This book discusses economic development in general and selected public policy issues with a focus on philosophy, Gandhian thoughts and sectoral issues in the Indian context. It presents scholarly contributions on growth and development in India, with particular emphasis on human development in connection with the economy of India and selected developing countries. It brings to the forefront a body of knowledge on philosophy and ethical issues within the domain of public policies relating to development in today’s world. The book includes contributions from leading economists and covering a range of issues such as the Indian government’s current ‘Make in India’ drive, the role of the World Bank, managing educational finances, development and higher education policy, inflation, decentralization, inequality, regional development, and linkages between health, nutrition and education. Accordingly, the book not only offers a useful resource for academics, economists and development practitioners, but also has important implications for public policymaking.

This is the first book on public policy and policy analysis in the Third World. It shows the need to develop an interdisciplinary approach to policy-making, one that combines policy and management analysis with political and ethical appraisal. The book examines the 'rational choice' approach to policy analysis, then looks at case studies, and finally reviews the international experience in public policy-making.

These papers examine aspects of fiscal reform in India while focusing on issues of policy relevance.

This book discusses the increasing use of contract labour in India that has accompanied attempts to liberalise the economy. After briefly examining Indian labour laws and public policy, it juxtaposes the country’s labour market practices with international labour standards. The questions that are raised are then explored through a series of empirical studies investigating the use of contract labour in a variety of industries and locations, manifesting a wide-spectrum of concerns including labour standards, productivity and employment relations. The set of comparative research studies within India are supplemented with a field study from the Shenzhen and Guangzhou industrial regions of South China, which are in an advanced stage of industrial development. The unprecedented inflow of capital into China has captivated many developing countries, including India, which has gone on to mimic similar strategies particularly in terms of labour market deregulation. In this context, a set of crucial questions arise – can enforcing ‘labour market flexibility’ in itself provide the required impetus for a nation’s industrial growth? Is the Chinese success in becoming the major destination for foreign direct investments (FDIs) a consequence of a flexible labour regime or is there some other concealed strength to be found in Chinese labour market institutions? In particular it needs to be noted that after double-digit growth for more than 25 consecutive years, China has recognised some of the fallacy of its development path and in 2008 adopted fairly stringent labour laws, which now regulate its labour market. This Chinese trajectory perhaps has lessons for India and other countries that are still struggling on the liberal path. In particular, the Chinese example helps put the Indian field studies in perspective and provides insights into India-specific policy recommendations that could also be useful for the developing world. The book concludes with the observation that where production entails long-term relationships, the interests of both the employer and the workers need to be maintained sustainably. As the title suggests, the book provides takeaways, not only for academics and researchers working in this field but also for lawyers, consultants, politicians, bureaucrats, and policymakers.

Following the end of the Cold War, the economic reforms in the early 1990s, and ensuing impressive growth rates, India has emerged as a leading voice in global affairs, particularly on international economic issues. Its domestic market is fast-growing and India is becoming increasingly important to global geo-strategic calculations, at a time when it has been outperforming many other growing economies, and is the only Asian country with the heft to counterbalance China. Indeed, so much is India defined internationally by its economic performance (and challenges) that other dimensions of its internal situation, notably relevant to security, and of its foreign policy have been relatively neglected in the existing literature. This handbook presents an innovative, high profile volume, providing an authoritative and accessible examination and critique of Indian foreign policy. The handbook brings together essays from a global team of leading experts in the field to provide a comprehensive study of the various dimensions of Indian foreign policy.

The focus on poverty and inequality in development discourse has generally been an acknowledgement of the gaps between the poor and the affluent. This is seen as an economic condition linked to livelihoods and employment deprivation, or a condition rooted in the broader socio-cultural moorings of the society creating entitlement and capability deprivations. However, the issue here is how inequality concerns impact and are reflected in public policies. What are the drivers that determine the interests and structural coalitions that shape government welfare agendas, and in turn public policies on inequality? The processes shaping the conceptualization of inequality concerns within the policy framework have not been adequately comprehended in the development discourse. This involves a focus on policies that address the need for human capital development (e.g. social sector policies like health, education, and employment and livelihoods). However, it also requires a focus on institutions and processes that can impact the ability of people to influence public policies affecting them directly and their ability to build and protect their assets, and to gain access to public and private resources and services. Policy legislation is, in other words, also a product of different interests represented in the policy domain and the structural coalitions through which interests become represented, such as political parties and civil society groups, and how this determines the politics of state action, particularly in federal-parliamentary systems like India. In the process of governance, this creates an institutional landscape of competing pressures that forms the core politics of public policy formulation and public service provision. This paper discusses the institutional internalization of the politics in public policy legislation in India to address inequality. Constituting a major characteristic of the ‘patronage democracy’ witnessed in the country, public policy legislation reflects the politically construed institutional internalization of concerns. The policies not only reflect equality concerns, but also involve a comprehension of equality within the framework of citizen demands for development and inclusion, and the political rationalization of what can secure electorate support.

