Scope of Public Administration

By the scope of Public Administration, we mean the major concerns of Public Administration as an activity and as a discipline.

Scope of Public Administration as an activity

Broadly speaking, Public Administration embraces all the activities of the government. Hence as an activity the scope of public administration is no less than the scope of state activity. In the modern welfare state people expect many things – a wide variety of services and protection from the government. In this context public administration provides a number of welfare and social security services to the people. Besides, it has to manage government owned industries and regulate private industries. Public administration covers every area and activity within the ambit public policy. Thus, the scope of public administration is very wide in modern state.

Scope of Public Administration as a Discipline

The scope of public administration as a discipline, that is subject of studies, comprises of the following:

The POSDCoRB view  Several writers have defined the scope of public administration in varying terms. Gullick sums up the scope of the subject by the letters of the word POSDCoRB which denote: Planning, Organisation, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating reporting the Budgeting. Planning means the working out in broad outline the things to be done, the methods to be adopted to accomplish the purpose. Organisation means the establishment of the formal structure of authority through which the work is sub-divided, arranged, defined and coordinated. Staffing means the recruitment and training of the personnel and their conditions of work. Directing means making decisions and issuing orders and instructions. Coordinating means inter-relating the work of various divisions, sections and other parts of the organization. Reporting means informing the superiors within the agency to whom the executive is responsible about what is going on. Budgeting means fiscal planning, control and accounting. According to Gullick the POSDCoRB activities are common to all organisations. They are the common problems of management which are found in different agencies regardless of the nature of the work they do. POSDCoRB gives unity, certainty, and definiteness and makes the study more systematic.

CRITICISM The critics pointed out that the POSDCoRB activities were neither the whole of administration, nor even the most important part of it. The POSDCoRB view overlooks the fact that deferent agencies are faced with different administrative problems, which are peculiar to the nature of the services, they render and the functions they performed. The POSDCoRB view takes into consideration only the common techniques of the administration and ignores the study of the ‘subject matter’ with which the agency is concerned. A major defect is that the POSDCoRB view does not contain any reference to the formulation and implementation of the policy. Therefore, the scope of administration is defined very narrowly, being too inward looking and too conscious of the top management.

The Subject Matter View

We all know that public administration deals not only with the processes but also with the substantive matters of administration, such as Defence, Law and Order, Education, Public Health, Agriculture, Public Works, Social Security, Justice, Welfare, etc. These services require not only POSDCoRB techniques but also have important specialised techniques of their own which are not covered by POSDCoRB techniques. For example, if you take Police Administration it has its own techniques in crime detection, maintenance of Law and Order, etc., which are much and more vital to efficient police work, than the formal principles of organization, personnel management, coordination or finance and it is the same with other services too. Therefore, the study of public administration should deal with both the processes (that is POSDCoRB techniques and the substantive concerns). We conclude the scope of public administration with the statement of Lewis Meriam: “Public administration is an instrument with two blades like a pair of scissors. One blade may be knowledge of the field covered by POSDCoRB; the other blade is knowledge of the subject matter in which these techniques are applied. Both blades must be good to make an effective tool”.
We may conclude the discussion with the observation of Herbert Simon who says that Public administration has two important aspects, namely deciding and doing things. The first provides the basis for the second.
One cannot conceive of any discipline without thinking or deciding.
Thus Public administration is a broad-ranging and an amorphous combination of theory and practice.

