UPSC Mains 2019 Public Administration Optional Paper I questions

28 questions from the Civil Services (Main) Examination 2019. Official UPSC paper (PDF) · All Public Administration Optional PYQs

1. "Public Administration is constantly being reinvented because it is contextual." Elaborate.

2. "Bureau pathology denigrates competence in organizations." Explain.

3. "If there is ever to be a science of Public Administration it must derive from an understanding of man's behaviour." Explain.

4. "Chester Barnard in 'The Functions of the Executive' injected 'the social' in the study of organization. Explain in this context how the executive is expected to play a much greater role than a manager."

5. "Delegated legislation has become a strategic tool in the hands of the executive despite its utility." Comment.

6. "Governance is neither a paradigm nor a panacea for all the ills of government. It may be a more useful approach when other methods fail in providing public service." Critically evaluate.

   20 marks

7. With the entry of the concept of 'good governance' the discipline of Public. Administration has shed its statist character. Explain.

   5 marks

8. Has New Public Management failed in promoting a democratic polity? Analyse in the contexts of individual as a citizen and individual as a customer.

   5 marks

9. "Globalization has constructed the administrative state to save and serve corporate power structure." Discuss how transnational corporations impact government and public administration in the contemporary era.

   20 marks

10. "Red light and Green light theories provide contrasting approaches to the role of administrative law." Which of the two theories will be effective in achieving the eaves. of administrative law? Justify your choice.

11. "The advent of the regulatory regimes indicates the demise of the arbitrator state." Comment.

    5 marks

12. Contingency theory of organization is founded on the interplay of 'external fit' and 'internal fit'. Discuss.

    20 marks

13. Mary Parker Follett traced the foundational value of business and enterprise on her way to understand the organism ae overnmental machinery. Comment.

14. TI "Media, the fourth estate, is in chains." Examine the statement in the context of govern- mental accountability.

    5 marks

15. Contractualism has become a favourite policy of the neoliberal forces, but not without its share of controversy. Argue.

    10 marks

16. The failure to discard its elitist character and west-centric orientation has led to the decline of Comparative Public Administration. Explain.

17. "Maximum social gain" in public policy making is an attractive goal which is rarely; found in practice. Discuss.

    10 marks

18. A narrow view of information comes in the way of successful implementation of MIS in organizations. Analyse.

19. Has e-governance led to debureaucratization and decentralization? Assess its impact on bureaucratic inertia.

20. "Development dynamics is marked by a dilemma: the concept of development has a built-in participatory orientation but the practice of development has been inherently exclusionary." Discuss.

    20 marks

21. A more effective system of performance appraisal should acknowledge the subjective J elements in it and be less obsessed with the objective criteria. Elucidate.

    5 marks

22. Is William Niskanen's "Budget Maximising Model" relevant today? Argue.

    5 marks

23. Performance measurement remains an emerging issue but it is relegated to exclusively monitor and assess the use of funds. In light of the statement discuss various non- financial parameters of performance measurement to evaluate public sector organiza- tions.

    20 marks

24. The imperatives of administrative ethics are necessarily an antidote to "I was only obeying the orders" argument by public officials. Explain.

    5 marks

25. Discuss the major areas of change in the Tax-Reforms of the post liberisation era. How do you justify the importance of the direct tax reform in this context?

    5 marks

26. In a society marked by social inequity and gender inequality women self-help groups are bound to play a marginal role. Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer.

    20 marks

27. In the era of increasing stress on productivity work study provides the road ahead for the administrators. Identify the positive attributes of work study in the light of the statement.

    5 marks

28. In the absence of a merit-based, fair and objective civil service a more partisan and corrupt government will emerge. Is the statement justified? Give reasons.

    5 marks