IAS Mains Previous Years Paper : Public Administration (1991)

PAPER - I
SECTION A
1. Comment on any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) ‘Public Administration consists of all those operations having for their purpose the fulfilment or enforcement of Public Policy.’
(b) ‘The essence of delegation is to confer discretion upon others, to use their judgement in meeting specific problems within the framework of their duties.’
(c) ‘The Chief Executive is a trouble shooter, a supervisor, and a promoter of the future programme.’
(d) ‘A Public Corporation is a combination of Public ownership, public acountability and business managements for public ends.

2. Compare the relative merits of Maslow’s Theory of Human Needs and Hertzberg’s conception of Motivation and Hygiene Theory.

3. (a) ‘The identity and scope of Public Administration both as an academic discipline and government in operation, have always been matters of continuing debate and controversy.’ Discuss.
(b) ‘The Civil Servants must not forget that he is the servant, not the master of the community and that the official competence need not, and should not involve the loss of human touch.’ Examine.

4. Account for the growing tendency of centralization in the modern state.

SECTION B
5. Comment on any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) ‘It (Audit) is the process of ascertaining whether the administer has spent or is spending its fund in accordance with the terms of legislature which appropriated money.’
(b) ‘Every public policy is a government decision aimed at solving a problem of society and calls for collective approach to its planning and implementation.
(c) Development administration calls for some revolutionary changes in the attitudes, behaviour, and orientation and out-look of public services at all levels of administration.
(d) ‘The growth of comparative Public Administration is a continuing process and is of relevance for both operational and academic study of Public Administration.

6. (a) ‘These are widely different views not only about the context of 0 and M, but also concerning its relationship with other techniques concerned with improving effectiveness and efficiency. Discuss.
(b) Administrative Tribunals are authorities outside the ordinary court system which interpret and apply the laws when acts of Public Administration are attacked in formal suits or by other established methods.’ Discuss.

7. Examine the nature of parliamentary control over the National Finances in India.

8. ‘There has been an increasing emphasis on the need for policy formulation and policy analysis in order to ensure improved performance and to avoid ad hoc or fragmented approach to administration, particularly in the context of active role of the state in economic, social, defense and scientific areas.’ Discuss.

PAPER - II
SECTION A
1. Comment upon any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) ‘As’ the Fundamental Law of Administration of the land, the Indian Constitution lacks teeth in its institutional package to realize the landable ideals enshrined in the Constitution.’
(b) ‘The fine art of deception which the British Practised in the name of “Dyarchy” was too crude for it to pass the test of self-government. It hastened “Provinical Autonomy” but this too did not promote Parliamentary democracy of federalism.”
(c) ‘Systematic training of higher Civil Servants has been conducive to promote ability, skills and integrity of the Civil Services, but the objectives of training have not been realized to the desired extent.
(d) ‘District Planning in India has been the dream of the technocrat, the promise of the democrat and a vanishing trick of the political administration. The nature and working of the district planning machinery are a mute witness to these’

2. ‘The Prime Minister’s Secretariat-the youngest of the Central Secretariat Organizations-has grown taller than the Cabinet Secretariat.’ Discuss this, analysing the role and influence of the Prime Minister’s Office On the Administraton of the country.

3. (a) ‘In the case of the centre-tilt in the administrative relations between Centre and States, neither the causes are unknown nor are they incurable.’ Discuss .and Suggest measures to improve this relationship.
(b) ‘The Cabinet Committees in the Union Government are a proven asset to it as staff agencies.’ Elucidate.

4. ‘The company form of organization in public sector is said to be a fraud on the principle of parliamentary accountability. Yet it is the most popular enterprise in the field of public sector organization in India.’ Comment.

SECTION B
5. Comment on any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) ‘The office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India is a Constitutional device to ensure parliamentary accountability, federal supervision and expert administrative control over expenditure in the financial administration of the nation.’
(b) ‘The mega growth of urban areas unaccompanied by matching urban government reforms in which the ruralised State Governments are least interested, have left urban governance in India neither autonomous nor effective.’
(c) ‘The Politician-Civil Servant relationship in India has been a much complex phenomenon; it just cannot be tackled through mere structural remedies.’
(d) ‘Corruption and development are apparently not antagortic. But, speed in administration is not substitute for integrity. In Indian Administration neither speed nor integrity is showing an upward curve.’

6. ‘Welfare and development administration calls for qualities different from law and order administration.’ Examine, in the light of this statement, the crucial issues in tribal welfare and development administration, highlighting the role of the Government agencies involved in it.

7. (a) ‘The political will at higher levels seems hesitating to go whole hog for democratizing the entire field administration. So long as this trend would persist, we would be having successive Committee Reports pinpointing same ailments of Panchayati Raj and prescriptions to restore its health,’ Elucidate the achievements and failures of the Panchyarti Raj Institutions in the context of this statement.
(b) ‘The institution of Lokpal is still-born while that of Lokayuktas in states are ineffective. But strengthening of these institutions is a sure way of the development of democracy with integrity.’ Comment

8. Analyze the role and functions of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. What steps would you visualize to improve its performance of the function of financial management? Suggest measures to streamline its relationships with other Ministries?