With reference to Panchayati Raj Institutions in India which of the following statements is/are correct ? 1. Tenure of Panchayati Raj Institutions shall be of 5 years. 2. In Panchayati Raj Institutions, out of the seats reserved, 1/4 of the seats shall be reserved for women belonging to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe. Select the correct answer from the code given below : Code :
- (a)Only 2
- (b)Both 1 and 2
- (c)Neither 1 nor 2
- (d)Only 1
Correct — D, Only 1. Statement 1 is straight from Article 243E(1), which says that every Panchayat, unless sooner dissolved under any law for the time being in force, shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer. Statement 2 misquotes the fraction. Article 243D(2) provides that not less than ONE-THIRD — not one-fourth — of the total number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under Article 243D(1) shall be reserved for women belonging to those communities. One-third is a constitutional floor, so a quarter would not be permissible even under a State law. Since only the first statement holds, the answer is 'Only 1'.
- (a)Only 2 — This rejects the one provision that is textually correct. Article 243E(1) fixes the term of a Panchayat at five years from the date appointed for its first meeting, so statement 1 cannot be discarded — and statement 2's 'one-fourth' is the part that is wrong.
- (b)Both 1 and 2 — Statement 2 fails on the fraction. The reservation for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe women within the SC/ST-reserved seats is not less than one-third under Article 243D(2); 'one-fourth' appears nowhere in Part IX.
- (c)Neither 1 nor 2 — Too sweeping. The five-year tenure in statement 1 is exactly what Article 243E(1) lays down, so at least one statement is correct and this option is ruled out at once.
Part IX of the Constitution, inserted by the Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992 and in force from 24 April 1993, made Panchayati Raj a constitutional institution rather than a matter of State discretion. Two of its provisions are drilled repeatedly. Article 243E guarantees a fixed five-year term, requires that elections be completed before the term expires or within six months of a premature dissolution, and provides that a Panchayat reconstituted after premature dissolution serves only the remainder of the original term. Article 243D handles reservation: seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their population in the Panchayat area, not less than one-third of those reserved seats for SC and ST women, and not less than one-third of all directly elected seats for women overall.
This is a fraction-swap question, the most common way of faking a wrong statement in Part IX. The Constitution uses 'not less than one-third' in both of its women's-reservation clauses, so any statement offering one-fourth, one-half or thirty per cent as the constitutional requirement is wrong on its face. Note the direction of the rule: one-third is a minimum, and a number of States have gone above it by their own legislation and reserved half the seats for women — which is lawful precisely because the Constitution sets a floor and not a ceiling. A quarter, being below the floor, could never be valid. Keep the two women's quotas separate as well: Article 243D(2) is one-third of the SC/ST-reserved seats for SC/ST women, while Article 243D(3) is one-third of all directly elected seats for women, inclusive of the seats under clause (2).
- Article 243E(1): every Panchayat shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and no longer, unless sooner dissolved
- Article 243D(2): not less than one-third of the seats reserved for SC and ST shall be reserved for women belonging to the SC or ST
- Article 243D(3): not less than one-third of the total seats to be filled by direct election in every Panchayat shall be reserved for women, inclusive of the seats reserved under clause (2)
- On premature dissolution, elections must be completed within six months, and the new Panchayat serves only the remainder of the original five-year term (Article 243E(3) and (4))
- Article 243F sets 21 years as the minimum age to be a member of a Panchayat — not 25
- Part IX was inserted by the Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992 and came into force on 24 April 1993, now marked as National Panchayati Raj Day
Answer (d) Only 1. The whole question turns on a single word — the Constitution says one-third, the statement says one-fourth.
- Fraction swaps — one-fourth, one-half or thirty per cent offered where the Constitution says 'not less than one-third'
- Confusing Article 243D(2), which is one-third of the SC/ST-reserved seats for SC/ST women, with Article 243D(3), which is one-third of all directly elected seats for women
- Assuming that because some States reserve half the seats for women the constitutional requirement itself is one-half; the Constitution sets a minimum that States may exceed
- Treating the five-year term as absolute — a Panchayat reconstituted after premature dissolution serves only the leftover period, not a fresh five years
UPPSC states a provision of Part IX with one number altered and asks you to spot it; UPSC asks the same articles through consequences — how soon elections must be held after dissolution, how long a reconstituted Panchayat lasts, what the minimum age of a member is.
Consider the following statements: 1. The minimum age prescribed for any person to be a member of a Panchayat is 25 years. 2. A Panchayat reconstituted after premature dissolution continues only for the remainder period. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(b) 2 only
Both statements there come from the two articles this question uses. Its second statement — that a Panchayat reconstituted after premature dissolution continues only for the remainder period — is the fine print of the same Article 243E that makes statement 1 here true, and its first statement is a number swap of exactly the kind UPPSC used on the reservation fraction.
If a Panchayat is dissolved, elections are to be held within
- (a) 1 month
- (b) 3 months
- (c) 6 months
- (d) 1 year
Answer(c) 6 months
The other limb of Article 243E. Reading the two together gives the complete tenure rule: a fixed five-year term, elections within six months of a dissolution, and only the leftover period for the body that replaces it.
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
A checklist of what the 73rd Amendment did and did not provide — State Finance Commissions, reservation for women, and elections within six months of dissolution. It is the same test of whether you can separate genuine Part IX provisions from plausible-sounding additions, which is precisely what statement 2 here is.
With reference to Panchayats which of the statements is/are correct ? 1. Fifty percent seats shall be reserved for the women of SC/ST categories. 2. Gram Sabha is a body consisting of all persons living in the village. 3. There will be a Panchayat at intermediate level. Select the correct answer using the codes given below : Codes :
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 and 3
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) 3 only
Answer(d) 3 only
The identical trap with a different fraction. There the false statement claimed fifty per cent of seats for SC/ST women; here it claims one-fourth. The constitutional answer in both cases is Article 243D(2) — not less than one-third of the SC/ST-reserved seats.
Which Part of the Constitution has the provisions for Panchayati Raj System ?
- (a) IX
- (b) VI
- (c) III
- (d) IV A
Answer(a) IX
The frame this question sits in — which Part of the Constitution carries the Panchayati Raj provisions. Fixing Part IX and Articles 243 to 243-O in memory is what lets you check a claimed provision against the text instead of guessing.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under Article 243D of the Constitution, what proportion of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in every Panchayat is reserved for women?
- (a)Not less than one-fourth
- (b)Not less than one-third
- (c)Exactly one-half
- (d)Not less than forty per cent
Answer(b) Not less than one-third — and it is inclusive of the seats reserved for SC and ST women; States are free to reserve more.
- practice — not a real PYQ
If a Panchayat is dissolved before the end of its term, the Panchayat constituted after such dissolution shall continue for
- (a)a fresh full term of five years
- (b)only the remainder of the period for which the dissolved Panchayat would have continued
- (c)a term fixed by the State Legislature
- (d)a term of three years
Answer(b) only the remainder of the period for which the dissolved Panchayat would have continued — Article 243E(4).