ARC Report – Summary, 1st and 2nd ARC Report UPSC

What is ARC Report?

Administrative Reforms Commission (employed by the Government of India) publishes some reports, known as ARC reports. ARC’s reports are crucial documents for public administration, effective governance, and much more. Mainly there are two ARC reports, the first ARC report (published by the 1st ARC started in 1966) and the second ARC report (published by the 2nd ARC set up in 2005).

• The 1st ARC Report had provided 537 primary recommendations in about 20 reports before it was winded up in the 1970s.
• Conversely, the 2nd ARC published 15 reports encompassing various public administration sectors.

Though both the ARC Report recommended effective reforms, the 2nd ARC is considered essential for the study of public administrations. It is also a part of the public administration syllabus for UPSC.

What is ARC Report? – Administrative Reforms Commission in India

The Government of India has appointed an organization or body known as the Administrative Reforms Commission that provides recommendations for evaluating India’s public administration system. India’s ARC was set up twice.

1st Arc (Administrative Reforms Commission)

The Indian Government established the first Administrative Reforms Commission on 5 January 1966 under revolution number 40/3/65-AR(P). In the beginning, Morarji Desai managed the ARC, but after he got appointed as India’s Deputy Prime Minister, K. Hanumanthaiah managed it as the chairperson.

• This ARC declaration described the ARC configuration, the authorization of the commission, and the practices to be ensured.
• The first ARC was authorized to provide thoughtfulness to certify the premium standards of proficiency and integrity in public services.
• The ARC was mandated to make public administration the perfect equipment for implementing the Indian Government’s various socioeconomic policies and socio-economic development.
• It had provided 537 primary recommendations in about 20 reports before it was wound up in the 1970s.

2nd Arc (Administrative Reforms Commission)

The Government of India founded the 2nd ARC on 31 August 2005 under the resolution K-11022/9/2004-RC. It was established to make a comprehensive scheme to revamp the public administration system in India.

Initially, Veerappa Moily managed the commission as the chairperson. However, after his resignation in 2009, V. Ramachandran took responsibility as the new chairperson.

• The second ARC was authorized to propose some effective measures to attain a practical, responsive, responsible, sustainable, and proficient public administration at all the government levels in India.
• The 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission also published 15 reports encompassing various public administration sectors.

The 2nd ARC Report comprised reforms such as the Indian Government’s organizational structure, integrity in governance, Revamping of Personnel Administration, Reinforcement of Financial Management Systems, Local Self-Government, Citizen-centric, Problems in Federal Polity, Promoting e-governance, Crisis Management, RTI, Unlocking Human Capital, and many more.

• The first-ever report from the 2nd ARC was Right to Information, considered a principal means for Good Governance in India.
• The Government of India excluded sectors like Military defense, security, and intelligence, etc., and subjects like judicial reforms and relations between central and State governments from the 2nd ARC’s recommendations.

Nevertheless, as the 1st ARC, it was also free to contemplate issues from these government sectors or subjects and recommend restructuring.

1st ARC Report

The 1st ARC report included reforms such as Railways, Machinery for Planning, Economic Administration, Treasuries, RBI, Finance, Accounts & Audit, Scientific Departments, Personnel Administration, State Administration, Posts and Telegraphs, Small Scale Sector, and many others.

The 1st ARC excluded detailed inspection of external affairs, defense administration, security and intelligence, railways, etc., and subjects like educational administration because the separate commissions evaluated them.

However, the ARC was free to consider issues from these government sectors and recommend reorganization.

2nd ARC Report

The 2nd ARC report made recommendations for reforms in two distinct groups. The first is a change in administration configurations, procedures, and practices. And the other one is a set having various issues that the Government of India needs to evaluate the proposed reforms. These changes require robust political determination and constant supervision.

2nd ARC Report recommendations include:

• State Information Commission
• Paying wages via post offices or banks (NREGA),
• The Districts must directly receive the funds
• Emergency and long-standing moderation plan for District Disaster Management.
• Indian Citizens’ commission, a Supervisory body for local bodies
• Resilient Lokayukta and Lok Adalat
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Social Audit, MIPUI AW, and encouraging e-governance

List of 2nd ARC Reports

1st Report	Right to Information: Master Key to Good Governance
2nd Report	Unlocking Human Capital: Entitlements and Governance
3rd Report	Crisis Management
4th Report	Ethics in Governance
5th Report	Public Order
6th Report	Local Governance
7th Report	Capacity Building for Conflict Resolution
8th Report	Combating Terrorism – Protecting by Righteousness
9th Report	Social Capital-A shared Destiny
10th Report	Refurbishing of Personnel Administration &ndash Scaling New Heights
11th Report	Promoting eGovernance: The Smart Way Forward
12th Report	Citizen-Centric Administration
13th Report	The organizational structure of Govt of India
14th Report	Strengthening Financial Management Systems
15th Report	State and District Administration

2nd ARC Report Summary

The ARC reports, both the 1st and 2nd ARC Reports, are bulky, and getting any information from them becomes pretty complex and time-consuming. As the second ARC report is considered more important, it can be understood with some of its details described in brief.

A good understanding of the 2nd ARC’s 15 reports and their constituents can give insights into the entire report. A concise description of a few essential second ARC reports is given below.

1st – 2nd ARC Report (Right to Information)

The first-ever report published by the 2nd ARC recommended that the official secret Act’ of 1923 be revoked. The report stated that people who have official secrets and fail to keep them should be declared guilty.

• Also, section 123 (Governmental privilege in proofs) under the Indian Evidence Act of 1872 should be revised.
• This section also comprised the Constitution of SIC, Oath of Secrecy, and many more points and reform recommendations.

