Initiatives of responsive administration
By: Balakrishnan, Suresh.
Contributor(s): Gopakumar, K.
Material type:
ArticlePublisher: 1997Description: p.65-91.Subject(s): Public administration - India | Public administration
In:
Management in GovernmentSummary: The Government of India has initiated a National Debate on Responsive Administration. The critical concern of this debate is on rebuilding the confidence of citizens in the government through a series of steps that will enable and sustain responsive administration. The Conference of Chief Secretaries on this theme highlighted the limits to which administration could improve, if corrective measures were limited to within the civil services only. The reality is that all institutions of civil society have a role to play - in demanding change, preventing malpractices, and supporting initiatives of responsive administration. All sections of our society - government departments and public service agencies, NGOs, media, citizen groups, academia and social organisations - experience the quality of administration, and have their own perspective on what needs to be done. More important, the debate emphasises that all these bodies can contribute, in some way or the other, in helping citizens derive better governance. Time and again, we see small but heartening efforts of administrators, citizens and NGOs coming together, and producing a model or achievement that needs to be shared with others. These initiatives need our recognition and support, so that it would give confidence to others who wish to follow suit. In the context of this debate, local government agencies are expected to initiate similar steps for making administrative processes more responsive. The experiences described in this paper reflect the wide variety of initiatives that are emerging in different parts of our nation. The two major underlying threads that one can see in these initiatives is the commitment to making administration capable of listening to the common man, and the emphasis on creating mechanisms for people's participation that will ensure continuing demand and cooperation in making responsive administration sustainable. - Reproduced
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Articles
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | Volume no: 29, Issue no: 2 | Available | AR37401 |
The Government of India has initiated a National Debate on Responsive Administration. The critical concern of this debate is on rebuilding the confidence of citizens in the government through a series of steps that will enable and sustain responsive administration. The Conference of Chief Secretaries on this theme highlighted the limits to which administration could improve, if corrective measures were limited to within the civil services only. The reality is that all institutions of civil society have a role to play - in demanding change, preventing malpractices, and supporting initiatives of responsive administration. All sections of our society - government departments and public service agencies, NGOs, media, citizen groups, academia and social organisations - experience the quality of administration, and have their own perspective on what needs to be done. More important, the debate emphasises that all these bodies can contribute, in some way or the other, in helping citizens derive better governance. Time and again, we see small but heartening efforts of administrators, citizens and NGOs coming together, and producing a model or achievement that needs to be shared with others. These initiatives need our recognition and support, so that it would give confidence to others who wish to follow suit. In the context of this debate, local government agencies are expected to initiate similar steps for making administrative processes more responsive. The experiences described in this paper reflect the wide variety of initiatives that are emerging in different parts of our nation. The two major underlying threads that one can see in these initiatives is the commitment to making administration capable of listening to the common man, and the emphasis on creating mechanisms for people's participation that will ensure continuing demand and cooperation in making responsive administration sustainable. - Reproduced
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