IMPORTANCE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Importance of Public Administration as Specialized Subject of Study

The study of administration assumed significance, according to Woodrow Wilson, as a consequence to the increasing complexities of society, growing functions of state and growth of governments on democratic lines. This exhaustive list of functions made to think as to ‘how’ and in what ‘directions’ these functions should be effectively performed. To this Wilson suggested that there was a need to reform the government in the administrative field. As per Wilson, the object of administrative study is to discover what government can properly and successfully does and how it can do these things with utmost efficiency and the least possible cost either of money or of energy.
The importance of public administration as a specialized subject can be attributed to the following reasons:
1. One of the important reasons is the practical concern that the government today has to work towards the public interest. The first and foremost objective of public administration is to efficiently deliver public services. In this context, Wilsonian definition of the subject as efficiency promoting and pragmatic field was the first explicitly articulated statement on the importance of a separate discipline of public administration.
During the first half of the preceding century, a numbers of countries have appointed committees to look into the problems of administration and recommended suitable administrative
machinery to respond to diverse public needs. The Haldane Committee Report (1919) in Britain; the President’s Committee on Administrative Management (1937) in the United States;

2. Administration is looked at, in the social science perspective, as a cooperative and social activity. Hence the concern of academic inquiry would be to understand the impact of government policies and operations on society. What kind of society do the policies envisage?; To what extent administrative action is non-discriminatory?
How is public administration functioning and what are the immediate and long term effects of governmental action on the social structure, the economy and polity?; etc. are questions requiring careful analysis. From the social science perspective, public administration, as a discipline, has to draw on a variety of sister disciplines such as History, Sociology, Economics, Geography, Philosophy, Psychology, etc., with the objective to explain and not just to prescribe.

3. Public administration has a special status in the developing countries. Many of these countries, after independence from the colonial rule have stressed upon speedy socio – economic development. Obviously, these countries have to rely on government for speedy development. The latter requires a public administration to be organized and effectively operated for increasing productivity quickly. Likewise, social welfare activities have to be effectively executed. These aspects have given birth to the new sub-discipline of development administration. The emergence of development administration is indicative of a felt need for a body of knowledge about how to study the third world administration and at the same time to bring about speedy socio-economic development with
government’s intervention. Development administration has therefore, emerged as a sub-discipline to serve the cause of development.

4. Public administration, as witnessed holds a place of significance in the lives of people. It touches them at every step. For most of their needs, the citizens depend upon public administration. In view of the important role of public administration in the lives of people, the citizens of a country cannot ignore. Therefore, its teaching should become a part of the curriculum of educational institutions. People must get to know about the structure of government, the activities it undertakes and the manner in which these are actually performed. The study of public administration will contribute to the realization of the values of citizenship.

Importance of Public Administration as an Activity
The contemporary age, which has witnessed the emergence of ‘Administrative State’, public administration has become an essential part of society and a dominant factor. The functions it is called upon to perform, have expanded in scope and nature, and what is more, are continually increasing. Many of them are more positive in nature because they care for the essential requirements of human life, be it health, education, recreation, sanitation, social security or others. It is, therefore, a creative factor, with its motto being ‘human welfare’.
These functions are over and above its regulatory functions. The view points of eminent scholars, as referred to below, amply reflect the significance of public administration.
Woodrow Wilson: “Administration is the most obvious part of government; it is government in action, it is the executive, the operative and the most visible side of the government.
Brooke Adams: “Administration is an important human faculty because its chief function is to facilitate social change and to cushion the stock of social revolution”.
W.B. Donham, ‘If our civilization fails, it will be mainly because o breakdown of administration’.
Paul H. Appleby: ‘Administration is the basis of government. No government can exist without administration. Without administration government would be a discussion club, if indeed, it could exist at all’.

The role of public administration in various facets is noted below:

Basis of the Government: A Government can exist without a
legislature or an independent judiciary. But no Government can exist without administration.
An instrument for providing services: Public administration mainly concerned with the performance of various activities performed by government in the public interest. Felix A. Nigro aptly remarks, “The real core of administration is the basic service which is performed for the public”.
An instrument for implementing policies: Modern governments go a long way in formulating and adopting sound policies laws and regulations. It should not be forgotten that such policies, laws, etc. are not merely printed papers. Such paper declarations of intent are translated into reality by public administration thus converting words into action and form into substance.

