Indian Administration Questions and Answers

Answer: B

After the Chief Ministers' Conference of 1961 the creation of three new All India Services was resolved: the Indian Service of Engineers (Irrigation, Power, Buildings and Roads), the Indian Medical and Health Service and the Indian Forest Service (i, ii and iv). The Constitution allows new all-India services under Article 312.

The Indian Audit and Accounts Service is a central service and not an all-India one, which is why statement (iii) is wrong, and the codes containing it fail.

Answer: D

The correct statement in the key is that a strike by civil servants constitutes a breach of discipline. The conduct rules bar government servants from resorting to or abetting a strike, so a strike invites disciplinary action.

It is not stated to be prohibited by the transaction of business rules, which deal with how government work is conducted. The conduct rules prohibit strikes, they do not mention a right to strike. 'Prohibited by law' is not the accurate description, since the bar is in the service rules.

Answer: D

All four statements are correct (Articles 323A and 323B). Parliament may make laws for adjudication of disputes by administrative tribunals, including service disputes of persons appointed to public services. The jurisdiction and authority of each tribunal is specified in the law that creates it.

Article 323B allows tribunals for other matters as well, among them foreign exchange, import and export. So (iv) is also correct, and each shorter code leaves out a true statement.

Answer: B

The Standing Committees (department-related committees) consider demands for grants and make reports on them to the Houses, and consider the annual reports of the Ministries and report on them (i, ii and iii). This gives Parliament a detailed look at departments' work.

Statement (iv) is wrong. They examine national basic long-term policy documents presented to the Houses, not short-term ones. So the codes that contain (iv) are wrong, and a code with only (i) and (ii) leaves out the annual reports.

Answer: B

The correct statements are (ii), (iii) and (iv).

Under Article 312 Parliament may by law create a new All India Service if it is necessary or expedient in the national interest, and the Constitution expressly allows an All India Judicial Service to be created in this way.

Statement (i) is wrong because the Council of States must pass a resolution supported by not less than two thirds of the members present and voting, not a simple majority. All the options containing (i) are therefore wrong.

Answer: A

Article 247 of the Constitution empowers Parliament to provide by law for the establishment of additional courts for the better administration of laws made by Parliament or of any existing laws with respect to a matter in the Union List. Articles 248 and 249 deal with residuary powers of legislation and the power of Parliament to legislate on a state subject in the national interest, and Article 256 with the obligation of states to follow Union laws. So Article 247 is the answer. Article 247 is found in Part XI of the Constitution, which deals with the relations between the Union and the states.

Answer: A

The Royal Commission on Public Service in India (1912) was the Islington Commission (ii). The Royal Commission on the Superior Civil Services in India (1923) was the Lee Commission (i). The Secretariat Reorganization Committee is the committee headed by Girija Shankar Vajpayee (iv). The Expenditure Reforms Commission was headed by K.P. Geethakrishnan (iii). The matching is a-ii, b-i, c-iv, d-iii, which is code A. The other codes interchange the two royal commissions or the two committees.

Answer: C

The statement that the Prime Minister's Office arranges the agenda for Cabinet meetings is not correct, since this is done by the Cabinet Secretariat under the Cabinet Secretary. The PMO was known earlier as the Prime Minister's Secretariat, it serves as a think-tank for the Prime Minister, and it is said to have become a centre of economic activity. So the third option is the answer.

Answer: D

The employee-employer relation covers the work environment (i), disputes between employees and the employer (ii), work schedules (iii) and health and safety (iv). All four are matters that come under it, so the last option is right. The options which leave out one or more of these items are incomplete, since each is a subject of the relation between the employee and the employer. It is a wide subject, and these items are among the standard topics of industrial relations.

Answer: B

The Sixth Pay Commission recommended that performance related pay should be given out of organisational savings generated by increased efficiency (ii) and that it should be budget neutral (iii). The statements that it should be made a part of the budget (i) and that a special head should be created in the budget (iv) are not its observations. So only (ii) and (iii) are correct, which is the second option.