Strategy for Public Administration Paper 1: Lohit Matani

Friend I am editing some of the sources, according to the insights I have gained in susequent time.

Public Administration– Unit Wise Source of Preparation

Note: Please make personal notes from IGNOU, ARC reports and any other source one may
read over the internet, because it will become very difficult to come back to the sources again
and again. On the contrary, making personal notes will make life easy.

1. Introduction
a. Meaning, scope and significance of Public Administration– IGNOU pdf on the
same topic- (MPA 012 Administrative Theory Unit 1)
b. Wilson’s vision of Public Administration– Prasad and Prasad
c. Evolution of the discipline and its present status– Chapter 2 of Nicholas HenryParadigms of Public Administration.
d. New Public Administration– IGNOU pdf on the same topic- (MPA 012 Administrative Theory Unit 18)
e. Public Choice approach– IGNOU pdf on the same topic- (MPA 012 Administrative Theory Unit 19)
f. New Public Management– IGNOU pdf on the same topic- (MPA 012 Administrative Theory Unit 21)
g. Good Governance: concept and application– IGNOU pdf on the same topic-(MPA 011 Unit 17) + The chapter on governance in the book ” Restructuring PA : A new look by Mohit Bhattacharya”
h. Challenges of liberalization, Privatisation, Globalisation– Nicholas HenryPage 375, 376; IGNOU MPA 011- Unit14; New Horizons of Public Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya- Unit 24, 25
i. Minnowbrook Conference 1,2 and 3: IGNOU unit on NPM +
Relevant chapter in ” Restructuring PA : A new look by Mohit Bhattacharya”
Note: Also go through Mohit Bhattacharya for the above topics after reading the above sources. Just do a reading to see that you are not missing something important.

2. Administrative Thought
a. Scientific Management and Scientific Management movement– Chapter on Taylor by Prasad and Prasad+ Revision from Mohit Bhattacharya + IGNOU MPA 012 Unit 4
b. Classical Theory– Mohit Bhattacharya
c. Weber’s bureaucratic model – its critique and post-Weberian Developments : Chapter on Weber by Prasad and Prasad + IGNOU MPA 012- Unit 6 and 7.
d. Dynamic Administration (Mary Parker Follett)– Chapter on M P Follett by Prasad and Prasad.
e. Human Relations School (Elton Mayo and others)– Chapter on Mayo by Prasad and Prasad. + IGNOU MPA 012 Unit 8
f. Functions of the Executive (C.I. Barnard)– Chapter on Barnard by Prasad and Prasad. + IGNOU MPA 012 Unit 15
g. Simon’s decision making theory– Chapter on Simon by Prasad and Prasad + IGNOU MPA 012 Unit 9
h. Participative Management (R. Likert, C. Argyris, D. McGregor)– Chapter on them by Prasad and Prasad + IGNOU MPA 012 Unit 11 and 13.
Note: Also go through Mohit Bhattacharya for the above topics after reading the above sources. Just do a reading to see that you are not missing something important.

3. Administrative Behaviour: This unit is an extension of unit 2 only. But it would be good to understand the concepts of this unit, especially on leadership and decision making, from any book on Organisational Behaviour. I referred to the chapters 6, 11, 13, 15, 19 of Organisational Behaviour by Margie Parikh and Rajen Gupta.
Morale– Read this topic from Awasthi and Maheshwari

4. Organisations:
a. Theories – systems– already covered with Bernard; contingency– already covered with decision making. However also read situational theories from the Chapter ” Behavioural and Systems Approaches” of the book “New Horizons of PA by Mohit Bhattacharya”.
b. Structure and forms: Ministries and Departments, Corporations, Companies,
Boards and Commissions; Ad hoc and advisory bodies; Headquarters and
Field relationships– Public Administration by Laxmikanth Unit 9 ( sub topic Public Enterprise) + ARC 13th Report- Organisational structure of Govt of India
c. Regulatory Authorities – ARC 13th Report- Organisational structure of Govt of India+ Damodar Committee Report
(http://indiainbusiness.nic.in/newdesign/upload/Damodaran_Committee_Report.pdf)
d. PPP– Go through the introduction of this bookhttp://books.google.co.in/books?id=pKAvNQmpXkUC&printsec=frontcover&sou
rce=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. If not this, you can read from Fadia and Fadia also.
Note: Be in touch with website of MoF, Planning commission etc for new concepts and reports of various committees and website of PIB for report on PSE’s in india.