2nd – Unlocking Human Capital:

This report by the 2nd ARC is also known as NREGA. It includes ARC’s recommendations, such as Ensuring Reach, Outcomes, and Convergence.

• Also, it states Spreading out the scheme, Protective Wage amounts, and utilizing Information Technology and monitoring.
• This report also affirms a Financial Management System, the responsibility of post offices and banks for paying workers & fund flow, and many others.

3rd – ARC Report on Disaster Management:

This report by ARC comprises recommendations such as a separate and individual establishment in the Indian Constitute for managing Disaster; the Government of states must deal with Crises Management, and the Central Government should be supportive of that.

• It does not recommend any separate department or ministry for disaster management in the State or Central Government. However, we have in our State.
• However, it suggests authorizing Relief Commissioners to use IT and support for institutions to inhibit and solve disasters.

• It also introduced disaster Management as a subject, national policy, and Awareness campaigns to enhance crisis management plans. Also, it includes designing early warning systems to warn people about future disasters.

4th – ARC Report on Ethics in Governance:

This 2nd ARC report suggests reforming the political funding, intensifying the Anti-defection law, and revoking Articles 310 & 311, National Judicial Council, Office of Ethics.

• It also proposed defining a service value for all government servants, an ethical background for Ministers, and excluding people with charge sheets.

• It also included the Prime Minister, and Chief Ministers should take the responsibility to ensure the “Code of Ethics” and many other recommendations.

7th – 2nd ARC Report Capacity Building for Conflict Resolution:

This report proposed ways to resolve conflicts, including Contemporary Land Acquisition Act and Capacity Building the North East Administration. It is also recommended not to locate any SEZ in prime agricultural Land and focus on water-related and tribal area-related issues.

8th – 2nd ARC report on Terrorism:

With this report, the 2nd ARC recommended measures against terrorism. It suggested setting up a separate statutory Review Committee, special courts, and possession of arms. The report also suggested the participation of Indian citizens, media, and civilians in battling terrorism.

9th – Social Capital – A Shared Destiny:

This report recommended up-to-date Legal Frameworks for Donations and charity work in India, communal social responsibilities, Integrated Social Policy, the establishment of the National Accreditation Council, and the amendment to the Foreign Contribution bill.

It also suggested enhancing the existence and movement of Self Help Groups in the country’s rural areas, which must be expanded to the urban areas.

11th – Promoting e-Governance – The Smart Way Forward:

In this, the ARC recommended ways to promote and support e-Governance through creating a friendly environment, identifying new e-Governance projects and Prioritizing them, Re- persuading business processes, spreading awareness, building capacity, observing or supervising and implementing.

It also included SWAN, SDC, CSCs, and many other Common Support Infrastructures, lawful frameworks for e-Governance, knowledge management, and many other points.

12th – Citizen-Centric Administration:

This report comprised reforms for the country’s citizens by focusing administration on citizens.

It included various roles of the Indian Government, ARC’s 7-step standard for Citizen Centricity, Delegation, Supervising and Evaluation, making Licenses and Accomplishment Certificates, and improvising citizen commissions.

The report also focused on women’s and physically challenged involvement, streamlining internal procedures, easing the processes of addressing issues concerning birth or death registration, driving licenses, etc., and developing an efficient Public Grievances Redressal System analyzing & identifying injustice-prone areas across the country.

13th – Organizational Structure of the Indian Government:

With this report, the 2nd ARC suggested some fundamental principles for reorganizing the Structure of the Indian Government.

It suggested guiding Central, State, and other levels of Government by the notion of subordinateness, streamlining government functions, restructuring various government departments and ministries, reorganizing the distribution of business protocols, developing efficient Executive Agencies, and implementing Synchronization Mechanisms.

14th – Financial Management System:

This ARC report concentrated on impractical Budget Estimations, delays in executing projects, crooked expense patterns, insufficient observance of the multi-year perception, and overlooking a line of sight.

It also underlined fulfilling Budgetary Financial Targets instead of focusing on Outputs or Outcomes and baseless Plan-Non-Plan traits leading to incompetence in resource Utilization.

15th – State and District Administration

This is the last report by the 2nd ARC, recommending the need to minimize the Council of Ministers’ size, adjust Secretarial Department counts, and enhance executive agencies. The report also emphasized civil services law, local-level government, Lokayukta, and many other points focusing on government administrations in states and districts.

ARC Report UPSC

The ARC Report is a critical topic of the Indian Polity subject from the UPSC syllabus. This topic is comprehensively described in UPSC books and notes. These reports are significant records for all the UPSC aspirants, especially those with public administration as an optional subject.

☛ ARC Report Summary Notes PDF

Moreover, UPSC prelims and mains exams cover this topic, so for robust preparation, aspirants must have an all-inclusive knowledge of this topic even if they do not have a public administration subject.

ARC Report Question:

Download the UPSC Previous Year Question Papers to practice and revise the topic efficiently.

Question: Which of the given statements is accurate regarding the ARC?

1. The 2nd ARC has encapsulated the income source for the Panchayati Raj Establishments.
2. The ARC recommended establishing two exceptional authorities entitled ‘Lokpal’ and ‘Lokayukta’ to address citizens’ objections or injustices.

Choose the Correct Option:

1. Only A
2. Only B
3. A and B both
4. Neither A nor B

Answer: C

UPSC Notes
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)	Collegium System
French Revolution	World Heritage Sites in India
Freedom fighters of India	Foreign Direct Investment
Payment Banks	Rowlatt Act
Preamble of Indian Constitution	Constituent Assembly of India