3/21/2017 EvolutionofPanchayatiRajSysteminIndiaGeneralKnowledgeToday

EvolutionofPanchayatiRajSysteminIndia
FirstPublished:March21,2016|LastUpdated:March21,2016

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A strong, vibrant local government is a means of political decentralization. There are several advantages of the
Decentralization. Decisionmaking being closer to the people, decentralization ensures decisionmakers more effective
accountabilitytothegoverned.Thisalsoensuresmorerealisticprogramming,forlocalproblemsareapttoreceiveurgent
attention. Local vigilance also increases thereby reducing the room for corruption. This certainly goes a long way
towards maximising returns on every rupee spent on development. These are some of the tangible advantages of
decentralization.

Contents [hide]

TheCommunityDevelopmentProgramme
BalwantRaiMehtaCommitteeReport
LaunchingofPanchayatiRajinIndia
SanthanamCommittee:1963
AshokMehtaCommittee:1977
GVKRaoCommittee:1985
LMSinghviCommittee:1986
SinghviCommitteeversusSarkariaCommission
64thAmendmentBill
74thamendmentBill
72ndAmendmentBilland73rdAmendmentAct

TheCommunityDevelopmentProgramme
On 15 August 1947, India got an opportunity of redeeming the pledges made to the people during the longdrawn
freedom movement. Among the first tasks that India had to assume was the formulation and execution of the first five
yearplaninthefifties.
PostIndependence,thefirstmajordevelopmentprogrammelaunchedinIndiawasCommunityDevelopmentProgramme
in1952.Corephilosophywasoveralldevelopmentofruralareasandpeoplesparticipation.
This programme was formulated to provide an administrative framework through which the government might reach to
thedistrict,tehsil/talukaandvillagelevel.
AllthedistrictsofthecountryweredividedintoDevelopmentBlocksandaBlockDevelopmentOfficer(BDO)was
madeinchargeofeachblock.
BelowtheBDOwereappointedtheworkerscalledVillageLevelWorkers(VLW)whowereresponsibletokeepintouch
with1012villages.So,anationwidestructurewasstartedtobecreated.
Thousands of BDOs and VLWs were trained for the job of carrying out array of government programmes and make it
possible to reach the government to villages. Top authority was Community Development Organization and a
CommunityDevelopmentResearchCenterwascreatedwithbestacademicbrainsofthecountryatthattime.
Thisprogrammewasnotsuccessful.Itsfailurewasdirectlyattributedtoinadequacyofavenuesofpopularparticipation
in local level programmes of rural development. This was the finding of the team for the study of community projects
andnationalextensionserviceunderthechairmanshipofBalwantRaiMehta,reportingin1959.
BalwantRaiMehtaCommitteeReport
Aswereadabove,theCommunity Development Programme was formulated to provide an administrative framework
throughwhichthegovernmentmightreachtothedistrict,tehsil/talukaandvillagelevel.Allthedistrictsofthecountry
weredividedintoDevelopmentBlocksandaBlockDevelopmentOfficer(BDO)wasmadeinchargeofeachblock.
BelowtheBDOwereappointedtheworkerscalledVillageLevelWorkers(VLW)whowereresponsibletokeepintouch
with1012villages.So,anationwidestructurewasstartedtobecreated.ThousandsofBDOsandVLWsweretrainedfor
the job of carrying out array of government programmes and make it possible to reach the government to villages. Top
authoritywasCommunityDevelopmentOrganizationandaCommunityDevelopmentResearchCenterwascreatedwith
bestacademicbrainsofthecountryatthattime.

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Butthisprogrammecouldnotdelivertheresults.TheprogrammebecameanoverburdenontheGovernment.
Further, in 1953, the National Extension Services were started under which the entire country was divided into Blocks.
TheseBlockswereenvisagedassmallestdivisionfordevelopmentwork.
In 1957, the Balvant Rai Mehta Committee was appointed to study the Community
DevelopmentProgrammesandNationalExtensionServicesProgrammeespeciallyfromthepointofviewofassessing
theextentofpeoplesparticipationandtorecommendthecreation of the institutions through which such participation
canbeachieved.

BalwantRaiMehta
Balwant Rai Mehta was one of the legendry freedom fighters of the country who participated in the Bardoli
Satyagraha.HeisbestknownassecondChiefMinisterofGujarat.BalwantRaiMehtawasaparliamentarianwhen
thecommitteewasestablished.HeiscreditedforpioneeringtheconceptthePanchayatiRajinIndiaandalsoknown
asFatherofPanchayatiRajinIndia.

