Indian Journal of Public Administration

Publisher:: Sage Publications, Inc.
Publication date:: 2021-08-12

ISBN:: 0019-5561

Issue Number

Latest documents

Book review: Bimal Prasad and Sujata Prasad, The Dream of Revolution: A Biography of Jayaprakash Narayan
Bimal Prasad and Sujata Prasad, The Dream of Revolution: A Biography of Jayaprakash Narayan. Gurugram: Vintage Books, 2021, xv+271 pp., ₹799. ISBN: 9780670096176.
The Use of Forced Sterilisation as a Key Component of Population Policy: Comparative Case Studies of China, India, Puerto Rico and Singapore
In the years before the UN international human rights became fundamental values of law and ethics, family planning programmes designed to control population growth were adopted by many countries. This article compares the implementation of sterilisation campaigns in four countries that have used a degree of incentivisation or coercion. For each selected country, we aimed to explore two questions: How was mass sterilisation implemented, and were human rights protected? The countries are China, India, Puerto Rico and Singapore. We suggest that sterilisation should be readily available as part of an overall sexual and reproductive health service, but people’s sexual and reproductive rights must take priority.
The Use of Forced Sterilisation as a Key Component of Population Policy: Comparative Case Studies of China, India, Puerto Rico and Singapore
In the years before the UN international human rights became fundamental values of law and ethics, family planning programmes designed to control population growth were adopted by many countries. This article compares the implementation of sterilisation campaigns in four countries that have used a degree of incentivisation or coercion. For each selected country, we aimed to explore two questions: How was mass sterilisation implemented, and were human rights protected? The countries are China, India, Puerto Rico and Singapore. We suggest that sterilisation should be readily available as part of an overall sexual and reproductive health service, but people’s sexual and reproductive rights must take priority.
Eradicating Administrative Corruption Through Transparency in Public Governance: Global Scenario and the Right to Information Act, 2005, in India
Modern governments after having put much of their services on the e-governance mode through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the internet have as a result thereof brought about greater transparency in public governance especially at the government-citizen interface level. This has proved to be a giant step in the eradication of administrative corruption. Further impetus was added to this by the advent of Right to Information Law that went a step ahead by opening up the internal functioning of the government to public scrutiny and making bureaucrats accountable for their actions. The article is a humble attempt to examine how and in what ways the Right to Information in India has resulted in bringing about greater transparency in public governance particularly in India, thereby proving to be a milestone in the fight against administrative corruption.
India’s Cooperative Federalism during Covid-19 Pandemic
The role of cooperative federalism in India in dealing with the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects such as economic crisis and large-scale human migration, among others, is put to test. The initial stages of the pandemic response highlighted the unitary tilt in the Indian federal structure. At the later stages of this crisis, cooperative federalism also appears to be visible. Nevertheless, the lack of cooperation between the States, and the Centre’s failure to facilitate horizontal federalism without invoking any intergovernmental agency for the purpose has made the lives of migrant workers miserable. An intergovernmental institution such as Inter-Sate Council (ISC) could have been used as a common forum for the Centre and the States for the purpose of both vertical and horizontal cooperative federalism. The pandemic has also brought to the fore the importance of India’s grassroots level of government, though, unfortunately, their potential remains underutilised.
Implementation of Mental Health Care Act, 2017: Issues and Way Forward
The Government of India preferred legislative lever of public policy over economic incentives, funding support, public awareness campaigns levers by enacting the Mental Health Care Act (MHCA) in the year 2017. MHCA 2017 mandates for mental healthcare and services for persons with mental illness and to protect, promote and fulfil the rights of such persons during delivery of mental healthcare and services. MHCA 2017 is supposed to bring socio-cultural and structural changes to mental health issues in India. This article seeks to identify the various issues and challenges in the implementation of the Act at the macro level, specifically in the areas of prevention of mental morbidities, treatment gaps, reintegration and rehabilitation of the patient. It also suggests the way forward to remove the identified barriers.
Quality of Public Services in the Era of Guaranteed Public Service Delivery
The provision of public services is one of the important functions performed by a government as it ensures the growth of a nation and promotes welfare and justice in society. Public services are characterised by timeliness, quality and grievance redressal in the course of service delivery. Quality is an important component of public service delivery and determines citizens’ satisfaction and trust in the government. The debates on governance during the 1990s were focused on service delivery as the most important component in the governance process. Public services were seen as a medium for interaction between the citizens and the government through street-level agents of the state to promote the welfare and wellbeing of the people. Developments like the Citizen’s Charter formulation and implementation, social audit, e-Governance programme, Public Service Guarantee Act, and so on have shaped the governance discourse in India. This essay highlights the significance of quality in public service delivery in India, its need the quality-satisfaction-trust triad, barriers to quality in public service delivery, tools to ensure the quality of public services in India and international best practices.
Quality of Public Services in the Era of Guaranteed Public Service Delivery
The provision of public services is one of the important functions performed by a government as it ensures the growth of a nation and promotes welfare and justice in society. Public services are characterised by timeliness, quality and grievance redressal in the course of service delivery. Quality is an important component of public service delivery and determines citizens’ satisfaction and trust in the government. The debates on governance during the 1990s were focused on service delivery as the most important component in the governance process. Public services were seen as a medium for interaction between the citizens and the government through street-level agents of the state to promote the welfare and wellbeing of the people. Developments like the Citizen’s Charter formulation and implementation, social audit, e-Governance programme, Public Service Guarantee Act, and so on have shaped the governance discourse in India. This essay highlights the significance of quality in public service delivery in India, its need the quality-satisfaction-trust triad, barriers to quality in public service delivery, tools to ensure the quality of public services in India and international best practices.
Gaon Panchayat, Tribal Women and Their Participation: A Case of Tiwas of Assam
Panchayati Raj Institutions, the three-tier institutions of local self-governing institutions that stand at the bottom, are found in rural areas in all states of India except in the Sixth Schedule areas formed under the Indian Constitution. The genesis of India’s local governance can be traced back to ancient times. However, these institutions got their present shape and structure after a series of reform studies resulted in several Acts and constitutional amendments. In this article, an attempt has been made to understand and analyse the impact of tribal women’s participation in the local governing institutions among the Tiwas of Assam.
The Teachers’ Transfer Policy, Haryana (2016): A Critical Evaluation
The Teachers’ Transfer Policy, 2016, for teachers serving in government schools across Haryana was started with the explicit goal of improving job satisfaction for teachers. It represented a major reform in transfer of teachers in public schools across the state, as prior to this, transfers were mired in political hurdles and corruption. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach to assess teachers’ satisfaction with the policy and explores perceptions across the population on whether it affects their work satisfaction too. The study finds that teachers experience the implementation of the policy in a more nuanced way than the officials. It also finds that they exhibit a high level of satisfaction with the policy, but that it is not uniformly distributed. Rather, satisfaction varies by age and preference for allotments. Work satisfaction has been only marginally affected by the policy.