UPSC Mains 2016 GS2 Q13 — LPG Reforms
Has the Indian governmental system responded adequately to the demands of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization started in 1991 ? What can the government do to be responsive to this important change ? (Answer in 200 words)
Question Decoded — examiner's intent
- Directive verbs
- HasWhat can the government do
- Scope keywords
- Indian governmental systemresponded adequatelydemands of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalizationstarted in 1991responsive to this important change
- Implicit sub-parts
- Critical evaluation of state-led vs market-led institutional shifts post-1991.
- Analysis of administrative and regulatory failures (e.g., regulatory capture, red tape) despite policy shifts.
- Assessment of the shift from 'Government as a Provider' to 'Government as a Facilitator/Regulator'.
- Actionable roadmap for 'Second Generation Reforms' involving bureaucratic and judicial agility.
- Common pitfalls
- Writing a generic essay on the benefits/impacts of LPG instead of focusing on the 'governmental system' response.
- Ignoring the 'Privatization' aspect by failing to mention the slow progress of strategic disinvestment and PSU reforms.
- Neglecting the regulatory dimension, such as the evolution and performance of bodies like SEBI, TRAI, and CCI.
- Focusing only on economic indicators (GDP growth) while ignoring institutional responsiveness to social inequalities caused by LPG.
- Dimensions required
- Administrative (Bureaucratic mindset shift)Regulatory (Independent oversight bodies)Legislative (Ease of doing business laws)Federal (Role of State governments in global competition)Judicial (Contract enforcement and dispute resolution)
- Marks allocation hint
Allocate 40% (80 words) to evaluating the past response, balancing successes in deregulation with failures in labor/land reforms. Dedicate 50% (100 words) to concrete, forward-looking measures like civil service reform and digital governance. Use the remaining 10% (20 words) for a concise intro/outro linking 1991 to the vision of 'Viksit Bharat'.
Unlock the full analysis for this question
You've seen the question and its examiner-intent decoding. Subscribers also get:
- 🔗 Similar Previous Year Questions — cross-year, cross-paper matches so you study the topic, not the question
- 📚 Source Map — verified citations from Laxmikanth, NCERT, PRS, Yojana, Economic Survey, Spectrum
- 🌱 How this topic is evolving — current-affairs bridge anchored to live TARS news clustering
- 🧭 Examiner's Pattern — how the topic has been framed across every year UPSC has tested it
- ✍️ Answer Skeleton — a structured outline (intro → body → conclusion) you can flesh out
- 🎯 AI evaluation — write your answer, get rubric-based scoring from gs-eval
Or browse 132+ free preview questions across all years and papers — the first 3 questions of every paper are unlocked.
Ready to practice?
Subscribers can attempt this question in 200 words and get an instant, rubric-based evaluation showing where they stand.
Subscribe to evaluate your answer →