Synopsis Governance now not only occupies centrestage in development discourse but is also considered as the crucial element to be incorporated in development strategy. Apart from the universal acceptance of its importance, differences, however, prevail in respect of theoretical formulations, policy prescriptions and conceptualisation of the subject itself. Moreover, conceptualization is the basis of theoretical formulation and influences policy making in a significant way. For the present volume the term governance has been used to identify the institutions and the loci of power that exercise ‘Governance’ as legitimate authorities. Therefore, governance looks at both the formal and informal constituents or organs of the ‘State’. In the introductory chapter the editors of the volume have conceptualized the Public Governance and the importance of Decentralisation in its contextual terms and presented a mirror view of what the contributors have discussed and analysed in their scholarly articles. All the sixty contributions in the volume have been grouped in some major themes such as ethics in administration, administrative reforms, human rights, globalisation and privatistion, good governance and democratic decentralization. Every contribution touches a particular aspect of the above mentioned major themes which are relevant and very timely at the beginning of the 21st century. This is a very useful volume recommended for policy planers, practitioners, students of governance and development and general readers as a whole.