KSLU Solved Question Papers
Political Science (Public Administration)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 4
2024 Aug Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 4 Political Science (Public Administration) 2024 Aug Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2024 Aug examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2024 Aug examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2024 Aug examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 80 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all five Units. (2) One essay type question and short note/problems is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer should be written either in English or Kannada completely.
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1
Unit I
(a)Define public administration. Discuss its scope.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: definitions from the founders (Wilson 1887, Goodnow 1900, White 1926, Willoughby 1927) and a working definition; the scope discussed through three debates: the narrow and the broad scope (Willoughby's two senses), the managerial POSDCORB view and the subject-matter view (Gulick 1937 and its critics), and the scope by the kinds of State activity (protective, regulatory, service, developmental); the subjects that make up the discipline today; a conclusion.
Definitions
Public administration has been defined in many ways. Each definition shows a different angle.
1. Woodrow Wilson (1887). In "The Study of Administration", Wilson called administration "government in action" and "the executive, the operative, the most visible side of government". He set the study two tasks: to discover "first, what government can properly and successfully do, and, secondly, how it can do these proper things with the utmost possible efficiency and at the least possible cost".
2. Frank Goodnow (1900). In Politics and Administration, Goodnow said every government has two functions: "the expression of the will of the state and the execution of that will". Administration is the execution of that will.
3. Leonard D. White (1926). In one of the earliest textbooks on the subject, White wrote: "Public administration is the management of men and materials in the accomplishment of the purposes of the state." He said this definition stresses management and plays down the legal and formal side.
4. W. F. Willoughby (1927). Willoughby said the word can be used broadly for the conduct of government in any branch, or narrowly for "the operations of the administrative branch only".
A working definition. Public administration is the organised effort of government officials to carry out public laws and policies. It uses people, money and materials efficiently for the common good.
Scope: three debates
Debate 1: narrow or broad scope?
On the narrow view, public administration covers only the executive branch: ministries, departments, public corporations and their officials. Willoughby chose this sense for his book.
On the broad view, it covers the administrative work of all three branches. Parliament has its own administration, its secretariat and committees. The courts have registries, case management and court staff. Elections, audit and public service commissions are also administrative. In India, bodies like the Election Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor-General show how wide the field can be.
Debate 2: techniques or substance?
Luther Gulick's POSDCORB (1937) said the scope is the common managerial work of the chief executive: planning, organising, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting. This view treats administration as a set of techniques found in every department.
Critics replied that administration always deals with some subject: health, police, education or agriculture. A health secretary needs to understand public health, not only office techniques. So the scope must include the substantive services of the State. Most writers now combine the two: techniques applied to particular fields. A good district collector, for example, needs both management skill and real knowledge of land revenue, elections and disaster relief.
Debate 3: what kinds of State activity?
The scope also depends on what the State does. Its activities can be grouped as:
- Protective: defence, police, courts and prisons.
- Regulatory: licensing, taxation, regulation of trade, banking and the environment.
- Service: education, health, water supply, housing and social security.
- Developmental: planning, infrastructure, agriculture, industry and rural development.
As the State moved from a police State to a welfare State, the scope of public administration widened from the first group to all four.
Why the scope keeps growing
The scope of public administration is not fixed. It grows whenever the State takes on new tasks. Industrialisation brought factory and labour administration. The welfare State brought social security and public health. Planning after Independence brought development administration. Today climate change, cyber security and digital services are adding new fields. That is why every definition of scope must be read as a picture of a moving field.
The subjects of the discipline today
Today the study of public administration includes:
- Administrative theory: the classical, bureaucratic, human relations and behavioural approaches.
- Organisation: structure, hierarchy, line and staff, departments, corporations and regulatory bodies.
- Personnel administration: recruitment, training, promotion, discipline and morale.
- Financial administration: budgeting, accounts, audit and financial control.
- Public policy: formulation, implementation and evaluation.
- Local administration: panchayats, municipalities and district administration.
- Comparative and development administration: administration in other countries and in developing societies.
- Administrative law and accountability: delegated legislation, tribunals, judicial and legislative control, and the ombudsman.
- New areas: e-governance, citizen charters and good governance.
Conclusion. Wilson defined public administration as government in action, and Goodnow as the execution of the will of the State. White called it the management of men and materials for the purposes of the State. Its scope is debated as narrow or broad, as techniques or substance, and by the kinds of State activity it covers. Today the field combines managerial techniques with the substance of public services across all four kinds of State activity. It also extends into policy, finance, personnel, local government, law and new areas like e-governance.
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