#3: It is time to Revise!!
Paper-1 & 2: Political Neutrality; PCA; Organisations in the future; Bureaupathology
Political Neutrality
Let’s assume that you are the Prime Minister of India. How would you want the bureaucrats working with you to behave? While most of the schemes you launch have a welfare motto, they also have a significant calculation of political gains. (Well some of you may be idealistic)
Given this scenario, would you want to have officers who are completely neutral in the PMO or would you prefer those who are committed to the policy of the government?
More details about Political Neutrality have been discussed here.
Current affair Linkages
Suppose you have just started out with Public Administration. In that case, I guess you must have glanced through the syllabus and the previous year's questions before deciding to take PA as your optional subject.
I will be honest with you. The first few chapters can seem dull and boring. You might begin to wonder if you have taken the right decision. In my case, I began to develop more interest in the subject when I started to associate the current affairs topics with the concepts I learned. I have shared some of my thoughts here.
Public Choice Theory (PCA)
The concept of choice has always fascinated me and continues to do so. When I see an old lady waiting in a long line in a government hospital, I realise that she is doing that because she has no other choice. What if she had a son who was earning well and could afford her treatment at a private hospital?
It is the ability to choose that stratifies different sections of the society.
What food do you eat?
What type of water do you drink?
Which school do your kids study in?
Which hospitals do you visit when ill?
What type of Jobs does the economy provide?
The above list can go on. But I guess you got my point. The ability to choose in each of these cases makes a significant impact on the overall well-being of an individual.
You can read more about how PCA promotes efficient and effective administration here.
The organisations of the future
During my college, I found the subject of Economics to be interesting as it deals with how people behave as individuals (Microeconomics) and also an entire nation would behave (Macroeconomics).
Along similar lines, PA thinkers such as Warren Bennis and Alvin Toffler have shared their ideas of how organisations would be in the future. As you read this there are companies like Spotify, ING Bank and Fitbit that are adopting the Agile organisational systems.
Economic Survey 2021-22 also mentioned the need to adapt dynamically according to the situation. You can read more about the characteristics of such new organisations here.
Bureaupathology
Have you got infected by Covid-19 till now? Don’t ask me which variant. If you have managed to escape all the versions till now do let me know. Probably you have some special blood samples that we all could benefit from. But how is this linked to Bureaupathology?
Bureaupathology is a bureaucratic illness due to the dysfunctional features of Bureaucracy. Like our body which gets ill, a bureaucratic system can also develop the illness. You can read more about the multiple facets of this illness here.
Bonus articles for reading:
That is all for this week folks! Have a nice weekend. I was wondering if there is some collection of Memes or Jokes related to Pub Ad. Sometimes it feels all serious. But I guess it can be made more fun. That way we will remember for longer.
If you come across any do share we will add them in some of the future posts.
In case you missed the previous week’s revisions, you can check them below:
Sending a big thank you balloon 🎈