1. Evolution of Indian Administration:
- Kautilya's Arthashastra
- Mughal administration
- Legacy of British rule in politics and administration
- Indianization of public services, revenue administration, district administration, local self-government.
2. Philosophical and Constitutional framework of government:
- Salient features and value premises;
- Constitutionalism;
- Political culture;
- Bureaucracy and democracy;
- Bureaucracy and development.
3. Public Sector Undertakings:
- Public sector in modern India
- Forms of Public Sector Undertakings
- Problems of autonomy, accountability and control
- Impact of liberalization and privatization
4. Union Government and Administration:
- Executive
- Parliament
- Judiciary - structure, functions, work processes; Recent trends
- Intragovernmental relations
- Cabinet Secretariat
- Prime Minister's Office
- Central Secretariat
- Ministries and Departments
- Boards
- Commissions
- Attached offices
- Field organizations
5. Plans and Priorities:
- Machinery of planning
- Role, composition and functions of the Planning Commission and the National Development Council
- 'Indicative' planning
- Process of plan formulation at Union and State levels
- Constitutional Amendments (1992) and decentralized planning for economic development and social justice.
6. State Government and Administration:
- Union-State administrative, legislative and financial relations
- Role of the Finance Commission
- Governor
- Chief Minister
- Council of Ministers
- Chief Secretary
- State Secretariat
- Directorates.
7. District Administration since Independence:
- Changing role of the Collector
- Union state-local relations
- Imperatives of development management and law and order administration
- District administration and democratic decentralization
8. Civil Services:
- Constitutional position
- Structure, recruitment, training and capacity-building
- Good governance initiatives
- Code of conduct and discipline
- Staff associations
- Political rights
- Grievance redressal mechanism
- Civil service neutrality
- Civil service activism
9. Financial Management:
- Budget as a political instrument
- Parliamentary control of public expenditure
- Role of finance ministry in monetary and fiscal area
- Accounting techniques
- Audit
- Role of Controller General of Accounts and Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
10. Administrative Reforms since Independence:
- Major concerns
- Important Committees and Commissions
- Reforms in financial management and human resource development
- Problems of implementation
11. Rural Development:
- Institutions and agencies since independence
- Rural development programmes
- foci and strategies
- Decentralization and Panchayati Raj
- 73rd Constitutional amendment
12. Urban Local Government:
- Municipal governance: main features, structures, finance and problem areas
- 74th Constitutional Amendment
- Global-local debate
- New localism
- Development dynamics, politics and administration with special reference to city management
13. Law and Order Administration:
- British legacy
- National Police Commission
- Investigative agencies
- Role of central and state agencies including paramilitary forces in maintenance of law and order and countering insurgency and terrorism
- Criminalisation of politics and administration
- Police- public relations
- Reforms in Police
14. Significant issues in Indian Administration:
- Values in public service
- Regulatory Commissions
- National Human Rights Commission
- Problems of administration in coalition regimes
- Citizen-administration interface
- Corruption and administration
- Disaster management