"It was a wonderful experience interacting with you and appreciate the way you have planned and executed the whole publication process within the agreed timelines.”
Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh Pal
The political parties are a link between the citizens and the government and give meaning to the electoral process in a democracy. Since independence, political parties in India have been playing an important role in sustaining India’s democracy. A question may, however, be asked ‘how have they fared compared to their counterparts in other democracies?’ A comparison is perhaps possible based on the respective visions of the political parties as reflected in their election manifestoes.
The present book examines the vision of political parties with respect to ‘administrative reforms’. Significantly, the two Administrative Reforms Commissions in the past identified a host of areas needing reforms. While a good many of their recommendations have been implemented, a larger number of them have remained unimplemented. ‘Lack of political will’ has often been held responsible for their non-implementation. The book attempts to draw attention to issues relating to administrative reforms at the level of the Central Government, the State Government and the Local Bodies.
Sharat Kumar
Sharat Kumar is an M.A. from JNU, New Delhi and a Ph.D from A.N.Sinha Institute, Patna. While doing his M.A., he got involved in the JP movement and was arrested during the Emergency under the Defence of India Rules. He was released the same day as he had several job interviews lined up in the following week. Subsequently, he joined the Patna College, Patna University as a lecturer. When General Elections were held in January 1977, he campaigned extensively for the Janata candidate in the Begusarai Parliamentary constituency.
Later he moved to Ranchi University and from there joined the Indian Economic Service (IES), Government of India. As an officer of the IES, he served in the Planning Commission, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Environment and Forests. He also served at the LBS National Academy of Administration, Mussourie as Reader-in-Economics.
He was sent by the Planning Commission to Afghanistan to prepare the development plan for the Nangarhar Province. The Planning Commission also nominated him to represent India at the Commission for Social Development, United Nations. He has been associated with various policy decisions and was involved in the preparation of different reports. He has several articles published in different journals and has to his credit five books. He finally retired as Senior Adviser, Government of India.
