Civil service reform
Administrative reforms in India: need for systems approach to problem solving
What ails Indian civil service?
Authors:
P Arora
Publisher:
International Public Management Review, 2006
While observing that there is a lot to commend the Indian civil service for, this article focuses on the deficiencies that have crept in the services over last few years. It attempts to present a critique of the service from the perspective of an insider with a view to ridding it of its malaise.
The article presents evidence of the linkage between the deficiencies in the political, electoral and judicial system and the decline in performance of civil service. It reasons that it is meaningless to talk of administrative reforms without undertaking simultaneous reforms in political and electoral system.
An expert committee appointed by the earlier NDA Government has suggested changes in recruitment and performance appraisal system, opening of civil service position to outsiders and relaxing norms pertaining to removal from service to shake complacency of the civil servants.
The author argues that these proposals are too restrictive in nature and scope. They are limited to changes in the upper echelon of bureaucracy. These not only exclude a large part of bureaucracy from the reform efforts, but also fail to address the factors external to the administration that hinge upon its performance.
The author says civil services suffer more from problems external to them, especially those related to the environment in which they function. He suggests a more comprehensive reform agenda to improve the performance of civil service, and above all emphasises the need for adopting the systems approach to problem solving.
