Conference Agenda

A macro-perspective of New Public Governance (NPG) vindicates the transfiguration of socio-politico-institutional maturity, including the transition of public administration's behavioural, technical, and critical skills to meet citizen-centric governance goals. In India, for the past decade, public governance and public policy have gone through transformative evolution to integrate a framework of citizen-centricity in the management of public services. This New Public Governance paradigm in Indian public administration has embraced the multidimensional approach of ‘Inclusion, Empowerment and Entrepreneurship’ in public policy and service delivery perspective. Further, it has consolidated matrix relationships between the government, society, market, individuals, and social organisations, forming a multi-directional network aimed at participatory, collaborative, and interactive governance processes.

This ‘whole-of-government’ approach in the contemporary Indian governance perspective ensures inclusivity, leading to empowered actions resulting in socio-economic entrepreneurship in society. Integration of various schemes like DBT, PM-Kisan Yojana, AB PM-JAY, Stand-Up India, Skill India Mission, Swachh Bharat Mission, PM Mudra Yojana, Smart city initiative, Digital India Mission, Start-up India, etc. incorporates holistic development goals by interaction of public agencies and institutions and various stakeholders using different processes to increase public service delivery mechanisms.

The study attempts to understand: Does the evolving relationship between theoretical dimensions of New Public Governance and practice in Indian public administration outline a strategic roadmap for Viksit Bharat @2047 (Developed India)? In this context, this research is aimed at exploring and interpreting conceptual insights and operational aspects of linear relationships between different GOI schemes and programs in operation since 2014. The primary objective of this paper is to comprehend the multifaceted impact of these pubic policies embedded in New Public Governance endeavors of contemporary Indian administration.

This research work is a qualitative investigation and implies an exploratory research approach by making extensive use of secondary data sources. The study makes a cross-sectional analysis and mix-method quick dipstick analysis of annual reports of official government reports. By using content analysis methods and analytical review methodologies the study relied considerably on secondary sources including the scheme’s handbook, progress reports, and data on expenditure were collected from the Detailed Demand for Grants of the respective ministries. These were further supplemented by additional data utilized from the case study analysis and data published by State Government reports on the sectoral impacts. Major findings provide an overview of pluralistic governance collaboration, involvement, and coordination among State and Non-State actors to attain synergy among inter-sectoral policy goals. As an exploratory empirical study, the study holds importance for policy practitioners and public policy analysts to develop impactful evidence about the nature of schemes in operation and their sectoral impacts as a way of understanding governance perspective, informing policy-making, and promoting equity in citizen-centric governance. In other words, the traditional institutional role of government in India has shifted to a coordinator, and facilitator to reflect the adoption of a vision emphasising innovative approaches and policy interventions in a maximum governance approach.

Demonetisation and COVID-19 are two events that had a significant impact on the socioeconomic and political landscape in India. These two shocks led to crisis-like conditions and consequently had significant effects on governance and policymaking in the country. Our study aims to understand how shocks contribute to policy changes and impact various stakeholders' ideologies and vision shifts. This research is crucial because it helps us understand the intricate dynamics between shocks that lead to crisis and policy evolution. This study's societal relevancy arises from its ability to advise policymakers about shock-induced ideological changes and coalition behavior complexities. By recognizing how crisis events can shift public sentiment and policy support, more strategic stakeholder engagement and improved policy implementation can be fostered, especially since global challenges require more adaptable policy frameworks. Since the study utilizes social media analytics on Twitter data, it can demonstrate the importance of real-time public sentiment analysis in shaping responsive policy strategies.

The research utilizes the Advocacy Coalition Framework, which elucidates the interactions among diverse coalitions advocating for specific policy outcomes. It facilitates a deeper understanding of how crises alter coalition dynamics and influence policy responses as actors within these coalitions continuously negotiate their beliefs and interests. Data collection employs a hybrid mixed-method approach, utilizing automated and manual scraping techniques to analyze Twitter discourse surrounding demonetization over one year before and after each event. The policy change data are sourced from Press Information Bureau documents in the same timeline shifts. The methodology incorporates a pre- and post-event analysis of belief systems and policy changes, utilizing a belief hierarchy coding approach adapted from research by Douglas et al. and Knill & Tosun.

Our research findings demonstrate that shocks, external or internal to the policy subsystem, can form crisis events that can influence public agendas, beliefs, and opinions and ultimately lead to changes in policymaking. Shocks like Demonetisation and COVID-19 can markedly reshape policy core beliefs, resulting in an evolution of coalition characteristics, members, ideologies, etc. Notably, while some policy changes are linked directly to the crisis response and management mechanisms, other areas are impacted by these shocks. For example, Demonetisation phase 1 and phase 2 affect sectors like terrorism, black money, income tax, digitization, and more, highlighting the shock's broader effects. In contrast, the COVID-19 pandemic focuses more on welfare measures, education, health, economic policy, etc domains. In conclusion, this research states that shocks leading to crisis conditions drive changes in existing policies and help stimulate the emergence of new policies.

India presents a development and policy trajectory of the evolution of its public governance to meet the needs of the growing population. Such evolution demonstrates the country’s endeavours toward administrative modernisation of the public administration, increased effectiveness of governance, and society’s equity. But more monumental and more problematic is that while these advances were being realized, gaps between policy formulation and policy implementation remained stubbornly wide. This paper aims to critically discuss and to describe the development of India’s public governance through innovative policy, recognising the range of persisting implementation difficulties, and to envision future possibilities for the enhancement of the Indian public administration. The government has introduced number of change policies like NREGA, Digital India & Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana to advance inclusive development mission. These policies are used in the hopes of increasing access to service and capacity and decreasing the marginalization of certain populations. E-governance has extended the idea of digital transformation to contain better services, lessen the degree of bureaucracy, and enhance transparency. Nevertheless , the very realisation of these policies is always fraught with many challenges .One of the concern questions relates to how the lacks of coherence between policy formulation and implementation continue to prevail. Policy implementation challenges include; although well intended policies may increase access and utilization of health facilities, actual implementation may be hampered due to weak infrastructure, bureaucracy, poor supervision, and political and administrative complications. Moreover, India’s heterogeneity of societies, economic organization, and difference in governance capability across regions all intensify these problems and hinder a consistent implementation procedure. The paper also provides a view on how such decentralized governance can help to overcome these challenges. However, central governments are central to standardization as local governments provide context specificity to the problem and propose suitable solutions. A crucial factor of enhancing the implementation of policies at a local level is to ensure that local workers on the ground are empowered, resource adequately in terms of training, and given considerable decision making responsibilities. Moreover, enhancement of the monitoring exercises as well as the use of technology in governance brings out the way of closing the loopholes between policy standard formulation and its implementation. For future prospects of the India’s public administration attention should be paid to the issues of the intergovernmental relations, the strengthening of the governance in the local authorities and the identification of the barriers to implementation. The future reforms in the area should stress on sufficient development of the institutions’ capacities as well as the technology applications and the enhanced citizen involvement so that not only the policies were designed but also the implementation of these Policies were properly and effectively augmented for the good of all the citizens.