(Exam Paper) UPSC IAS Mains 2006: Public Administration

Paper- I

Section A

1. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) “If public administration is to play a major legitimising role in governing our complex society, it needs to be more fully conceptualised.” Discuss.
(b) “Simon’s work has had major implications for the study of public administration and the practice of public administration professionalism.” Comment.
(c) “The main problem with Mary Parker Follett’s work is that her idealism is showing” Explain.
(d) “Autonomy and accountability in Public Enterprises cannot walk together”. Explain.

2. Critically examine the Classical Science of Administration with special reference to its criticism by Dwight Waldo and Robert Dahl.

3. Define the term ‘civil society’. How does civil society influence the public policy ?

4. “Today the content of administrative law is driven primarily by the scope of public administrative activity.” Explain.

Section B

5. Answer any three of the following questions in not more than 200 words each:
(a) “The rise of information technology is an opportunity to overcome historical disabilities”. Explain.
(b) “Audit continues to be considered as something alien, something extraneous and something of the nature of an impediment.” Explain.
(c) “Nothing comes across more strongly than the great naivete about policy implementation.” Discuss.
(d) “Successfully implementing budgeting approach _ requires favourable incentive structures.” Discuss.

6. Do you agree with the view that development administration has in recent years lost its impetus without making any significant intellectual breakthrough ? Discuss.

7. To what extent has the human relations movement contributed to the knowledge and practice within the field of personnel administration ?

8. Discuss the main approaches to increase the efficiency of government and public administration.

Paper - II

(Exam Paper) UPSC IAS Mains 2005: Public Administration

Paper- I

Section A

1. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:

(a) “Administrative question are not political questions.” Discuss.
(b) “Organisation is’ a system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more persons.” Comment.
(c) In Follett’s view, “authority belongs to the job and stays with the job.” Explain.
(d) “The failure of classical science of administration lies in its capacity to confront theory with evidence.” Discuss.

2. In what ways and how can information technology play a crucial role in effective government-citizen interaction in the context of good governance ?

3. “Today the content of administrative law is driven primarily by the scope of public administration activity.” Explain.

4. What is judicial activism ? How far has it been successful in exercising a check over administration ?

Section B

5. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:

(a) “Development administration is starved for theories which will guide the pooling of empirical knowledge, orient new research, and recommend administrative policy.” Explain.
(b) “If positions are the raw material of classification, class is the operating unit.” Discuss.
(c) “The budget is an instrument of coordination.” Explain.
(d) “No science of public administration is possible unless.... there is a body of comparative studies from which it may be possible to discover principles and generalities that transcend national boundaries and peculiar historical experiences.” Discuss.

6. Why do public organisations evaluate employees’ performance ? How can performance evaluation systems affect employees’ behaviour ? How can administration effectively evaluate employees?

7. Give an assessment of the processes of policy formulation and discuss the problems of policy implementation.

8. Why does the issue of budgeting as politics versus budgeting as analysis remain important in the budgeting process? Do you agree that some synthesis of the two positions seems possible? Illustrate.

Paper  - II

(Exam Paper) UPSC IAS Mains 2004: Public Administration

Paper- I

Section A

1. Answer any THREE of the following questions in not more than 200 words each:

(a) “Bureaucracy can exist only where the whole service of the state is removed from the common political life of the people, its chiefs as well as rank and file. Its motives, its objectives, its policy, its standards must be bureaucratic.” - Discuss.
(b) “Motivation theory is not synonymous with behaviour theory. The motivations are only one class of determinants of behaviour while behaviour is almost always motivated, it is also almost always biologically, culturally and situationally determined as well.” Comment.
(c) Delegated Legislation is not absolute. Explain.
(d) Public Policy is not an independent variable and human history shows little evidence of systematic learning from policy experience. Discuss.

2. Democracy and rood governance are contradictions in terms. Discuss with examples.

3. Weber’s ideas of impersonal detachment and esprit de corps are incompatible. Explain.

4. Discuss the legal and political implications of Right to information. Is it a feasible concept in the developing countries ?

