When was the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act passed by Indian Parliament ?
- (a)1996
- (b)1993
- (c)1998
- (d)1995
Correct — A, 1996. The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, universally called PESA, was enacted on 24 December 1996, and the year is carried in the Act's own short title — the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996. Its purpose follows directly from a gap the 73rd Constitutional Amendment left behind. That Amendment, passed in 1992, inserted Part IX into the Constitution and made panchayati raj a constitutional institution, but Part IX did not extend to the Fifth and Sixth Schedule areas; the Constitution instead left it to Parliament to carry those provisions into the Scheduled Areas by law, with whatever exceptions and modifications it thought fit. PESA is that law. It extends Part IX to the Fifth Schedule areas while reshaping it around the Gram Sabha, which is given ownership of minor forest produce, control over minor water bodies and minor minerals, the power to select beneficiaries, to approve plans and projects, and the right to be consulted before land is acquired.
- (b)1993 — The most tempting wrong answer, and the one the question is built to catch. 1993 is the year the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments came into force, which is why it sits in every student's memory next to the word 'panchayat'. But that Amendment is the parent event; PESA is the separate statute passed three years afterwards to carry its provisions into the Scheduled Areas. Keep the two dates as a pair — the Amendment in 1992, in force 1993; the extension to Scheduled Areas in 1996.
- (c)1998 — No milestone in the panchayati raj story falls in 1998. It is a plausible-looking year placed after the correct one so that a candidate who remembers only 'sometime in the later nineties' has somewhere wrong to go.
- (d)1995 — Likewise empty. The mid-nineties saw the committee work that fed into PESA's design, but no Act was passed in 1995, and the statute a candidate is being asked about carries 1996 in its own title.
The Fifth Schedule of the Constitution provides for the administration of Scheduled Areas in States other than those of the north-east, while the Sixth Schedule provides separately for tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram through Autonomous District Councils. When the 73rd Amendment constitutionalised panchayati raj in 1992, Part IX was expressly not extended to either of those categories; the Constitution allowed Parliament to extend it to the Scheduled Areas by law. PESA, 1996 exercises that power for the Fifth Schedule areas alone, and it does so with a distinct philosophy: instead of pushing power down to the elected panchayat, it pushes it down to the Gram Sabha, the assembly of all voters in a village, and requires State panchayat laws for these areas to conform to that scheme. PESA applies to the Fifth Schedule areas of ten States — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan.
This is a date question, and the way to hold a date is to hang it on a sequence rather than memorise it alone. Run the chain: 73rd Amendment passed 1992, in force 1993, Part IX created but Scheduled Areas left out; PESA 1996 fills that hole for the Fifth Schedule; the Forest Rights Act of 2006 later builds on the same Gram Sabha authority over forest resources. Placed in that chain, 1996 is the only year that fits, and 1993 is exposed as the year of the parent event rather than of this Act. Note also which Schedule PESA belongs to. Its whole design is Fifth Schedule; the Sixth Schedule areas of the north-east already had their own autonomous councils and are outside it. Standard textbook accounts credit the Bhuria Committee of the mid-nineties with framing PESA's approach, but treat that as the conventional attribution rather than something the statute itself records.
- The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, PESA, was enacted on 24 December 1996
- It extends Part IX of the Constitution — inserted by the 73rd Amendment of 1992 — to the Fifth Schedule areas, which Part IX had not covered
- The Gram Sabha is its centre of gravity: ownership of minor forest produce, control over minor water bodies and minor minerals, selection of beneficiaries, approval of plans and projects, and consultation before land acquisition
- PESA applies to the Fifth Schedule areas of ten States — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan
- The Sixth Schedule tribal areas of the north-east are governed by Autonomous District Councils and lie outside PESA
- 1992 — 73rd Constitutional Amendment inserts Part IX: panchayati raj becomes a constitutional institution, with three tiers, five-year terms and reservations
- 1993 — the Amendment comes into force; States begin conforming their panchayat laws to Part IX. This is the year most often misremembered as PESA's
- The gap — Part IX does not extend to the Fifth and Sixth Schedule areas; the Constitution leaves it to Parliament to carry it into the Scheduled Areas by law
- 24 December 1996 — PESA is enacted: it extends Part IX to the FIFTH Schedule areas of ten States and rebuilds it around the Gram Sabha. The answer, option (a)
- 2006 — the Forest Rights Act builds further on the Gram Sabha's authority over forest land and produce
PESA is the sequel, not the original. Fixing 1992 and 1993 to the 73rd Amendment leaves 1996 as the only year the extension statute can occupy.
