UPPSC 2019 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 70 of 150

Correct — D, 24 April. The day commemorates the commencement of the Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992, which came into force on 24 April 1993 and gave Panchayati Raj institutions constitutional status for the first time. The amendment inserted Part IX (Articles 243 to 243-O) and the Eleventh Schedule, made the three-tier structure mandatory, fixed a five-year term with elections within six months of a dissolution, reserved seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and not less than one-third of all seats and chairperson posts for women, and required every State to set up a State Election Commission and a State Finance Commission. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj, created in 2004, has marked the anniversary as National Panchayati Raj Day since 2010. The point to hold on to is that the day celebrates the constitutional status of panchayats, not the origin of panchayats.

• (a)26 January — 26 January is Republic Day — the day the Constitution of India itself came into force in 1950. It marks the whole constitutional order, not the local-government amendment of 1993.
• (b)2 October — 2 October is Gandhi Jayanti, and it is the tempting wrong answer for a good reason: Panchayati Raj really was inaugurated on 2 October 1959, when Jawaharlal Nehru launched the three-tier system at Nagaur in Rajasthan on the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee's recommendation. But that was an executive initiative of the States, 34 years before panchayats acquired constitutional status — and it is the 1993 commencement that the national day marks.
• (c)21 April — 21 April is Civil Services Day, the day on which Sardar Patel addressed the first batch of administrative-service probationers in 1947. Its closeness to 24 April is exactly what the option is doing in this set — the two April dates are meant to be confused.

Panchayats existed long before 1993, but only as creatures of State law: a State could constitute them, suspend them, postpone their elections indefinitely or starve them of funds. The Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992 changed their legal foundation. It added Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule, made the three tiers — village, intermediate and district — obligatory for States with a population above twenty lakh, guaranteed a five-year term, mandated reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women, and handed the conduct of panchayat elections to an independent State Election Commission. The Act was passed by Parliament in December 1992 and came into force on 24 April 1993 — the date now observed as National Panchayati Raj Day.

Three of the four options are genuine national observances, so this is a memory question with a built-in decoy rather than a reasoning question. The reliable anchor is the principle behind the day: national days of this kind commemorate the constitutional milestone, not the historical origin. That immediately separates 24 April 1993, when the 73rd Amendment commenced, from 2 October 1959, when Panchayati Raj was first inaugurated at Nagaur. Keep the pairing 73rd Amendment → Part IX → Eleventh Schedule → 29 subjects → 24 April in one block in your memory, and its urban twin — 74th Amendment → Part IX-A → Twelfth Schedule → 18 subjects — in another.

• National Panchayati Raj Day is 24 April, the date on which the Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992 came into force in 1993.
• It has been observed since 2010; the nodal ministry is the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, created in 2004.
• The 73rd Amendment inserted Part IX (Articles 243 to 243-O) and the Eleventh Schedule, which lists 29 subjects that States may devolve to panchayats.
• Its core mandates: a three-tier structure, a five-year term with fresh elections within six months of a dissolution, reservation for SCs and STs in proportion to population, not less than one-third of seats and chairperson posts for women, a State Election Commission (Article 243-K) and a State Finance Commission every five years (Article 243-I).
• Panchayati Raj was first inaugurated on 2 October 1959 at Nagaur, Rajasthan, following the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee — a different date and a different event from the one the national day marks.

• Choosing 2 October because Panchayati Raj was inaugurated at Nagaur on that date in 1959 — the national day marks the 1993 constitutional commencement.
• Confusing 21 April (Civil Services Day) with 24 April; the paper places both in the same option set on purpose.
• Mixing the year the 73rd Amendment was passed (1992) with the date it came into force (24 April 1993) — the Act is dated 1992, the day is 1993.

UPPSC asks the date, the Part or the Schedule directly, and often mixes in a neighbouring national observance as the decoy; UPSC asks what the 73rd Amendment does and does not provide — for example whether District Planning Committees or State Finance Commissions come from it.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992 inserted into the Constitution of India

  • (a)Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule
  • (b)Part IX-A and the Twelfth Schedule
  • (c)Part VIII and the Tenth Schedule
  • (d)Part IV-A and the Ninth Schedule

  Answer(a) Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule — the panchayat provisions, Articles 243 to 243-O. Part IX-A and the Twelfth Schedule came from the 74th Amendment, which deals with municipalities.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  How many subjects are listed in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution of India?

  • (a)18
  • (b)29
  • (c)12
  • (d)52

  Answer(b) 29 — the subjects that States may devolve to panchayats under Article 243-G. The figure 18 belongs to the Twelfth Schedule, which lists the subjects for municipalities.