Public Administration Mains 2021 : Solved Paper-2 (Question:4)
Public Administration Mains 2021 : Solved Paper Question Paper-2 (Question-4)
Section A
- Exam Name: UPSC IAS Mains Public Administration (Paper-II)
- Marks: 250
- Time Allowed: 3 Hours
Q4.(a) As a constitutionally mandated body the Finance Commission stands at the centre of fiscal federalism. Evaluate the role of Finance Commission in ensuring just and equitable resource sharing among the states and the union.
To assess the role of the Commission in determining the financial relationship between the Centre and the States, certain facts have to be borne in mind. In the first place, it should be noted that the distribution of financial resources under the Constitution is loaded in favour of the Centre. Its sources of revenue are elastic like income tax, corporation tax, customs duties, excise duties, etc. Secondly, the Centre has the authority to create money by printing notes. Thirdly, it can raise loans both in the country and abroad without any limits. On the contrary, the revenue resources of the states are inelastic; the only elastic source for them is the sales tax. Secondly, most of the developmental functions like education, irrigation, agriculture, health and family planning, cooperation and similar others are entrusted under the Constitution to the states. Thirdly, the state governments have to provide money for local bodies, both rural and urban. Naturally, therefore, the states are in perpetual defi ci t. In this connect io n the inefficiency, the incompetence and the profligacy of the state governments in handling their finances has to be taken into account. It has to be admitted that, by and large, the State Governments, have failed to husband their financial resources wisely. The framers of our Constitution were aware of these facts and did provide for liberal transfer of financial resources from the centre to the state. The formation of the Finance Commission was thus thought necessary for main training the financial balance between the Centre and the States. It is also necessary to bear in mind the need for maintaining a regional balance between the backward areas and the forward areas. The Centre’s responsibilities thus are overriding. The Finance Commission is, thus, an instrument to correct these imbalances. Undoubtedly, the Commission plays a very important role in the matter.
(b) Recent market approaches to public services present serious challenges to traditional and state-sponsored public service values. Evaluate the statement in the context of Indian administration.
ANSWER: ONLY FOR COURSE MEMBERS
(c) The increasing criminalization of politics is a major threat to the basic fabric of Indian democracy. Comment.
ANSWER: ONLY FOR COURSE MEMBERS