Includes bibliographical references (p. 364-383) and index.

Part I. Introduction: 1. The rise of modern state; 2. Ingredients of good governance -- Part II. Values and Character-Making: 3. Fundamental values for humanity; 4. Character-building for national reconstruction; 5. Restoring values: Inculcating Indian ethos -- Part III. Indian Administration Through the Ages: 6. Ancient Indian polity; 7. The Mahabharata: fundamentals of governance; 8. Kautilya: the art of governance; 9. The medieval administration; 10. The British administration -- Part IV.: Contemporary India: 11. Indian polity after independence; 12. The current economic setting; 13. Constructing a new economic model; 14. The Gandhian alternative to economic development -- Part V. Public Administration: Problems and Solution: 15. Public services: why they don't function?; 16. Senior civil services: Reinventing them; 17. International experience in reform: new public management; 18. Reforming public management: an agenda -- Part VI. An Ethical Framework: 19. The ethics of public service; 20. An ethics code: international perspective; 21. An ethics code for public servants in India -- Part VII. The Challenges: 22. Combating corruption: the ethical dimension; 23. Leadership and individual excellence; 24. Epilogue: India realising its destiny.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of India's public services and bureaucratic systems, and explores why widespread corruption and inefficient delivery have slowed development. It: •discusses the underlying reasons for the prevailing inefficiency in public services; •examines the complex linkages between ethics-based public service, India's cultural and spiritual heritage, and its current economic development model; and •outlines ways to create an ethics code and an environment that is conducive to better administration and good governance. Lucid, accessible, and meticulously researched, this will prove essential to scholars and students of public administration, governance studies and political science, particularly bureaucrats, policy-makers and civil service aspirants.