Book Reviews
| Author | Yogendra Narain |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120140415 |
| Published date | 01 October 2014 |
| Date | 01 October 2014 |
BOOK
REVIEWS
Governance
and
Administration:
Unhealthy
~rends
U.
C.AGARWAL,
New Delhi, Indian Institute
of
Public Administration,
2014, pp. xviii+352, Rs.485.00.
The IIPA has come out with a thought provoking and deeply perceptive
publication on "Governance and Administration/Unhealthy Trends" edited
by veteran scholarly civil servant Shri U.C. Agarwal. The compilation
of
these articles in the book by him has brought to focus some unwelcome and
unhealthy features which have crept
in
over the years,
in
our
civil services
and public administration.
The authors
of
the articles included
in
the book are drawn from a
mixed assortment
of
academicians, civil servants, professors
of
public
administration, a former Cabinet Secretary as well as a former Governor
and C&AG
of
India.
Jn
the introductory chapter the editor briefly traces
the post-independence history
of
governance and administration. He has
identified some factors which led to the remarkable achievements
of
the
civil servants
of
the country
in
the 50s, 60s and early 70s. These to a large
extent were due to the trust bestowed by political leaders
in
power on the
public servants
of
the country
in
those years. As a result officers could
work with speed, efficiency and confidence to handle important and urgent
problems like merger
of
more than 500 princely states, settlement
of
the
private property claims and privy purses
of
their Rajas and Maharaj as and
the rehabilitation work
of
lakhs
of
penniless migrants from Pakistan.
Attending to these massive tasks with required speed and humane approach
brought
out
the potential and capabilities
of
the administrative services
of
the country.
No
finger
of
doubt was raised against any.officer dealing with
the huge financial and property issues
of
the princely states as also
in
rehabilitating lakhs
of
refugees. In the present day environment officers
according to the editor, feel hesitant to take necessary initiative and speedy
decisions even in urgent matters fearing that for minor technical errors
or
small bona-fide mistakes there could
be
the risk
of
CBI registering corruption
cases against any senior decision-making level officers. Such CBI probe
could be made even several years after retirement
ofan
office~.
Undoubtedly,
widespread corruption
in
administration has lowered the image
of
the civil
servants generally in the eyes
of
the people. Fortunately, however, there
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