• ISBN13: 9788126937196
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: Politics and Current Affairs
• Publisher: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd
• Publisher Imprint: Atlantic
• Publication Date: July 24, 2024
• Pages: 268
• Original Price: INR 995.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 100 grams
• BISAC Subject(s): N/A

To stop the rot, you need to know what’s rotting! The problems are aplenty: weak governance, poor design and implementation of welfare programmes, abysmal record management, unabated corruption, wasteful public expenditure and the like.Despite their integrity, hard work and competence, IAS officers find themselves trapped in many such situations. In addition, they receive little or no support from the top and bottom rungs. In this part memoir, part scholarly disquisition, the author analyses the current situation in India, and suggests policy changes aimed at transforming individual competencies of IAS officers into better collective outcomes for the larger common good.

Naresh Chandra Saxena retired as Secretary, Planning Commission in 2002. He was the topper of his batch (1964) in the Civil Services Examination.

• Foreword by Harsh Mander ix
• Acknowledgements xv
• List of Abbreviations xvii
• Chapter 1 What Is This Book About? 1
• Chapter 2 Tussle for Power: Bureaucrats versus Politicians 9
• Chapter 3 IAS Officers in the Headlines 43
• Chapter 4 Bureaucracy Responsible for Sedimentary Development in India? 65
• Chapter 5 Why Is Bureaucracy Failing to Deliver? 77
• Chapter 6 Are Bureaucrats Good at Designing Programmes? 97
• Chapter 7 Is Bureaucracy Fair to Marginalized Groups? 109
• Chapter 8 The Strange Case of Bihar: From Lalu Yadav to Nitish Kumar 145
• Chapter 9 Corruption in the IAS: Abuse of Power 167
• Chapter 10 Civil Society: Substitute for Bureaucracy, or Just Troubleshooters? 189
• Chapter 11 IAS Unmasked: In Dire Need of Systematic Reforms 203
• References 237
• About the Author 247