Governance in India : Paradigms and Practices
Contents: Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction. Governance in India: Facts and Facets/Ramesh K Arora and Meena Sogani. I. Premises and Postulates. 2. Challenges of Governance/I.K. Gujral. 3. Good Governance: The Perennial paradox/K. Kishore. 4. Good governance and development/N. Vittal. 5. Some political and administrative issues in India’s governance/C.N. Bhalerao. 6. Crying need for reform/Ramesh Sood. II. Critical Concerns. 7. Idealism in civil service/P.R. Dubhashi. 8. Concept of public accountability: The emerging emphasis/Arvind K. Sharma. 9. Civil servants in India – Anonymous ciphers or questioning neutrals?/Marina R Pinto. 10. Activism in administration/B.G. Sharma. 11. Economic liberalization and globalization: Impact on state, administration and society/Noorjahan Bava. 12. Good governance and Indian administration: A Case for civil service reform/D.J. Bhaumik. III. Empathy and Sympathy. 13. Governance and civil society: Exploring the relationship/A.P. Saxena. 14. Citizen-centric administration: Rhetoric and reality/I.C. Srivastava. 15. Reaching the unreached/Rajendra Bhanawat. IV. Ground Reality. 16. Local government and federalism in India/Rakesh Hooja. 17. Re-engineering PRIs in the 21st Century rural India/Hoshiar Singh. 18. Disaster risk reduction through capacity building of the community and panchayati raj institutions/Pardeep Sahni and Alka Dhameja. 19. Community liaison groups: Their contribution to policing in Rajasthan/M.K. Devarajan. V. Salient Subsystems. 20. Negotiating for India/Jagat S. Mehta. 21. Excellence through quality secondary education/Suresh Misra. 22. Governance of Water Resources: Some issues/Shahd S Acharya. VI. Man with a Mission. 23. Life at eighty/B. Hooja. 24. Looking back at my official government career/B. Hooja. 25. Bhupendra Hooja : A Man for all Seasons/Rakesh Hooja. 26. Remembering Bhupendra Hooja/Lloyd I Rudolph. 27. Memories of good old Bhoopi/Inder Malhotra. 28. B Hooja as I knew Him/T.N. Chaturvedi. 2. Recalling a friendship/V.B.L. Mathur.
The present anthology of original essays, written by eminent academicians and civil servants, focuses on key paradigms of governance in India in the perspective of their multifarious concerns, applications and impact. Several critical issues pertaining to administrative structures, organizational behaviour, transparency, accountability, ethics and effectiveness have been examined by the contributors in a most disapassionate manner. The studies contained in the volume are empirical, analytical as well as instrumental, providing guidelines for enhancing the efficacy of multi-level governance systems in India. The focus of analysis is on macro and micro level institutional dynamics. The canvas is vast and the strokes create a variety of colours and impressions.
The volume poses several meaningful questions, addresses a variety of concerns and also attempts to provide possible policy responses to the problem-areas of governance in India. It will be found interesting and useful to the students and teachers of political science and public administration, perceptive analysis of governance systems and creative policy makers.
