Administrative Reforms in India

Unlike other developing countries, India abandoned the concept of catching-up development, and all its administrative reforms supported the ideology of Indian identity by introducing the most promising scientific achievements in the field of public administration. We identify three stages of administrative reforming in India: 1) the stage of formation of the national public administration; 2) the stage of the state interventional development of the public administration; 3) the stage of liberalization and informatization of the public administration. Since India had received independence, the new state used of the achievements of the colonial civil service and maintained institutions guaranteeing the unity of the state. The Indian government has succeeded in establishing a "living democracy" as the inherent part of Indian culture which supports the traditions of pluralism and is based on the application of rule by consensus and accommodation. Established in 1966, the First Administrative Reforms Commission ensured the leading role of the state in economic development. It improved the organizational foundations of public administration, including the mechanisms of socio-economic planning. The Commission’s reports prepared the base for constitutional recognition of India as a socialist republic. The most important instrument of the Union public administration was the licensing system, which extended to all spheres of economic activity and spawned the creation of numerous inspections with broad jurisdictional powers. The economic crisis and the inability of the Union to solve the social problems by interventionist methods — these were the reasons of the liberal reforms of the 1990s — 2000s. The rejection of the license system, the transition to the methods of soft administrative and legal regulation, the empowerment of decentralized bodies have changed the main areas of activity of the Indian public administration. The National Institute for Transforming India has provided the solutions to the problems in 80 areas of the country’s socio-economic development, acting through the mediation of all stakeholders — central, state and local government officials, public organizations and citizens. Liberal reforms are also aimed at democratizing governance and forming a citizen-oriented administration. They are focused on the implementation of innovative e-technologies in business and public administration.