A stabilizing force in society: Public administration is a major force for bringing stability in society. It has been observed that though government often changes, but violent change is seldom experienced by administration. An element of continuity between the old and the new orders is provided by public administration. It does not hold true only of constitutional changes of government in democratic countries, but is also reflected when there are revolutionary changes in the form and character of government.
An instrument of social change and economic development:
Public administration’s role as a change agent is particularly crucial in developing nations. It is expected of the state at present to work for accelerating socio-economic change and not to be a passive agency to maintain the status quo.
Technical Character: 
The present day government is expected to provide various services to its population. The increase in the number of functions undertaken by the government require highly specialized, professional and technical, services. Modern public administration usually represents a galaxy of all of a nation’s occupations.
According to Gerald Caiden public administration has assumed the following crucial roles in contemporary modern society:
• Preservation of polity;
• Maintenance of stability and order;
• Institutionalization of Socio-Economic changes;
• Management of large scale commercial services;
• Ensuring growth and economic development;
• Protection of the weaker sections of society;
• Formation of public opinion; and
• Influencing Public policies.
The points mentioned below summarise the reasons for the growing importance of public administration:
• Emergence of Welfare and Democratic state
Emergence of welfare and democratic state has led to an increase in the activities of public administration compared to that of the laissez-faire state. The state has to now serve all sections of people in the society. This amount to enhanced responsibilities of public administration. Public administration
is also to regulate and control private economic enterprises to meet the objectives of the state.
• Industrial Revolution
The industrial revolution gave rise to socio-economic problems making the government to assume new roles and responsibilities such as protection and promotion of the rights of workers in industrial establishments, etc. Consequently, the state has enacted a number of Industrial and Labour laws and it is imperative for public administration to implement such laws in order to meet the requirements of labour welfare.
• Scientific and Technological Development
Scientific and technological developments have brought about welcome additions in infrastructure such as power, transport and communication system. The invention of telephone, telegraph and other mechanical devices such as typewriter, tele-printer, and calculators, photocopying machines, computers, fax and the electronic mail has brought revolutionary changes in office administration. All these have made possible ‘big government’ and ‘large scale administration’. Besides changing the ethos and character of public administration, the revolution in information and communication technologies have contributed to improved delivery of services to people.
• Economic Planning

Centralized economic planning has been pursued in many developing countries as a method for socio-economic development. It requires a large number of experts and elaborate administrative machinery for plan formulation, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
Apart from the reasons cited the rapid growth of population, modern warfare, increase in natural and manmade disasters, decline in social harmony, increase in violence due to conflicts, communal riots, ethnic wars, terrorism, etc. have increased the importance of public administration.
It goes without saying that public administration is not only the operative but also the most obvious part of the government. It is government in action and occupies a significant place not merely as an instrument of governance but also as an important mechanism for preserving and promoting the welfare of community. It has substantive impact upon the life of the people. It is a vital process charged with implementation of pre-determined, welfare oriented, and developmental objectives.

DEFININTION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

L.D. White observes that although public administration varies in form and objects, and although the administration of public and private affairs differs at many points, there is an underlying similarity, if no identity. As an integral aspect of such generic concept, public administration could be related to that type of administration, which operates within a specific ecological setting. It is a means to carry out the policy decisions made by political executive.
To be seen along with it is the ‘Public’ aspect of Public administration, which attributes a special character and focus to it. ‘Public’ can be looked at formally to mean ‘government’. So, public administration is government administration, government in action, or a socio-economic and politico-administrative confluence, the focus being especially on public bureaucracy. Encyclopaedia Britannica defines public administration as ‘the application of a policy of a state through its government.’ Public Administration, therefore, refers to that part of administration, which pertains to the administrative activities of the government.

Definitions of Public Administration provided by various scholars.

