Management professionals in Social Sector Organisations (SSOs) need to have a good understanding of the Indian State and the way the state functions through its institutions. The state is a major player in development, both in providing the development imagination for the nation and in initiating development actions. Also, SSOs often engage with the state at the local, provincial and federal levels.

This course provides a detailed introduction to State Institutions and governance in India. The State Institutions in the course cover both the larger Constitutional scheme of horizontal and vertical separation of power and the multi-layered network of state agencies at the federal, the provincial, and local levels. The approach of the course to governance is in its conventional sense as exercise of the state authority, with the specific focus on the exercise of the executive authority of the state for developmental functions, where development is conceptualised as both economic growth and social justice. The course concludes with a brief discussion of governance in its emerging collaborative form where the state’s partnership and relationship with the SSOs are foregrounded.