In the context of India, which one of the following is the characteristic appropriate for bureaucracy?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) An agency for the implementation of public policy
The bureaucracy is the permanent executive: trained, merit-selected officers who help ministers frame policy and then carry it out. Its defining job is implementing public policy, whichever party is in power.
- ✓ (d) Civil servants assist ministers in formulating policies and implementing them, and must faithfully implement a new government's policies too.
- ✗ (c) Continuity of administration may help stability, but political stability and growth are outcomes of policy choices made by elected governments, not the defining role of the bureaucracy.
- ✗ (a) Widening parliamentary democracy is a political task of legislators and parties; the bureaucracy is non-partisan and works under ministerial control.
Remember · Bureaucracy = permanent executive (civil service), recruited on merit through UPSC/State PSCs, politically neutral, and tasked with implementing the policies of the political executive.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 4 (practise this chapter) · Class 11 Indian Constitution at Work, Ch 4 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- NCERT Class 11 · Indian Constitution at Work, Chapter 4 “Trained and skilled officers who work as permanent employees of the government are assigned the task of assisting the ministers in formulating policies and implementing these policies.”
- NCERT Class 11 · Indian Constitution at Work, Chapter 4 “it is the responsibility of the administrative machinery to faithfully and efficiently participate in drafting the policy and in its implementation.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2020, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·