UPSC IAS Mains Public Administration Solved Exam Paper - 2011 (Paper -I)
UPSC IAS Mains Public Administration Solved Exam Paper - 2011
Paper - I
Section - A
Q1. Answer the following questions in not more than 200 words each: 20x3 = 60
(a) 'A crisis of credibility' in the administrative system can be overcome
only by 'reinventing government'. Comment.
(b) 'Media is a Parliament of citizens.' Explain.
(c) E-governance is the' final arrival of Max Weber's 'iron cage of
rationality', Discuss,
Answer:
(a) 'A crisis of credibility' in the administrative system can be overcome only by 'reinventing government'. Comment.
The New Public Management is a concept articulated by David Osborne and Ted Gaebler in their 1992 book, Reinventing Government. It applies the business customer service model to government.
Citizens are seen as customers and the administrative role is streamlined by converting policy alternatives into market choices. This approach focuses on results and promotes competition inside and outside government.
It focuses on the mission of government, and how to determine the collective public interest. They believe that there are considerations that should come before cost and efficiency, and that citizen participation should be a major factor in decisions.
They see the role of the administrator as very complex: synthesizing the needs of citizens, interest groups, elected representatives, etc.
The principles of Reinventing Government :
- Catalytic government: steering rather than rowing
- Community-owned government: empowering rather than serving
- Competitive government: injecting competition into service delivery
- Mission driven government: transforming rule-driven organisations
- Results-oriented government: funding outcomes, not inputs
- Customer-driven government: meeting the needs of the customer, not the bureaucracy
- Enterprising government: earning rather than spending
- Anticipatory government: prevention rather than cure
- Decentralized government: from hierarchy to participation and teamwork
- Market-oriented government: leveraging change through the market
(b) 'Media is a Parliament of citizens.' Explain.
In contemporary polity, the media serves as the Parliament of the citizens. The media has two main aspects, as a part of what is known as information industry and as a factor in the formulation of opinion.
In both respects, it has to act with responsibility to be effective or reliable. The media is still the main medium of mass communication. Besides its educative role, it can help in exposing the weaknesses of the democratic system and point out how these can be rectified.
Often the media struggles hard to unearth the administrative lapses, scandals and shortcomings, gives expression to public grievances and difficulties and reports on how policies are being carried out.
Most of the raw material for parliamentary questions, motions and debates comes from the daily Press and this is an important instrument on which a member of Parliament relies. Simultaneously the media keeps the people informed of what is happening in Parliament. This two-way traffic enables the media to maintain an important and strong link between the public and the Parliament.
Considering the space that is devoted in the media to parliamentary matters and the volume of information that is given, the media in India fulfils a great need, felt alike by the members of Parliament and the public. It is through the Press and other mass media that Parliament enjoys so much publicity and it is through them that Parliament gathers information which helps it to supervise and control the Executive effectively.The media is often called an extension of Parliament. The Legislators are actually so distant from what the citizens actually want and feel that it is the media that adopts their voice . Media has been quoted as the Fourth Estate and plays a crucial role in deepening democracy.
(c) E-governance is the' final arrival of Max Weber's 'iron cage of rationality', Discuss.
The iron cage refers to the increased rationalization inherent in social life. In developed democracies, there will be an evolution of an iron cage, which will be a technically ordered, rigid, dehumanized society.
Bureaucracy puts us in an iron cage, which limits individual freedom and potential. It is the way of the institution, where we do not have a choice anymore. Once capitalism came about, it was like a machine that you were being pulled into without an alternative option.
Weber gave features of bureaucracy as an instruments to achieve an indestructible and totally efficient organisation. The problem with present day bureaucracies is that they make 'instrumental values'(it was means for weber) ends in themselves ,which results in goal displacement. It is in this respect that, E-governace helps cleanse those aberrations in modern day bureaucracy making it truly rational and efficient, which in a way final arrival of the type of bureaucracy Weber conceived.
Q2.
(a) In the evolution of' the discipline of Public Administration, Minnowbrook
Conferences I, II and III reflect the discipline's reconceptualisation and its
changing values. Elucidate, 30
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(b) Critically examine conflict resolution according to M.P. Follett. Explain
how McGregor took forward her ideas in the context of complex organizations. 30
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Q3.
(a) Whereas Downs' model is largely dependent on a theory of psychological
motivation, Niskanen's model is framed by neo-classical thinking. In the light
of the above, discuss the public choice approach to decision-making. 30
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(b) The Systems Approach is relevant .even today for organisational analysis.
Discuss how Chester Barnard and David Easton adopted this approach in their
respective areas of study. 30
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Q4.
(a) Whereas 'value for money' audit aims at economy and 'performance' audit
seeks efficiency, 'social' audit goes beyond both, to examine the effectiveness
of a programme or activity. Examine this statement with suitable illustrations.(for
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(b) (i) Make a critical assessment of Dicey's understanding of the Rule of Law
and Droit Administratif. 15
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(ii) Make out a case for Delegated Legislation. 15
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SECTION B
Q5. Answer the following questions in not more than 200 words each: 20 x 3 = 60
(a) 'Budget is a series of goals with price-tags attached.' Explain.
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(b) 'Policy is being made .as it is being administered arid administered as it
is being made.' Comment.
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(c) 'Position Classification can be problematic. A serious complaint in its
practice is that it dehumanises the employee.' Discuss.
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Q6.
(a) Neither Edward Weidner nor Fred Riggs was able to describe the process of
development administration adequately. Explain the drawbacks and weaknesses in
their theoretical analyses. 30
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(b) Indicate the milestones in the story of development from the Nehruvian Model
to the Liberalisation Model. 30
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Q7.
(a) Civil Servants must be social moralists in action, living up to Paul
Appleby's dictum that 'responsible government is ethical government'. Examine
this statement in the light of rod governance. 30
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(b) Critically examine the following statements in the field of Policy Sciences.
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(i) The instrumentalist paradigm posits a conservative tendency In public
policy making. 15
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(ii) Dror's Optimal Model is a fusion of the economically rational model with
the extra-rational model. 15
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Q8.
(a) (i) What are the main functions of an O and M office? 15
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(ii) A system of Information ties planning and control by managers to the,
operational system of implementation. Elaborate. 15
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(b) An administrator uses the budget as a framework for communication and co-ordination, as well as for exercising administrative discipline throughout the administrative structure Explain. 30 (for Answer Join Public Administration Online Coaching)