Woodrow Wilson
Public administration is the detailed and systematic application of law. Every particular application of law is an act of administration.
L.D. White
“Public administration consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of public policy”. As per White, this definition covers a multitude of particular operations in many fields the delivery of a letter, the sale of public land, the negotiation of a treaty, the award of compensation to an injured workman, the quarantine of a sick child, the removal of litter from a park, manufacturing uranium 235, and licensing the use of atomic energy. It includes military as well as civil affairs, much of the work of courts, and all the special fields of government activity-police, education, health, construction of public works, conservation, social security, and many others. The conduct of public affairs in advanced civilisations requires the employment of almost every profession and skill-engineering, law,
medicine, and teaching; the crafts, the technical specialties, the office skills, and many others.
Percy Mc Queen
Public administration is related to the operations of government whether local or central.
Luther Gullick
Public administration is that part of the science of administration, which has to do with the government; it concerns itself primarily with the
executive branch where the work of the government is done; though there are obviously problems also in connection with the legislative and judicial branches.
J.M Pfiffner
“Administration consists of getting the work of government done by coordinating the efforts of people so that they can work together to accomplish their set tasks”.
M. Ruthanaswami
“When administration has to do with the affairs of a state or minor political institutions like the municipal or country council (district board), it is called public administration. All the acts of the officials of a government, from the peon in a remote office to the head of a state in the capital, constitute public administration.”
H.A. Simon, D.W. Smithburg and V.A. Thompson
“By Public Administration is meant, in common usage, the activities of the executive branches of national, state and local governments, government corporations and certain other agencies of a specialized character. Specifically excluded are judicial and legislative agencies within the government and non-governmental administration.” Corson and Harris “Public administration … is the action part of government, the means by which the purposes and goals of government are realised.”
Dwight Waldo
“Public administration is the art and science of management as applied to the affairs of State.”
M.E. Dimock
“Public Administration is concerned with ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the government. The ‘what’ is the subject matter, the technical knowledge of a field, which enables the administrator to perform his tasks. The ‘how’ is the technique of management, the principles according to which co-operative programmes are carried through to success. Each is indispensable, together they form the synthesis called administration”.
Nicholas Henry
“Public Administration is a broad-ranging and amorphous combination of theory and practice; its purpose is to promote a superior understanding of government and its relationship with the society, it governs, as well as to encourage public policies more responsive to social needs and to institute managerial practices attuned to effectiveness, efficiency and the deeper human requisites of the citizenry”.
The traditional definitions of Public Administration, which are given above reflect the view that the Public Administration is only involved in carrying out the policies and programmes of the government. It reflect that it has no role in policy making and also locates the administration in the executive branch but today the term public administration is used in a broader sense that it is not only involved in carrying out the programmes of the government, but it also plays an important role in policy formulation and covers the three branches of the government. In this context, we may reflect on the definition offered by F.A. Nigro and L.G. Nigro. According to them Public Administration:
In this context we can reflect the definition offered by F.A. Nigro and L.G. Nigro. According to them Public Administration:
• is co-operative group effort in a public setting;
• covers all three branches-executive, legislative, and judicial, and their inter-relationships;
• has an important role in the formulation of public policy and is thus a part of the political process;
• is different in significant ways from private administration; and
• is closely associated with numerous private groups and individuals in providing services to the community”.
In sum, public administration:
• is the non-political public bureaucracy operating in a political system;
• deals with the ends of the State, the sovereign will, the public interests and laws;
• is the business side of government and as such concerned with policy execution, but it is also concerned with policy-making;
• covers all three branches of government, although it tends to be concentrated in the executive branch;
• provides regulatory and service functions to the people in order to attain good life;
• differs significantly from private administration, especially in its emphasis on the public; and
• is interdisciplinary in nature as it draws upon other social sciences like political science, economics and sociology.

