In a Democratic Country, Two Categories Make Up the Executive One that is elected by the people for a specific period is called the political executive. Political leaders who take the big decisions fall in this category. In the second category, people are appointed on a long-term basis. This is called the permanent executive or civil services.Persons working in civil services aie called civil servants. They remain in office even when the ruling party changes. These officeis work under political executive and assist them in ca [lying out the day-to-day administration. The civil servant is usually more educated and has more expert knowledge of the subject. The advisors working in the Finance Ministry know more about economics than the Finance Minister.

Sometimes the ministers may know very little about the technical matters that come under their ministry. This could easily happen in ministries like Defence, Industry, Health, Science and Technology, Mining, etc. the minister has the final say on these matters because in a democracy the will of the people is supreme.

The minister is elected by the people and thus empowered to exercise the will of the people on their behalf. He is finally answerable to the people for all the consequences of his decision. That is why the minister takes all the final decisions. The minister decides the overall framework and objectives in which decisions on policy should be made. The minister is not, and is not expected to be, an expert in the matters of her ministry. The minister takes the advice of experts on all technical matters. But very often experts hold different opinions or place before him moie than one option.

Depending on what the ovei all objective is, the minister decides. Actually this happens in any large organisation. Those who understand the overall picture take the most important decisions, not the experts. The experts can tell the route,