State and Local Administration Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The correct code is (a)-(4), (b)-(3), (c)-(1), (d)-(2).

• (a) The Taxation Enquiry Commission (1953-54) was chaired by John Matthai.
• (b) The Committee on the Training of Municipal Employees (1963) was chaired by Nur-ud-din Ahmed.
• (c) The Local Finance Enquiry Committee (1949-51) was chaired by P. K. Wattal.
• (d) The Rural-Urban Relationship Committee (1963-66) was chaired by A. P. Jain.

The two codes starting with (a)-(3) give the Taxation Enquiry Commission to Nur-ud-din Ahmed, which is wrong. The remaining wrong code rotates the chairmen of (b), (c) and (d), giving municipal training to Jain, local finance to Nur-ud-din Ahmed and the rural-urban committee to Wattal.

Answer: D

The Twelfth Schedule does not include land management including registration.

The Twelfth Schedule, added by the 74th Amendment (1992), lists eighteen functions that may be devolved to municipalities. They include urban planning, regulation of land use and construction of buildings, planning for economic and social development, roads and bridges, water supply, public health and sanitation, fire services, urban forestry, slum improvement, urban poverty alleviation and the promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects, among others.

So three options are in the schedule. Land management in the sense of land records and registration of documents is a state revenue and registration function and is not in the list; the nearest entry is regulation of land use, which is a different matter.

Answer: A

The correct code is (a)-(4), (b)-(2), (c)-(1), (d)-(3).

• (a) The Backward Regions Grant Fund was launched in 2006-07, matching 2007.
• (b) The Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana began in September 2001.
• (c) The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, the self-employment programme, began in April 1999.
• (d) Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) was launched as a central scheme in 2004.

The order 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007 runs SGSY, SGRY, PURA, BRGF. The code (a)-(1), (b)-(2), (c)-(3), (d)-(4) simply follows list order and puts BRGF first, and the other two codes misplace SGSY, the oldest of the four.

Answer: D

The power not within the Governor's purview is that he can suspend the fundamental rights during emergency.

Suspension of fundamental rights during a national emergency is a Union matter: Article 358 suspends Article 19 automatically during a proclamation of emergency on the ground of war or external aggression, and under Article 359 the President may suspend the right to move courts for other rights. The Governor has no such power.

The other powers do belong to the Governor. He can reserve a bill for the consideration of the President (Article 200). He reports to the President on the failure of the constitutional machinery in the State, the basis for President's rule under Article 356. And under Article 239(2) the President may appoint him administrator of an adjoining Union Territory.

Answer: C

The Article is Article 164(1).

Article 164(1) provides that the Chief Minister shall be appointed by the Governor, and the other ministers by the Governor on the advice of the Chief Minister, and that ministers hold office during the pleasure of the Governor.

Article 152 defines 'State' for Part VI. Article 153 provides that there shall be a Governor for each State. Article 165 deals with the Advocate-General of the State. None concerns the appointment of the Chief Minister.

Answer: A

The key is A, Philip Woodruff. I could not confirm the phrase 'Cold Hopping Collector' in any source, so this explanation does not vouch for the key.

Philip Woodruff is the pen name of Philip Mason, who wrote the two-volume The Men Who Ruled India (The Founders and The Guardians) on the Indian Civil Service, and it contains a portrait of the district Collector. L. S. S. O'Malley edited and wrote on the ICS, and S. S. Khera wrote on Indian district administration, so any of the three names could have been used as a distractor.

A web search for the title returned nothing. The key is kept because nothing shows it wrong.

Answer: A

The key is A: both statements are true and R explains A.

The district is the unit where State policies reach the people. The Collector and the district staff implement the State's land revenue, law and order, development and welfare policies, and they supply the State Government with the information it needs for new policy. That is the sense in which district administration is the State's 'real strength and power' (A), and R states the reason: it plays a crucial role in assisting policy makers by implementing their policies.

R is given in quotation marks, as a line from a textbook, and I could not trace it. The key's reading is the natural one, since R gives the ground for A, and B, C and D each deny a link or a truth that the statements support.

Answer: D

The key is D, 'to make more strong urban local self-government'. This rests on the mission's published objectives; I could not open the official overview to check each line.

JNNURM's objectives, as summarised in sources found, are integrated development of urban infrastructure services, linking asset creation with asset management, adequate funds for infrastructure deficiencies, planned development of cities including peri-urban areas, and special focus on renewal of the old city areas, with basic services for the urban poor. Options A, B and C are phrased as objectives of that kind.

Strengthening urban local bodies is the aim of the mission's reforms (linked to the 74th Amendment), not a stated objective, which makes D the odd one out on the key's reading. This is a fine distinction, and a reader who treats the reforms as an objective would mark D as correct.

Answer: D

The key is D, 'supervision'. I could not confirm this from a source: the question is a textbook-style one and the options are not drawn from a document I could find.

Municipal solid waste management in India is usually discussed as a chain: segregation and collection, transfer, treatment and disposal, and the management of the system. Collection procedure (B), transfer of waste (A) and management (C) are named issues in that chain.

Supervision is a general administrative function and is the least specific to waste handling, which is the likely reasoning for the key. The key is kept because nothing shows it wrong.

Answer: B

The underlying concept of a Smart City is sustainable integrated development.

The Smart Cities Mission (2015) aims to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and a decent quality of life, a clean and sustainable environment, and smart solutions, through comprehensive, integrated area-based development. Integration and sustainability are its central ideas.

Rural services and rural transformation belong to rural programmes such as the Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission, not to an urban mission. Employment generation may follow from development but is not the defining concept of the mission.