Policy

This category covers policies of governance made by the union government, state governments and union territories of India.

Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. It is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organisation. Policies can assist in both subjective and objective decision-making. Policies used in subjective decision-making usually assist senior management with decisions that must be based on the relative merits of several factors, and as a result, are often hard to test objectively. Moreover, governments and other institutions have policies in the form of laws, regulations, procedures, administrative actions, incentives and voluntary practices. Frequently, resource allocations mirror such decisions.

A policy is a blueprint of the organisational activities which are repetitive/routine.

In contrast, policies to assist in objective decision-making are usually operational and can be objectively tested, e.g. password policy.

The term may apply to government, public sector organizations and groups, as well as individuals, Presidential executive orders, corporate privacy policies, and parliamentary rules of order are all examples of policy. It differs from rules or law. While the law can compel or prohibit behaviours (e.g. a law requiring the payment of taxes on income), policy merely guides actions toward those that are most likely to achieve the desired outcome.

A policy may refer also to the process of making important organizational decisions, including the identification of different alternatives such as programs or spending priorities, and choosing among them based on the impact they will have. Policies can be understood as political, managerial, financial, and administrative mechanisms arranged to reach explicit goals. In public corporate finance, a critical accounting policy is that for a firm/company or an industry that is considered to have a notably high subjective element, and that has a material impact on the financial statements.

It has been argued that policies ought to be evidence-based. An individual or organisation is justified in claiming that a specific policy is evidence-based if, and only if, three conditions are met. First, the individual or organization possesses comparative evidence about the effects of the specific policy in comparison to the effects of at least one alternative. Second, the specific policy is supported by this evidence according to at least one of the individual’s or organization’s preferences in the given policy area. Third, the individual or organization can provide a sound account for this support by explaining the evidence and preferences that lay the foundation for the claim.

Policies are dynamic; they are not just static lists of goals or laws. Policy blueprints have to be implemented, often with unexpected results. Social policies are what happens ‘on the ground’ when they are implemented, as well as what happens at the decision-making or legislative stage.