5. Accountability and control-
a. Concepts of accountability and control; Legislative, Executive and Judicial control over administration– New Horizons of Pub Ad- Unit 21+ ARC report on Citizen Centric Administration.
b. Role of media and interest groups– IGNOU MPS 003 Unit 15 and 16 + ARC report on social capital.
c. Civil society– New Horizons of Pub Ad- Unit 26 and 28 + ARC report on Citizen Centric Administration.
d. Citizen’s Charters– ARC report on Citizen Centric Administration
e. Right to Information– New Horizons of Pub Ad- Unit 27+ ARC Report on RTI+ RTI Guide
(http://mofpi.nic.in/H_Dwld.aspx?KYEwmOL+HGoC3PktBWCmTRa5aMHH7uT6BV0hU4XftgsBo6t5yowVJA==)

6. Administrative Law- Read all the topics from this pdf (http://persmin.gov.in/otraining/UNDPProject/undp_modules/Administrative%20Law
%20N%20DLM.pdf) + Read about administrative tribunals from DD Basu.

7. Comparative Public Administration– Read the complete book CPA by Ramesh K  Arora ( it’s only a 180 page book) + chapter on Riggs by Prasad and Prasad. + Read Current status of comparative public administration from this link : http://www.gkbasic.com/2014/04/current-status-of-comparative-public-administration.html

8. Development Dynamics– Social Theory and Development Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya- Unit1, 2, 3, 4, 16, 18

9. Personnel Administration-
Note: Read this topic with Civil Services of Paper 2.
a. Importance of human resource development- IGNOU MPA 014- Unit 1
b. Recruitment, training, career advancement- IGNOU MPA 014- Unit 5 and 10
c. position classification- IGNOU MPA 014- Unit 4
d. performance appraisal- IGNOU MPA 014- Unit 6
e. promotion, pay and service conditions- IGNOU MPA 014- Unit 7,8,9 and 19
f. employer-employee relations- IGNOU MPA 014- Unit 18
g. grievance redressal mechanism- already covered in IGNOU unit 19
h. Code of conduct- ARC report on Ethics in Governance
i. Administrative Ethics- New Horizons of Public Administration Unit 22+ ARC
report on Ethics in Governance.

10. Public Policy: The chapter on public policy in te book Nicholas Henry. +

Note: Very well covered in MPA 015 Public Policy and Analysis. Please read it
carefully as UPSC asks typical questions from this topic, and those question’s
answers could mostly be found in these IGNOU notes.
a. Models of policy-making and their critique; Processes of conceptualisation,
planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and review and their
limitations- Covered in the IGNOU notes
b. State Theories- Read from any book on political science the following topicspluralist theory, elite theory, Marxist theory, capitalist theory, and patriarchal
theory of policy making.

11. Techniques of Administrative Improvement

a. Organisation and methods- Given in Awasthi and Maheshwari.
b. Work study and work management: Management aid tools like network
analysis, MIS, PERT, CPM: New Horizons of Pub Ad Unit 30.
c. PERT and CPM: IGNOU notes on PERT/CPM.
(http://www.slideshare.net/lohitmatani/ignou-pert-cpm)
d. e-governance and information technology: New Horizons of Public
Administration Unit 29+ ARC report on E-governance.

12. Financial Administration

Note: Read this topic with Financial Management of Paper 2.
a. Monetary and fiscal policies; Public borrowings and public debt- These topics
can be very well understood IGNOU economics notes. + Read Economic Survey+
Read Monday edition of The Hindu with focus.
b. Budgets – types and forms: Nicholas Henry- Chapter 8
c. Budgeting Process: Awasthi and Awasthi
d. Financial accountability; Accounts and audit- Rajni Goyal and Ramesh AroraUnit 27 and 28; ARC Report on Financial Management.

