Previous Year Question

In 1957, a Committee headed by Balwant Rai Mehta reviewed the working of the Community Development Programme and the National Extension Service and emphasised democratic decentralisation for ensuring meaningful participation of people in rural development.

The Committee recommended the devolution of certain governmental and developmental responsibilities to elected local institutions. The basic idea was that local development should not be administered only from above; local representative institutions should be given real responsibility and authority.

The Committee recommended a three-tier Panchayati Raj structure—

Village level — Gram Panchayat → Block level — Panchayat Samiti → District level — Zila Parishad.

In particular, it recommended an elected self-governing institution at the Block level and proposed that the Panchayat Samiti should be constituted through indirect elections from Village Panchayats.

These recommendations laid the institutional foundation of the modern Panchayati Raj system in independent India. Subsequently, Rajasthan became the first State to implement the system on 2 October 1959.

Because of this major role, Balwant Rai Mehta is known as the “Architect of the Panchayati Raj System.”

A useful distinction is that the G.V.K. Rao Committee later emphasised strengthening the role of Panchayati Raj Institutions in rural development administration, while the L.M. Singhvi Committee made important recommendations including constitutional recognition for Panchayats. However, when the question asks for the “Architect of Panchayati Raj”, the answer is Balwant Rai Mehta.