What is the Advantage of Taking Public Administration as an Optional Subject in UPSC Civil Service Exam

The right optional is the one which helps you perform extra-ordinarily in mains examination of UPSC, the one which fetches you maximum marks in a manner that will count your merit, the one which supplements your scorecard when you are not able to perform decently in GS papers, and finally the optional which will carve out administrative capabilities in you. The beauty of PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION as an optional for UPSC Exam is that it satisfies all the determining factors for becoming a GOOD ADMINISTRATOR, or specifically a GOOD CIVIL SERVANT. The Civil Services Exam is all about recruiting human resources for managing the administrative system of the world’s largest democracy. To understand the functioning of the government, political regime of the country, a system of modern democracy and governance, the concept of welfarism etc., public administration as a discipline will encompass all these concepts. UPSC recruits candidates for public administration, questions related to this subject are most common and predictable and aspirants can always expect to score more if Public Administration is chosen as an optional. It is learnt that Public Administration is a secular subject and does not carry any academic baggage. For the said reasons, many of students, who are from the non-arts background like- engineers, doctors, chartered accountants and management graduates, are able to understand the subject very well and have scored very high marks in the mains examination. Also, UPSC aspirants do not require a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration to choose it as an Optional. The subject can be studied in an easy manner and could be mastered with expert guidance. Moreover, many of the topics of the UPSC syllabus overlap with General Studies syllabus of the examination.

Public Administration is the execution of public policy, administration and management of government bodies and undertakings and also an academic discipline that studies the implementation aspects and prepares civil servants specifically for administrative purpose for working in the government sector. Public Administration in literal sense meant rendering service to the people by the State and its affiliated bodies, based on principles of constitution, various rules and regulations, methods of justice, ethics and fairness.

Furthermore, the Public Administration subject syllabus is comparatively concise when compared to other optional subjects such as- Literature, History, Geography, Political Science, etc. and contains numbered core concepts to comprehend. With this concise syllabus one can finish the syllabus on time and leave ample room for revision and preparation of General Studies papers and Essay writing.

In case you choose any other optional subject, then also, you would have to read a considerable amount of Public Administration related topics especially in General Studies Paper II, III and IV. In case, you have limited time for preparation, research shows that it is safer to opt for Public Administration as an optional.

Incentives for opting Public Administration as an Optional

• The subject basically gives you a brief idea about government and constitutional machinery of the world’s greatest democracy, with a comparative approach. As future administrators, you should have this hand-on knowledge.
• The study of Public Administration is inter-linked with study of Science, Political Science, Policy Making, Constitution, Law, Social Justice, Indian Society, History, Finance and Economy, Ethics, Human Resource Management and Contemporary Issues.
• The subject is generally regarded as conceptual, analytical, concise and simple to
• There is ample resource material for Public Administration.
• The questions are generally
• There is a lot of overlap with the general studies papers and essay writing
• Inculcate an aptitude to comprehend the mind of the examiner, which aids in cracking interview
• Last but not the least it is extensively taught at the LBSNAA Training for Civil Servants.

Similarity between Public Administration Optional and other Papers: 

Public Administration optional overlaps with General Studies, substantially, below are the comparative analysis to justify the statement:

Public administration covers almost 60% of the GS papers

General Studies Paper-II:

• Indian Constitution – evolution, features, amendments,
• Governance
• Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States
• Separation of powers between various organs
• Dispute Redressal Mechanisms and institutions
• Parliament and State Legislatures
• Structure, organisation and functioning of the Executive and Judiciary
• Ministries and Departments of the Government
• Constitutional, statutory, regulatory and quasi-judicial bodies
• Government policies and interventions for development in different sectors
• Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections
• Issues relating to poverty and hunger
• Aspects of governance, transparency and accountability
• E-governance
• Role of civil services in a democracy

General Studies Paper III:

• Disaster Management, Planning and Budgeting
• Planning issues
• Inclusive growth
• Government budgeting
• Environment
• Disaster management
• Challenges to internal security through communication networks
• Role of media and social networking sites in internal security
• Security forces and agencies and their

General Studies Paper IV: 

• Ethics and Human Interface (foundational concept of Administrative values & ethics of Public Administration)
• Attitude: content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion.

Essay Paper:

Every year, there will mostly be an essay topic from ‘Polity, Governance and Democracy’.

As, over the past trend of the UPSC exams, the difficulty level of Public Administration optional papers has been elevated to an appreciable extent, specially Public Administration Paper-I. To predict the exam pattern, a strategic preparation and expert guidance is need of an hour. In this regard, apart from basic books available on the subject, lectures and notes of M. K. Mohanty Sir and Ashutosh Pandey Sir of SYNERGY IAS Institute can help every aspirant to comprehend the entire syllabus of Public Administration very effectively and in short period of time. Their teaching methodologies inculcate an approach to deal critically and logically with subjective and complex concepts. Both of them are impeccable teachers to make Public Administration as formulaic for students from all backgrounds of the academics sphere.