State and Local Administration Questions and Answers

Answer: D

Both statements are incorrect: the numbers are reversed.

The Eleventh Schedule, added by the 73rd Amendment (1992), lists 29 subjects for the Panchayats, from agriculture and land improvement to the maintenance of community assets. The Twelfth Schedule, added by the 74th Amendment, lists 18 subjects for the Municipalities, from urban planning to regulation of slaughterhouses.

Statement (1) gives the Panchayats 18 and statement (2) gives the Municipalities 29, so both are wrong. That rules out the options saying one or both are correct.

Answer: A

Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).

'The tent is mightier than the pen' (printed in the paper as 'mighter') is an old maxim of district administration in India. It means that the collector governs better by touring and camping among the people than by writing files at headquarters.

The reason states the purpose of the maxim: to impress on the collector the need for field visits, to meet people in their own surroundings and see conditions for himself. That is exactly why touring is valued above desk work, so (R) explains (A). Options C and D are wrong because both statements are true, and option B because the reason is the explanation.

Answer: C

The term was used in countries that were under the colonial rule.

In Britain and the United States the institutions are simply called local government. 'Local self-government' was the expression used in British India, as in Lord Ripon's resolution of 1882, and in other colonies, because there the point was that local people would be allowed some share in governing their own affairs under an alien central government.

The word 'self' marks that colonial context. The term is not tied to whether a country is developing, developed or poor, so the other three options do not explain its use.

Answer: B

The 73rd Amendment added the 11th Schedule.

The Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992, gave constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj institutions, inserting Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule, which lists 29 subjects for the Panchayats.

The 12th Schedule was added by the 74th Amendment for the Municipalities. The 10th Schedule, on disqualification for defection, was added by the 52nd Amendment in 1985. The Constitution has only twelve schedules, so there is no 14th Schedule.

Answer: C

The causes are (1), (2), (4) and (5).

Urbanisation in India is explained by industrialisation, which creates jobs in towns; by transport facilities, which link towns to the countryside and make migration easy; by the growth of population, which pushes surplus labour off the land; and by the concentration of educational facilities in towns, which draws students and families.

A growing demand for luxurious living is not one of the recognised causes; migrants move to towns mainly for work and services. Every code that includes (3) is therefore wrong, and option C is the only one that lists the four real causes.

Answer: B

The wrongly matched pair is Ganga Kalyan Yojana : 2014.

The Ganga Kalyan Yojana was launched in 1997-98 to help small and marginal farmers develop groundwater irrigation through bore wells and tube wells, and it was merged into the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana in 1999. It does not date from 2014.

The other pairs are accepted. The Community Development Programme began on 2 October 1952. The Indira Awaas Yojana was launched in 1985-86 as a rural housing scheme, which the paper gives as 1986. The Integrated Rural Development Programme was introduced in 1978-79 and extended to all blocks in 1980.

Answer: C

The correct code is (1), (2) and (3).

The Chief Secretary is the senior-most civil servant of the state. He acts as secretary to the cabinet, preparing its agenda and recording its decisions; he is the chief adviser to the Chief Minister on administrative matters; and he is the chief of the secretaries, coordinating the work of all departments and presiding over meetings of secretaries.

Statement (4) is wrong. The state is represented in legal matters by the Advocate General, appointed under Article 165, and by the law department, not by the Chief Secretary. Every code containing (4) is therefore wrong, leaving only (1), (2) and (3).

Answer: A

Collectors were first appointed in 1772.

When the East India Company decided to 'stand forth as Diwan' and take over revenue collection in Bengal directly, Warren Hastings created the post of Collector in each district in 1772. The Collector was responsible for land revenue and, at first, for civil justice as well, and the office became the centre of district administration.

1781 is later than the creation of the office, so it cannot be the first appointment. 1919 and 1935 are the years of the Government of India Acts, which dealt with dyarchy and provincial autonomy, long after the Collector's post was established.

Answer: A

The statement that is not correct is Gram Sabha is representative body.

The Gram Sabha is not elected; it consists of every person registered in the electoral rolls of the village. It is a body of direct democracy, where the people themselves meet, rather than a representative body. The representative body at village level is the Gram Panchayat, whose members are elected by the Gram Sabha's members.

The other statements are accepted. Article 243(b) defines the Gram Sabha and Article 243A provides for its powers, both inserted by the 73rd Amendment (1992), which is why it is called a constitutional body created by that Amendment. It is also the base, or lowest unit, of the Panchayati Raj system of local self-government.

Answer: C

The Assertion is true and the Reason is false, so the answer is (A) is true but (R) is false.

Under Article 164(1) the Chief Minister is appointed by the Governor, and ministers hold office during the Governor's pleasure, so in form the Governor both appoints and can remove the Chief Minister (in practice, one who has lost the confidence of the Assembly). The Assertion is correct.

The District Collector is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (or of the state civil service promoted to it). Postings and transfers are made by the state government, and formally all executive action of the state is taken in the name of the Governor under Article 166. The Chief Minister does not, in his own name, appoint or remove the Collector, so the Reason is false. Since (R) is false, it can neither be true nor explain (A).