Evolution of Public Administration

Public Administration as a discipline is not very old and it is only a hundred years. During these years Public Administration has passed through several phases of development. We can broadly divide the history of Public Administration into the following five periods:-

Period I 1887 – 1926 Period II 1927 - 1937 Period III 1938 - 1947 Period IV 1948 - 1970 Period V 1971 – continuing

Period I (1887 – 1926) Public Administration Dichotomy :

The discipline of Public Administration was born in the USA. The credit for initiating as an academic study of Public Administration goes to Woodrow Wilson, who was teaching Political Science at Princeton University and who later became the President of USA. He is regarded as the father of the discipline of Public Administration. In his article entitled “The Study of Administration”, published in 1887, he emphasized the need for studying Public Administration as a discipline apart from politics. This is known as Principle of politic administration dichotomy, i.e., a separation of Politics and Administration. Wilson argued that, “Administration lies outside the proper sphere of politics. The administrative questions are not political questions”. The field of politics is not the field of business, it is removed from ……. & strife of politics.

According to Frank J.Goodnow, politics “has to do with the expression of the state will” while administration “has to do with the execution of these policies.” In short, Goodnow posited the politics-administration dichotomy and he developed the Wilsonian theme further and greater courage and conviction.

Period II (1927 - 1937) Principles of Administration :

The central belief of this period was that there are certain ‘principles’ of administration and which is the task of the scholars to discover and applied to increase the efficiency and economy of Public Administration. Scientific management handled the business of administration becomes a slogan. Administrative practitioners and business school join hands to mechanistic aspect of management. They claim that Public Administration is a science. The great depression in the America contributed a lot to the development. These periods were the golden years of ‘principles’ in the history of Public Administration. This was also a period when Public Administration commanded a high degree or respectability and its product were in great demand both in government and business.

Period III (1938 – 1947) Era of Challenge :

The main theme during this period was the advocacy of ‘Human Relationship Behavioral Approach’ to the study of Public Administration. The idea of administrative dichotomy was rejected. It was argued that Administration cannot be separated from politics because its political nature and role, Administration is not only concern with policy decision but it deals with the policy formulation. Similarly, the principle of Administration was challenge. It was considered as a proverb and naturalistic facilities they criticized due to it’s depend on formal structure of organization.

Period IV (1948 - 1970) Public Administration As Management:

· Partly because of their second-class citizenship status in a number of Political Science Department of universities, some public administrationists began searching for an alternative.

· the management option —which sometimes is called "administrative science" or "generic management“— was a viable alternative for a significant number of scholars in public administration.

· Management is a field that covers organization theory and behavior, planning, decision making, various techniques of "management science" such as path analysis and queuing theory, human resources management, leadership, motivation, communication, management information systems, budgeting, auditing, productivity, and marketing.

· Management thinking many stemming from the business schools fostered the alternative paradigm of management.

· Scientific management and principles gave way to administrative management science.

· Foremost among these voices was that of Catheryn Seckler-Hudson (basic concepts in the study of public management, 1955).

· She recognized the policy and political implications within the setting of public administration but gave primary weight to the problems of Public Management.

· She argued that management is the Effective utilization of human resources and material to reach the known goal.

· Such other works as James G. March and Herbert Simon’s organization (1858), Richard Cyert and March’s a behavioral theory of the firm (1963), March’s handbook of organization (1965), andJames d. Thompson’s organization in action (1967) gave solid theoretical reasons for choosing management, with an emphasis on organization theory as the paradigm of Public administration.

Organizational development

· In the early 1960s organization development began its rapid rise as a specialty of management. As a focus, organization development represented a particularly tempting alternative to political science for many public Administrationists.

· Organization development as a field is grounded in social psychology and values the "democratization" of bureaucracies, whether public or private, and the "self-actualization" of individual members of organizations. Because of these values, organization development was seen by many younger public Administrationists as offering a very compatible area of research with-in the framework of management.

· Democratic values could be considered, normative concerns could be broached, and intellectual rigor and scientific methodologies could be employed.

