With reference to the Union Government, consider the following statements : ​ 1. N. Gopalaswamy Iyengar Committee suggested that a minister and a secretary be designated solely for pursuing the subject of administrative reform and promoting it. ​ 2. In 1970, the Department of Personnel was constituted on the recommendation of the Administrative Reforms Commission, 1966, and this was placed under the Prime Minister's charge. ​ Which of the statements given above is/are correct? ​

Only statement 2 is correct, so the answer is B.

• Statement 1 is wrong. The Gopalaswamy Ayyangar committee of 1949 dealt with the organisation of the central government and the Cabinet structure. The proposal for a dedicated minister and secretary for administrative reform is associated with the later reform debate, especially the Administrative Reforms Commission of 1966. Treat the 1949 attribution as the trap.
• Statement 2 is correct. The Administrative Reforms Commission (1966), chaired by Morarji Desai and later by K. Hanumanthaiya, recommended a separate personnel agency. The Department of Personnel was set up in 1970 and placed under the Prime Minister's charge, reflecting the view that central personnel policy needed political-level oversight. It later evolved into the Department of Personnel and Training, which still sits under the PM through the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

Core concept: the institutional history of central personnel and administrative reform, which links to Mains GS-II questions on civil service reform, the role of the PMO, and the evolution of the Union government's administrative machinery.

Trap: aspirants often assume that every administrative reform committee of the 1940s and 1960s made the same recommendations. Match each recommendation to the specific committee and year.