PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION-Live Class-IIIASA

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HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR OPTIONAL SUBJECT?

Although there can be several factors to affect your decision but the most important and uniformly applicable factors for the selection of optional subjects are

1) Your interest, natural inclination and level of familiarity with the subject. Remember! sometimes you hold potential to perform better in a subject other than what you have studied so far.

2) The extent to which the chosen optional subject converges with the vast and varied domain of General studies.

3) The extent to which the knowledge of the subject will help you in interview and afterwards during your career in civil services.

An interplay of many such factors is required to be taken into consideration before you choose your optional subject. The ‘net effect’ of your decision which arises out of examining merits and demerits of the optional subject in question has to be favorable to you.

As for instance, if you choose ‘Chemistry’ as an optional subject because you have good command over it and you have done Masters in this subject, it may be a good decision in terms of optional subject but Chemistry will have negligible or almost no presence in the domain of General Studies. Therefore, the gain on the side of optional will have to be considered in terms of loss on the side of General studies. Chemistry will neither help you in essay paper nor in G.S. and further it is much less likely to help you anywhere in interview or in post selection engagement in administrative work as an officer. If you are exceptionally good in chemistry then only you can overcome the loss in General Studies.

By that measure, no optional subject can be of any match for ‘PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION’ in terms of its all-pervasive presence in the with General Studies and an all-pervasive presence in the overall scheme of IAS examination and your career as a civil servant.

2) WHAT MAKES PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION SO MUCH POPULAR AMONG IAS ASPIRANTS?

1) Public Administration is basically Government’s Administration and therefore a good command over the subject which includes theoretical as well as applied aspects of administration lays a firm foundation for your overall preparation of General studies.

2) Public Administration is truly an Interdisciplinary subject and it brings within its purview subject matters related to polity & governance, economy, ethics , history, law and a very wide spectrum of current affairs which in togetherness provides you with a very sound intellectual disposition wherefrom you can analyze any issue with a multi dimensional approach.

3) Public Administration in totality covers a very large chunk of General Studies syllabus be it Prelims or Mains examination (approximately 30% to 35% in quantitative and qualitative terms) that not only reduces your burden pertaining to huge syllabus of General Studies but also imparts a huge competitive edge to your performance.

4) IAS interview is not a quiz contest and it is not what you are generally made to see in mock interviews. The Interview Board basically aims at knowing a more substantive dimension of your personality as a potential IAS officer rather than a puzzle solver. Public Administration here gives you an edge for having developed in you a distinct administrative line of thinking and perception.

5) Further, It is secret to none that even after selection, as an officer you stand apart from others because you join administration after studying in detail the what, how and why of the administration.

6) What if the UPSC as a part of restructuring exercise decides to do away with optional subjects as it has been done in some of the States? In that case, being a student of Public Administration, you will not incur any loss because fairly good portion of syllabus will have been accommodated in the expanded Domain of General Studies. The very content of Public Administration is such that no syllabus

HOW TO PREPARE FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION?

Unlike other optional subjects, Public Administration’s academic domain is far more dynamic and eventful which bring within its purview most of the political and economic developments taking place within the country and globally.

It is to be noted that Paper 1 is largely theoretical in nature and Paper 2 is the applied aspects of the same in the context of Indian Administration. These two are not mutually exclusive.

The one who is deficient in understanding of Paper 1 can never perform well in Paper 2.

Therefore, Paper 1 and Paper 2 are required to be done in integrated manner.

The course of preparation from the first unit moves more along horizontal line than Vertical.

Every topic has its conceptual linkages with several topics and issues related to different units and then current developments which is required to be appreciated with a holistic approach.

As for instance, the understanding of Public Choice Theory and New Public Management in the first unit of Paper 1 can be applied to appreciate issues related to performance of PSU’ s in the Paper 2.

Instead of reading too many books, a set of few recommended books accompanied by carefully designed class notes and relevant articles from IIPA Journals, Magazines, Reports etc. significantly elevates your level of preparation.

It is just not enough to acquire knowledge through various study materials and available videos here and there. What is equally or more important than mere accumulation of knowledge is to develop ability to analyze a subject matter multi dimensionally and to give expression to the same with due relevance, clarity and precision.

This is an evolutionary process and every student is required to go through that. You can begin with books like ‘New Horizons of Public Administration’ by Mohit Bhattacharya, Administrative Theories by Prasad and Prasad and later on you can make additions. All books are not required to be read from cover to cover.

You need to keep yourself updated in Current Affairs. Read Magazines like Yojana, Kurukshetra, Economic and Political weekly etc.

FOUNDATION COURSE – PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AT IIIASA

It takes almost 6 to 7 months to cover the syllabus of Public Administration which includes a fairly good portion of current affairs in so far as they are relevant to the subject.

The course begins with the basics and gradually it enters into an advanced stage with focus on content against the multi – dimensional contextual backdrop of Society, Culture, Economy and Polity. This course is very comprehensive and it aims at imparting a sound intellectual disposition to students so that they could understand, analyze and appreciate the issues concerning Governance and Administration with relevance and clarity.

It goes much beyond the theoretical confines of Public Administration.

During the pendency of course and afterwards Test series is conducted following the completion of every topic. Further, class notes are emphasized to cover the core content of the course although printed notes, ppts , pdfs, audio/ video files are also shared with the students.

MENTORSHIP PROGRAMME

This course has been designed for those students who have cleared Prelims Examination and are looking for short term yet substantive course dealing with the integrated understanding of most important topics along with sharpening of writing skills.

This Course consists of almost 45 to 50 Lectures with focus on core areas so as to make last minute value addition to your preparation. It is basically all about imparting exam- centric orientation to your knowledge of the subject with greater amount of focus on application of such knowledge to the given condition. As for instance, you may have studied ‘Public Policy’ as a unit in theoretical aspect but its multifarious application in the contextual setting demands training which can impart you a huge competitive edge in the examination such as: –

Public Policy and Public Administration, Public Policy and coalition politics, Public Policy and increasingly globalizing world, Public policy and Judicial Activism, Public policy and Civil society, Public Policy and Newtons First law and so on.

THE TEACHER

Mr. Sajjan Pratap Singh who is the Founder Director of ‘Indian Institute of IAS Aspirants’, has been teaching Public Administration for the last 18 years. A graduate from Calcutta University, he holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration and a Degree in Law.

In the past he has been the Editor of ‘Kalp Times’, Delhi and has authored many Articles encompassing a wide range of issues pertaining to Polity and Governance, Ethics in general<.p>

It goes to his credit that over the years not only he has trained IAS aspirants but also civil servants for intra institutional promotional exams and interviews.