Indian Journal of Public Administration

Political stability, defined in terms of stability in government and the absence of violence and conflict within the country, is a vital institutional factor affecting economic growth. The present study investigates the relationship between political stability and economic growth in India for the years 1996–2021, using autoregressive and distributive lag models. After validating the existence of levels of relationship, it emerged that long-term political stability might not be conducive to growth in India. The results countered the existing theoretical frameworks whereby political instability hinders economic growth and political stability facilitates it. In contrast, the limited nature of the tenure forces the governments to consider the needs of people and re-election incentivises them to design prolific policies. When the power is concentrated in the hands of the executive or policymakers for a long period of time, the bargaining power of economic agents might be rendered ineffective and the state might have little incentive to promote growth.

The legitimacy of the executive in parliamentary democracy comes from Parliament. The Parliamentary system envisages an accountable executive collectively responsible to the Parliament. This assertion is also reflected during the deliberations of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution and the Constituent Assembly Debates. The executive in India consists of the President who is the head of the State and the Prime Minister who heads the government. Executive, legislature and judiciary are constitutionally equipped to perform different roles in a democracy. The constitution grants structural and functional autonomy but how the executive evolved also depends on the political processes, nature and assertion of power by a Prime Minister, his personality and outlook, his command and hold over the organisational wing of his own party, the nature of majority which the government enjoys and the composition of the cabinet. Similarly, the relationship between the President and the Prime Minister is contingent upon the nature of the government whether it is a stable, majority, minority or coalition government and the personality and background of the President and Prime Minister, respectively. This article demarcates the nature and functioning of the executive in India since Nehru and in particular, since the instituionalisation of coalition governments at the Centre. The article also shows how during the coalition period, the status and position of the Prime Minister transformed with the emergence of new institutions like the Group of Ministers and Coordination Committees that imparted strength and stability to the former.

The period between polling and the final count of votes is one of the most suspenseful phenomena. Parties eagerly await results after months of campaigning and canvassing for votes. During this period, one often comes across news publications predicting the final results and seat tallies of the election through various surveys conducted by their survey teams on a sample of the electoral population. These surveys are published as exit polls, aiming to give the public and parties an idea of what the end outcomes of elections would look like. Historically, there are multiple examples of the exit polls getting it wrong. Who could forget the great headline of ‘Dewey defeats Truman’ published in the Chicago Daily Tribune in 1948? Even in the Indian general elections of 2004 and 2014, exit poll predictions failed to gauge the direction of public support. This research study investigates a specific period of exit polls and uses descriptive statistics to decode the accuracy of these polls in predicting the final outcomes of elections and the seat projections. Using the elections from the beginning of 2020 till the end of 2022, this study analyses all the State Assembly elections held in this time frame, by comparing the exit polls forecast by four different agencies (Poll of Polls, C-Voter, AXIS and Politique Marquer) in each of those elections and analysing them with the final results of the election by testing the accuracy of these polls through the means of descriptive statistics.

In India, in keeping with constitutional provisions, some states have started prescribing educational qualification criteria for candidates contesting elections to Panchayati Raj system of local self-government bodies. This study attempts to analyse whether educational qualifications indeed enable a local elected official (LEO) perform better. The study was conducted in Uttarakhand state of India. Two-stage cluster (probability) sampling was used. Data for the study were collected from 128 gram panchayats in four blocks of the state, selected randomly using the two-stage cluster sampling method. Results showed that educational background has a significant impact on the LEO’s performance, with secondary education having the largest impact followed by tertiary education.

The Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005 passed with great fanfare as a path-breaking legislation by the then government completed a journey of 19 years on 12th October, 2024. The Act empowered millions of people and kick-started their journey of an RTI application, evoking the concept of participatory citizenship. Without an iota of doubt, it can be said, ‘RTI has empowered the lay man to communicate directly with the public authority, squashing the practice of delivery of services by the authority, by challenging the practice of allotting the “middleman” the charge of disbursement of entitlements’ hence shifting from a ‘need based-approach to a rights-based approach to development. It has been observed through studies that the RTI has played an active role in checking public authority at the grassroots levels for any misappropriation of people’s money. However, the transformation in work culture, from secretive to openness, changing of minds of the public authorities as well as of the people, will definitely take a long time to bring RTI in practice to its full potential.

In the contemporary digital landscape, the convergence of technological advancements and societal dynamics has engendered a paradigm shift, necessitating comprehensive legal contemplation. This study delves into the imperative and relevance of cybersecurity, data protection and cyber forensics within India’s legal framework. With the proliferation of digital platforms, the significance of safeguarding sensitive information against cyber threats becomes increasingly apparent. The study elucidates how cybersecurity, enshrined in the Information Technology Act, 2000, is crucial for thwarting unauthorised accesses and breaches, given its potential ramifications for national security and economic stability. This study analyses the advent of data protection problems caused by the exponential growth of personal data, in the light of newly-enacted Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act. The study advocates for a holistic approach to digital governance, underscoring its relevance for India’s contemporary legal landscape.

Recognising the need for transparency and accountability to build stake-holders’ confidence, public service organisations worldwide have been undergoing administrative and accounting reforms, the latter leading to a shift to accrual accounting system. Financial reports produced through accrual accounting are valuable inputs for strategic business decisions for organisations while providing credibility and transparency to the accounts for external stakeholders.

