NDA (II) 2022 General Ability Test · Question 137 of 150

Correct — D, regulation of land revenue. This is a negative-form question, so the answer is the odd one out. Article 243G lets a State legislature endow Panchayats with powers and authority to function as institutions of self-government, including for the matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule. Entry 2 of that Schedule reads, in one composite line, 'Land improvement, implementation of land reforms, land consolidation and soil conservation' — which is options (a), (b) and (c) taken word for word out of a single entry. Regulation of land revenue appears nowhere among the twenty-nine entries. Assessment and collection of land revenue is a State subject under the State List and is run by the State revenue administration, not by a Panchayat.

• (a)Land improvement — These are the opening words of entry 2 of the Eleventh Schedule, so land improvement is squarely within the matters a State may devolve to Panchayats under Article 243G.
• (b)Implementation of land reforms — The same entry 2 continues 'implementation of land reforms', so this too is a listed subject. Note the wording — Panchayats implement land reform, they do not legislate it.
• (c)Land consolidation and soil conservation — This is the closing half of entry 2, again reproduced exactly. It is therefore a Panchayat subject and cannot be the answer to a question that asks which one is not.

The Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992 inserted Part IX, Articles 243 to 243-O, and the Eleventh Schedule, giving Panchayati Raj institutions constitutional status. Article 243G is the enabling provision: the legislature of a State may, by law, endow Panchayats with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government, and such law may devolve powers for the preparation of plans for economic development and social justice and for the implementation of schemes, including those in relation to the twenty-nine matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule. The wording matters — the Schedule is a menu from which a State may devolve, not a self-executing transfer of powers.

The item is built on a single sentence of the Constitution split into three options, plus a fourth that sounds as though it belongs but does not. Anything to do with revenue — its assessment, collection or regulation — is the classic outsider in such lists, because land revenue is a State List subject handled by the revenue department through tehsildars and collectors. A useful check is to ask whether the activity is developmental or fiscal-sovereign in character: the Eleventh Schedule is a development list covering agriculture, irrigation, drinking water, roads, education, health and welfare, and it does not confer taxing or revenue-regulating authority. Panchayats can be authorised to levy certain local taxes, but that comes from Article 243H, not from the Eleventh Schedule.

• Article 243G empowers a State legislature to endow Panchayats with powers to function as institutions of self-government, including for the matters in the Eleventh Schedule.
• The Eleventh Schedule has 29 entries; entry 2 is 'Land improvement, implementation of land reforms, land consolidation and soil conservation'.
• Regulation of land revenue is not among the 29 entries — land revenue is a State List subject.
• The Eleventh Schedule and Part IX were added by the Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992; the Twelfth Schedule with 18 municipal subjects came with the Seventy-fourth Amendment.
• Powers to levy taxes, duties and fees by Panchayats come from Article 243H, separately from the Eleventh Schedule list.

• Missing the word 'not' in the stem and picking a subject that is in the Schedule.
• Assuming any land-related matter must be a Panchayat subject, when land revenue is a State List subject.
• Reading Article 243G as an automatic transfer of the 29 subjects rather than an enabling provision for the State legislature.

Either as a which-is-not item on the Eleventh Schedule list, or as statement pairs on which article or schedule carries which local-government provision.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution of India, which lists the subjects that may be devolved to Panchayats, was inserted by which amendment?

  • (a)The Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992
  • (b)The Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act, 1992
  • (c)The Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Act, 1976
  • (d)The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002

  Answer(a) The Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992 — it added Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule; the Seventy-fourth Amendment added Part IX-A and the Twelfth Schedule for municipalities.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is NOT listed among the subjects in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution?

  • (a)Minor forest produce
  • (b)Fisheries
  • (c)Public order and police
  • (d)Rural electrification, including distribution of electricity

  Answer(c) Public order and police — the Eleventh Schedule is a development list; public order and police remain State List subjects run by the State government.