UGC NET Public Administration Syllabus December 2026

Unit 1

Introduction to Public Administration: Public Administration- Meaning, Nature, Scope & Significance; Evolution and Present Status of the Discipline; Politics Administration Dichotomy; Globalization and Public Administration; Paradigm shift from Government to Governance

Principles of Organization: Division of work; Hierarchy; Coordination; Unity of Command; Span of Control; Authority, Power and Responsibility; Delegation, Centralization and Decentralization; Line, Staff and Auxiliary Agencies; Leadership and Supervision; Decision-making and Communication Meaning, Nature and Scope of Personnel Administration: Classification, Recruitment, Training, Promotion, Compensation and service conditions, Discipline, Civil Service Neutrality, Anonymity and Commitment, Professional Associations and Unionism

Unit 2 Administrative Thought: Approaches to the study of Public Administration: Oriental

Kautilya; Classical – F W Taylor, Henri Fayol, Max Weber, Luther Gulick and Lyndall Urwick ; Human Relations - Elton Mayo, Mary Parker Follett; Behaviouralism Chester Barnard, Herbert Simon; Motivation – Abraham Maslow, Fredrick Herzberg, Douglas McGregor; Organizational Humanism – Chris Argyris, Rensis Likert; Writers on Administration: Dwight Waldo, Ferrel Heady, Robert Golembiewski and Peter Drucker; Minnobrook Perspective, New Public Service and Post Modernism

Unit 3 Indian Administration: Evolution - Ancient, Mughal and British Periods;

• Constitutional Framework: Parliamentary and Federal Features
• Union Government: President; Prime Minister & Council of Ministers; Cabinet Committees; Central Secretariat; Cabinet Secretariat; and Prime Minister Office Election Commission and Electoral Reforms, Union State Relations
• Accountability: Legislative; Executive; and Judicial
• Citizen Grievance Redressal Mechanism: Lok Pal; Lok Ayukta; Central Vigilance Commission and Regulatory Authorities. Issue Areas: Politician and Civil Servant relations, Generalists and Specialists debate and Combating Corruption
• Civil Services: Classification – All India Services, Central Services and State Services;
• Recruitment Agencies – Union Public Service Commission, State Public Service Commissions and other Commissions and Boards: Capacity Building of Civil Servants and Civil Service Reforms
• Planning: Planning Commission, National Development Council, NITI Aayog, State Planning Commissions / Boards and Planning Departments
• Judiciary: Indian Constitution and Independence of Judiciary: Supreme Court; High Courts; Judicial Review and Public Interest Litigation and Judicial Reforms. Police Administration and Reforms. E- Governance Initiatives in Indian administration

Unit 4 State & Local Administration: Constitutional Framework of State Administration

State Legislature; Governor – Role and Functions; Chief Minister – Powers and Functions; Council of Ministers; Role and Functions of Chief Secretary; State Secretariat ; Directorates and Commissionerate; District Administration – Concept and Evolution, District Collector - Power, Functions and Changing role; Autonomous District Councils - Structure, Powers and Functions, District Rural Development Agency; Evolution of Local Governance in India

Local Governance: 73rd & 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts: State Election Commission ; State Finance Commission; District Planning Committee; Rural Governance - Gram Sabha, Gram Panchayats, Panchayat Samitis and Zila Parishads, Finance in PRIs, Personnel administration at local level; Policies and Programmes of Rural Development – MGNAREGA Growth of Urbanization, Urban Governance - Structure, Composition, Functions of Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Metropolitan Governance - Sources of Finance; Personnel Administration. Reforms in Urban Governance -Solid Waste Management, Smart and AMRUT cities

Unit 5 Comparative and Development Administration: Comparative Public Administration

• Concept, Nature, Scope and Significance of Comparative Public Administration; Public Administration and its Environment. Approaches and Methods to the study of
• Comparative Administration: Institutional, Behavioural, Structural-Functional, Ecological and Systems Approaches.Fred Riggs’s Typology of Societies and Features;
• Problems of Comparative Research; Comparative Studies –Influence of Globalization;
• Salient Features of the administrative systems of UK, USA, France and Japan
• Development Administration: Development and its Dimensions. Development and Modernization; Approaches to Development - Sustainable Development and Anti Development; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
• Development Administration: Concept, Nature, Scope, Objectives, Features and Significance; Ecology of Development Administration, Contribution of Fred Riggs, Dwight Waldo and Edward Widener; Role of Bureaucracy in Development Globalization and Development Administration; Emergence of Non-State actors in Development Administration; Public-Private Partnerships; Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Development Indicators and Social Audit