67 Comments

  1. Hello lohit! First congrats for ur success. And good score in pub ad compared to others. Would you plz upload or write last year ques answers and some suggestions related to them? It will be grt help fr us in understanding pub ad paper 1 ques.n in structuring the ans. Thnks

    1. Thanks Praveen.

      Hi.. I am working in Bangalore right now. I have many my test series papers kept at my home in Delhi. I will scan and upload them in August starting positively.

    2. Respected sir in case if any aspirant preparing taking Public Administration as an optional, wants to purchase
      any book i mean ‘any’ then he/she may contact me, i have almost all the books of public administration, Including IGNOU notes and video classes by eias mentors, + Mohanty sir’s xexox notes and class notes.
      plz note few books are completely new like sadhna, Ignou notes, Mohit Bhattacharya (new Horizon), Ramesh Arora India Administration and mohanty sir notes, not even a scratch of pen mark.

      (including video classes which i purchased for around Rs 8000+ app.).
      Feel free to contact me on my emal id given below.
      and the biggest reason why i wish to give all my books, the reason is i’ve decided to quit pub ad as an option.
      as i’m a law student so i would prefer my core subject.

      The reason why earlier i opt for PUB Ad was that i had studied PA for one year during my Pol Sc Hons. 🙂

      Thank you sir.
      #sorryforAnyGrammaticalError.

      Feel free to contact me on meet.akash18@gmail.com

      1. Respected lohit sir, you are humbly requested to delete the above comment, i’m getting lots of spam mails.
        The above comment was posted by one of my friend and i have no access to the login details.
        Thank you.

  2. congrt fr ur sucess .. i’m also pub adm n first giving exam this year .. so can you file rti your pub adm anser n publish here .. i wanna know whts new era for pub adm all topper get two digit marks this time

  3. sir, should we memorise the definition given by various writer or we should have the knowledge of what they meant n understand the core? or both?

    1. You should memorize the best and the most comprehensive definition, which you should reproduce without mentioning the name of the thinker. Secondly, you should of course understand them all.

  4. Really helpful article sir. But please help me to find administrative Tribunals in DD basu. And if at all, is that sufficient?

      1. k.. but I didn’t find Administrative tribunal in DD basu. Pls help me to find it sir.

      2. Hi..there are nany administrative tribunals like CAT, NGT, MAT, etc.. for all of them you will have to read India Yearbook. They are not mentioned together, but mentioned within their individual topics.

  5. sir, will correspondent material for pubAd of vajiram or synergy or any other be better? i am asking this bcoz i lv in jamshedpur n for xerox i have to go to delhi n the travelling n staying will be more expensive than the cost of correspondent…

  6. Sir what will be the view of IAS after three years..i am persuing BA Psycology first year from IGNOU as well as doing job, and side by side trying to prepare for IAS exam too, is it too early to prepare three years before…if not how should i start? and congrates for your success.

  7. Sir,Your explanation is so good for Pub Ad.But I have a question.You referred only IGNOU-MA pub Ad to study.You have not referred IGNOU BA-Pub add chapter?You mean no need to study those chapters of BA modules?If we need to study,Please refer to the chapters.It is a great help.
    Regards
    Ramesh

  8. hello lohit. please suggest which test series for pub paper 1 and paper2 can be good. i.e. vision or puri or synergy or lukmaan or pawan or any other? plz throw some light on this. i will be very much grtful to u.

  9. Thank you very much sir, for your efforts in disseminating the right approach for PubAd by relying only on Books +IGNOU..
    But my query is how to go about 2nd ARC report, given I have 3 months left for the exam.I already scored well in paper I last year, but not so in Paper II .

  10. sir,I have not found a place where you referred BA IGNOU modules.I have found only MA IGNOU reference.But I think all the modules in BA are imprortant.I am referring to paper-1 only.Plesesuggest the link what you are referring.

  11. sir i couldn’t clear the prilims 2014 , & now looking forward to 2015 ,, I have books like Public Administration And Public Affairs by Nicholas Henry , Essentials of organisational behaviour by Stephen Robbins ,MOHIT BHATTACHARYA, IGNOU BA & MA PUBAD COURSE , & LAXMIKANT ,,,PLZ GUIDE ME HOW CAN I USE THESE BOOKS OR SHOULD I HAVE ANY OYHER MORE BOOK ,BECAUSE NOW MY TARGET IS 2015….

