IAS Mains Previous Years Paper : Public Administration (1990)

PAPER - I
SECTION A
1. Comment upon any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) ‘… the development, if not survival of civilization depends on the science and practice of administration.’
(b) U ‘Mayo was a behavioural scientist long before the term became popular.’
(c) ‘A leader must always adapt his behaviour to take account of the persons whom he leads.’
(d) ‘Public interest demands the maintenance of political impartiality in the civil services.’

2. Compare the relative merits of the classical theory of organization and the systems approach.

3. (a) ‘A management which takes its environment as kiven is pursuing a dangerous course.’ Comment on the environment of decision -making.
(b) ‘Without communication, there can be no organization’ discuss the importance of communication in Public Administration.

4. ‘Government has been slow in using modern methods for discovering executive talent’ Examine the validity of the statement with reference to recruitment to higher civil service in India. USA and France.

SECTION B
5. Comment upon any three of the following in not more than 200 words each
(a) ‘…..budget office nee1s accountants, statisticians and procedure analysis; it must provide a working climate in which these specialist skills are applied in a general context.’
(b) Work study comprises all ‘systematic activities concerned with the investigation, recording, measurement and improvement of work.’
(c) ‘…..administrative law, with its creature administrative tribunals, is like martial law, the negation of law.’
(d) ‘The-emerging discipline of policy science aims to work out solutions to problems in policy making.

6. (a) ‘What the auditors know is auditing which is not administration.’ Comment on the nature, importance and role of audit in administration.
(b) ‘Professional standards, ethics, philosophy, attitudes and ideology of public service are the means to promote accountability of Public Administration.’ Explain how career and no- Career Public Service is accountable to judiciary.

7. Discuss the major conceptual approaches to the study of Comparative Public Administration and explain how Max Weber is considered to be the foremost mentor in the field.

8. Explain how the concept of ‘clects’ and ‘bazaar-canteen’ model explain the working of the administrative system in a developing society. In this context compare the working of the administrative system in a developed and in a developing society.

PAPER - II
SECTION A
1. Comment upon any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) ‘The Preamble to the Constitution of India-contains the ideals to be achieved by the administration; the progress in regard to their realization has however been halting and patchy, the libertarian ideal on the whole gaining an upper hand over the egalitarian.’
(b) ‘The principles in Arthshastra do not command as much of our attention as the delineation of the machinery of administration in it ….. It reveals the authors mastery of detail, which could have developed only as a result of his actual experience of administration.’
(c) ‘The proposals of the Royal Commission on Decentralization (1907-1909) did little more than echo the resolution of May, 1882, yet even such entirely conservative reforms were postponed for a further ten years : the last of the years of opportunity for British statesmen and officials -and they passed away unused.’
(d) ‘Training is viewed as a paid holiday by a large number of public officials in India. It essentially betrays a crisis of motivation: in the process of administration, and on the part of both the trainers and trainees.’

2. ‘The planning commission of India in the post-Nehru period has conduced to better Centre-State relations, but (it has) not necessarily brought -about depolarization of the planning process.’ Disucss and illustrate.

3. (a) ‘The cabinet secretariat in India as an innovation in the central administration has been emulated from the British experience. Its fortunes have changed with the vicissitudes of the Prime Minister.’ Review the working of the Cabinet Secretariat since its inception in the light of the above statement
(b) ‘The recommendations of a Finance Commission, according to Constitutional provisions, do not constitute an award. These are recommendations the Finance Commission is an aid, and the executive may or may not accept its recommendations considering their feasibility and desirability of implementation on objective considerations.’ Comment.

4. Public Undertakings of the Central Government could be booked upon both as an asset and a liability. Which measures would you suggest to enhance their utility as an asset and to reduce their drag as a liability? Examine in depth the working of one central public undertaking in this context.

SECTION B
5. Comment upon any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) ‘The Present culture of the Indian police system appears as continuation of what obtained under the British regime. In public estimate the police appears as an agency more to implement and enforce the objectives of the Government in power as district from enforcing law as such as an independent and impartial agency.’
(b) ‘Whereas the control over expenditure, as well as on actual expenditure, incurred after the accounts are closed and audited, is essential, it appears to be neither necessary nor desirable to scrutinize the estimate before their inclusion in the budget in a parliamentary system of government.’
(c) ‘The Secretariat in State Government is an anachronism held over from the British regime. The sooner the secretariat disappears from the State administrative scene, the better it would be in the interests of improvement of administrative efficiency and promotion of equity between the officials at the levels of the secretariat and the Executive Departments.’
(d) ‘The line of demarcation between the spheres of Jurisdiction of the political executive and the Civil Servants get blurred more vividly as we descend from the Union to the State and further to the local level.’

6. How would you respond to the view that the welfare programmes for Women have touched the fringe of their problems? Account for the existing state of apathy of the administration. Examine the working of a government agency involved in the implementation of a women’s welfare programme.

7. (a) ‘The Lokayuktas are not social reformers, nor are they persons who do little and accomplish nothing. Experience also seems to indicate that there is no comprehensive knowledge of the duties and functions of the Lokayuktas and the scope of their activities, on the part of the ordinary members of the public. Discuss.
(b) ‘The designation “District Collector” is a misnomer at the present juncture, the correct designation would be “Chief District Administrator”. He is the pivot, in district administration, of the stability and progress of the district, but, his performance in both these respects depends on the co-operation of and cd-ordination with the officials in various departments in the district.’ Elucidate the statement in the light of the experience, particularly during the eighties and nineties.

8. The real problem with Panchayati Raj institutions is to promote efficiency in the implementation of the rural development programmes and to ensure social and economic justice to the poor in the country side.’ Examine the past experience of working of Panchayati Raj and Suggest specific constitutional measures to enforce genuine decentralization in the light of the above statement.