The 21st Century has witnessed tremendous changes in our country as in the world in general. Although the attainment of freedom on August 15, 1947 was by itself a landmark in history. There have been regular attempts at administrative reforms and innovation, both at the Centre and in the States, including starting new institutions and systems in India since 1947. Although the results have been strong on assurances and weak on performance. Thus the results have not been commensurate with our hopes and needs. Further, besides persistence of problems of administration with increasing severity, we have also witnessed in succeeding decades acceleration in the process of degeneration in our socio-economic-political and administrative scenario. Today the situation has become so alarming now that even the law and order situation in many parts of the country, rural as well as urban, presents a depressing picture. There are many other burning issues also such as like propriety in the exercise of administrative discretion; paralysis of political will and capacity for decision making; mounting administrative corruption and political venality, leading to erosion in the credibility and effectiveness of democratic institutions. Today people expect a prompt and effective response to their problems and concerns in this Information Technology era. In India the assumption in the context of democracy, is that the civil servants work for the people. This extremely lucid and comprehensive book will be of interest to students of this subject. Teachers and researchers in the area of subject will also find this book interesting.