Below is the official UPSC Public Administration Optional syllabus for Paper I and Paper II, reproduced verbatim from the Civil Services (Main) Examination notification. Each unit links to its own page with free notes and every previous year question on that unit.
Exam pattern at a glance
- Two papers, Paper I (Administrative Theory) and Paper II (Indian Administration), of 250 marks each: 500 marks in all, three hours per paper.
- Each paper has eight questions in two sections. Questions 1 and 5 are compulsory, and three more are answered with at least one from each section: five questions in all.
- Questions 1 and 5 each have five short parts of 10 marks. The other questions carry 50 marks in parts.
Paper I: Administrative Theory
1. Introduction
Meaning, scope and significance of Public Administration; Wilson’s vision of Public Administration; Evolution of the discipline and its present status; New Public Administration; Public Choice approach; Challenges of liberalization, Privatisation, Globalisation; Good Governance: concept and application; New Public Management.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 5 notes · 102 questions since 1987
2. Administrative Thought
Scientific Management and Scientific Management movement; Classical Theory; Weber’s bureaucratic model – its critique and post-Weberian Developments; Dynamic Administration (Mary Parker Follett); Human Relations School (Elton Mayo and others); Functions of the Executive (C.I. Barnard); Simon’s decision-making theory; Participative Management (R. Likert, C. Argyris, D. McGregor).
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 8 notes · 112 questions since 1987
3. Administrative Behaviour
Process and techniques of decision-making; Communication; Morale; Motivation Theories – content, process and contemporary; Theories of Leadership: Traditional and Modern.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 4 notes · 62 questions since 1987
4. Organisations
Theories – systems, contingency; Structure and forms: Ministries and Departments, Corporations, Companies; Boards and Commissions; Ad hoc and advisory bodies; Headquarters and Field relationships; Regulatory Authorities; Public-Private Partnerships.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 3 notes · 56 questions since 1987
5. Accountability and Control
Concepts of accountability and control; Legislative, Executive and Judicial control over administration; Citizen and Administration; Role of media, interest groups, voluntary organizations; Civil society; Citizen’s Charters; Right to Information; Social audit.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 3 notes · 53 questions since 1987
6. Administrative Law
Meaning, scope and significance; Dicey on Administrative law; Delegated legislation; Administrative Tribunals.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 3 notes · 48 questions since 1987
7. Comparative Public Administration
Historical and sociological factors affecting administrative systems; Administration and politics in different countries; Current status of Comparative Public Administration; Ecology and administration; Riggsian models and their critique.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 2 notes · 53 questions since 1987
8. Development Dynamics
Concept of development; Changing profile of development administration; ‘Anti-development thesis’; Bureaucracy and development; Strong state versus the market debate; Impact of liberalisation on administration in developing countries; Women and development – the self-help group movement.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 3 notes · 57 questions since 1988
9. Personnel Administration
Importance of human resource development; Recruitment, training, career advancement, position classification, discipline, performance appraisal, promotion, pay and service conditions; employer-employee relations, grievance redressal mechanism; Code of conduct; Administrative ethics.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 3 notes · 72 questions since 1987
10. Public Policy
Models of policy-making and their critique; Processes of conceptualisation, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and review and their limitations; State theories and public policy formulation.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 2 notes · 66 questions since 1987
11. Techniques of Administrative Improvement
Organisation and methods, Work study and work management; e-governance and information technology; Management aid tools like network analysis, MIS, PERT, CPM.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 2 notes · 56 questions since 1988
12. Financial Administration
Monetary and fiscal policies; Public borrowings and public debt; Budgets – types and forms; Budgetary process; Financial accountability; Accounts and audit.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 3 notes · 72 questions since 1987
Paper II: Indian Administration
1. Evolution of Indian Administration
Kautilya’s Arthashastra; Mughal administration; Legacy of British rule in politics and administration – Indianization of public services, revenue administration, district administration, local self-government.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 3 notes · 56 questions since 1987
2. Philosophical and Constitutional Framework of Government
Salient features and value premises; Constitutionalism; Political culture; Bureaucracy and democracy; Bureaucracy and development.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 3 notes · 58 questions since 1990
3. Public Sector Undertakings
Public sector in modern India; Forms of Public Sector Undertakings; Problems of autonomy, accountability and control; Impact of liberalization and privatization.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 2 notes · 43 questions since 1987
4. Union Government and Administration
Executive, Parliament, Judiciary – structure, functions, work processes; Recent trends; Intra-governmental relations; Cabinet Secretariat; Prime Minister’s Office; Central Secretariat; Ministries and Departments; Boards; Commissions; Attached offices; Field organizations.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 4 notes · 90 questions since 1988
5. Plans and Priorities
Machinery of planning; Role, composition and functions of the Planning Commission and the National Development Council; ‘Indicative’ planning; Process of plan formulation at Union and State levels; Constitutional Amendments (1992) and decentralized planning for economic development and social justice.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 2 notes · 47 questions since 1987
6. State Government and Administration
Union-State administrative, legislative and financial relations; Role of the Finance Commission; Governor; Chief Minister; Council of Ministers; Chief Secretary; State Secretariat; Directorates.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 4 notes · 76 questions since 1987
7. District Administration since Independence
Changing role of the Collector; Union-State-local relations; Imperatives of development management and law and order administration; District administration and democratic decentralization.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 2 notes · 42 questions since 1987
8. Civil Services
Constitutional position; Structure, recruitment, training and capacity building; Good governance initiatives; Code of conduct and discipline; Staff associations; Political rights; Grievance redressal mechanism; Civil service neutrality; Civil service activism.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 5 notes · 98 questions since 1987
9. Financial Management
Budget as a political instrument; Parliamentary control of public expenditure; Role of finance ministry in monetary and fiscal area; Accounting techniques; Audit; Role of Controller General of Accounts and Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 2 notes · 55 questions since 1987
10. Administrative Reforms since Independence
Major concerns; Important Committees and Commissions; Reforms in financial management and human resource development; Problems of implementation.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 2 notes · 41 questions since 1998
11. Rural Development
Institutions and agencies since Independence; Rural development programmes: foci and strategies; Decentralization and Panchayati Raj; 73rd Constitutional amendment.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 2 notes · 66 questions since 1987
12. Urban Local Government
Municipal governance: main features, structures, finance and problem areas; 74th Constitutional Amendment; Global-local debate; New localism; Development dynamics, politics and administration with special reference to city management.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 2 notes · 38 questions since 1987
13. Law and Order Administration
British legacy; National Police Commission; Investigative agencies; Role of Central and State Agencies including para military forces in maintenance of law and order and countering insurgency and terrorism; Criminalisation of politics and administration; Police-public relations; Reforms in Police.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 3 notes · 50 questions since 1987
14. Significant Issues in Indian Administration
Values in public service; Regulatory Commissions; National Human Rights Commission; Problems of administration in coalition regimes; Citizen administration interface; Corruption and administration; Disaster management.
Notes and previous year questions for this unit · 4 notes · 74 questions since 1988
Ten-year weightage by unit (2017–2026)
How many questions UPSC set from each unit in the last ten papers, and in how many of those ten years the unit was asked. Counts include every part of the compulsory short-note questions.
Open the topic-wise PYQ bank for every question by sub-topic, or the strategy guide for a study plan built on these numbers.