Sample Material of Current Public Administration Magazine
1. Accountability and Control
To the Nation, Not the Government
Are civil services being used and abused? Are the Enforcement Directorate and
the Central Bureau of Investigation mere stooges in the hands of the party in
power? Are taxmen deliberately hounding the businesses and the media which dare
to differ with the government?
The common man, busy in satisfying the bare minimum needs of his family, may
be unaware of the serious imputation of the above questions, but many of us — in
comparatively comfortable positions — can only ignore it at our own peril. We
engage in drawing room discussions about the country’s “rusted steel frame”, but
with hardly any concrete measures to offer that can strengthen and refurbish it.
Celebrating Civil Services Day is one such limp step we took and embellished it
with rewarding young officers for their innovative work. The training academies
in Mussoorie, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Baroda, Shimla, etc.
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2. Indian Government and Politics
Abrogation of J and K’s Special Status
There is a Kashmiri proverb: “Nav kath che rozan navan dohan” (New talk
remains fresh for only nine days). It’s over a month since August 5 and the new
talk is just beginning to be heard. For, the noise swirls around clampdown and
lockdown, bifurcation and downgrade. And the questions revolve around what will
happen if and when curbs are eased, who will do politics when even politicians
who swore by the Indian Constitution are detained
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3. Indian Administration
Administrative Register
“Jogot Jure Jater Kotha/Loke Golpo Kore Jotha Totha/Lalon Bole Jater Fata/Bikiyechi
saat bajaare” (Whole world talks about religion/ and everywhere people do
discuss divisions/Lalon says/ “I auction the stamp of the religion in the market
of humanity”)
In 2015, Bangladeshi Sufi folksinger, Fareeda Parveen, visited Delhi and sang
these lines of Fakir Lalon Shah (1772-1890). “Nobody knows whether the fakir was
born a Hindu or a Muslim and where; nobody cares too,” she said to me after the
concert.
Jyotirindranath Tagore sketched the only portrait of Lalon of no country in
1889, in a houseboat when the Fakir was crossing the mystical momentariness of
the river Padma.
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4. Social Administration
The Problem of Skilling India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his recent Independence Day speech, said,
“We need to worry about population explosion”. These words stand in stark
contrast to his previous references to India’s demographic dividend where the
country’s population was seen as an asset. This shift reflects a new awareness,
according to which demography brings a dividend only if the youth is trained
properly. Without proper training, instead of benefits, the country gets massive
joblessness — at least, this is what common sense suggests. Reality is more
complicated.
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5. Current Topic
Why Article 370 had to go
This day, one year ago, the Supreme Court in their judgment in Navtej Singh
Johar held that LGBT Indians would be protected by constitutional values of
equality, non-discrimination, dignity, expression, life and liberty. The Court
read down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 or the unnatural sexual
offences penal provision.
Today, as we celebrate a year of freedom for queer India, we must also look
to our Constitution and its values that fuelled the court battle and enabled
this victory.
In April 2016, five LGBT Indians led by Navtej Singh Johar, on the back of a
soul-shattering court loss in 2013, and curative petitions that were left
unheard, believed enough in the Constitution’s promises of equality, dignity,
non-discrimination, life and liberty to let us lawyers take their stories to
court.
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