Wisdom lies in knowing what to reckon with and what to overlook. An officer being engrossed with the periphery, ignoring the core issues before him, is no rare in the bureaucracy. Do you agree that such preoccupation of an administrator leads to travesty of justice to the cause of effective service delivery and good governance? Critically evaluate.
What the examiner wants
Critically evaluate whether an officer's fixation on peripheral matters, at the cost of core issues, harms service delivery and good governance.
Demand-wise check
- 1Meaning of the quote: wisdom is prioritisation — knowing what matters to citizens≈30 words
- 2Yes: delays, red tape, file-pushing over outcomes, procedural compliance over justice to citizens≈30 words
- 3But: some 'peripheral' procedure protects accountability and fairness; balance is needed≈30 words
- 4Remedies: outcome-based targets, delegation, process re-engineering, training≈30 words
Open in about 20 words and close in about 20.
Answer plan
Where marks usually go
- Agreeing without the 'critically evaluate' counter-view
- No administrative example (e.g. a grievance delayed for a missing signature)
Draw this
- Priority matrix: important/urgent vs unimportant/non-urgent
Value addition
- ThinkerKautilya's Arthashastra: the king's (state's) happiness lies in the happiness of his subjects — a test for what is 'core'.Arthashastra
- Report2nd ARC 12th Report (Citizen Centric Administration) recommended focusing on outcomes rather than procedure.Second Administrative Reforms Commission
Mapped topper copies
Reviewed public-source references related to this PYQ. Same-syllabus references are labelled separately.
- Abhishek Singh · Page 4 ↗Reviewed PYQ reference
- Ritika Chitlangia · Page 6 ↗Reviewed PYQ reference
- Vidushi Singh · AIR 13 · Page 5 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Aakash Garg · AIR 5 · Page 7 ↗Same syllabus reference
Links open original public sources. MainsBuddy does not host these answer sheets.
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