Public policies are governmental decisions and proposed courses of action dedicated to a specific objective in a specific sector.

1. How To Bring The
“Public” Back
Into “Public
Policy”
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2. What Is Public Policy?
Public policies are governmental decisions and proposed courses of action dedicated to
a specific objective in a specific sector. The concept of public policy infers the existence
of an area that is completely individual but said in public.
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3. What Is The Nature Of Public Policy?
The communicative nature of Public Policy is helpful for analytical purposes, since it
connects individuals and collective policy actors, to accountability “forums” in
deliberative processes, that are generally under the threat of sanctions by the forums,
in case of unsatisfactory performance, or misconduct of the policy actors.
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5. What Are The Shortcomings Of Public Policy?
Excessive Fragmentation
In Thinking And Action
Fails to acknowledge that
actions taken in one
sector have dire
consequences on the
others and may even work
at cross purposes with the
policies of the other
sectors.
Overlapping Between
Policy Making And
Implementation
The result of which is
sub-optimal policies, and
inadequate attention to
the citizens’ needs, while
designing the public
policies.
Lack Of Non-Governmental
Inputs And Informed Debate
There are no systematic
means for obtaining external
inputs, involving the ones
affected by policies, their
impacts on different groups,
and for debating alternatives.
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7. Public Policy Being Made “Public Centric”
This section talks about the processes required to design a holistic and hence, a “public-
centric” policy.
•Reduction In Fragmentation – A gradual decrease in fragmentation as one climbs the
hierarchy. This would mean fewer secretaries who would handle multiple sectors.
•Decentralizing Implementation Authority – The Director-General’s annual
performance appraisal will be carried out by the Secretary, ensuring that the policy-
making role is not considered secondary or unimportant.
•Improving The Flow Of Knowledge From Outside Government – Ensures the availability
of subject matter expertise, and non-governmental inputs to the policy-makers.
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8. How To Sharpening The Skills Of Policy-Making
Manpower
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• Creates incentives to learn, acquire, and apply
the right skills.
• Establishes links between academia and the
administration
• Identifies and weeds out the underperformers
• Ensures that only the ones with the requisite
knowledge and intelligence make it to the top
policy levels.
Unarguably, a well-designed career path can provide strong incentives for the
progressive acquisition of expertise and professional skills. The key requirement is of a
career path that –

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The Indian School of Public Policy The Indian School of Public Policy begins
with a year-long, Postgraduate Programme in Public Policy, Design &
Management, to prepare the students for challenging careers in public
policy activities across government, industry, and civil society.

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Thank You