Period V(1971 - Continuing :Public administration as publicAdministration: 1971-?

· In 1970, the national association of schools Of public affairs and administration (NASPAA)\ Was founded.

· The formation of NASPAA represented not Only an act of secession by public Administrationists from political science or Management science, but a rise of selfconfidence As well.

· Progress, particularly in the area of Organization theory and information\ Science, has been made in this direction. Additionally, considerable progress has been made in refining the applied techniques And methodologies of public administration.

The New Public Administration

· An important development was that of the "new public administration." in 1968, Dwight Waldo, sponsored a conference of Young public administrationists on the New public administration.

· The proceedings were published as a book In 1971, titled toward a new public Administration: the Minnowbrook Perspective. The focus was disinclined to examine such Traditional phenomena as efficiency, Effectiveness, budgeting, and administrative Techniques. Conversely, the new public Administration was very much aware of Normative theory, philosophy, and activism.

· The questions it raised dealt with values, Ethics, the development of the individual Member in the organization, the relation of the Client with the bureaucracy, and the broad Problems of urbanism, technology, and Violence.

· The overriding tone of the new public Administration was a moral tone.

· the new public administration can be Viewed as a call for independence from Both political science (it was not, after All, ever called the new politics of Bureaucracy) and management (since Man-agement always had been emphatically Technical rather than normative in Approach).

· And it developed with strong geographic Communities –tightly knit neighborhoods and Towns.

· today’s environment demands institutions that Are extremely flexible and adaptable

· it demands institutions that deliver high Quality goods and services,

· It demands institutions that are responsive to Their customers, offering choices of Non standardized services; that lead by Persuasion and incentives rather than Commands; that give their employees a sense of Meaning and control, even ownership.

· It demands institutions that empower citizens them Rather than simply serving them.

· Most government institutions Perform increasingly complex tasks, in competitive, rapidly changing Environments, with customers who Want quality and choice.

· David Osborne and Ted Gabler in reinventing government (1992) introduced the concept ofEntrepreneurial government.

1. Catalytic government: Steering rather than rowing.

2. Community owned government: Empowering rather than serving.

3. Competitive government: Injecting competition into service delivery.

4. Mission-driven government: Transforming rule-driven organization.

5. Results-oriented government: Funding outcomes, no inputs.

6. Customer-driven government: Meeting the needs of the customer, not the bureaucracy.

7. Enterprising government: Eraning rather than spending.

8. Anticipatory government: Prevention rather than cure.

9. Decentralized government: From hierarchy to participation and Teamwork.

10. Market-oriented government: Leveraging change through the market.

The New Public Management (NPM)

· in the early 1990's, a new managerial Approach to public administration began to Take hold. Like the traditional managerial Approach at its inception, the new approach Is reform-oriented and seeks to improve Public sector performance

· It starts from the premise that traditional, bureaucratically organized public Administration is "broke" and "broken“, and Consequently the public has lost faith in Government.

· In the U.S. NPM approach was adopted by Vice president al gore's national Performance review (NPR). Its 1993 Report, from red tape to results: Creating a government that worksBetter & costs less, explicitly sought a New customer service contract with The people, a new guarantee of effective, efficient and responsive government.

· It called for among others: putting Customers first, making service Organizations compete, creating Market dynamics, using market Mechanisms to solve problems, Empowering employees to get results, Decentralization decision making Power, streamlining the budget Process, decentralization personnel Policy, and streamlining procurement.

· Today, the NPM is becoming the Dominant managerial approach. Its key concept-somewhat evolutionary A decade ago- are now the standard Language of public administration. Terms such as "results oriented", "customers focused", "employee empowerment", "entrepreneurship", and "outsourcing", have dominated the Mainstream.

Overall, public administrative Culture is changing to be more flexible, innovative, problem solving, Entrepreneurial, and enterprising as Opposed to rule-bound, process oriented, and focused on inputs Rather than results.