Section B

5. Answer any THREE of the following questions in not more than 200 words each:

(a) Policy is a decision driven model of research use. Explain.
(b) Civil Service neutrality is a thing of the Past. Discuss.
(c) Recruitment is the backbone of Public Administration. Explain.
(d) The administrator needs autonomy and discretion in much the same way as the politician needs control and intervention. Discuss.

6. What is Information Technology ? Describe its impact on Public Administration.

7. Explain the meaning, significance and Models of Comparative Public Administration.

8. Describe the changing profile of Development Administration and identify its efforts towards people’s empowerment.

Paper- II

(Exam Paper) UPSC IAS Mains 2003: Public Administration

Paper- I

Section A

1. Answer any THREE of the following in not more than 200 words each:

(a) “The advent of the concept of “roll back of the state” since the nineteen eighties has been altering the role of Public Administration but certainly not diminishing its central place in human society.” Discuss.
(b) “Weberian model of bureaucracy lacks empirical validity when applied to modern democratic administration.” Examine.
(c) “The ‘New Public Management’ (NPM) is an incarnation of a new model of public sector management in response of the challenges of liberalization, international competitiveness and technological changes.” Explain.
(d) “ ‘Citizens’ charter’ is the most important innovation in the context of promotion of customer-orientation of administration.” Discuss.

2. Give an account of major landmarks in the growth of the discipline of Public Administration in the 20th century. What are the possible trends in its growth in the first decade of 21st century ?

3. Account for the increasing corruption in Administration. Suggest remedies to curb administrative corruption.

4. What is morale ? State its significance and suggest methods to foster and sustain morale in an organization.

Section B

5. Answer any THREE of the following in not more than 200 words each:

(a) “Organisations today seem to invest in information and information systems, but their investments often do not seem to make sense.” Comment.
(b) “Development Administration has two important aspects viz. ‘the administration of development’ and ‘the development of administration’.” Explain.
(c) “Training is practical education in any profession, not only to improve skills but also to develop attitudes and scheme of values necessary for effective performance.” Elaborate.
(d) “Legislative controls over finances are inadequate and incomplete.” Comment.

6. Examine the needs and facts of administrative reforms in the fast changing scenario of the 21st century. What are the obstacles to administrative reforms? Give suggestions to overcome them.

7. Comment on the role of public administration in policy making and its implementation. What are the other factors influencing the policy process ?

8. What are the various institutional devices available for the redressal of citizen’s grievances against the excesses and malfunctioning of administration ? How successful have they been?

Paper - II

(Exam Paper) UPSC IAS Mains 2001: Public Administration

Paper- I

Section A

1. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:

(a) “Publicness” of Public Administration in an ideal democratic government remains the ultimate value in theory and practice.’ Elucidate.
(b) Minmobrook Conference in USA identified four features crucial to ‘new public administration’. Explain.
(c) ‘The nature and role of communication in administration indicates that “Communication is authority”.’ Comment.
(d) Critically examine the models of Max Weber and Chester I Barnard with reference to ‘bureaucratic authority’.

2. The ‘decision-making scheme’ and ‘satisfying model’ of Herbert A Simon is the major component of administrative theory. Comment.

3. Why do all administrative organizations consider ‘hierarchy’ as the many splendoured technique ? Discuss.

4. In what respects, the powers of proposed institution of Lok Pal in the Bill already introduced in Indian Parliament, will strengthen the institution as compared to Parliamentary Commissioner of UK?

Section B

5. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:

(a) ‘The inculcation of belief in the real existence of a common purpose is an essential executive function.’ Comment.
(b) Burekehead says : ‘Budget in Government is a vehicle of fiscal policy and a tool of management.’ Examine this statement.
(c) Critically comment on Riggsian Prismatic Sala model of administration of developing societies. To what extent Indian Administrative system exhibits prismatic characteristics ?
(d) ‘Statutory External auditing is one of the protectors of democracy in the parliamentary form of Government.’ Comment.

6. A fairly adequate analysis of the Administrative Organization in Government is possible when we treat ‘bureaucracy’ as a ‘structure’ and ‘administration’ as a ‘function’. Discuss.

