WHAT IS PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION? INTRODUCTION

Defining Public Administration
Public administration is a segment of the larger field of administration. It is simply regarded as bureaucracy, heedless to the fact that bureaucracy as a particular organizational form is not only found in the government, but also in private and third-sector organizations (Dhameja, 2003, p. 2).  Public administration is a discipline which is concerned with the organization and the formulation and implementation of public policies for the welfare of the people. It functions in a political setting in order to accomplish the goals and objectives, which are formulated by the political decision makers. It is also called governmental administration as the adjective 'public' in the word 'public administration' means 'government'. The focus of public administration, thus, is on public bureaucracy, i.e., bureaucratic or administrative organization of the government.                                                                                                                                                             

Different scholars have defined public administration in different ways, which needs to be discussed here in order to get a clear picture as to what actually is meant by public administration. Some of these definitions are as follows:

Woodrow Wilson, father of Public Administration, has defined it as “detailed and systematic execution of law. Every particular application of law is an act of administration" ().Wilson, 1953, pp. 65-75
L.D.White in his book defined Public administration as a discipline which “consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of public policy" ().White, 1958, p.1
According to Corson and Harris, "public Administration is decision making, planning the work to be done, formulating objectives and goals, working with the legislature and citizen organizations to gain public support and funds for government programmes, establishing and revising organization, directing and supervising employees, providing leadership, communicating and receiving communications, determining work methods and procedures, appraising performance, exercising controls, and other functions performed by government executives and supervisors. It is the action part of the government, the means by which the purposes and goals of the government are realized"().Corson and Harris, 1963, p.12
Like Corson and Harris, Pfiffner too gives a very comprehensive definition of Public Administration. According to him, "public administration consists of doing the work of the government whether it be running an X-ray machine in a health laboratory or coining money in the mint... Public Administration consists of getting the work of government done by coordinating the efforts of the people so that they can work together to accomplish their set tasks…..It also involves managing, directing and supervising the activities of thousands, even millions of workers so that some order and efficiency may result from their efforts…" ().Pfiffner, 1946, p.6
In the words of M.E. Dimock"administration is concerned with 'what' and 'how' of the government. The 'what' is the subject matter, the technical knowledge of a field, which enables the administrator to perform his tasks. The 'how' is the technique of management, the principles according to which cooperative programmes are carried to success. Each is indispensable; together they form the synthesis called administration"()., Quoted in Sharma and Sadana, op.cit. pp.6-7
According to Luther Gulick, "public Administration is that part of the science of administration, which has to do with government and thus concerns itself primarily with the executive branch where the work of government is done, though there are obviously problems in connection with the legislative and judicial branches"().Gulick,1937, p.191
Similarly, Herbert Simon too defines “public administration as concerning the activities of the executive branches of the national,