Evolution Of Panchayati Raj

Panchayati Raj is the local-self government formed according to the 73rd amendment of the Constitution of India. With an aim of maintaining democracy even at the grass-root level of the country, the Panchayati Raj System was established in the country as per the 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution in the year 1992.

Ashok Mehta Committee (1978) –

This committee was formed by the Janata Government, the then ruling government of India to study the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
The committee submitted over 130 points in its report and some of the prominent ones are being mentioned below,
The committee suggested replacing the three-tier system with the two-tier system.
The committee recommended giving compulsory taxation powers to the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
The Ashok Mehta Committee also recommended providing constitutional recognition to the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
The committee recommended making Zilla Parishad in charge of the planning at the state level.
The state council of ministers appointed a minister for Panchayati Raj as per the recommendation of the Ashok Mehta Committee.

GVK Rao Committee (1985) –

The commitment being set by the planning commission stated that the development procedures were taken away from these institutions and mentioned the system as, ‘grass without roots.
The following recommendations were provided by the GVK Rao Committee of 1985 based on their study,
- Zilla Parishad will be given the utmost priority and all the programs that are developmental in nature at that level to be taken care by the Parishad.
- Regular elections are to be held at this level regularly.
- The committee recommended the formation of the post of District Development Commissioner and the
- Commissioner would act as the CEO of the Zilla Parishad.

LM Singhvi Committee (1986)

The committee was constituted with the aim of ‘Revitalization of Panchayati Raj Institutions for Democracy and Development by the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

The LM Singhvi Committee recommended the following points,
- To provide the Constitutional recognitions for PRI institutions.
- To establish Nyay Panchayat for the cluster of villages.

Balwant Rai Mehta Committee

The committee was constituted in January 1957 by the Government of India to examine the working of the Community Development Programme (1952) and the National Extension Service (1952) and suggest measures for their better performance.
The committee recommended the establishment of the scheme of ‘democratic decentralisation’ which ultimately came to be known as Panchayati Raj.
Following were the recommendations made by the committee:
- Establishment of 3-tier Panchayati raj system i.e., gram panchayats at village level, panchayat samiti at block level and zila parishad at district level linked through a device of indirect elections.
- Representatives for the village panchayats to elected through direct elections, whereas, representatives of the panchayat samiti and zila parishad to be elected indirectly.
- Panchayat Samiti to be the executive body while the zila parishad be the advisory, coordinating and supervisory body.
- The district collector should be the chairman of the zila parishad.
- There should be a genuine transfer of power and responsibility from states to the local bodies.
- These recommendations of the committee were accepted by the National Development Council in January 1958.
- The council did not insist on a single rigid pattern and left it to the states to evolve their own patterns suitable to local conditions, but the basic principle and broad fundamentals should be identical throughout the country.

73rd Amendment Act:

In the year 1991, the government of PV Narsimha Rao introduced a pending bill to constitutionalize the Panchayat Raj Institutions in Lok Sabha and the bill finally emerged as the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act of 1992. The bill came into force on the 24th of April 1993.

Conclusion:

The Panchayati Raj System has brought the wave of development at the grassroot level of the country. The local-self government has been working effectively at the three tier segments in all the states of the country.

Evolution Of Panchayati Raj, Evolution Of Panchayati Raj

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