Indian Institute of Public Administration Seminar - Report by R.S.Priya

India is More corrupt than America, But Borrow American System to clean up India

"'Challenging Nature of Public Administration in America and India"

Thiruvananthapuram July 13: A lecture on the 'Challenging Nature of public administration in America and its Relevance for India' was delivered by Paul Peretz, Professor of Public Administration, California State University. The lecture, organized by the Indian Institute of Public Administration was attended by eminent academicians like Prof. Raman Pillai. Giving a 2-hr long lecture on the American public administrative system since the 1930s, Prof Paul Peretz spoke of the American administration and how much of the policies and theories applied there could be useful in the Indian administrative system. He said this could enhance proper functioning of the Indian administrative system and reduce corruption and influence of political patronage on Indian public administration scenario.

Prof. Paul Peretz Proposing American Solution to Indian Problems!!

According to Prof. Paul Peretz, the American Administrative setup is to a certain extent privatized and the whole city is managed by 'City Managers'. In California, there is the concept of "City Managers", who is a person who knows the problems faced by the public and how the problems could be solved. The City Managers are people who have proper training and knowledge about the city and about what needs to be done to solve the problems that arise in a city. "They are effective managers and organizers. In America, even though there is politics, the Americans trust the City Managers more than the politicians. There are many safeguards against corruption through the American Civil Service Commission, advertising oppositions etc. 'In most cities, public servants are strongly against corruption,' he said.

Another positive point in the American administrative setup is an educated workforce, which may not be that much possible in a country like India. In many Indian states, majority of poor people may not have access to proper education - something which he claimed is not there in America. Wide application of computers in administrative works reduces the time frame. According to him, one of the best means to reduce wastage of time on meetings is by using computers and the Internet. "Computers and Internet can help in communicating either through live conferences or through communication by e-mails. In America there has been a decrease in Top down Management. Yet another feature of American public administration is the Interdepartmental workforce. Various tasks could be shared among the various departments in the public administration side.

Dr. Raman Pillai famous Political Scientist addressing the meeting.

One of the major problems facing roads in both India and America is the removal of potholes, which cause inconvenience to transportation. In America, covering of potholes are assigned as contracts and would be carried out quite faster than in India. Another negative factor, which is strongly prevalent in India, is the strong impact and influence of trade unions. "In the American private sector, there are around 8% workers who are unionized and in the public sector it would be around 50% of the workers. But in India, it is even more and it would become really tough to fire people from their jobs," he added. Another topic that is relevant in American public administration is the importance of annual evaluation of work. In the general budgetary policy, it is good to implement cost-benefit analysis i.e., to verify the cost of carrying out a work and the benefit that the public would get from the work. Even though it is a really good policy, it is also quite tough to implement the policy. Privatization of administration in America extends even to prisoners. "In India, prisons are under public administration, but in America, they are privatized. Even garbage disposal work is privatized. There is also a system of hiring of one city for doing the work of another city.

From the audience

In India, there is the widening scope of job and division of labour. It is quite tough for the system of networking of computers to be implemented in India, as it would be tough for India to easily afford computers that fast and network them. According to him corruption is more in India than the US, it is important to introduce more civil service protection. It would also be tough to implement the concept of City Managers in India, as there would be strong political opposition, as the step would affect the political patronage and influence of political parties. The lecture was attended by students of the Centre for Career Development Studies (CDS) and members of the planning board. -Keralamonitor.com Back to Home More Reports from Trivandrum

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