The subject of Public Policy has assumed considerable importance in response to the complexity of economic downturns, social upheavals, political crises, institutional weaknesses and technology. It is concerned not only with the description but also with the developing scientific knowledge about the forces shaping public policy. The textbook, now in its second edition, continues to provide an in-depth study of the various approaches for policy formulation, implementation and evaluation. It addresses issues in policy analysis, and explains the forces that influence the functioning of executive, legislature, judiciary, civil society and administration. The book excellently reviews and evaluates the public policy literature, and exemplifies the author’s long teaching and research experience in Panjab University. The book is primarily intended for postgraduate students of Political Science and Public Administration for their courses in Public Policy and Policy Analysis, besides meeting the requirements of candidates offering public administration subject for the civil services examination. It will be equally useful for policymakers, planners and bureaucrats concerned with policy management. NEW TO THIS EDITION : Updation of the chapter Policy Approaches and Models with the inclusion of the topic ‘Public choice model of policy-making’ Addition of the two new chapters – Power Approaches to Policy Making and Strategic Planning Approach for Improving Public Policy – to study the subject in detail.

Packing order in civil services is determined by the year of entry. Older the number of entry, senior an officer becomes. Each individual officer from the entry into service onwards gains diverse experiences at various levels till his/ her exit from the service. Most of the civil servants share their experiences at the personal level in the form of their memoirs. There are very few and far references in the public policy domain of sharing practical experiences in an objective manner. In the annals of the Indian civil services, it is for the first time that Ten officers of a batch had come together to share their experiences with constructive suggestions on a number of important issues. This kind of canvas covering wide-ranging subjects will be helpful to present and future policymakers and implementers. The topics covered and the authors involved make the book a shear magic.

This book portrays India as a representative of post-colonial democratic republic states with a parliamentary form of federal-structured government and analyzes the critical challenges faced by such states in generating broadly shared economic well-being and quality of life. The reader is shown how creating and utilizing physical, human, financial, and social assets under the aegis of public policies help achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to provide a global framework to move toward a more equitable, peaceful, resilient, and prosperous society by 2030. It not only addresses how the state’s capacity has long been linked to the available economic resources, but also unfolds how the political system thus evolves to crucially determine the capacity of the state to implement its programs. The chapters of this book are particularly focused on judging the state’s capacity amid the neo-liberal ascendancy that has been triggered by the opening up of both the domestic and external economy, significantly initiated since 1991 and popularly known as the economic reforms in India. Examined here is the potency of the public policies of the country in fulfilling the sustainable development agendas, the specificity of which places the state at the heart of its execution, unlike many other versions of development that would be executed in parallel with or without states’ action. This work book has three principal foci facets within the broad swath of discussions covered by different chapters: (1) It critically examines how successful remains the public policies in mobilizing the population is mobilized to the next orbit of income, employment, education, and health consequent to amid the existing considerable magnitude of social and economic inequalities while achieving “equity” has always been the declared agenda in the post-reform public policy frameworks; (2) It traces the rationality of the transformation of the public policies and welfare strategies during the post-reform period in terms of motives, goals, and coverage to achieve the SDGs; and, (3) It reviews specific post-reform policies in terms of their potency to stimulate the system in addressing sustainable development. and upholding the state’s dominant and structuring intervention to resolve the existing inequalities and ensure that society develops amidst a harmonious world reconciled with nature.

This textbook is a comprehensive, student-friendly guide to public policy in India. It highlights the critical aspects of public policy-making and its implementation by contextualizing it in the Indian historical and modern-day perspective. Public Policy in India: • Provides lucid explanations of theoretical aspects of public policy and its practice in the Indian context; • Captures the complexities in making, implementing and evaluating public policy; • Studies the dialectical interconnection that public policy has with the socio-economic and political environment; • Highlights the influence of culture on public policy; and • Analyses public policy as an outcome of a very complex contextual dialogue involving various kinds of actors. Accessibly written, this book covers a range of university syllabi and will be essential reading for students and researchers of political science and public administration. It will also be indispensable for civil service examinations, including the UPSC.