Zero based budgeting (Financial Administration)

CREATION

This technique of budgeting was developed by Peter Phyrr and was first implemented at Texas Instruments in the 1960s.The then President Jimmy Carter introduced this Budgeting system in USA

STATUS IN INDIA

In India, the System was first implemented in the Department of Science and Technology in the year 1983. The need for zero-based budgeting was also emphasized in the seventh five-year plan. However not much has happened on this front since. 

What actually is Zero Based Budgeting ?

Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) is a technique of making plans and taking decisions, which overturns the working procedure in traditional budgeting. In case of Zero Based Budgeting, the function of each and every department is analyzed and evaluated in a comprehensive manner, and all expenses increase only after such approvals. When discrepancies arise, Zero Based Budget requires detailed justification from every divisional manager, starting from the lowest levels, called the Zero-base. The Zero-base is however, least bothered about the overall increase or reduction of the budget. 

How is it different from the generally used incremental  budgeting technique ?

Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) is basically a tool for financial planning. In traditional incremental budgeting, only the increase over the previous year?s budget and actual expenditure is required to be justified whereas in ZBB every activity and function is required to be comprehensively reviewed and requirement of funds worked out starting from the Zero-base, which may eventually result in increase or decrease over the previous year’s budget. 

Why should it be implemented in India ?

The system of zero-based budgeting, if adopted by the Indian government, would be beneficial in several ways considering the cost overruns, inefficiency, resource crunch and corruption in the government departments. The functioning of zero base budgeting involves justifying each and every item of expenditure.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Zero Based Budgeting ?

Advantages	Disadvantages
The wasteful and unnecessary expenditures of the government agencies can be identified and eliminated.	The paperwork involved in zero-based budgeting has been found unmanageable by most organisations.
It improves the fiscal position of the government by increasing efficiency.	It is difficult to complete review and analysis of all the expenditure within a limited time frame.
It helps to channelise monetary resources from low priority to high priority areas.	Inter-departmental rivalry may crop up if savings of one department are transferred to any other department.
It enhances the accountability and credibility of the government machinery.	Zero-based budgeting will have to be applied separately to plan and non-plan expenditure of the government despite a chance of duplication of expenditure.
It puts a curb on the instances of different departments spending money on same activity.	The whole exercise will be futile if the excess manpower is not retrained and redeployed much like the monetary and material resources. Some part of manpower may have to be retrenched which is difficult in the Indian situation.
It is also regarded as a greater legislative control over the executives. It detects Inflated Budget. Identifies the absolute source for outsourcing.	There is a lack of availability of trained personnel who are aware of the concept of zero-based budgeting. Training people could turn out to be a cumbersome process.

What should the Government of India do taking into consideration the these merits and demerits?

Considering the pros and cons of zero-based budgeting, there is a need to implement this method in a staggered manner with constant reviews and analysis to remove its shortcomings. Government should make efforts to ensure that it does not prove to be time-consuming exercise due to heavy documentation involved.

The government in India should try out zero-based budgeting as a Pilot Project in a few departments and constant modifications should be carried out to overcome its shortcomings. The advantages of zero-based budgeting far outweigh the drawbacks. Hence the precedent-driven Indian governments should find out novel ways to implement zero-based budgeting for a healthier economy. 

Some points from the Indian Express article...

Zero-based budgeting is useful 

1.    In 1986, Rajiv Gandhi eager to take India into the 21st century, wished to adopt zero-based budgeting (ZBB). The traditional approach to budgeting is mainly incremental through ad hoc increases over the previous year, whereas ZBB insists on in-depth analysis of the need of each activity.

2.   ZBB is thus an integrated planning-cum-budgetary exercise with the active involvement of managers at the executive level. Significantly, by the mid-eighties, the concept had already been abandoned in the West. Little wonder then that in India little was achieved beyond a few seminars. The concept was a non-starter due to the in-built resistance of various departments.

