IAS Mains Previous Year Paper Public Administration (2010)

Paper I:

Section - A

1. Answer any three of the following questions in not more than 200 words each: 20×3=60
(a) " Not merely governance but good governance is the key factor in achieving the United Nations Millennium Goals (2000)." Explain.
(b) " In McGregor's view, the managerial cosmology meaningfully addresses the understanding of manager and his role perceptions." Explain.
(c) " The successful management leaders are found in Likerts's 'System-4' approach to organistational leadership." Examine.
(d) " The study of administration shgould start from the base of management rather than the foundation of law." Explain.

2. (a) " Simon's indentifying decision-making as the core field of public administration appears logically acceptable but his positivist underpinning is problematic." Critically examine the statement. 40
(b) "New Public Management is dead; long live digital era of governance." Comment. 20

3. Explain the impact of privatisation on public administration with special reference to 20×3=60 (a) the issue of user fees.
(b) public - private partnership. (c) outsourcing technique.

4. Explain the basic principles underlying Citizen's Charter with special reference to 20×3=60
(a) its administrative philosophy
(b) promoting public accountability.
(c) ensuring standards of public service.

SECTION B

5. Answer any three of the following question questions in not more than 200 words each: 20×3=60
(a) " The concept of development is multi-dimensional and ever-expanding." Explain.
(b) " The Prismatic model of Riggs is equally applicable to developing as well as developed society." Comment.
(c) " The market has become the new icon of developmentalism." Comment.
(d) " Public administration can be portrayed as a whell of relationships bfocussed on the formulation and implementation of public policy." Explain.

6. (a) Explain the 'Peter Principle' in respect of promotion policy in a hierachical organisation. 20
(b) Discuss in this connection the case for and against promotion based on seniority. 40

7. (a) Distinguish fully between the syndicate method, role playing method, and T-Group training method in personnel management. 40
(b) Do you think that there is a sort of paradox between e-Governance and good governance ? Explain fully. 20

8. (a) Distingguish between PPBS and performance budgeting. 20
(b) Briefly discuss the ensuring ethics in public service as recommended in the nolan Committee Report (1994). 20
(c) " Cost-benefit analysis is a very unsatisfactory view of evaluating public policy." Comment. 20

Paper II: SECTION- A

1. Attempt the follwoing in not more than 200 words each:- 20×3=60
(a) " The rule of kings depends primarily on written orders...." Why did Kautilya facour Codification of Laws ?
(b) Is is correct to state that " One of the major reasone for the failur of many .... public sectors undetakins was due to departures from the original concept of autonomy " ?
(c) Does the emergence of an Empowered Group of Ministers at the Central level impair the doctrine of Cabinet resposibility ?

2.(a) It is said that the British made a significant contribution towords modernising the Indian Administrative System on a ' rational-legal' basis. Justify the assessment with reference to the period from 1830 to 1865. 30
(b) Comment on the following statements:- 30
(i) " The more development an administrative system become the greater the likelihood that it would have developmental effects."
(ii) " The thrust of development administrtion failed to energise the Indian bureaucracy."

3. (a) With reference to India, discuss the assertion that administrative reforms are multi- dimensional and need to be substantiated by reforms in other related areas of state action. 30
(b) The prevalence of multiple channels for transfer of ressources form the Centre to the States is stated to have compounded the problems of federal fiscal arrangements. Discuss. 30

4. (a) " In an era of hung parliaments the power of the President expands, nore so when the incumbent decides to be assertive." Comment on the statement with reference to the situation in India during the last two decades. 30
(b) "...... Judges and Courts have creatively reinterpreted their statutory authority and expanded their own power and enhanced btheir standing visa-vis the legislature and executive." Critically examine this assesment. 30

SECTION - B

5. Comment on any THREE of the following in not more than 200 words each:- 3×20=60
(a) " Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has undergone several changes since its inception in 1980s."
(b)" Civil service neutrality is a fiction. How any thinking person can be neutral?"
(c) States with a record of good governance, it is argued by spokespersons of some states, lost their earlier sahre from the Finance Commission's award.

6.(a) Explain the context and perpectives of the following statements:- 30
(i) The Planning Commission is " an armchair adviser".
(ii) The Planning Commission should reinvent itself as a systems reforms commission in the backdrop of changes global and domestic scenarios.

7. Comment on each of the following in not more than 200 words each:- 3×20=60
(a) " Non - Governmental Organisations play a catalytic role in enabling communities to define their own priorities..."
(b) The optimism expressed by the proponents of the Financial Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003, in ensuring fiscal discipline appears to be unwarranted.
(c) " The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) is one of the biggest reforms- linked development programmes taken up by the Government."

8. (a) It is argued that the Bhopal gas disaster and the response pattern to it reflect multipla vulnerabilities relating to systems of corporate social responsibility governance at local, state and central levels, and legal safeguards and liabilities. Comment on this assesment. 30
(b) With the creation of new regulatory agencies in the wake of liberalisation, overlapping jurisdictions and conflicts became the new trend. Is there need for the creation of a super-regulator or unified regulator ? 30