In which year P.C. Hota Committee on Civil Services Reforms was constituted ?

The correct answer is B) 2004. The Government of India constituted the P.C. Hota Committee on Civil Services Reforms in 2004 under the chairmanship of P.C. Hota, a former Cabinet Secretary. Its brief was to review recruitment, training, cadre management and related service matters, and it submitted its report in 2005. That report-year gap is what makes the question tricky.

• A) 2003 is wrong because the committee had not yet been set up in that year.
• C) 2005 is the year the report was submitted, not the year the committee was constituted.
• D) 2006 is wrong because the reform process was well underway by then.

The core concept is the sequence of civil service reform bodies in India: Hota Committee (2004), followed by the Second ARC (2005 onwards), which later shaped the debate on lateral entry and the role of the UPSC. For Mains, this is a useful point in answers on administrative reform and accountability.

Trap: aspirants often pick 2005 because it is the year they associate with the committee's report. Always check whether the question asks for the year of constitution or the year of the report.