Author: Amita SinghEminent Contributors/Editor(s): Amita SinghPublisher: Sage PublicationsYear: 2005Language: EnglishPages: 319ISBN/UPC (if available): 81-7829-572-5 DescriptionThis volume analyses the impact of globalization on governance, and specifically on public sector reforms. Starting from the premise that adhocism and sectionalism are the main reasons why past attempts at administrative reforms in India have not succeeded, this volume mains that some of the basic tenets of mainstream approaches to administrative reform require urgent and critical re-examination.The contributors analyze the prevailing administrative culture in India in the context of the following recent developments:- The advent of globalization and its impact on India, including the increasing involvement of international NGOs and multilateral and donor agencies.- The impact of new technologies - such as IT, and environmental and medical technology - on the conceptualization of administrative reforms.- Privatization as a reform process and its implication for the state, civil society, and the processes of decentralization and democratization.- The relevance of reform practices for improving service delivery to people by making provisions for the right to information, electoral reforms and anti-corruption measures in order to improve the implementation of pro-poor policies.The ten essays in this volume dwell on three distinct areas - urban governance, energy and environmental governance, and service delivery systems - which have been subjected to a blizzard of reforms in recent years. The contributors investigate the role of public and private partners as agents of change and show case successful experiments and have transformed the lives of local rural communities. They assert the need for a radical bottom up approach in administrative reforms. The practices picked up from different areas for presentation in this book strengthen the argument that sustainability is closely related to local participation which forms the core epistemological concern of administrative reforms.Providing numerous new insights into a subject of vital importance to contemporary India, this book will be very useful to both parishioners and scholars of public administration and to administrative training institutes.Contents PrefaceIntroduction: Exploring Dimensions of Sustainability in Administrative Reforms AMITA SINGHI. URBAN-LOCAL GOVERNANCE REFORMS: Decentralizing Experiment: A Case Study of Kolkata Municipal Corporation MOHIT BHATTACHARYAGood Practices in Public Sector Reform: A Few Examples from Two Indian Cities JENNIFER JALALLocal Government Innovations in American Cities VIDU SONIII. POWER AND TRANSPORT SECTOR REFORMS: Regulation of the Indian Power Sector: Lessons for Other Sectors DALJIT SINGHRegulatory Experiments in the Indian Power Sector: Missing the Wood for the Trees SUDHA MAHALINGAMBattling for Clean Environment: Technocrats and Populist Politics in Delhi KULDEEP MATHURIII. SOCIAL SECTOR REFORMS: Administrative Lessons from the National Literacy Mission in Bihar SHAIBAL GUPTAPractices and Imperfections in Health Sector Reforms: Logic, Options, Constraints and Corrections JAMES WARNER BJORKMANRehabilitation of Cyclone Affected People UMA MEDURY and ALKA DHAMEJAE-Governance: Responsive and Transparent Service Delivery Mechanism SURESH MISRAConclusion: Micro Innovations and Macro Changes KULDEEP MATHURIndex
