Which of the following is/are correct in relation to the Panchayats? 1. Only the Parliament may endow Panchayats with powers and authority 2. A state may devolve powers to Panchayats in preparation of plans for economic development and social justice 3. A state may devolve powers to Panchayats in implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Correct — C, 2 and 3. Article 243G says that the Legislature of a State may, by law, endow the Panchayats with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government, including the preparation of plans for economic development and social justice and the implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice. Statements 2 and 3 are the two limbs of that provision, quoted almost word for word. Statement 1 gets the authority wrong — the power to endow belongs to the State Legislature, not to Parliament, and that division is deliberate, because local government is a State subject and the Seventy-third Amendment created a framework rather than a transfer.

• (a)1 only — Keeps the one statement that misnames the authority and drops the two that reproduce Article 243G. Parliament wrote the framework into the Constitution; it is the State Legislature that fills it in.
• (b)1 and 3 — Correct on implementation of schemes but wrong on who does the endowing, and it omits the planning limb, which is the first of the two named in the article.
• (d)3 only — Drops the planning limb. Article 243G names the preparation of plans and the implementation of schemes as two separate heads, and a State may devolve either or both.

The Seventy-third Amendment of 1992 inserted Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule and made certain things compulsory — a three-tier structure in States above twenty lakh population, elections every five years, a State Election Commission, a State Finance Commission every five years, and reservation of seats for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women. What it did not make compulsory is the transfer of functions. The Eleventh Schedule lists twenty-nine subjects that may be devolved, and Article 243G leaves the decision to each State Legislature.

That distinction between the mandatory frame and the discretionary content is the whole of the topic. Elections, reservations and the two commissions are constitutional obligations; functions, funds and functionaries are matters of State law, and States have differed widely in how much they have actually handed over. The consequence is that two panchayats with identical constitutional standing can have very different real powers. When a panchayat is dissolved, Article 243E requires a fresh election within six months, and a body constituted after such an election serves only the remainder of the original term.

• Article 243G empowers the State Legislature, not Parliament, to endow panchayats with powers and authority.
• The two heads named in the article are the preparation of plans and the implementation of schemes for economic development and social justice.
• The Eleventh Schedule lists twenty-nine subjects that a State may devolve to panchayats.
• Article 243E fixes a five-year term and requires elections within six months of a dissolution.
• The Seventy-third Amendment made elections, reservations, the State Election Commission and the State Finance Commission compulsory, but left devolution of functions to each State.

• Reading a constitutional amendment made by Parliament as a transfer of power made by Parliament.
• Treating the twenty-nine subjects of the Eleventh Schedule as automatically devolved.
• Confusing Part IX with Part IX-A, which deals with municipalities and was added by a separate amendment.

Local-government items very often turn on who exercises a power rather than on what the power is. Read the subject of the sentence before the object.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution of India lists how many subjects that may be devolved to panchayats?

  • (a)18
  • (b)24
  • (c)29
  • (d)32

  Answer(c) 29 — the Twelfth Schedule, for urban local bodies, lists eighteen.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  If a Panchayat is dissolved before the end of its term, an election to constitute it must be completed within

  • (a)one month
  • (b)three months
  • (c)six months
  • (d)one year

  Answer(c) six months — under Article 243E, and the new body serves only the remainder of the original term.