hasan.tareq96@gmail.

com Introduction: Public policy means laying

down general set of goals , objectives , principles through the pronouncements of public
authorities , governments. Public policy is not static. It changes. What is a declared policy today
may change tomorrow. In fact some writers have compared public policy to a ship of state and
the purpose of Public policy is to steer the ship of state and to change its course as weather
requires.

Public Policy: Thomas Dye defines Public policy is whatever governments chose to do or not
to do.

According to Sapru, Policy may be defined as a purposive course of action taken by those in
power in pursuit of certain goals or objectives.

Public Policy involves what government actually do, not just what they intend to do or what
they say they are going to do

Reference: Dr.Salauddin Aminuzzaman: Public Policy making in Bangladesh: An overview

Public money and management, VoL-2, June-2002, p.p-2.

Policy- Making: Policy making and involves decision making while decision making may not
embrace policy making. A former Bangladeshi senior civil servant wrote that all policy making
must be made by public representatives and not by anonymous bureaucracy. This will call for a
redefinition of jurisdiction between political decision making and executive responsibility.

According to R.K Sapru, Policy making involves the following processes:

Values = Goals and objectives =Policies =Directives =Actions.

Objectives and policies, according to Sapru , are chosen under the influence of values of the
community .The norms of community guide policy makers as to what is proper or morally
acceptable to them. Judges are influenced by policy values of community in deciding cases
before them and study of the US Supreme court confirms the position.

Steps of Policy making: A policy established and carried out by the government goes through
several stages from inception to conclusion. These are agenda building, formulation, adoption,
implementation, evaluation, and termination.

Agenda building

Before a policy can be created, a problem must exist that is called to the attention of the
government. Illegal immigration, for example, has been going on for many years, but it was not
until the 1990s that enough people considered it such a serious problem that it required increased
government action. Specific events can place a problem on the agenda.
Formulation and adoption
Policy formulation means coming up with an approach to solving a problem.. Policy formulation
has a tangible outcome. The process continues with adoption.

Implementation
The implementation or carrying out of policy is most often accomplished by institutions other
than those that formulated and adopted it. A statute usually provides just a broad outline of a
policy.

Evaluation and termination

Evaluation means determining how well a policy is working, and it is not an easy task. People
inside and outside of government typically use cost-benefit analysis to try to find the answer. In
other words, if the government is spending x billions of dollars on this policy, are the benefits
derived from it worth the expenditure? Cost-benefit analysis is based on hard-to-come-by data
that are subject to different, and sometimes contradictory, interpretations.
Theories of Public Policy: The "Policy Process Theory" just described is a good model to
describe public policymaking, but it has little explanatory power. In other words, you cannot
make predictions from this model. It simply states that a policy first begins on an agenda, it is
then formulated, adopted, implemented and evaluated. But it has no theoretical framework to
allow one to predict how a policy ends up on the agenda, or if a policy will be adopted.

The "Political Systems Theory" is another descriptive model which treats the government
like an organism which responds to inputs and stimuli and creates outputs. The inputs are
demands and support. These go through a filter, enter the government system, are
processed into public policy and then the results feedback as an input.

"Group theory" (pluralists) assumes the following is true for public policymaking: (1) most
demands and supports for policy are manifest through organized groups; (2) no single
group can monopolize power; (3) the most influential group will be decided by the amount
of competition and the qualities of the competing groups; (4) policy results from
compromise; (5) political actors are objective referees who state which group won.

Another explanatory theory is the "Elite Theory" which says that society is stratified
with the masses at the bottom and ruling-class elite at the top. These elites are the rich and
well-educated, who share common beliefs and use their influence to dictate public policies.
The most serious flaw in this theory is that no such ruling-class can be identified. Yet, if
this class could be found, then any policy which went against this class could be predicted
to fail. This theory also focuses attention on the role of leadership in policymaking.

Rational-choice theory argues that policymakers pursue their own self-interest instead
of any national-interest. They also vote based upon their own goals instead of for any other
reason. Anderson gives the example of a politician who will approve of an agency which
will trouble his constituents so that he can help them out and get re-elected. This model
alerts us to the importance of self-interest in policymaking. If voting for a policy will hurt a
 politician on election day, then this model allows us to predict that the politician will not
vote for it.

Incrementalism views public policy as a continuation of past government activities with

only incremental modifications. s. Incrementalism is conservative in that
existing programs; policies, and expenditures are considered as a base, and attention is
concentrated on new programs and policies and on increases, decreases, or modifications of
current programs..

Some policies:
Industrial Policy: Government believes that rapid industrialization is key to the
countrys economic development. A densely populated country with a population of around
150 million living on a land area of 147570square kilometer, its economy is dependent
mainly on agriculture, which accounts for a fifth of GDP but provides employment to as
much as 50 percent of the countrys labor force. But now to ensure fastest develop like
other countries government make policy for Industrialization.
Environmental Policy: Environmental policy refers to the commitment of an
organization to the laws, regulations, and other policy mechanisms
concerning environmental issues and sustainability. These issues generally include air and
water pollution, solid waste management, biodiversity, ecosystem management,
maintenance of biodiversity, the protection of natural resources, wildlife and endangered
species. Policies concerning energy or regulation of toxic substances including pesticides
and many types of industrial waste are part of the topic of environmental policy.
Electoral Policy: To ensure a credible and free-fair election the election commission
takes various steps in this regard. Those policy of election commission are come into
reality through its various branches.
Overseas Policy: In the regard of international relations every state chalks out plan for
their development. In this regard some state formulated plan for one year, some for five
years. In this perspectives they follow economic, social, cultural, political strategy.
Conclusion: Finally on the basis of above discussion we can easily said that to rule a
state properly the essentiality of public policy is very much.