FollowingwerethelandmarkrecommendationsoftheBalwantRaiMehtaCommittee:
Panchayati Raj Institutions should be composed of elected representatives and should enjoy enough autonomy and
freedom.
TheBalwantRaiMehtacommitteerecommendeda3tierPanchayatiRajSystemwhichincludes
ZilaParishadattheDistrictLevel

PanchayatSamitiattheBlock/Tehsil/TalukaLevel

GramPanchayatattheVillageLevel
But the committee did not insisted on a rigid pattern. It recommended that the states should be given freedom to
choose and develop their own patterns as per the local conditions. The committee recommended that the above 3 tiers
shouldbeorganicallylinkedtogetherthroughaninstrumentofindirectelection.
The committee recommended that the Gram Panchayats should be constituted with directly elected representatives,
whereasthePanchayatSamitiandZilaParishadshouldbetheconstitutedwithindirectlyelectedmembers.
ThestatusofthePanchayatsamitishouldbeofthatofanexecutivebody,
whilethestatusoftheZilaParishadshouldbethatofanadvisorybody.

TheZilaParishadshouldbechairedbytheDistrictCollector.

Thesedemocraticbodiesmustbegivengenuinepowers.

These bodies should be given adequate resources to carry out the

functionsandfulfilltheresponsibilities.
Thus we see, that most of the recommendations of the Balwant Rai Mehta committee reflect in the Panchayati Raj
institutions,asweseethemtoday.
LaunchingofPanchayatiRajinIndia
TheBalwantRaiMehtareportwasgreetedverywarmly,andPanchayatirajwasintroducedwithgreatfanfarealloverthe
country. The committee recommended a threetier system of rural local government, which is called panchayat raj. The
principalthrustoftheMehtareportwasonthedecentralizationofdemocraticinstitutionsinanefforttoshirtdecision
centresclosertothepeopletoensuretheirparticipation,andtoputthebureaucracyunderlocalpopularcontrol.
The recommendations of the Balwant Rai Mehta committee were accepted by the National Development Council in
1958andsubsequentlyRajasthanin1959becamethefirststateinIndiatolaunchthePanchayatiRaj.
The institution of Panchayati Raj was inaugurated by Jawahar lal Nehru on October 2, 1959 in Nagaur District of
Rajasthan. Nine days later, Andhra Pradesh became the second state to launch Panchayati Raj at Shadnagar near
Hyderabad
ThelaunchofthePanchayatiRajinstitutionswasathumpingsuccessandsoonthestatesstartedadoptingtheinstitutions.
This continued for 56 years and after that the institutions started crippling due to lack of resources, political will, and
bureaucratic apathy and change the government priorities. The rural elites dominated the system and the benefit of the
development schemes was not able to reach to the last corner of the country. The legitimacy of the Panchayati Raj
institutions came under questions. There was not much development in this site until the Congress was thrown out of
centerandJantaGovernmentcamein1977.However,beforethattherearesomeeffortsintheformofcommitteeswere
donetomakethesystemmoreefficient.
SanthanamCommittee:1963
The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee was followed by the Santhanam Committee. This committee was formed by the
GovernmentofIndiatosolvethefollowingimportantpracticalquestions.
Howandinwhatratio,therevenuesshouldbehandedovertoPRIs?
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What should be the criteria of sanction of grants to them by State

Government

WhatshouldbethestatusoftheFinancialRelationsbetweenthedifferent
levelsofPRIs?
So, in a nutshell, the Santhanam Committees scope of study was the financial matters of the PRIs. The important
recommendationsthiscommitteemadeareasfollows:
ThePanchayatiRajFinanceCorporationsshouldbeestablished.

All the grants at the state level should be sent in a consolidated form to
variousPRIs

Panchayats should have power to levy special tax which should be based
uponthelandrevenueandhousetaxetc.
WeseethatSanthanamCommitteegavesomepracticalrecommendationstomattersoffinancialrelevance.Therewasone
more major issue of implementation of PRIs. This was what should be the point of decentralization? Should it be a
Tehsil / Taluka/ block or a District? If it is a district, then what would be the relevancy of the middle tier of Panchayat
Samitees?Ifitistobeatehsil/Taluka/block,thenhowtheeffectivedecentralizationcantakeplacelookingatvastness
ofthecountry?
Two more committees viz. the Ashok Mehta committee on Panchayati Raj institutions and the G.V.K. Rao
committee on administrative arrangements for rural development and poverty alleviation programmes supported
thatdistrictisthemostappropriatepointforeffectivepointofdecentralization.
AshokMehtaCommittee:1977
OneofthemajorissuesincontextwiththePRIswasthatitgotdominatedbytheprivilegedsectionofthevillagesociety.
In December 1977, the Janta Government appointed a 13 member committee which was headed by Mr. Ashok Mehta.
Thecommitteewasappointedforfollowing:
WhatarethecausesresponsibleforpoorperformanceofthePRIs?

