Previous Year Question

Article 40 of the Constitution of India is one of the Directive Principles of State Policy dealing with the organisation of Village Panchayats.

Article 40 directs the State to take steps to organise Village Panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government.

Article 40 forms part of Part IV — Directive Principles of State Policy. Thus, the original Constitution placed the organisation and empowerment of Village Panchayats as a constitutional policy direction for the State.

Later, Panchayats received a more detailed constitutional status through the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, which inserted Part IX dealing with Panchayats. However, the question specifically asks for the Article directing the State to organise Village Panchayats, and that Article is Article 40.