Question

The adoption of an Ombudsman-type institution in India was first recommended by which of the following?

• A. Santhanam Committee, 1964
• B. Administrative Reforms Commission, 2005
• C. Administrative Reforms Commission, 1966
• D. India Against Corruption Movement, 2011

Hint:

For exam purposes: ARC (1966) = Lokpal Recommendation This is one of the most frequently asked facts in Public Administration and Polity.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Concept: The idea of an Ombudsman originated in Scandinavian countries and refers to an independent authority that investigates complaints against public officials. In India, this concept eventually evolved into the institutions of Lokpal and Lokayukta.

Step 1: Historical background.

• During the 1960s, concerns regarding corruption and maladministration led to demands for an independent grievance-redressal mechanism.

• The First Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) was established in 1966 to recommend improvements in public administration.

Step 2: Recommendation of the ARC.

• The ARC recommended the establishment of: itemize

• A

Lokpal at the Union level.

• A

Lokayukta at the State level.
These institutions were modeled on the Ombudsman system. This was the first official recommendation in India advocating such a mechanism. itemize

Step 3: Why other options are incorrect.

• The Santhanam Committee focused on corruption issues but did not make the foundational Ombudsman recommendation.

• The 2005 ARC came much later.

• The India Against Corruption Movement was a public movement and not the original recommending authority.

The First Administrative Reforms Commission (1966) laid the foundation for the Lokpal-Lokayukta system in India. \[ \boxed{\text{Correct Answer = (C) Administrative Reforms Commission, 1966}} \]

Answer 2

Questions about who first recommended a particular institution are often best solved by placing each option on a timeline and checking which one is both early enough and specific enough to count as the founding recommendation, rather than relying only on memorised facts about each body.

1. Santhanam Committee, 1964: This committee was set up specifically to examine the problem of corruption in public life and led to the creation of the Central Vigilance Commission. It focused on anti-corruption machinery generally and is not credited with proposing the Ombudsman-style Lokpal or Lokayukta model, so its subject matter disqualifies it here regardless of its date.
2. Administrative Reforms Commission, 2005: This is the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, formed decades after the concept of an Indian Ombudsman had already been proposed and debated. Being a later, second body, it could not have been the one to first introduce the idea into Indian administrative reform discourse.
3. Administrative Reforms Commission, 1966: This is the First Administrative Reforms Commission, set up specifically to study and recommend improvements to public administration in India. It is this Commission that first proposed setting up a Lokpal at the Union level and Lokayukta at the state level, modelled directly on the Scandinavian Ombudsman, making it the earliest and most specific source of the recommendation among the four options.
4. India Against Corruption Movement, 2011: This was a civil society movement that pushed for the passage of a strong Lokpal Bill decades after the institution had already been recommended and partially debated in Parliament. A public movement demanding implementation of an existing proposal is not the same as the original body that first recommended the institution.

Placing the options on a timeline and matching them to their actual subject matter shows that only the First Administrative Reforms Commission of 1966 is both early enough and specific enough to be the original source of the Ombudsman-style recommendation in India.

So the correct answer is Administrative Reforms Commission, 1966.