India needs serious, sustained reform with progressive civil service at its core It is stating the obvious to say that two of our most important democratic institutions, the executive and the judiciary, are in a state of serious disrepair. That said, it is no one’s case that the legislature is the paragon of good governance. But it is a mirror of the quality of the electorate. Besides, if voters don’t like what they have chosen, they have the option of changing their minds in five years. It is not ideal. But that’s democracy for you.

1. AN INITIATIVE OF SHIVNANDANI INDUSTRIES PVT LTD AND JAGDAMB JANAKI NAWAL JANAKI
SOCIETY
Administrative reforms in India
CompiledbyCol Mukteshwar Prasad(Retd), MTech,CE(I),FIE(I),FIETE,FISLE,FInstOD,AMCSI
Contact -9007224278, e-mail –muktesh_prasad@yahoo.co.in
for book ”DecodingServicesSelectionBoard” and SSB guidance and training at Shivnandani Edu and
Defence Academy
7/17/2015

2. Administrative Reforms Commission
The Administrative Reforms Commission {प्रशासनिक सुधार आयोग} or ARC is the committee
appointed by the Government of India for giving recommendations for reviewing the public
administration system of India. The first ARC was established on 5 January 1966 Chaired by
Morarji Desai/ K.Hanumanthaiah. Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) was
constituted on 31.08,2005, as a Commission of Inquiry, under the Chairmanship of Veerappa
Moily for preparing a detailed blueprint for revamping the public administrative system.
First Administrative Reforms Commission
The first ARC was constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs under Government of India by
resolution no. 40/3/65-AR(P) dated 5 January 1966. In the resolution, the composition of the
ARC, the mandate of the commission and the procedures to be followed were described.[3]
Recommendation Reports
The Commission submitted the following 20 reports before winding up in mid-1970s:
1. Problems of Redress of Citizens Grievances (Interim)
2. Machinery for Planning
3. Public Sector Undertakings
4. Finance, Accounts & Audit
5. Machinery for Planning (Final)
6. Economic Administration
7. The Machinery of GOI and its procedures of work
8. Life Insurance Administration
9. Central Direct Taxes Administration
10. Administration of UTs & NEFA
11. Personnel Administration
12. Delegation of Financial & Administrative Powers
13. Center-State Relationships
14. State Administration
15. Small Scale Sector
16. Railways
17. Treasuries
18. Reserve Bank of India
19. Posts and Telegraphs
20. Scientific Departments
The above 20 reports contained 537 major recommendations. Based on inputs received from
various administrative Ministries, a report indicating implementation position was placed before
the Parliament in November,1977.

3. Second Administrative Reforms Commission-5 August 2005
The Second ARC was set up a committee of inquiry to prepare a detailed blueprint for
revamping the public administration system.
Composition of the Second ARC
 Veerappa Moily - Chairperson
 Dr. A.P. Mukherjee - Member
 Dr. A.H. Kalro - Member
 Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan - Member
 Vineeta Rai - Member-Secretary
Mandate
The Commission was given the mandate to suggest measures to achieve a proactive, responsive,
accountable, sustainable and efficient administration for the country at all levels of the
government. The Commission was asked to, inter alia, consider the following :
(i) Organisational structure of the Government of India (ii) Ethics in governance (iii)
Refurbishing of Personnel Administration (iv) Strengthening of Financial Management Systems
(v) Steps to ensure effective administration at the State level (vi) Steps to ensure effective
District Administration (vii) Local Self-Government/Panchayati Raj Institutions (viii) Social
Capital, Trust and Participative public service delivery (ix) Citizen-centric administration (x)
Promoting e-governance (xi) Issues of Federal Polity (xii) Crisis Management (xiii) Public Order
Exclusions
The Commission was to exclude from its purview the detailed examination of administration of
defence, railways, external affairs, security and intelligence, as also subjects such as Centre-state
relations, judicial reforms etc. which were already being examined by other bodies. The
Commission was, however, be free to take the problems of these sectors into account in
recommending re-organisation of the machinery of the Government or of any of its service
agencies.
Recommendation reports
The commission has presented the following 15 Reports to the Government for consideration: -
1. Right to Information - Master Key to Good Governance (09.06.2006)
2. Unlocking Human Capital - Entitlements and Governance-a Case Study (31.07.2006)
3. Crisis Management - From Despair to Hope (31.10.2006)
4. Ethics in Governance (12.02.2007)
5. Public Order - Justice for each..... peace for all. (25.06.2007)
6. Local Governance 1 | Local Governance 2 | Local Governance 3 (27.11.2007)

