Which of the following statements about the Panchayati Raj System are correct? 1. All seats in a Panchayat are filled by persons chosen by direct election. 2. The ‘Gram Sabha’ consists of persons registered in the village electoral rolls. 3. The Chairperson of a Panchayat is elected in accordance with a law passed by each state. 4. All states in India have a three-tier system of Panchayats. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- (a)1 and 4 only
- (b)1, 2 and 3 only
- (c)2 and 3 only
- (d)2, 3 and 4 only
Correct — B, 1, 2 and 3 only. Statement 1 restates Article 243C(2) almost word for word: all the seats in a Panchayat shall be filled by persons chosen by direct election from territorial constituencies in the Panchayat area. Statement 2 is the definition in Article 243(b), which says a Gram Sabha is a body consisting of persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to a village. Statement 3 follows Article 243C(5)(a), under which the chairperson of a village Panchayat is elected in such manner as the legislature of the State may provide. Statement 4 is the one that fails. Article 243B(1) does require Panchayats at village, intermediate and district levels, but clause (2) adds that the intermediate level may be left out in a State whose population does not exceed twenty lakh — so the three-tier system is not universal.
- (a)1 and 4 only — Pairs the true statement 1 with the false statement 4, which is exactly the wrong half of the question.
- (c)2 and 3 only — Drops statement 1 although it is a direct quotation of Article 243C(2); every seat in a Panchayat is filled by direct election.
- (d)2, 3 and 4 only — Keeps statement 4, whose exception in Article 243B(2) is the point of the whole question, and drops the true statement 1.
Part IX, inserted by the 73rd Amendment in 1992 and in force from 24 April 1993, gave rural local government a constitutional floor. Its main features are a Gram Sabha of all registered voters of the village, direct election to all seats, reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women, a fixed five-year term with elections before it expires and within six months of a dissolution, a State Election Commission to conduct the polls, and a State Finance Commission every five years. The Eleventh Schedule lists twenty-nine subjects that States may devolve.
Three of the four statements are quotations, and the fourth is the kind of tidy generalisation that reads true. The exception that defeats it — no intermediate-level Panchayat in a State of twenty lakh people or fewer — is easy to hold if you attach it to real examples such as Goa, Sikkim and the smaller north-eastern States. It is also worth separating what the Constitution guarantees from what it leaves to the States: direct election of every seat is guaranteed, but the manner of electing the village chairperson is left to State law, which is why some States elect the sarpanch directly and others through the elected members.
- Article 243C(2) requires that all seats in a Panchayat be filled by direct election from territorial constituencies.
- Article 243(b) defines the Gram Sabha as the body of persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to a village within a Panchayat at the village level.
- Article 243C(5) leaves the manner of electing the village-level chairperson to State law; chairpersons at the intermediate and district levels are elected by and from among the elected members.
- Article 243B(2) allows a State with a population not exceeding twenty lakh to do without Panchayats at the intermediate level.
- Part IX was inserted by the 73rd Amendment, 1992, and came into force on 24 April 1993.
One exception in a single clause decides the whole question.
- Reading the three-tier structure as universal and missing the twenty-lakh exemption.
- Assuming the village chairperson must be directly elected everywhere; the Constitution leaves the method to the State.
- Confusing the Gram Sabha, which is all the registered voters, with the Gram Panchayat, which is the elected body.
As a which-statements-are-correct item on Part IX, or as an Article-number question on a particular provision such as reservation or the Gram Sabha.
Which one of the following was NOT proposed by the 73rd Constitutional Amendment in the area of Panchayati Raj?
- (a) Thirty per cent seats in all elected rural local bodies will be reserved for women candidates at all levels
- (b) The States will constitute their Finance Commissions to allocate resources to Panchayati Raj Institutions
- (c) The Panchayati Raj elected functionaries will be disqualified to hold their offices if they have more than two children
- (d) The elections will be held in six months’ time if Panchayati Raj bodies are super-ceded or dissolved by the State government
Answer(c) The Panchayati Raj elected functionaries will be disqualified to hold their offices if they have more than two children
The same amendment, tested by asking what it did not contain. Both questions reward a candidate who can separate what Part IX actually says from what State laws have added on top of it.
CDS_GK_2020_II_Q522020Which one of the following statements in relation to Panchayats is not correct?
- (a) Legislature of a State may, by law, make provisions with respect to the composition of Panchayats.
- (b) Panchayat area means the territorial area of a Panchayat.
- (c) Gram Sabha includes all persons in the electoral rolls of village within a Panchayat.
- (d) Reservation of seats for SCs and STs has nothing to do with proportion of their population.
Answer(d) Reservation of seats for SCs and STs has nothing to do with proportion of their population.
The same clauses of Part IX in the previous CDS paper, with the Gram Sabha definition appearing as a correct statement there and as statement 2 here.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the Constitution of India, Panchayats at the intermediate level need not be constituted in a State whose population does not exceed
- (a)ten lakh
- (b)twenty lakh
- (c)fifty lakh
- (d)one crore
Answer(b) twenty lakh — the exemption in Article 243B(2), which is why the three-tier system is not universal.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Gram Sabha under Part IX of the Constitution of India consists of
- (a)the elected members of the Gram Panchayat
- (b)all residents of the village
- (c)persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to the village
- (d)heads of all households in the village
Answer(c) persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to the village — the definition in Article 243(b).