Question : What is judicial activism? How far has it been successful in exercising a check over administration?
(2005)
Answer : The necessity of judicial control over administration is no less important than legislative control over administration. The legislatures control over the policy and expenditure of the executive. The purpose of judicial control is to ensure the legality of administrative acts and thus protect the rights of citizens against any unlawful use of authority.
Today judiciary has assumed the role of a guardian of citizen’s private rights. The increase in powers and discretion of public officials, the ....
Question : “The main features of British governmental and administrative system continue to influence the present administrative system”. Comment.
(2004)
Answer : India remained under British domination and control for a very long time. Several administration changes have been introduced to suit new needs and requirements, yet on the whole the influence of British administrative system, altogether has not been wiped out. There are many areas in which influence of British administrative system on Indian administrative system has been felt. These are:
Question : “The Arthashastra is India’s oldest complete text on public Administration”. Comment.
(2003)
Answer : The first organized state administration in Indian history can be seen from the pre-Mauryan period as reported in Kautilya’s Arthashastra. His great work, the Arthashastra is the oldest text on public administration anywhere in the world and was written sometime between 521and 300 BC.
The Arthashastra is a classic on public administration dealing with the hierarchy of officials, the merits and failing of bureaucracy including corruption, geographical divisions of the empire, field administration through an all-purpose ....
Question : “The machinery of government designed in Kautilya’s Arthashastra does not exactly resemble our modern. Day polity, but it does contain some principles which could be said to be the part of today’s science of public administration.
(2001)
Answer : Modern government is a democratic government, responsible, responsive, accountable, efficient and effective serving and looking after the welfare of the people. The machinery of government designed by Kautilya is centred on monarchy and legitimized astrictive inequality. Kautilya outlines ten principles of governance which resembles modern day polity:
Question : “The period of British rule generated most of the structural and behavioural values of Indian Administration not by initiation but through interaction”.
(2000)
Answer : British rule in India have experienced great experimentation in the field of administration. Britishers introduced many new administrative like, most important is Indian Civil Service, similarly they have introduced parliamentary form of government, dyarchy, judiciary and cameralism and bicameralism in the parliamentary form of government. They have experimented with local self-government and municipalities.
Above all they have introduced cabinet secretariat for Governor-Generals office and there is office of Comptroller & Auditor General of India. District administration ....
Question : “The Planning Commission continues to exist but some would say that it is withering away, along with real planning itself.” Comment.
(1999)
Answer : India launched a government sponsored, 5-year plans in 1951. The objective of the Planning Commission was to make India self-reliant and free from the grip of un-employment and poverty within a period of 20 years. Now after about 50 years of planning the objective remains unfulfilled.
The planning process assumed an important role in view of changes in economic policies, reforms and structural adjustments. The 8th plan detailed at great length the role of planning in ....
Question : “Kautilya’s Arthashastra has significant relevance to the contemporary Indian Administration.” Comment.
(1998)
Answer : The Mauryan era of ancient Indian history gave the world a significant treatise, the Arthashastra of Kautilya.
The first organized state administration in Indian history can be seen from the pre-Mauryan period as reported in Kautilya’s Arthashastra. Arthashastra is a science of government. It contains Kautilya’s philosophy of state administration. Promotion of public security and welfare was considered as important aspects of the state policy and the king was responsible for the ‘security’ and ‘welfare’ of ....
Question : “It is not wholly correct to suggest that British rule had seriously attempted to bring about unity in India’s administration.” Comment.
(1996)
Answer : The British administration in India started with the establishment of East India Company in 1959. The company’s rule continued upto 1857 and the Government of India’s Act, 1858, the control was transferred to crown.
The administrative policy of East India Company had three objectives to increase the company’s profit from trade, to strengthen the British hold over India and to make these possessions profitable to the British at every step. After 1858, the administration of India ....
Question : “The purpose of Clive’s famous ‘double government’ was to mask company’s sovereignty.”
(1995)
Answer : The famous “double government” meant that while the East India company took over directly the responsibility of defending the territories of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa the collection of revenue was the responsibility of the rulers of these 3 states. This was suggested by Robert Clive the then Governor General of East India Company.
There were many reasons behind this notion of ‘dual government’. The East India Company was just setting its roots deep in India after ....
Question : “Under the company’s rule a distinction was drawn between Regulation & Non- Regulation Provinces”.
Answer : Surprisingly though it may sound, it was the provinces, the earlier nomenclature of the states, which first came into existence in British India, not the Central Government. Indeed a kind of Central Government could make its appearance, only in Charter Act in 1773, long after the 3 presidencies of Fort William in Bengal, the presidency of St. George, Madras, the presidency of Bombay had come into existence. The first named presidency was the largest of ....
