IAS / UPSC Preparation: Public Administration (Optional)

IAS Prem Ranjan Singh (Rank 62, CSE 2013

******************************************************************************
Public administration has become very tricky to score in UPSC. Fortunately I
have been able to score good marks in this subject 2010- 340; 2011 330;
2012- 210 (good by any standards as pub ad was butchered that year);
2013- 228...
Some of the things which we must remember/follow/understand in pub-ad...

The most important thing in Pud-ad is conceptual clarity. Unfortunately

most of us rely completely on coaching notes and end up having only
superficial knowledge which is very dangerous in present setup of UPSC

exam and especially in Pub-ad.

Until n unless u have conceptual clarity you wont be able to understand

the question in the first place.

All of us write answers in Pub-ad and feel that we have written it well but
the problem is most of us interpret questions differently and end up
writing different answers. The correct interpretation of question will only
happen if your concepts are clear.

I know you may think that what is so new in that but I tell you very honestly
that this is the reason why most of us are not able to score good marks in
Pub-ad (apart from UPSC recent break-up n hate for Pub-ad).
Rahul Pandey (rank-52) who scored 230 this year has written on his blog:
The secret of success for writing good answers in Public Administration lies
in understanding the questions. Most of the students fail to write good
answers simply because of their failure to understand the questions. In the
last two years, UPSC has deliberately increased the difficulty levels of
question paper as they are more interested in those students who have
conceptual clarity and ability to write those concepts in a simple manner.

 I am not against any coaching notes but you need to study some basic
books so that you develop good understanding of the subject. Books can
vary from person to person... There are many books on pub-ad... all of them
are equally good but whichever book you are studying, study it well... Study
it multiple times.
Answer writing is very important in pub-ad. You must write some answers
before mains and show it your pub-ad trainer or to someone like me. You can
scan and send it me. It would be great if you share it with someone scoring
good marks.
I have always tried to write answers in point format as much as possible so
that I can stuff more content in few lines. And also your answers will be more
concise and to the point which will be helpful for the examiner to evaluate.
Use as simple language as possible. Strict no to flowery language without
any content. This is not semester exam of B.Tech/ MBA. They will punish you
if you start faking answers by using flowery language. Since my command
over English language is very limited, I did not have such issues.
One of the very important thing which we must follow while writing
answers is our ability to interlink Paper-1 and Paper-2. For this u must
remember syllabus completely. Read the syllabus every day for 5 minutes.
Close your eyes and try to interlink them.
I will again quote Rahul (Rank-52) here Another important aspect about
answer writing is your ability to interlink the concepts. If we take a closer
look at the questions that were asked in the previous two years, one thing is
very much clear. UPSC wants us to have conceptual clarity and more
importantly have in depth knowledge about inter linkages among the
theories and thinkers. For example in this years exam, there was question
regarding Simon and Bernards views regarding decision making. Next comes
the ability of the candidate to link concepts in Paper I with the examples
from Indian Administration. Again the trend in the last few years is that there
is not much of difference in the questions that were asked in Paper I and

Indian Administration. Candidates are expected to give examples from Indian

Administration while explaining the concepts in Paper I.
I will give you chapter wise detail of study material which I followed. U
need not follow this. Just follow your own study material but please follow the
basic instructions mentioned above.

Paper- I: 1. Introduction: Vajiram class notes of Gupta sir (best for this chapter),
Paradigms of Public Administration by Nicholas Henry (only few pages), New
Horizons of Public Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya. Restructuring Public
Administration A New Look by Mohit Bhattacharya
2. Administrative Thought: - Prasad & Prasad, New Horizons of Public
Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya.
3. Administrative Behaviour: - Prasad & Prasad, New Horizons of Public
Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya. Organization Behaviour by Stephen
Robbins.
5. Accountability and control: - New Horizons of Public Administration by
Mohit Bhattacharya, 2nd ARC report. Fadia & Fadia Paper-1
6. Administrative Law: - Fadia & Fadia Paper-1
7. Comparative Public Administration: - Prasad and Prasad (Riggs), New
Horizons of Public Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya, CPA by Ramesh K
Arora, Fadia & Fadia Paper-1
8. Development Dynamics: - Social Theory and Development Administration
by Mohit Bhattacharya, Fadia &Fadia Paper-1
9. Personnel Administration: - New Horizons of Public Administration by Mohit
Bhattacharya, 2nd ARC Report.
10. Public Policy: Vajiram class notes of Gupta sir, New Horizons of Public

Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya, Prasad n Prasad (Dror),

11. Techniques of Administrative Improvement: - Fadia & Fadia, New Horizons
of Public Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya
12. Financial Administration: - Vajiram class notes, 2nd ARC Report, New
Horizons of Public Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya

Paper- II: - For this paper 2nd ARC is the most important study source. Apart
from that Economic survey is also very good for collection of data. And news
related to administrative problems and reforms are also very useful.
1. Evolution of Indian Administration: - Indian Administration by Rajni Goyal
and Ramesh K Arora.
2. Philosophical and Constitutional framework of government: - Indian
Administration by Rajni Goyal and Ramesh K Arora.
3. Public Sector Undertakings: - Vajiram class notes.
4. Union Government and Administration: - Indian Administration by Rajni
Goyal and Ramesh K Arora. 2nd ARC Report.
5. Plans and Priorities: Indian Administration by Rajni Goyal and Ramesh K
Arora. 12th plan approach paper of Planning Commission.
6. State Government and Administration: - Indian Administration by Rajni
Goyal and Ramesh K Arora. Punchi commission report, 2nd ARC Report.
7. District Administration since Independence: - Indian Administration by
Rajni Goyal and Ramesh K Arora, Punchi commission report, 2nd ARC Report.
8. Civil Services: - Indian Administration by Rajni Goyal and Ramesh K Arora,
2nd ARC Report.
9. Financial Management: - Indian Administration by Rajni Goyal and Ramesh

K Arora, 2nd ARC Report.

10. Administrative Reforms since Independence: - Indian Administration by
Rajni Goyal and Ramesh K Arora. Punchi commission report, 2nd ARC Report.
11. Rural Development: - Indian Administration by Rajni Goyal and Ramesh K
Arora, 2nd ARC Report.
12. Urban Local Government: - Indian Administration by Rajni Goyal and
Ramesh K Arora, 2nd ARC Report.
13. Law and Order Administration: - 2nd ARC Report, Punchi Commission
report.
14. Significant issues in Indian Administration:- 2nd ARC Report, Internet,
Current affairs.