(Paper) IAS Mains Previous Years Paper : Public Administration (1986)

IAS Mains Previous Years Paper : Public Administration (1986)

PAPER - I
SECTION A
1. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) What are the modifications, if any, suggested by Hertzberg to Mallow’s theory of motivation? Do you think Mallow’s Theory of Motivation as irrelevant in present industrial environment?
(b) Narrate the sources of inter group conflicts and state whether a manager should be indifferent to, or encourage or discourage conflicts. Give reasons.
(c) How do you select an optimum strategy through Decision Trees Method? Illustrate.
(d) How does one determine the turning points of business cycle? Give some leading, coincident and lagging time series.

2. How will you translate business strategy into action by the use of MBO instrument? Explain with an illustration.

3. Give your assessment of the impact of recent changes in long term fiscal policy and the latest annual Union Budget on enterprise decisions and plans in India.

SECTION B
PART — I (Marketing Management)
4. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) Differentiate ‘Remarketing’ and ‘Demarcating’ tasks with examples.
(b) Prepare a format for marketing plan for any one of consumer durables.
(c) Describe the selling process followed by a sales-person as also required corresponding skills?
(d) Define ‘counter-trade’ and assess its impact on India’s foreign trade.

5. Discuss the relationship between product life cycle and marketing strategy giving appropriate illustration.

6. How do Indian Demographic and Geographic Environments affect marketers in India?

PART—II (Production and Materials Management)
7. Answer any three of the following in not more than 20(J words each:
(a) How do you design line layout for product focused systems? Illustrate.
(b) Explain equipment preventive maintenance policy.
(c) Define ‘pipeline’ inventories, ‘buffer’ inventories and ‘Karban’ system. How do these systems affect the efficiency and cost of a productive system?
(d) What is ‘QUEUING’ concept? Mention some commonly known situations where this concept is used.

8. Briefly mention the relative costs and the methods of prediction and forecasting used for production and facilities planning. -

9. Describe the nature of plan and control operations by aggregate planning for production.

PART—III (Financial Management)
10. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) How do banks and investors evaluate short and long- term solvency ratios respectively?
(b) What are the financial implications of “written down value” and “straight-line” methods of depreciation of fixed assets?
(c) What are the determinants of working capital and how ‘hedging’ approach is incorporated?
(d) Differentiate “zero-based” and “performance” budgeting systems.

11. What are the most acceptable criteria for investment decisions? Critically examine the commonality or differences between public and private enterprises investment decisions.

12. What are the sources of industrial financing in India? Evaluate briefly their impact on industrial growth.

PART—IV (Personnel Management)
13. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) Will you agree with the view that (TWI) “Training within industry” can be considered a good substitute for all training programmes for development of manpower in industry? Give reasons.
(b) Critically examine the likely impact of Fourth Pay Commission Report on wages and salaries in industry in India.
(c) Organization morale is more in private enterprises than in public enterprises in India.” Discuss and comment.
(d) Are “Quality Circles” relevant in Indian industry?

14. “Trade unionism is more predominant than work ethics in Indian industries.” Elaborate and suggest ways to improve work ethics.
15. What are the labour welfare and social security schemes introduced under Labour Legislations in India? Discuss their impact on labour productivity.

PAPER - II
SECTION A
1. Comment on any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) ‘If our civilization breaks down, it will be mainly a V breakdown of administration.’
(b) ‘It is a mistake to leave the hierarchic channel without good reason, but it is a much greater one to follow it when doing so will harm the undertaking, in certain circumstances, this can be a very serious mistake indeed’.
(c) ‘It should be emphasized that no training programme will produce a finished administrator…But it has been demonstrated that training will make one more adept in the practice of the art of administration and will shorten the road to the goal of competency.’
(d) ‘Modern administration is not so modern after all that in the past there was not the detailed consideration, the organized attention, the elaborately planned programmes and the high degree of professionalism that we find today.’

2. (a) ‘Although POSDCORB is a useful abbreviation for administrative functions, many authorities have not accepted it.’ Explain.
(b) Discuss the utility of Motivation with regard to Central Government employees.

3. (a) Examine the variables that influence the exact length of the Span of Control in administration.
(b) ‘Without proper communication no organization can be efficient’. Elucidate the statement and briefly indicate the difficulties of communication.

4. (a) Examine the methods and limitations of judicial control over administration.
(b) Examine the utility of behavioural approach to the study of public administration. Indicate
briefly its limitations.

SECTION B
5. Comment on any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) ‘The separation between Politics’ and Administration in India has become an outworn credo.’
(b) ‘The All-India Services are becoming suspect in the eyes of the States ruled by political parties adopting a leftist or regional stance.’
(c) ‘The Central Secretariat must exist only as a policymaking institution and no more’.
(d) ‘The wisdom that is needed among Indian administration for the direction of affairs is not an expert technique but a balanced equilibrium It consists not in the possession of specialized knowledge but in a power to utilize its results at the right moment and in the right direction.’

6. (a) ‘The position of the National Development Council (N.D.C.) has come to approximate to that of a super cabinet of the entire Indian federation, a cabinet functioning for the Government of India as well as for the Government of all States.’ Explain.
(b) Examine the relevance of the structural changes recommended by the A.R.C. in the Central administrative mechanism.

7. (a) ‘The District Collector is an overworked official.’ Elucidate.
(b) ‘The local institutions in the States are passing through an unprecedented crisis.’ Explain.

8. (a) Examine the methods by which the Parliament is able to exercise its control over the Public Undertakings in India. Are those methods adequate?
(b) ‘The Ministry of Finance occupies a unique position.’ Explain.