7. What techniques the Government of India have employed to evaluate (appraise) the performance of senior level employees, i.e., Class I and Class II? Are you satisfied with these techniques?

8. Critically examine the monetary and fiscal policies of Government of India in the decade 1991 to 2001. Do you think world financial institutions had a role to play in opening Indian economy to global forces? Give reasons to substantiate your argument.

Paper- II

(Exam Paper) UPSC IAS Mains 2000: Public Administration

Paper- I

1. Comment on any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) “Administrative efficiency is enhanced by keeping at a minimum the number of organizational levels through which a matter must pass before it is acted upon.” – (Herbert A. Simon)
(b) “A science of administration would be a body of formal statements describing invariant relation­ships between measurable objects, units, or ele­ments. Unquestionably, administrative research has produced definite precepts and hypotheses that are applicable to concrete situation.” - (Fritz Morstein Marx)
(c) … ‘a more through consideration leads to the understanding that communication, authority, specialisation and purpose are all aspects com­prehended in coordination.” (Chester I. Barnard)
(d) “Political environment conditions administrative system.” - (F. W. Riggs)

2. …. ‘The paradigms of public administration may be understood in terms of locus and focus.” - Golembiewski
In the light of the above statement describe the “five-paradigms” of Nicholas Henry about the evolution of the discipline of public administration.

3. “Information constitutes the life-blood of the functioning of organization.” In the light of this statement, explain the utility and importance of communication in decision-making.

4. What opportunities are available to All India Services and state services in career development? Do you agree that days of generalists in modern administrative state are numbered?

Section B

5. Write short notes on any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:
(a) Budget as an- instrument of socio-economic transformation.
(b) Judicial control over administration in India and concept of judicial activism.
(c) Effectiveness and utility of Central and State Administrative Tribunals.
(d) Work study and work-measurement in Indian Administration.

6. Give reasons for the failure of Government of India to introduce the performance programme budgetary technique in Union Ministries. What type of budgetary system is being currently practised in India and why ?

7. “The weakest aspect of Indian Administrative System is utter disregard of accountability.” Examine the current mechanism for enforcing accountability. What steps are necessary to make it more effective ?

8. Critically examine the approach and methodology adopted by Fred W. Riggs in his study of prismatic and sala societies. What is valid-content of Raj Krishna’s criticism of refraction?

Paper -II

(Exam Paper) UPSC IAS Mains 2002: Public Administration

Paper- I

Section A

1. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:

(a) “ Though there at certain’ points of similarity between public and private administration yet no private organisation can ever be exactly the same as a public one.” - Examine.
(b) “Civil society exists to ensure that government does provide good governance.” Discuss.
(c) “Public corporations are not an end in themselves but an extension of the government activities designed to promote public welfare.” - Substantiate.
(d) “Dicey was wrong not only in his concept of the rule of law, but he also overlooked the significance of the administrative law.” - Comment.

2. Describe the evolution of the discipline of public administration with special emphasis on post­1970 developments.

3. Explain the contribution of George Elton Mayo to the development of the Human Relations School. How did behavioural scientists modify his basic findings ?

4. Compare Abraham Maslow’s theory of motivation and Herzberg’s motivation - hygiene theory. Do you think that they are universally applicable ? If so, why ? If not, why not?

Section B

5. Answer any three of the following in not more than 200 words each:

(a) “Development administration is concerned with maximising innovation for development.” - Discuss.
(b) “Public policy is what politics is about.” - Substantiate.
(c) “The doctrine of political neutrality and anonymity is no more relevant to modern civil service.” - Comment.
(d) “Auditing in Government is an exercise in post-mortem.” - Examine.

6. Analyse the constitutional, political and operational dimensions of employer - employee relations. What are your suggestions to bring about a satisfactory relationship between them ?

7. How did Fred W. Riggs conceptualise the interactions between administrative systems and their environment?

8. Examine the government budget as an instrument of public policy and a tool of legislative control.

Paper- II

UPSC Mains number of candidates with literature of an Indian Language/Foreign Language as an Optional Subject 2015-2016

APPENDIX

UPSC Mains number of candidates with literature of an Indian Language/Foreign Language as an Optional Subject 2014-2015