Balwanthrai Mehta Committee
To operationalise this provision into action, the Balwantrai Mehta Committee was appointed in 1957 which suggested the introduction of Panchayati Raj. As a result of the recommendations of this committee a three-tier Panchayati Raj system; the Gram Panchayat at the village level, the Panchayat Samiti as the block or intermediate level, and Zilla Parishad at the district level was introduced. All the three units were organically linked together, as the chairman of lower-level bodies were ex-officio members of higher-level bodies. It was recommended to give these bodies all planning and development work.
The committee remarked about the philosophy of Panchayati Raj that the Panchayati Raj system establishes a linkage between local leadership enjoying the confidence of local people and the government, and translate the policies of the government into action. Thus, village Panchayats were made subordinate units of the government at the lowest level to implement its programmes and not the agencies of self-government or Gram Swaraj as Gandhiji had visualised.
Slowly the Panchayati Raj lost its glamour and people’s participation was weakened because regular elections to the Panchayati Raj bodies were not conducted. In 1977, the Janata Party government came to power after the defeat of Congress (I). The leaders of the Janata Party were interested in assigning a meaningful roles to Panchayati Raj, therefore, they tried to revitalise these institutions and appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Ashok Mehta in December 1977 to suggest a viable organisation for grassroots institutions to mobilise people’s participation and their active support.
In its report, the Mehta Committee suggested structures with development orientation at two levels; the District and the Mandal Panchayats (covering about 15.000 to 20.000 population) for the grassroots level. The other recommendations were open participation of political parties in the elections, constitutional protection to facilitate further decentralisation of power. The committee wanted the Panchayat Raj institutions to participate in development activities, in the areas of agriculture, forestry, cottage industries, welfare activities, etc.
S V K Rao Committee
Sv.k. Rao Committee was set up to review the existing administrative, arrangements for rural development and poverty alleviation programmes (1985). The G.V.K. Rao Committee recommended for strengthening of Zilla Parishad and endorsed the recommendation of integration of block and lower-level planning with lower-level Panchayat institutions. Another Committee headed by L.M. Singhvi (1986) had prepared the concept paper on Panchayati Raj, which stated that Panchayati Raj Institutions should be closely involved in planning and implementation of rural development programmes at lower levels.
The committee has also recommended that the Panchayats should be made financially viable by combining 2-3 villages in one Panchayat. It has supported the recommendations of the G.V.K. Rao committee for integration of administrative structures with Panchayati Raj Institutions. Most importantly, the Singhvi committee that the Panchayati Raj institutions should be constitutionally recognized, protected and preserved, and that a new chapter is added to the Constitution of India for this purpose. This will make their identity and integrity reasonably and substantially inviolate. Thus, the concept of PR has undergone many changes since its inception; from its narrow span, it has expanded to and covered areas of rural development and economic planning.
Taking into account the views of these committees, the union government decided to amend the Constitution of the country in order to provide a firm basis to the essential features of the Panchayati Raj. This was intended to provide substantial protection to Panchayati raj against negligence or arbitrary action by state governments which had been contributing to its emasculation in many states over the years.
Consequently, the Constitutional (73rd) Amendment was passed by Parliament on 22nd December 1992. This act has added a new Part-IX to the Constitution of India. It is entitled as “The Panchayats’ and consists of provisions from Articles 243 to 243 O. In addition, the act has also added a new Eleventh Schedule to the Constitution. It contains 29 functional items of the panchayats.
Here are some details about Salient Features Of The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act.