State and Local Administration Questions and Answers

Answer: B

Statements (i), (iii) and (iv) are correct. The Collector holds powers under many central and state laws, either expressly or by delegation. The growth of technical departments at the district level has reduced his authority. His role in rural development is shaped by his relationship with the Zila Parishad.

Statement (ii) is wrong, because in times of calamity the Collector's supremacy continues and he leads relief work. Options with (ii) are therefore excluded.

Answer: C

The recommendations of the Second ARC on district government, as accepted in the key, are (i), (ii) and (iv): an integrated governing structure in a District Council, representing both rural and urban areas, with the District Officer accountable to the Council for local matters and to the State Government for regulatory functions.

Statement (iii), that the District Officer would be appointed by the State Government on the recommendation of the District Council, is not accepted, so options containing it are wrong.

Answer: C

Local government is expected to play all four roles: regulator, service provider, agent and welfare agency.

Each role is a real function of a modern local body. It regulates activity in its area, provides services, acts as an agent of the state for programmes, and takes up welfare work, so the option with all four is correct.

Today local bodies are expected to regulate land use, health and trade, deliver services such as water, act for the state in schemes, and run welfare programmes.

Answer: B

All four statements about the Panchayat Mahila Shakti Abhiyan are correct: it helps women use collective strength, provides a forum for continued training, enables women Panchayat leaders to articulate their problems, and builds communication and administrative skills for leadership.

Since each statement describes an aim of the programme, no option that drops one of them can be right.

The abhiyan aims at empowering women elected to Panchayats so that they can take part effectively in local governance, which is why all four stated aims fit.

Answer: C

The statements that are not correct are (ii) and (iii), according to the key's option C: the fund is not described accurately as part of a project begun in the Union Budget of 2002-03, and it did not provide 10% of the Budget for double entry accounting.

Statements (i) and (iv) are accepted as accurate descriptions of the context. This item rests on the official key.

Answer: D

The Second ARC recommended a District Council representing both urban and rural areas, as an integrated governing structure at the district level.

An option naming only urban, only rural or semi-urban areas leaves out part of the population of the district, so the combined option is correct.

The idea is to merge rural and urban local governance at the district level in one council, so planning and services are handled in an integrated way.

Answer: A

The incorrect statement is that centrally sponsored schemes were initially introduced in 1981-82. They were introduced much earlier, in the 1950s, in the early Plans.

It is correct that they promoted development through democratic decentralisation, that they were meant to strengthen district planning machinery and that they created the system of District Credit Plan.

Their purpose was to give financial help to states for subjects of national importance, which is why they began in the Plan period and long before 1981-82.

Answer: D

West Bengal did not provide 50 per cent reservation for women in urban local bodies up to December 2011, while Maharashtra, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh had enacted it.

The question asks which state does not, so the answer is the one that had not raised the reservation to one half by that date.

Answer: C

Cash based accounting in urban local bodies is criticised because it is deficient in transparency and user friendliness (i) and cannot be used as an effective tool for measuring accountability of performance (ii).

Statements (iii) and (iv) describe features of accrual accounting, in which past transactions on assets and liabilities are part of the accounts and decision makers can look ahead. Cash accounting lacks them, so options with (iii) or (iv) are wrong.

Answer: D

V. Ramachandran was the Chairman of the Expert Group on Decentralised Planning at the grassroots level.

Ashok Mehta chaired the committee on panchayati raj institutions, Hanumantha Rao the committee on integrated district planning, and G.V.K. Rao the committee on administrative arrangements for rural development.

The group was formed to suggest how planning can be carried out at the grassroots level of panchayats and municipalities after the 73rd and 74th Amendments.