- Answering 1993 because that is when the 73rd Amendment came into force; PESA is a separate Act of 1996
- Extending PESA to the Sixth Schedule areas of the north-east — it operates in the Fifth Schedule areas
- Reading PESA's mining clause as covering all minerals; the Gram Sabha's recommendation is required for minor minerals, and its powers are framed around minor forest produce and minor water bodies
UPPSC asks PESA as a bare year, and asks the panchayat material generally as dates, days and committee names. UPSC does the opposite — it has asked what the Gram Sabha's powers are under PESA (2012) and which objective is NOT PESA's (2013) — so learn the year for UPPSC and the section-by-section powers for UPSC.
The Government enacted the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act in 1996. Which one of the following is NOT identified as its objective?
- (a) To provide self-governance
- (b) To recognize traditional rights
- (c) To create autonomous regions in tribal areas
- (d) To free tribal people from exploitation
Answer(c) To create autonomous regions in tribal areas
UPSC states the year in the stem and asks what the Act is FOR — and its wrong option is the Fifth-versus-Sixth Schedule confusion in disguise, since autonomous regions belong to the Sixth Schedule councils and not to PESA. Attempted together, the two questions fix both the date and the design of the same statute.
In the areas covered under the Panchayat (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, what is the role/power of Gram Sabha? 1. Gram Sabha has the power to prevent alienation of land in the Scheduled Areas. 2. Gram Sabha has the ownership of minor forest produce. 3. Recommendation of Gram Sabha is required for granting prospecting licence or mining lease for any mineral in the Scheduled Areas. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 1 and 2 only
- (c) 2 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(b) 1 and 2 only
The substance of PESA, tested on a single word. The Gram Sabha does prevent land alienation and does own minor forest produce, but the mining clause is about MINOR minerals, not 'any mineral' — the qualifier that makes statement 3 fail. This is the level of precision UPSC expects on a statute UPPSC asks only by year.
Which of the following statements is not true regarding 'Gram Sabha'?
- (a) It has the powers and functions at the village level, like state Legislature has at the state level.
- (b) Its powers are determined by the Central Government.
- (c) It is a Village Assembly consisting of all registered voters in the area of Panchayat.
- (d) (a) and (c) both
Answer(b) Its powers are determined by the Central Government.
The institution PESA is built around. A Gram Sabha's powers are conferred by the State legislature, not by the Centre — and PESA fits that scheme rather than contradicting it, because it works by requiring State panchayat laws for Scheduled Areas to conform to its provisions. Read the two together to see how a Central Act and State legislation share the same field.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 extends the provisions of Part IX of the Constitution to
- (a)the Sixth Schedule areas of the north-eastern States
- (b)the Fifth Schedule areas
- (c)all rural areas of the country without exception
- (d)the Union Territories without legislatures
Answer(b) the Fifth Schedule areas — the Sixth Schedule tribal areas have their own Autonomous District Councils and lie outside PESA.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, which one of the following is vested in the Gram Sabha?
- (a)Ownership of minor forest produce
- (b)Ownership of all mineral rights within the village boundary
- (c)The power to try criminal offences committed in the village
- (d)The power to levy and collect income tax within the Scheduled Area
Answer(a) Ownership of minor forest produce — PESA also gives the Gram Sabha control over minor water bodies and minor minerals and a right of consultation before land acquisition, but not the wider powers listed in the other options.