Previous Year Question
Consider the following Committees on Panchayati Raj and arrange these in chronological order:
I. Ashok Mehta Committee
II. L.M. Singhvi Committee
III. B.R. Mehta Committee
IV. G.K.V. Rao Committee
Select the correct answer from the codes given below.
Codes:
I, II, III, IV
III, I, IV, II
II, I, III, IV
III, II, IV, I
Correct Answer: B
Detailed Solution
The correct chronological order is—B.R. Mehta Committee → Ashok Mehta Committee → G.V.K. Rao Committee → L.M. Singhvi Committee.
The B.R. Mehta or Balwant Rai Mehta Committee was constituted in 1957. It reviewed the Community Development Programme and the National Extension Service and recommended a three-tier Panchayati Raj structure consisting of Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad as part of democratic decentralisation.
Next, the Ashok Mehta Committee was constituted in 1977. It recommended replacing the earlier three-tier structure with a two-tier system consisting of Zila Parishad and Mandal Panchayat, while giving greater importance to the district level.
The G.V.K. Rao Committee came in 1985. It emphasised strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions in rural development administration and treating the district as a major unit of planning and development. The question paper prints the name as “G.K.V. Rao Committee,” while the commonly used name is G.V.K. Rao Committee.
Thereafter, the L.M. Singhvi Committee was constituted in 1986. One of its most important recommendations was to provide constitutional recognition to Panchayati Raj Institutions and strengthen the Gram Sabha as a basic institution of local democracy.
Thus, the chronological sequence is—
1957 → 1977 → 1985 → 1986