WhatmeasuresshouldbetakentoimproveperformanceofthePRIs?
The Ashok Mehta committee submitted its report in 1978 and made more than 130 recommendations. The essence of
AshokMehtaCommitteerecommendationsisasfollows:
3tiershouldbereplacedbythe2tiersystem.TheuppertierwouldbetheZilaParishadatthedistrictlevelandlower
tiershouldbetheMandalPanchayat,whichshouldbeaPanchayatofgroupofvillagescoveringapopulationof15000
to20000.
The committee recommended that the base of the Panchayati Raj system should be a Mandal Panchayats. Each Mandal
panchayatshouldcontain15membersdirectlyelectedbythepeople.TheheadoftheMandalPanchayatshouldbeelected
amongthemembersthemselves.
Zila Parishad should be the executive body and made responsible for planning at the district level. The Zila Parishad
members should be elected as well as nominated. The MLA and MPs of the area should have the status of Exofficio
chairmen of the Zila Parishads. Development functions should be transferred to the Zila Parishad and all development
staffshouldworkunderitscontrolandsupervision.
Thus, we see that the Ashok Mehta Committee recommended abolishing the middle trier i.e. Blocks as unit of
administration. It recommended that the district should be the first point for decentralization under popular
supervisionbelowthestatelevel.
InthemattersofFinance,thecommitteesaidthatcompulsory items of taxation should be put under the jurisdictions of
theZilaParishadssothattheyareabletomobilizetheirownfinancialresources.
Thecommitteerecommendedthatthereshouldberegularauditatthedistrictlevelandacommitteeoflegislaturesshould
checkwhetherthefundsallottedforthevulnerablesocialandeconomicgroupsareactuallyspentonthem.
One more important recommendation of this committee was that there should be Nyaya Panchayats as separate bodies
fromthatofdevelopmentPanchayats.TheNyayaPanchayatsshouldbepresidedoverbyaqualifiedjudge.
It was the Ashok Mehta Committee that recommended that there should be a minister for Panchayati Raj in the state
councilofministerstolookaftertheaffairsofthePanchayatiRajinstitutions.
In summary, the democratic decentralization initiated by the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee were taken forward by the
Ashok Mehta Committee. But before any action could be taken on the recommendations of this committee, the Janta
Government collapsed. So, the zeal to implement the recommendations got wiped out. However, West Bengal and
KarnatakaweretwostatesthattookinitiativesonthebasisofrecommendationsoftheAshokMehtaCommittee.
As per the recommendations the Karnataka Government passed the Karnataka Zilla Parishads, Taluk Panchayat Samitis,
MandalPanchayatsandNyayaPanchayatsAct,1983(KarnatakaAct20of1985)
The Ashok Mehta committee noted that except the states of Maharastra and Gujarat, the PRIs were not given an
opportunitytotakeupimplementationatasatisfactorylevel.TheZilaParishadswerenotrelevantintheimplantationof

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severalGovernmentprogrammeswhichoughttoimplementatthegrassrootlevel.Committeenotedthatthebureaucracy
wasalsoresponsibleforthedeclineforparticularlytworeasons:
The officers felt that they are primarily accountable to the State
Governments.

Theywerenotabletoadjusttotheworkingunderthesupervisionofthe
electedrepresentatives.
GVKRaoCommittee:1985
TheAshokMehtaCommitteewasfollowedbyGVKRaoCommitteein1985.Thiscommitteewasappointedpriortothe
7th Five Year Plan, to recommend on an integrated concept for growth and poverty alleviation. The committee had the
followingtasks:
Examine the existing administration structure for rural development and
detailoutthefunctionsandrevenueresourcesofthePRIs

Recommend the administrative arrangements for rural development and

povertyalleviationprogrammes.

RecommendonrevitalizingthePRI.
TheessenceoftherecommendationsoftheGVKRaoCommitteeisasfollows:
The district level Zila Parishad should be the basic unit for policy
planning and programme implementation. The Zila Parishad should be the
pivotalbodyfortheschemeofthedemocraticdecentralization.

