Publication

This paper provides an account of India's bureaucracy, commenting on its functioning and attempts to reform it. It summarizes the main characteristics of the Indian civil service, outlines efforts for administrative law and civil service reform since independence and points to the problem of implementation. Finally, the paper highlights several reform achievements since 1991 and underlines outstanding issues. The author finds that there have been few endogenous triggers for change, and instead, exogenous pressure was necessary.