(a) "The success of administrative reforms in a country like India depends upon the political will." Comment. (20 marks) (b) The…

(a) Political Will and Administrative Reforms

Gerald Caiden defined administrative reform as the artificial inducement of administrative transformation against resistance, which is why political will matters so much. Political will is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for the success of administrative reforms. While executive determination provides the policy mandate, reforms frequently stall due to bureaucratic resistance, status-quo bias, and systemic resource constraints. Many recommendations of the first ARC (1966) and the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2005–09, 15 reports) remain unimplemented; ARC II emphasized that an effective political-bureaucratic interface is vital to balance democratic accountability with administrative professionalism, ensuring that policy intent translates into structural change.

Where political commitment has been resolute, complex administrative and structural transformations have succeeded. The pan-India rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the transition to Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) demonstrate how high-level political backing can overcome entrenched administrative inertia and inter-jurisdictional friction. Conversely, where political will is deficient, reforms languish despite clear institutional mandates. The chronic non-implementation of police reforms across states—notwithstanding binding directives from the Supreme Court in the Prakash Singh v. Union of India (2006) case—illustrates how an absence of political commitment stalls vital institutional modernization. Thus, while political will acts as the primary catalyst, enduring administrative success requires overcoming bureaucratic resistance and addressing systemic design flaws.

(b) Challenges in Realising Gram Swaraj

The trajectory of democratic decentralization—progressing from the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957) to the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts (1992) and the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA, 1996)—reflects a significant structural-implementation gap. Realising Mahatma Gandhi’s ideal of village self-reliance (Gram Swaraj) is constrained by five structural challenges.

First, fiscal autonomy remains negligible: the RBI’s 2024 study of panchayat finances found own tax revenue to be only about 1% of their total revenue, leaving them dependent on state and central transfers, many of them tied. Second, there is a critical shortage of dedicated functionaries, forcing local bodies to rely on deputed staff lacking local accountability. Third, functional overlap persists because state line departments resist devolving the 29 subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule, treating PRIs as mere implementation agencies; the Ministry of Panchayati Raj’s Devolution Index shows wide variation across states, and several states have been slow to frame PESA rules, weakening Gram Sabhas in Scheduled Areas. Fourth, entrenched social hierarchies and dominant caste capture, along with proxy representation such as Sarpanch Pati, undermine genuine grassroots democracy. Fifth, the prevailing digital divide hinders the effective adoption of e-governance platforms such as e-GramSwaraj, keeping decentralization procedural rather than substantive. Yet the journey has produced real gains: about 1.4 million elected women representatives and a regular electoral cycle show that the foundations of gram swaraj exist, even if its spirit of self-reliant, deliberative village democracy remains unrealised.

(c) Capacity Building Commission: Aims and Evaluation

The Capacity Building Commission (CBC) was constituted in April 2021 under Mission Karmayogi, following Cabinet approval of the National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB) in 2020. Its core objectives are to standardize civil service training, design competency frameworks (FRAC), and benchmark capacity-building plans across ministries to transition civil servants from a rules-based to a roles-based mindset.

In terms of progress, the CBC has helped ministries prepare Annual Capacity Building Plans, supported the growth of the iGOT-Karmayogi digital platform (run by the special purpose vehicle Karmayogi Bharat) to millions of learners, and anchored initiatives such as the National Learning Week (Karmayogi Saptah, 2024). However, its effectiveness is constrained by its creation through an executive order rather than a statutory enactment, limiting its operational authority over recalcitrant departments. State-level adoption remains uneven, even though most civil servants work for states, and course completions are easier to count than changes in behaviour and service delivery, which are harder to measure. For the CBC to sustainably professionalize Indian administration, it requires greater institutional autonomy, possibly statutory backing, and outcome-based evaluation of its training.