts such as administration of development and
administrative development.

Local
Govt. Departmen
tal Offices

State
Govt.
Development
Administrati
on

Central
Govt.

Internation
al Agencies
 Continuing…..
The concept of development administration refers to “projects,
programmes, policies and ideas which are focused at development
of a nation, from the point of view of socio-economic and socio-
political development of society carried out by talented and skilled
bureaucrats.
In the recent studies, many scholars have focused on the concept
of “the rising expectations and the revolution in development
administration”(Ilchman,1965) in order to understand the process
of evolution and functioning of ‘development administration’ in
various countries in the world.
In case of India, the concept of development administration has
been gaining momentum with the emergence of a number of
development programmes and failure of the conventional pattern
of administrative system. Such scenario has motivated many
scholars to explore on the various aspects of development
administration.
 Theories of Administration-The Concept of ‘New’
 Theories of Administration evolved during the different period of time
starting from the pre-colonial era to post-neoliberal era (Westminister
Model to Whitehouse Model) with the evolution of administrative
system.
 In the case of India, the evolution of the ‘theories of administration’ can
be traced through the process of the evolution of ‘government
administration’ or functioning of the ‘structure of government and
administrative departments’.
 General Theoretical Studies : Under this theory researchers have been
focusing on two broad approaches of the study of administration such as
‘the administrative system approach’ and ‘the social system approach’.
 Historical Studies: Under this approach researchers have been focusing
on the evolution of colonial legacy and its effects on the contemporary
issues of administration.
 Recent Theories: In the recent theories two approaches have emerged
as ‘development administration approach’ and ‘new development
administration approach.
 Continuing…..

 The Development Administration Approach: Development administration

according to Weidner is ‘an action oriented and goal oriented administrative
system’.
 According to Riggs ‘development administration is an outcome of organised
effort to carry out programmes or projects initiated by those involved in serving
developmental objectives’.
 It is believed that the phase of development administration is closely
intertwined with the process of change and such changes happened because of
the demand for efficient and pro-people administration.
 Summarising the role of development administration in India’s socio-economic
development process, Samal (2000) highlights that “while development
administration is structurally concerned with the organisation of new agencies
and redesigning of existing ones, practically it aims at restructuring of public
administration in attaining efficient management of governmental programmes
of development activities”.
 The New Development Administration Approach: The concept of new
development administration has been received wide academic acclamation with
the failure of the conventional pattern of so called development administration.
 Continuing
 It is believed that the concept of ‘new’ in development administration is an
outcome of the failure of the ‘bureaucracy centric administrative system’
and result of the ‘emergence of multi-level democratic institutions.’
 The much debated issues of governance and development in the era of
global economy also inserted the framework of ‘new’ in the development
administration.
 Researchers also believed that the paradigm shift in development
administration from old to new is the result of the transformation of
administrative system from conventional to pragmatic.
 It is believed that the rise of the concept of ‘administrative state’ along
with the emerging demand for the ‘separation of power’ created space for
‘new’ in development administration in many countries including India.
 However, the emerging issues of misgovernance, administrative
incapability and corruption in many countries including India have raised
doubt about the efficiency of the so-called new development
administration.
 The Rise of Development Administration in India
Year/Period Major Developments
Pre- 1. During the British Rule, there were administrative units at
Independence the different levels with some significant powers, which
Period continued till independence.
2. During this period, the Govt. of India Acts of 1919, 1929
and 1935 were the pillars of Indian Administration.
3. The legacy of colonial administration was based on the
maintenance of law and order.
Post- 1. The concept of national administration and state
Independence administration evolved with the beginning of the many
Phase development programmes in India.
2. The concept of community development programme
(Early Phase) emerged in the Country with the creation of CD Block as a
unit of administration..
3. However, monopoly capitalism and building of the nation
state lead to centralisation with overemphasising on the
concepts of unity and integrity, unbalanced growth and
preference to loyalty over merit.
Year/Period Major Developments
Continuing…..
Post- 1. The concept of local administration emerged with the
Independence evolution of the local government with an objective to
Phase strengthen the administrative system for better
(The phase of development and growth.
Development 2. Devolution of powers and functions to the local
Administration governments with focusing on administrative
decentralisation or deconcentration .
3. Separate administrative framework for the tribal areas
(creation of ITDAs/ITDPs through Tribal Sub-Plan).
The phase of 1. Emphasis on accountability and transparency through
New creation of grievance redressal mechanism and institutions.
Development (e.g. Citizens’ rights to grievance redressal bill, 2013)
Administration 2. Focus on administrative reforms .(e.g.2nd administrative
reforms commission)
3. Emphasis on Decentralisation through strengthening the
local governments in order to make a balance between
politics and administration. (73rd amendment act/panchayat
acts)
 Issues and Challenges
 Transparency and Accountability: It is observed that
increasing corruption in the matters of delivery of goods and
services has become a challenging factor. Less emphasis on
bottom-up accountability has also enhanced the administrative
inefficiency.
 Political Interference: Prevalence of the political interference at
the various stages of the decision making and implementation
has created problem. Particularly, making balance between the
elected leaders and recruited administrators has become a
challenge.
 Bureaucratic Apathy: Increasing gaps between targets and
achievements in the matters of planning and the programme
implementation marks the era of the bureaucratic apathy in India.
Despite institutionalisation of various committees and
commissions, provisions of training and exposure, the case of
bureaucratic apathy is believed to be continuing in various
administrative units.
 Continuing……
Inefficiency : Inefficiency due to improper monitoring
and supervision has also crippled the functioning of
administration in India.
More Government and Less Governance: The issues
of governance such as effective decision making,
timely implementation, and effective delivery of goods
and services have been faced many hurdle because of
overemphasis on systems and procedures.
Rising Expectation: The increasing expectations of
people from the various administrative units and
departments also created challenges. In many cases
such situation has created tension between people and
administrators.
 Continuing….
Handling of Local Issues: Handling of local level
socio-economic issues, development matters and
political matters have become a challenging task for the
administrative managers. The coordination gap (or gap
between ‘how to do’ and ‘what to do’) between the local
level and the national level administrative units also
prevails in many cases.
Insurgency and Extremism: Prevalence of insurgency,
particularly the prevalence of LWE in various states
created challenges for the administrative managers in
India. (the case of LWE in Central Indian States and
extremism in J&K and North-East India)
 Conclusion
 The case of the evolution and functioning of development
administration in India is quite rich and there is a need of further
policy reforms on this issue.
 The era of new development administration in India has faced
many challenges despite the emphasis on administrative reforms,
democratic decentralisation and creation of multiple self-
governing institutions.
 In India, public administration has increasingly become an
instrument for promoting economic development and
establishing social justice. With the emergence of a number of
development programmes, the role of administration has also
expanded with the emergence of new institutions.
 The recently emerged concepts of e-governance and smart
governance have also provided strength to the concept of ‘new’
in the development administration.
 Continuing…..
 The issue of accountability and transparency should be taken up
seriously particularly in the case of implementation of
Development Programmes. There is also a need of making
balance between politics and administration.
 Appropriate steps should be taken up to raise the level of
efficiency through trainings and exposure.
 The recommendations of the various administrative commissions
should taken up seriously and these recommendations should
implement in letter and spirit.
 Effective delivery of goods and services through making
administrative units effective is the only strategy of addressing
development challenges in our country.
THANK YOU ALL!