4. 7. Capacity Building for Conflict Resolution - Friction to Fusion (17.3.2008)
8. Combating Terrorism (17.9.2008)
9. Social Capital - A Shared Destiny (8.10.2008)
10. Refurbishing of Personnel Administration - Scaling New Heights (27.11.2008)
11. Promoting e-Governance - The Smart Way Forward (20.01.2009)
12. Citizen Centric Administration - The Heart of Governance (30.3.2009)
13. Organisational Structure of Government of India (19.5.2009)
14. Strengthening Financial Management Systems (26.5.2009)
15. State & District Administration (29.5.2009)
Implementation of recommendations
This Group of Ministers has so far considered eleven reports:
1. Right to Information: Master Key to Good Governance (First report)
2. Unlocking human capital: Entitlements and Governance – a Case Study relating to
NREGA (Second Report)
3. Crisis Management From Despair to Hope (Third report)
4. Ethics in Governance (Fourth Report)
5. Public order (Fifth Report)
6. Local Governance (Sixth Report)
7. Capacity Building for Conflict Resolution (Seventh Report)
8. Combating Terrorism Protecting by Righteousness (Eight Report)
9. Social Capital-A Shared Destiny (Ninth Report)
10. Refurbishing of Personal Administration- Scaling new Heights (Tenth Report)
11. Promoting e-governance: The smart way Forward (Eleventh Report)
12. Citizen Centric Administration – The Heart of Governance (Twelfth Report)
13. Organisational Structure of Government of India (Thirteenth Report)
14. Strengthening Financial management System (Fourteenth Report)
15. State and District Administration (Fifteenth Report)
The decisions of GoM on these reports are at various stages of implementation. The report on
"Combating Terrorism (Eighth Report)" has been handled by the Ministry of Home Affairs and it
is understood that necessary action has already been taken on this report. Thus, in all 12 Reports
have been considered, so far. Remaining three reports (Report No.V, X, and XIV ) are also
shortly being put up for consideration of GoM.
India needs serious, sustained reform with progressive civil service at its core
Reform’ is like the proverbial elephant that the seven blind men attempted to describe. To some,
it means opening up this sector or that sector to foreign investment, while to others, it is about
making land acquisition easy to build roads, power projects or factories. Still others see reform
as reductions in subsidies and large-scale privatisation. These are only the trunk, the tail or the

5. torso, but not the elephant. The big elephant in the room is administrative reform. And there is
another elephant, too, that’s not much smaller: judicial reform.
It is stating the obvious to say that two of our most important democratic institutions, the
executive and the judiciary, are in a state of serious disrepair. That said, it is no one’s case that
the legislature is the paragon of good governance. But it is a mirror of the quality of the
electorate. Besides, if voters don’t like what they have chosen, they have the option of changing
their minds in five years. It is not ideal. But that’s democracy for you.
Overtaken & Overwhelmed
Being a part of the permanent establishment, the civil service executive and the judiciary have to
be measured by a different yardstick than the elected representative. If the quality of input for
policymaking is suspect, if implementation of policy is jeopardised because of an ineffective
civil service, and if justice is inevitably delayed, solving this problem can brook no further delay.
Especially because technology is changing the world faster than ever before and we cannot
afford to be stymied by a leaden-footed bureaucracy.
The government’s struggles with understanding, and regulating, new economy enterprises, such
as online retailers and taxi apps, are a case in point. From coal to telecommunications, the
failures of the government are on open display and it is not the politician alone who is to blame.
The apex of the bureaucracy is the Indian Administrative Service, the successor of the Imperial
Civil Service with many vestiges of the British Raj. Look at the way these ‘service members’
have inveigled their way into colonial clubs and you’ll know. This is not to say that all officers
are corrupt or incompetent, or both. But it is a fact that there is a serious deficit of technical
expertise in the civil service. Too many generalists, too little exposure to the real world and too
much pride are the undoing of the bulk of India’s bureaucracy.
That is why an expert such as Nandan Nilekani, architect of Aadhaar and co-architect of Infosys,
was given such a hard time by the civil servants who perceived him as an interloper. That is also
why his recommendations about drafting outside experts to help government have gone nowhere.
The civil service is not all that civil, and the service it provides can, many times, be of dubious
quality. It is also not as if our leaders are unaware of the seriousness of the problem. That is why
so-called administrative reforms commissions have been set up by governments. They have
submitted voluminous reports, but real reform remains chimerical. Nilekani remarked that what
India needs are administrative reform proposals on two sheets of paper, not recommendations to
fill two large libraries.
There is a clear link between reform that seeks lower fiscal deficit, for example, and
administrative reform. Take the Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC), a part of the
ministry of information and broadcasting. Most of us may not even be aware of the existence of
this animal, but this Orwellian entity exists and employs around 250 staff.
Reform Thyself

6. This job at the EMMC may sound like the stuff of a child’s fantasy. But it is a serious calling for
many in our civil service. Their ostensible job is to keep a tab on hundreds of television channels
to make sure that their content is safe for India’s children and adults. Look around carefully and
you will find several EMMCs in New Delhi and state capitals. You will discover entire
departments whose raison d’être is suspect, that technology is a hesitant entrant into the corridors
of power and that there is vast scope for cost savings that can help chip away at the fiscal deficit.
So if we want some real reform, what can we do? Overhaul the Union Public Service
Commission (UPSC), and the state public service commissions, from selection to retirement
without hurting their independence or neutrality. The existing system is supposed to be merit-
based. But we don’t have technical experts in the numbers needed, and continuous training is a
big missing piece. The civil service cannot continue to be an ivory tower and the Nilekanis,
Raghuram Rajans and Arvind Subramanians can’t be rare exceptions. Like the private sector, the
government must embrace technology, downsize and outsource aggressively.
As for the judiciary, the present government was quick to move when it came to the appointment
of judges to higher courts. It is not an end in itself, but a good beginning. Speedy dispute
resolution is a sine qua non of good governance.
If India wants to join the ranks of developed nations, we need serious, sustained reform that has a
progressive civil service at its core. Otherwise, we’ll only be treated to annual Good Governance
Day jamborees.