Evolution of Indian Administration Notes · PYQs

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Previous year questions: Evolution of Indian Administration

All 56 questions UPSC has set from this unit between 1987 and 2026, grouped by syllabus sub-topic and sorted newest first. Questions from 2013 onwards are shown; earlier ones open on a tap.

How often UPSC asks each sub-topic

Sub-topic	Questions	Since 2013	Last asked
Kautilya’s Arthashastra	19	9	2026
Mughal administration	9	4	2024
British legacy	28	10	2026

Kautilya’s Arthashastra

19 questions · 9 since 2013 · last asked 2026
Read the notes: Kautilya’s Arthashastra

Show 10 earlier questions (before 2013)

1987–2012 · 10 questions

• 2012‘The Arthashatra is a book of political realism.’ Elaborate.
• 2010“The rule of kings depends primarily on written orders ………” Why did Kautilya favour Codification of Laws?
• 2009Comment on the view that despite different contexts, administrative maxims of Kautilya’s Arthashastra bear considerable similarity with features of Weber’s ideal bureaucratic model.
• 2007“Kautilya was not only the foremost politico-administrative thinker of ancient India but he was an advocate and preacher of moral values too.” Comment.
• 2006“In the happiness of his subjects lies the king’s happiness; in their welfare his welfare.” Comment on Kautilyan state administration. In what respects is modern democratic rulers’ behaviour different from Kautilyan rulers?
• 2003“The Arthashastra is India’s oldest complete text on public administration.” Comment.
• 2001“The machinery of government designed in Kautilya’s Arthashastra does not exactly resemble our modern-day polity, but it does contain some principles which could be said to be the part of today’s science of public administration.” Comment.
• 1998“Kautilya’s Arthashastra has significant relevance to the contemporary Indian administration.” Comment.
• 1990‘The principles in Arthashastra do not command as much of our attention as the delineation of the machinery of administration in it…. It reveals the authors mastery of detail, which could have developed only as a result of his actual experience of administration.’ Comment.
• 1987‘It is not possible to maintain that the administrative system, described in Arthashastra was in actual existence during the Mouryan period’. Comment.

Mughal administration

9 questions · 4 since 2013 · last asked 2024
Read the notes: Mughal Administration

Show 5 earlier questions (before 2013)

1988–2012 · 5 questions

• 2012“The Mughal Administrative System was military rule by nature and a form of centralised despotism.” Analyse.
• 2008‘Some features of Mughal Administration, in essence, do exist in Indian Administration.’ Elaborate.
• 2005“The Mughal by nature and was centralized despotism.” Comment.
• 1989Trace the evolution of Judicial Administration in India during the Mughal and British periods of Indian History and highlight the major landmarks of this evolution from 1774 to 1911.
• 1988“Iqta’, the liwest unit of administration during the Sultanate period was sub-divided ‘Shiqs’. The Shiqdar administrered a number of ‘Paraganas’. A Chaudhari in every paragana and a Patwari in every Village Constituted the Local administration.” Comment.

British legacy

28 questions · 10 since 2013 · last asked 2026
Read the notes: Legacy of British Rule

Show 18 earlier questions (before 2013)

1987–2010 · 18 questions

• 2010It is said that British made a significant contribution towards modernising the Indian Administrative System on a ‘rational-legal’ basis. Justify the assessment with reference to the period from 1830 to 1865.
• 2009“Bureaucracy developed by the British stifled the village self-rule.” Comment.
• 2004“The main features of British governmental and administrative system continue to influence the present Administrative System.” Comment.
• 2003“Though India emerged as a sovereign state after Independence, the administrative system remained the same as was during the British period.” Comment.
• 2002“After independence, despite the change in socio-economic and political milieu, the basic features of colonial on administration continues to exist in our administrative system.” Comment.
• 2000“The period of British rule generated most of the structural and behavioural values of Indian Administration not by imitation but through interaction.” Comment.
• 1997“Under the Company’s rule a distinction was drawn between Regulation and Non-Regulation Provinces.” Comment.
• 1996“It is not wholly correct to suggest that British rule had seriously attempted to bring about unity in India’s administration.” Comment.
• 1995“The purpose of Clive’s famous ‘double government’ was to mask Company’s sovereignty.” Comment.
• 1993Trace the evolution of Judicial Administration in India during the British period and highlight the legacies that persist and the judicial reforms that have followed during the Twentieth Century.
• 1993“The generalist-neutralist model of Civil Service, more than any other model of Civil Service, fits in framework of parliamentary democracy in India, a legacy of the British pattern with which Indians have been familiar.” Comment.
• 1993“The British colonial administration superimposed the prefectorial system on the historically inherited district administration in India, in the absence of rural local governments at the district level.” Comment.
• 1992‘Lord Ripon was the prophet of local government in India.’ Comment.
• 1990‘The proposals of the Royal Commission on Decentralisation (1907-1909) did little more than echo the resolution of May, 1882, yet even such entirely conservative reforms were postponed for a further ten years: the last of the years of opportunity for British statesmen and officials and they passed away unused.’ Comment.
• 1989‘The Cabinet Committees provide a useful forum for interface between officials and non-officials in participatory situation in “Policy Administration” in a Parliamentary Democracy’. Comment.
• 1989‘Lord Ripon’s Resolution of 1882 has been described as the Magna Carta of Local Self-Government in India. It was a Policy Statement and marked a fundamental change in the basic approach.’ Comment.
• 1988“The formative stage of administration, preceding the Indian mutiny of 1857 witnessed a struggle between the ‘Cornwallis’ and ‘Munro’ schools of district administration.” Comment.
• 1987Trace the evolution of the system of Public Administration in India from 1858 to 1919, highlighting the major landmarks of this period of administrative history.

Year-wise question papers

All question papers Topic-wise PYQ bank (both papers) Topic-wise PYQ post: Evolution of Indian Administration 2026 paper 2025 paper 2024 paper 2023 paper