GS Paper 2
Syllabus: Important Aspects of Governance, Transparency and Accountability
Source: TH
Context: Even though good public policies spur economic growth, and public welfare and improve the ease of living for citizens, there is little interest in public policy education in India.
Background:
- Most executive jobs in the organised sector are in government/govt-owned agencies and require an understanding of public policy and public administration/public management.
- Though the Indian bureaucracy has many talented people, governance is still perceived to be lagging behind private sector management (efficient, effective).
- This is largely due to a lack of training in public management → policymakers are under-equipped to develop effective policies.
Why does public management remain a neglected field in India?
- Inadequate formal education in public management as compared to business management education (there are ~3,182 institutions).
- Only ~130 public, private and not-for-profit universities offer public administration programmes and only 29 institutes offer public policy programmes.
- Few jobs available for people pursuing such courses are the reason why universities don’t have many programmes in public management.
- Therefore, neither educational institutes nor students find any incentive to prefer public management courses.
- Very few civil servants have had exposure to public management before joining the service. Also, there are a few opportunities for in-service officers to study public management in India and abroad.
Suggestions:
- Public management should be one of the compulsory subjects for the UPSC civil service examination. This will help –
- Civil servants have formal education in public management before they enter service.
- In creating an opportunity or incentive for universities and private institutions to offer the subject at the graduate or PG level.
- Students become better citizens as well as effective private sector managers.
- The existing training institutions of the government should have a larger component of public policy as part of induction training.
- The government can create certain specialised positions for public policy analysts to create new job avenues for the graduates of public policy programmes.
Insta Links:
Mains Links:
“Pressure groups play a vital role in influencing public policy making in India.” Explain how the business associations contribute to public policies. (UPSC 2021)
