Previous Year Question
Which committee was appointed to prepare a concept paper on the ‘Revitalisation of Panchayati Raj Institutions for Democracy and Development’?
Correct Answer: D
Detailed Solution
The L. M. Singhvi Committee was constituted in 1986 to examine measures for revitalising and strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions. The Committee approached Panchayati Raj not merely as an administrative arrangement but as an important institution of democratic self-government.
Government records identify the L. M. Singhvi Committee of 1986 as an important committee in the evolution of Panchayati Raj. It recommended that local self-government should receive constitutional recognition and protection and that the Gram Sabha should form the base of decentralised democracy.
Its major recommendations included constitutional status for Panchayats, strengthening the Gram Sabha and making Panchayati Raj Institutions more effective and durable. These ideas provided an important intellectual foundation for the later constitutionalisation of Panchayati Raj.
Important fact: A useful chronology of major Panchayati Raj committees is—
Balwant Rai Mehta Committee — 1957
Ashok Mehta Committee — 1977
G. V. K. Rao Committee — 1985
L. M. Singhvi Committee — 1986