The State level planning functions should be transferred to the Zila

Parishadforeffectivedecentralizedplanning.
So, in a nutshell, the GVK Rao committee was of the view of making the district as the pole of democratic
centralization. The committee also recommended that a post of District Development Commissioner should be
created,whowouldworkastheCEOoftheZilaParishad.
TheDistrictDevelopmentCommissionershouldbetheinchargeofallthedevelopmentaldepartmentsatthedistrictlevel.
This was a big deviation from the previous committees which recommended the lower bodies as bases and assigned the
major role to the Panchayats and Mandal Panchayats in the development. Next year, report of one more important
committeecameout.
LMSinghviCommittee:1986
AyearaftertheGVKRaocommittee,theGovernmentofIndiasetupDr.LMSinghviCommittee.Theprimeminister
was Rajiv Gandhi. The LM Singhvi Committee was of the view that the Panchayati Raj Institutions declined in the
countrybecauseof
Absenceofaclearconcept

Absenceofpoliticalwill

LackofResearch,evaluationandmonitoring.
ThecommitteewasinfavourofmakingwaysforthePRIstoensuretheavailabilityoftheenoughfinancialresources.
TheLMSinghviCommitteeisbestknownforrecommendingtheconstitutionalstatusforPanchayats.
This was virtually the first committee after decades of Indias experiments with the decentralization which found the
GramSabhasastheincarnationofthedirectdemocracy.
Herearethenotesfromitsrecommendations:
ThePRIsshouldberecognized,protectedandpreservedconstitutionally.
A new chapter should be added in the Constitution of India which should
enshrinetheprovisionstoensurefree,regularandfairelectionsinthePRIs.

For revenue procedures, the Singhvi Committee was of the view that
thereshouldbeoptionalandcompulsorylevieswhichshouldbeentrustedto
thePRIs.Forinitialyears,thestategovernmentmaylevyonbehalfofthe
PRIsanddisbursemoneytothem.Thisdisbursementshouldbebasedupon
therecommendationsoftheStateFinanceCommissions.

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ForJurisdictionofthePRIs,NyayaPanchayatsshouldbeestablishedfor
aclusterofvillages.

Gram Sabha is the embodiment of the direct democracy and the village
Panchayats should be more organized. Gram Sabha should be given
importance.

The Singhvi Committee also recommended establishment of the Judicial

Tribunals in the states which would tackle the controversies regarding the
electionstothePanchayatiRajinstitutions.
SinghviCommitteeversusSarkariaCommission
TheaboverecommendationsoftheSinghviCommittee,thoughrevolutionary,wereopposedbytheSarkariaCommission
onCentreStateRelations,whichsubmitteditsreportin1988.Thiscommissionwasoftheviewthatenactinganylawon
the Panchayats is exclusive power vested in the states and rather than adding a new chapter in the Constitution, there
shouldbeauniformlaw,applicablethroughoutIndia.Amodelbillcanbedraftedonthebasisofconsensusamongallthe
stateatthelevelofInterstateCouncil.
64thAmendmentBill
Despite the contradictory view of the Sarkaria Commission, the government had zeroed in on giving constitutional
protection to the PRIs. In this regard, the 64th amendment bill was introduced in the parliament by Rajiv Gandhi
Government on 15 May 1989. The bill got lapsed because it could not pass in Rajya Sabha. This was on 15 October
1989. On 27 November 1989, the tenure of the Rajiv Gandhi government ended and elections were held. Rajiv Gandhi
losttheelections,andtheresultwasaminoritygovernmentunderV.P.SinghandtheNationalFront.Thiswasthe first
minority government, since 1947, with the help of the Left Parties and Bharatiya Janta Party, who supported the
governmentfromoutside.
74thamendmentBill
TheVPSinghGovernmentintroducedthe74thConstitutionalAmendmentBillonSeptember7,1990.Thisbillalsogot
lapsedbecausetheminorityGovernmentofVPSinghcollapsedleadingtodissolutionoftheLokSabha.
72ndAmendmentBilland73rdAmendmentAct
The 72nd amendment Bill was enshrining a comprehensive amendment of the Constitution and was introduced on 10th
September,1991byG.VenkatSwamy.ThebillwaspassedintheLokSabhaonDecember22,1992andtheRajyaSabha
on December 23, 1992. After having been ratified by 17 state assemblies this bill came into effect as Constitution
73rdAmendmentAct1993w.e.fApril24,1993.
Thus,April24,1993becamethelandmarkdayinthehistoryofPanchayatiRajinIndia.Bythisamendmentact,anew
Part IX was inserted in the Constitution of India enshrining the provisions for the Panchayats. Here please note that
OriginalpartIXwasrepealedbyonetheamendmentsoftheconstitution.Constitution(SeventyForthAmendment)Act,
1992hasintroducedanewpartPartIXAintheConstitution,whichdealswithMunicipalities.

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