APPSC AO key terms

Guarantees in Part III of the Indian Constitution, enforceable through writs, covering equality, freedom, protection against exploitation, religion, culture and education, and constitutional remedies. They limit state power over individuals.

Guidelines in Part IV of the Constitution directing the state toward social and economic welfare. They are non-justiciable but fundamental to governance and are often cited when framing welfare legislation and policy.

A formal application asking a High Court or the Supreme Court to issue a constitutional remedy such as habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto or certiorari against unlawful action by an authority.

An independent ombudsman institution at state level that investigates complaints of corruption and maladministration against public servants. Andhra Pradesh established one under the Andhra Pradesh Lokayukta Act.

A statutory right allowing citizens to request information held by public authorities, with time-bound replies and penalties for delay. It supports transparency and accountability in office administration.

The system by which citizens' complaints about government services are received, tracked and resolved within timelines, usually through a dedicated portal and nodal officers at district and state levels.

A public statement by a government office listing the services it offers, the documents required, timelines, fees and remedies if service standards are not met. It makes service delivery predictable.

The prescribed sequence of receiving, diarising, marking, drafting, approving and dispatching papers in a government office, including levels of submission and the noting and drafting system.

The two-part written record on a government file: notes record analysis and proposals of officers, while the draft is the fair communication issued after approval by the competent authority.

The tracked passage of a case file through sections, branches, officers and departments, with entries of receipt, submission and disposal, so that accountability and status are always visible.

Registering every incoming and outgoing letter with a serial number, date and subject in the office diary, creating a permanent record and enabling later tracing and reference.

Rules that assign spending authority to specified officers by rank and purpose, with ceilings and conditions, so that routine expenditure is approved at the appropriate level without delay.

A forecast of receipts and expenditure prepared by a department for a financial year, submitted for legislative approval and later controlled through allotments, reappropriation and expenditure monitoring.

A point raised by the Accountant General or audit authority on irregular, unsupported or wasteful expenditure, requiring a reply and settlement through the departmental and audit machinery.

The departmental machinery that detects corruption, misconduct and rule violations by public servants, conducts enquiries and recommends disciplinary or criminal action where warranted.

The state law that establishes gram panchayats, mandal parishads and zilla parishads, defines their powers, functions, elections and funds, and gives effect to local self-government in rural areas.

The assembly of all registered voters of a village, which approves plans, beneficiaries and accounts of the gram panchayat and acts as the base institution of participatory local governance.

The intermediate tier of rural local government in Andhra Pradesh, covering a mandal and coordinating the gram panchayats within it, with elected members and a territorial constituency system.

The district-level rural local body in Andhra Pradesh that plans and supervises district rural development, approves mandal plans and administers funds devolved to the district tier.

The senior officer heading district administration, responsible for revenue, law and order coordination, disaster response and implementation of state welfare schemes in the district.

A government programme providing cash transfers, subsidies, insurance or services to identified beneficiary groups, delivered through departments, portals and field functionaries with eligibility criteria.

A mechanism that credits scheme benefits directly into the beneficiary's bank account, reducing leakage and middlemen, and usually linked to identity verification and eligibility databases.

The process of determining who qualifies for a scheme using prescribed criteria, documents and verification, and of maintaining an updated list from which benefits are sanctioned.

The comparison of two quantities by division and the equation of two such comparisons. Problems often require finding a share, a combined rate or an unknown quantity in a given ratio.

A fraction expressed with denominator one hundred. Questions test increase and decrease, successive change, and conversion between fractions, decimals and percents in data-based settings.

The sum of a set of values divided by their number. Problems often involve changes in average when a value is added, removed or replaced, or finding a missing value.

Problems about the rate at which persons or machines complete a task, using the idea that rates add when workers combine and that work done equals rate multiplied by time.

Problems relating speed, distance and time, including relative speed of objects moving in the same or opposite directions and problems involving trains and boats.

A reasoning question presenting two or more premises with categorical statements, from which the candidate must decide which conclusions necessarily follow, using valid forms only.

Reasoning puzzles that describe family links through statements or symbols, requiring the candidate to work out how two persons are related or to identify a particular member.

A puzzle in which people are placed in rows, circles or squares under given conditions, and the candidate must determine the final order or the position of a specified person.

A reasoning task where words or numbers are converted by a rule, and the candidate must identify the rule from examples and apply it to a new word or number.

The grammatical contrast in which the subject performs the action (active) or receives it (passive). Transformation questions require correct tense, auxiliary and subject-object changes.

The contrast between quoting a speaker's exact words and reporting them in a subordinate clause, with required changes in pronouns, tense, time and place words.

The rule that a verb must match its subject in number and person, with special cases for collective nouns, compound subjects, and phrases inserted between subject and verb.

A fixed expression whose meaning is not derived from its individual words. Questions ask for the correct meaning of an idiom or the phrase that best replaces a highlighted part.

Vocabulary items testing words with similar meanings and words with opposite meanings, often in context, requiring attention to shades of meaning and part of speech.

The rule-governed joining of two adjacent sounds in Telugu, with changes to the final and initial letters, classified into types such as Savarna, Guna and Vriddhi sandhi.

The Telugu compound word formed by combining two or more words into one, with the relationship between components expressed by case endings and classified by type.

Telugu prosody, the system of metres defined by syllable weight patterns and units such as gana, with named metres used to classify and compose verse.

Figures of speech in Telugu poetics that decorate meaning or sound, divided broadly into Arthalankaram and Sabdalankaram, with named devices such as Upama and Rupaka.