Category: public administration
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Policy-making- is this an exercise for organized anarchy!
If you happen to visit a rural area or an unplanned city, you see that the development (or underdevelopment) happens on its own pace even if there is no planned policy guiding the development of that area. For example, if there is no proper road, then the local government or even the locals residing in…
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Good planners, but bad executioners- the missing link?
Since independence, there is one area where we have done great job! It is in planning things for welfare programmes, developmental initiatives, law & order, administrative reforms etc. For example, “Gareebi Hatao” as a policy goal was expounded in 1970s. When it was announced, there was much fanfare around it, elaborate planning would have been…
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The internal resistance to change- but can it really stop reform?
Long-time back I read a book called “Who moved my cheese?” by Dr. Spencer Johnson. It was a short book telling the interesting tale of two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two “littlepeople” (of the size of mice) Hem and Haw. This tale was about acknowledging that- “Change is the only reality in life that…
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Acknowledgement of failure- the first step towards accountability
In a risk-averse society as ours, there is a general inhibition to acknowledge and accept that there was some failure or error or act of omission or act of commission on our part which led to some bigger failure later. Take a simple example, when you were a kid and you went to someone’s home…
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Means more important than the end?- the curious case of Bhishma Pitamah
I have had the fortune of learning from some of the great teachers. One among them was Prof. Satya Chaitanya, who was a faculty at the famous XLRI, Jamshedpur. We had 1 week of Management Development Programme (MDP) during our training at TATA Steel, which was hosted by XLRI. And there we met many legendary…
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Are you working to save your job or to learn and contribute something to the organization?
When I was in TATA Steel, I had the good fortune of meeting many plant chiefs during our training period. Most of the chiefs there were amazing people, devoted to their work, highly skilled and knowledgeable and deeply motivated. During one of our interactions with a small group of trainees, one chief remarked- “If you…
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An eternal quest for attaining equilibrium!
When we look at the world around us, we would find that there is always a quest for attaining equilibrium with the environment or surroundings. And when things are not at equilibrium, then the circumstances propel things to attain equilibrium in any which way. And in this situation, two scenarios can happen- one, either the…
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The development that we need before all developments!
We need different kinds of developments to make our nation developed like infrastructure development, industrial development, environmental development, social development etc. But, often in this discussion, one thing we tend to overlook is this- development for whom? For the people obviously! Then, why do we forget the basic and core element of the studies of…
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The big difference between government and private sector
And do they share any commonalities? This is an issue of debate in our country and in abroad since last few decades. In the domain of public administration, this issue of government vs. private sector OR government and private sector has gained prominence in the academic domain. But, here I will discuss from my own…
Anupam- The Dreamer 