Editorial
DOI | 10.1177/0019556119846746 |
Author | Mahendra Prasad Singh |
Published date | 01 June 2019 |
Date | 01 June 2019 |
Subject Matter | Editorial |
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
65(2) 275–279, 2019
© 2019 IIPA
Reprints and permissions:
in.sagepub.com/journals-permissions-india
DOI:10.1177/0019556119846746
journals.sagepub.com/home/ipa
Editorial
This issue of the journal includes eleven articles, four notes and one document,
besides the book reviews. The first two articles deal with aspects of education
policy, regulation and governance. Dhananjay Rai addresses the issue of rethinking
on independent regulatory authorities in higher education in India in the context of
the onrush to the creation of such authorities in multiple sectors of the polity and
economy in the emergent neoliberal discourse on the state since the bureaucratic
deregulation and privatisation in India since 1991. The author laments what he
calls the growing disconnect between the polity and policy in pursuit of the agenda
of privileging the market forces against democratic forces in liberal democratic
theory. He decries this trend particularly in the field of higher education as it is a
vitally important instrument of socio-economic transformation in a highly in-
egalitarian and hierarchical society and economy of India. The readers who are
interested in the theme of independent regulatory authorities in a comparative
perspective may also like to consult the special issue of our journal published in
two parts in the third and fourth issues in July–September and October–December
2018. N. Mythili in her article on Sikkim argues that three aspects of leadership
functions in good governance through a network of leadership in organisations
contribute to improving the quality of education in the state. This is performed
through triggering synchronised system-wide changes in policies and practices at
the levels of the state, district and schools in the educational sector.
The next two articles deal with issues related to renewable energy sources
and their use at the local level in urban and rural India. Purva Mishra analyses
the policy implementation of the Central Government’s scheme of harnessing
solar energy through a photovoltaic system by the Chandigarh UT administration
as a step towards meeting the challenge of global warming and climate change.
Her empirically grounded study based on documentary and a sample survey of
citizens and officials presents some interesting data on an aspect of a phenom-
enon, which is a major challenge for the sustainability of development and indeed
human survival on this planet. Manashvi Kumar explores the demand for local
renewable energy systems in the north and middle Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
He presents some interesting data on the relationship between cultural factors
and technology in a rather primitive context—in three villages on the islands.
He underlines ‘the need for understanding the human element of rural energy
ecosystem for a realistic assessment of the local energy resource base’, which, in
his opinion, is ‘critical for designing decentralised and sustainable energy policies
for remote rural areas’.
To continue reading
Request your trial