3.   The Railways is the best suited for implementation of ZBB — with suitable zodifications — not merely because its finances are at an all-time low but because of the inherent strength of the organisation, which already has well laid down procedures for identification of projects after detailed scrutiny.

4.   Today, with ready access to electronic data, software packages can be designed to facilitate decision-making. It therefore makes sense to give ZBB a chance, despite the prophets of gloom.

5.   At the same time, any blind application of the tenets of ZBB without regard to Indian conditions could be self-defeating. The zeal for undertaking the exercise has to be duly tempered with a pragmatic appreciation of ground realities. ZBB should not be oversold, nor expectations be raised too high.

Trivia

Maharashtra government renamed and used it as Development based budget.

National Human Rights Commission

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India is an autonomous statutory body established on 12 October 1993,under the provisions of The Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993. (TPHRA).

 Functions

TPHRA mandates the NHRC to perform the following functions:

• proactively or reactively inquire into violations of human rights or negligence in the prevention of such violation by a public servant
• visit any jail or other institution under the control of the State Government, where persons are detained or lodged for purposes of treatment, reformation or protection, for the study of the living conditions of the inmates and make recommendations
• review the safeguards provided by or under the Constitution or any law for the time being in force for the protection of human rights and recommend measures for their effective implementation
• review the factors, including acts of terrorism that inhibit the enjoyment of human rights and recommend appropriate remedial measures
• study treaties and other international instruments on human rights and make recommendations for their effective implementation
• undertake and promote research in the field of human rights
• spread literacy among various sections of society and promote awareness of the safeguards available for the protection of these rights through publications, the media, seminars and other available means
• encourage the efforts of NGOs and institutions working in the field of human rights
• such other function as it may consider it necessary for the protection of human rights.
• take suo motu action, if required in a case if the victim is not in a position to access a court.

 Composition and appointment

Sections 3 and 4 of TPHRA lay down the rules for appointment to the NHRC. The Chairperson and members of the NHRC are appointed by the President of India, on the recommendation of a committee consisting of:

• The Prime Minister (chairperson)
• The Speaker of the House of the People
• The Minister-in-charge of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the Government of India
• The Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People
• The Leader of the Opposition in the Council of States
• The Deputy Chairman of the Council of States

The NHRC consists of:

• A Chairperson who has been a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India
• One Member who is, or has been, a Judge of the Supreme Court of India
• One Member who is, or has been, the Chief Justice of a High Court
• Two Members to be appointed from among persons having knowledge of, or practical experience in, matters relating to human rights

In addition to this, the Chairpersons of the National Commission for Minorities, the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes, National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes, and the National Commission for Women, serve as ex officio members.

The current chairperson of the NHRC is Hon'ble Justice Shri K G Balakrishnan, and the other members are:

• Hon'ble Justice Shri Govind Prasad Mathur.
• Hon'ble Justice Shri B.C. Patel.
• Shri P.C. Sharma
• Shri Satyabrata Pal
• Shri Mohammad Shafi Qureshi, Chairperson, National Commission for Minorities
• Ms. Yasmmen Abrar , Acting Chairperson, National Commission for Women.

International status

The NHRC has been accredited with "A status" by the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (the ICC), indicating that it is in conformity with the Paris Principles - a broad set of principles agreed upon by a conference of experts on the promotion and protection of human rights, in Paris in October 1991, and subsequently endorsed by the UN General Assembly. The Commission is thus entitled to participate in the ICC and in its regional sub-group, the Asia Pacific Forum. The NHRC currently maintains the global NHRI Forum web portal on behalf of the ICC.

Controversy

A report concerning the manner of which the Shivani murder controversy case was rejected, a case which involved high ranking officials being implicated in the murder of a journalist, opened the organisation up to questioning over the usefulness of human rights commissions setup by the government at the national and state levels.

Source- Wikipedia 

National Human Rights Commission-India