What were recommendations of Balwant Rai Mehta Committee?
Q. Which of the following is/are true regarding Balwant Rai Mehta Committee?
1) Recommended establishment of a three-tier Panchayati Raj system.
2) There should be direct elections for Panchayat Samiti.
3) Establishment of scheme of democratic decentralization.
4) District collector should be the chairman of the zila parishad.- Published on 10 Mar 17a. 1, 2, 3
b. 1, 3, 4
c. 2, 3, 4
d. 1, 2, 4
ANSWER: 1, 3, 4
- Panchayati Raj has been entrusted with rural development.
- It is a State Subject.
- 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992 constitutionalized it.
- Rajasthan was the first state to establish Panchayati Raj.
- It was established in 1959 in Nagaur district.
- Next was Andhra Pradesh, which also adopted the system in 1959.
- After that most of the states adopted it.
- There were differences from one state to another with regard to the number of tiers, their tenure, composition, functions etc.
- Rajasthan adopted the three-tier system but Tamil Nadu adopted the two-tier system.
- West Bengal adopted the four-tier system.
- In Rajasthan-Andhra Pradesh pattern, panchayat samiti was powerful as the block was taken as unit of planning and development.
- In Maharashtra-Gujarat pattern, zila parishad was powerful as the district was taken as unit of planning and development.
- Some states also established nyaya panchayats, (judicial panchayats) to try petty civil and criminal cases.
Recommendations of the Balwantrai Committee -
- In January 1957, the Government of India appointed a committee under chairmanship of Balwant Rai G. Mehta to examine the working of the Community Development Programme (1952) and the National Extension Service (1953).
- It was to suggest measures for better working of the programs.
- While submitting its report in November 1957, it recommended the establishment of the scheme of ‘democratic decentralization’.
This finally came to be known as Panchayati Raj. It recommended -
a) Establishment of a 3-tier Panchayati Raj system - gram panchayat at the village level, panchayat samiti at the block level and zila parishad at the district level.
b) Linking these tiers should be organic i.e. through indirect elections.
c) The village panchayat should be constituted by directly elected representatives.
d) The panchayat samiti and zila parishad should be constituted by indirectly elected members.
e) All planning and development activities should be entrusted to these bodies.
f) Panchayat samiti should be the executive body.
g) Zila parishad should be the advisory, coordinating and supervisory body.
h) District collector should be the chairman of the zila parishad.
i) There should be a genuine transfer of power and responsibility to these democratic bodies.
j) Adequate resources should be transferred to these bodies to enable them to discharge their functions and fulfill their responsibilities.
k) A system should be evolved to effect further devolution of authority in future.
- National Development Council accepted these recommendations in January 1958.
- But the council didn’t insist on a single rigid pattern and left it to the discretion of the states to form their own patterns suitable to local conditions.
- But the basic principles were to be identical throughout the country.