  12. respected sir,
    how was your exam this year? specially pubad.
    please share your mail id. Are you still using this one lohitmatani2008@gmail.com? thank you for this blog. it was more helpful in p1 than the entire class room course of mohanty.
    All the best for your result.

  13. sir you have mentioned MA notes. Are they sufficient or one has to consider BA notes on Pub Ad also ?
    P.S. Pub Ad being a new subject for me

  14. Hi Lohit,
    After failure in 2014 mains I feel very disappointed. Despite investing huge effots in PA-1, It appears it can’t be decoded. please guide how to tackle such unexpected and non-comprehensible questions.

    I also feel my answer writing need boost. could u please send some scanned copied of your answers . it will immensely help in understanding structure , presentation of PA answers.

    My email-Id is vishiitrtm@gmail.com
    I would seriously appreciate your prompt response.

  15. Hello Lohit congrats man!
    Its Dheeraj we met at BOI Vadodara you might remember..Happy to hear of your success congratulations once again and best of luck for your future 🙂

      1. All good 🙂 Working there for about one n half years I resigned, since then I am also preparing for civil services. Pre diya hai iss baar mains ki tyaari chal rahi hai..lets see how it goes.

  16. Hello sir 🙂
    can you please guide me for public administration preparation and sir what ever sources u’ve mentioned i’ve kept it ready . All i need is a proper start (in which iam lacking).
    will be eagerly waiting for your reply 🙂

    1. Hi Meher. Please read chapter wise according to the upsc course. And then do last year questions and test series. I have mentioned sources. Apart from that, what guidance do you need? Please mention specifically.

      1. Sir first of all thank you so much for replying 🙂
        sir iam directly coming to the point, i’ve gathered all the sources that u’ve mentioned and started preparing for public administration from last week but as iam moving forward there is a big doubt weather to read line by line or to memorise every thing and i dont know weather iam reading,learning properly or not(sir i know this sounds childish but iam loosing my confidence day by day) and the real problem for me is “how to start” i.e, weather to read every thing or word by word i mean with this doubt iam just not able to move forward and i dont know weather ill finish portions in time 😦 . sir to be frank last month when when i was going through your blog i really felt very happy and i’ve decided myself that ill surely crack cse 2017 and score good marks in optional for sure but due to my lack of exposure iam just not able to move forward 😦 .
        sir can you please suggest any idea so that i can gain some confidence and move forward.
        sir for the first time iam writing on internet, iam sorry if there are any grammatical errors.
        will be eagerly waiting for your reply sir 🙂

        Thank you.

      2. Hi Meher. No need to loose confidence. Public Admin is a tough subject. You would understand it only when you have read it twice. So please study word by word with patience and make your own notes. Then read your notes again and again. Link your understanding with the current affairs.

  17. sir i will put my every effort and will never loose confidence and as you suggested i will read twice(i mean till i understand) and make notes. thank you so much for your wonderful blog and important suggestions and sir your blog seriously helped me a lot 🙂 once again thank you sir 🙂

  18. guys anyone please help me…..I ambit buzzed up with the subject…please tell from where to read and how to read….help me out…I just referred previous year question papers…I dont find the answers for most o the questions…

  19. Hello sir, your blog has been extremely helpful and comprehensive in listing out the details of pub ad optional preparation. Sir could you please email me some of your written answers of paper 1 & 2, to get clarity regarding proper answer structure. Thanking you in anticipation.
    My email- sanket3111@gmail.com

  20. Sir i’m reading your book for pub ad paper 1 and found it to be lucid and precise. If i’m going through this book then is it enough for paper 1? There is no need of any other source for this paper right?

    1. If you are reading from book then there is no need to read anything else for Paper 1. However, you to read newspapers for the understanding of current topics related to public administration.

  21. Sir, I’m preparing on my own from the sources you’ve mentioned. I was going through previous years papers and came across a question “Budgeting is apolitical process” – (Aaron Wildavsky) . How to prepare for such thinkers which are not given in the mentioned books? Are there more such topics which we need to prepare? If yes, could you kindly inform on that and from where to prepare them.

    Thank you.

  22. I want to purchase your books for pub.A optional paper 1&2 ,, are there books covers all resources that u suggested in blog ..or should we read other resources..plz guide me sir

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