Subsequent to the implementation of accrual accounting in the Indian Railways (IRs), for the first time ever in a Ministry of the Government of India, financial statements were prepared in universally acceptable commercial format to reflect its true and complete financial health and will further facilitate the introduction of the crucial performance costing system in IR. A paradigm shift in its account-keeping in conformity to international standards and incisive costing is expected to secure better business standards and financial returns for the mammoth commercial organisation.

Health decentralisation is a dynamic tool for providing quality and inclusive healthcare. The effectiveness of the administration of an institutional-quality healthcare delivery system focusing on health decentralisation has been under question for the last three decades. Also, examining the successes of decentralisation and the correlation between autonomy, decision space (degree of decentralisation) and health outcomes is gaining momentum today. The major aim of this research study is to assess the effectiveness of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in managing the rural healthcare system in the state of Karnataka (South India). The study has used mixed methods, drawing samples from PRIs and Public Health Institutions. The study has found some notable issues in rescheduling decentralised health administrative structures, reducing benefaction and political meddling and implementing performance-based resource distribution. It is concluded that structural, dynamic and geographically specific reforms in age-old administrative procedures are very essential in the administrative and financial management systems of PRIs for effective health decentralisation in India.

Securing access to safe drinking water remains a critical challenge, particularly in rural regions. Community participation offers a promising approach to water governance, but its effectiveness varies by context. This article explores the role of community engagement in eight villages from the Jagtial and Jogulamba Gadwal districts, Telangana, India. Based on a field survey of 403 households, members of Panchayats (local governments), government officials and community-based organisations (CBOs), the study analyses various forms of participation, including direct involvement in village and ward council meetings and indirect involvement through CBOs and non-governmental organisations. It assesses the impact of community participation on access to clean water, water provider accountability and water source sustainability. The research argues that community engagement is vital for effective water governance at the grassroots level. However, success hinges on adequate capacity building, resource allocation and sustained support from local authorities and other stakeholders.

The primary focus of disaster-related literature historically has been on natural disasters due to their severity. There is less than sufficient focus in the academic world regarding man-made disasters despite their high magnitude. While the world is exposed to the hazards of natural disasters often, the frequency of man-made disasters is also very high. Seventy-five million people died in World War II due to deliberate genocides, massacres and bombings. Millions of people were displaced or made refugees from 1990 to 2003 during fifty-nine armed conflicts in forty-eight separate locations. The recent casualties in the ongoing wars between Russia and Ukraine and Israel and Palestine further strengthen the overall narrative of man-made disasters. Road traffic deaths is another critical area where lots of human lives are lost every year. The world loses 1.3 million people every year due to road traffic crashes. 1,54,732 people lost their lives in road accidents in India in the year 2019. Road traffic accidents fall in the category of man-made disasters. The present article examines road traffic accidents and deaths in Delhi. It also analyses the role of various proactive measures taken by the Delhi Traffic Police in curbing the increasing trend of fatalities on roads. These measures were implemented after proper analyses of the accident sites. These measures broadly fall in the domain of road engineering, law enforcement and education of road users, technically known as triple E (engineering, enforcement and education). Installation of over-speeding violation detection cameras and red-light violation detection cameras on affected roads has substantially reduced the number of accidents and has also acted as psychological deterrents for road users. The analysis tries to use the theoretical construct of triple T (targeting, testing and tracking) used by Prof. Sherman in the context of evidence-based policing for preventing crime.

Effective screening and selection methods can potentially improve workforce quality. This paper investigates the effect of changing the job entrance methods on the aspirant pool for civil service jobs in India. A choice experiment was conducted among aspirants of a civil service exam randomly selected from coaching classes (n = 221). Participants were randomly shown one of the four job advertisements varying in Entrance Method (Exam vs. No Exam) and Job Type (Specialist vs. Generalist) and asked to rate their willingness to apply for the job. The results revealed a strong preference for entrance exams. Many aspirants rejected specialist roles aligned with their educational backgrounds, favouring generalist roles instead. Risk appetite influenced preferences for entrance exams, while time preference (patience) and public service motivation had no significant effect.The findings suggested that to attract specialists, the government must revise its recruitment strategy, as the current approach appeals predominantly to generalists. Significant changes in entrance methods could reshape the applicant pool.

This study examines how Central–local relations, mainly the financial control of the Central government, impact the local public service delivery of the local government institutions, particularly the city corporation in Bangladesh. The case study method has been employed to study the impact for which the semi-structured questionnaires for interviews were used mainly to collect qualitative data from one of the oldest city corporations in Bangladesh, Chittagong City Corporation (CCC). A total of 117 respondents were included from three diverse groups: elected representatives, government officials and citizens from the survey area. The study reveals that central–local relationships, particularly the Central government’s financial control, severely impact the CCC’s service delivery in five significant sectors: waste management, streetlighting, infrastructure construction and maintenance, education and health care services. This research concludes with some policy recommendations that will be helpful to the policymaking community not only in Bangladesh but also in other South Asian countries.

Trijita Gonsalves, Women in the Civil Services: Gender and Workplace Identities in India (Routledge, 2022), 170 pp. ₹1,295; £38.99.ISBN: 978-1-032-02417-2 (HBK); ISBN: 978-1-032-04528-3 (PBK); ISBN: 978-1-003-19363-0 (EBK).