Unit 6 Economic and Financial Administration: Economic Policies - Mixed Economy to

• Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG); New Economic Policy (NEP);
• Industrial Policy since Independence; Government in Business - Public Enterprises Concept, Growth and Forms of Public Enterprises; Management, Problem of Accountability and Autonomy; Disinvestment Policies
• Financial Administration: Public Finance – Revenue and Expenditure: Nature, Scope and Significance of Financial Administration; Budget – Meaning, Purpose and Significance; Budgetary Process – preparation, enactment and execution; Types of Budget – PPBS, Performance Budget, Zero-Based Budget and Gender Budget; Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBMA) and Sunset legislation. Fiscal Federalism – Union-State Financial Relations, Finance Commission. Financial Control Legislature and Executive; Parliamentary Committees and Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Taxation policies – Principles of Taxation –Progressive and Proportional taxation – Reforms in Taxation policies

Unit 7 Social Welfare Administration: Concept of Social Welfare, Social Justice and Social

Change; Concept of Equity and Inclusiveness in Social Justice; Concept of Affirmative action-Reservations; Institutional arrangement for Social Welfare & Social Justice Administration; NGOs, Civil Societies and Voluntary Agencies; Policies, Programmes and Institutional Framework for the Protection and Welfare of SCs/ STs / OBCs/ Women/ Children, Aged, Differently-abled (Divyang) and Minorities Commissions Women, SC/ST, Minority- Role and Functions Disaster Management - Nature and Types of Disaster; Institutional Arrangements for Disaster Management; Role of State and Non-State actors

Unit 8 Public Policy: Nature, Scope and Importance of Public Policy; Evolution of Public

Policy and Policy Sciences; Public Policy and Public Administration. Approaches to Public Policy – Process Approach, Logical Positivism, Phenomenological Approach, Participatory and Normative Approaches Theories and Models of Policy Making – Harold Lasswell, Charles Lindblom, Yehezkel Dror Institutions of Policy Making - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. Types of Policy Analysis - Empirical, Normative, Retrospective and Prospective, Prescriptive and Descriptive. Policy Implementation, Outcomes and Evaluation Constraints on Public Policy – Socio-economic, Political, Institutional and Cultural Role of Media, Public Opinion, Civil Society and Pressure Groups on Policy Making

Unit 9 Governance and Good Governance: Ancient Discourse – Kautilya, Plato and

Aristotle on Good Governance; Elements and Forms of Good Governance; Theories and Concepts of Governance – World Bank and UNDP; State, Market and Civil Society, Public Choice Theory, New Public Management, Public Value Theory, Governance as Theory, Governance and Public Governance Networking and Collaborative Governance, Business Process Re-engineering, ICT and Governance – e-Government and e-Governance, e-Readiness and Digital Divide Accountability, Openness and Transparency; Gender and Governance

Citizen and Governance: Civil Society – Role and Limitations, Citizen Participation, Right to Information – RTI Act and Administrative Reforms, National Information Commission, Citizen Charter – Concept, Objectives and Significance Ethics and Public Accountability in Governance: Rule of Law and Administrative Law, Delegated Legislation and Administrative Adjudication. Ethical Foundations of

Governance: Constitutional Values, Family, Society and Education

Unit 10 Research Methodology: Social Science Research- Meaning and Significance;

Distinction between Methodology and Method; Facts and Values in Research; Role of Research in Theory-Building; Scientific Method; Objectivity in Social Research;

Types of Research; Identification of Research Problem; Hypotheses and Null Hypotheses; Validation of Hypothesis; Research Design; Methods of Data Collection- Primary and Secondary sources- ( Observation; Questionnaire and Interview, Use of Library and Internet);Sampling and Sampling Techniques; Scales of Measurement; Analysis of Data and Use of Computers in Social Science Research SPSS; Citation patterns and Ethics of Research ; Bibliography; Report Writing