Question : “73rd Constitutional Amendment has provided permanent structural framework to PRIs resulting into silent social revolution.” Comment.
(2007)
Answer : The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act is a landmark Act of the constitutional history of India. It not only provided the constitutional umbrella to PRIs but also paved the way for availability of physical and intellectual resources for their smooth functioning.
The Panchayati Raj Institutions cater to the need of more than three-fourth of Indians. Their smooth functioning ensures a well-being of majority of Indian rural population. Therefore, the importance of the 73rd Amendment Act is very ....
Question : “The 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments are major landmarks in India’s constitutional history and local governance”. Comment.
(2006)
Answer : At the insistence of Mahatma Gandhi the provision of local government was incorporated in the constitution under article 40 of Directive Principle of the State Policy. But till 1992 no Act was passed relating to this article.
During the time of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi it was considered necessary to further the organization of these local units by inserting specific provisions in the constitution itself on the basis of which the legislatures of the various states might ....
Question : “Even after a decade of having adopted the 73rd Amendment to the constitution, the Panchayati Raj institution still faces a number of problems towards making it a strong and vibrant unit of government”. Comment
(2005)
Answer : The Constitutional seventy-third Amendment came into operation in 1993 and since then most of the states have passed legislation to bring their Panchayati Raj institutions in conformity with the new situation. Thus Panchayats are functioning in almost every state with slight variations.
But almost a decade has passed since the adoption of the 73rd Amendment to the constitution and passing of the conformity legislation by the states. It is thus possible to look at few problems ....
Question : “The special development programmes taken up for poverty alleviation with a hope that benefits of these programmes may reach to the people living below poverty line have utterly failed to achieve its objectives”. Comment.
(2004)
Answer : The output of a programme can broadly be taken as a function of investment and efficiency of delivery. In our capital scarce country, the importance of an efficient delivery system can hardly be overemphasized. Many special development programmes taken for poverty alleviation with a hope to ease below poverty line people have utterly failed to achieve their destination point due to inefficient delivery system. The Integrated Rural Development Programmes (IRDP), out of the biggest special ....
Question : “It is at the district level that the common man comes into direct contact with the administration”. Elucidate.
(2003)
Answer : The district is an important geographical unit, where the people come into direct contact with the apparatus of public administration. Because of the proximity of the community to the district administration one finds a large number of state level agencies functioning in the district undertaking a variety of functions. These functions can be categorized into nine broad headings viz. law and order, revenue, agricultural production, welfare, public distribution, elections, administration of local bodies, functions relating ....
Question : The role of local-self government in the state administration is of considerable importance. Evaluate the statement in the context of 73rd and 74th amendments made.
(2002)
Answer : The 73rd Amendment Act and 74th Amendment Act is a very crucial Act for the concept of local-self government in India. For the sake of convenient local-self government can be divided into Rural local government and Urban local government.
Rural Local Self-Government: The passage of the constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 marks a new era in the federal democratic set up of the country and provides constitutional status the Panchayati Raj institutions. The Act provides for ....
Question : “Rural and urban development programmes have gained in importance, but implementation has been a failure”.
(2002)
Answer : Rural and urban development, especially the former one is the crux of India’s developmental strategy. Since an overwhelming majority of India’s population lives in villages, a holistic development of its rural life is a requisite for the acceleration of the pace of overall economic development of the country. Rural development programmes are designed to facilitate a multi-faceted growth of the rural poor by extending the benefits of development to them.
Many rural and urban development programmes ....
Question : “Despite the serious commitment on the part of the government, the benefits of the rural developments programmes do not seem to reach the intended targets and they fail to serve fully the purpose for which they were intended.” Elucidate.
(2001)
Answer : The need for rural development had been emphasized by the national political leadership even under the colonial rule. The Government of India Act, 1919 placed the nation making activities including rural development under the popularly elected ministers in the provisions. A bold and determined intervention of the government in the field of rural development was made when India achieved its independence in 1947. In 1952, the Community Development Programme was started, followed a year later, ....
Question : “The failure of I.R.D.P. is attributed to its over power centralized approach.” Comment.
(1999)
Answer : Integrated rural development programme is a strategy package seeking to achieve enhanced rural production and productivity, greater socio-economic equity, a spatial balance in social and economic development, broader based community participation in the process of development.
The lack of decentralization of grass root level, has led to the failure of Integrated Rural Development Programme started since 1980-81. Financial and political powers are not adequately distributed to bring self-sufficiency at ground level administration. The staff’s elected or ....
Question : “The State Finance Commission under Panchayati Raj Law is designed to ensure regional balance in the distribution of state and central funds”. Comment.
(1998)
Answer : The entire edifice envisaged under the new addition to the constitution will face the danger of collapse under its own weight of responsibilities encompassing all spheres of activities within the State Government’s purview unless assured of adequate resources.
Article 243-I provides for the establishment of a Finance Commission for reviewing financial position of the panchayats. The Governor of a state shall within one year from the commencement of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act 1992, and thereafter ....
Question : “Rural development programmes in India suffer from lack of coordination and a sound appraisal system.” Comment.
(1998)
Answer : The need for rural development had been emphasized by the national political leadership even under the colonial rule. Since independence many rural development programmes have been launched to ameliorate the pathetic conditions of rural inhabitating people. But all these have been suffered to some or many extent, due to lack of coordination and a sound appraisal system.
In spite of several rural development projects and huge investment, rural India is in turmoil because neither rural infrastructure ....
Question : “The most momentous recommendation to the Ashok Mehta Committee was the creation of a two-tier system of Panchayati Raj”. Examine the statement.
(1997)
Answer : The Panchayati Raj institutions introduced on the basis of Balwant Rai Mehta committee began to stagnate by the middle of 1960s and faced indifference and lack of interest on the part of state governments. So by the beginning of 1970s these institution began to decline. Several factors led to this decline. The performance of these institutions was vitiated by political factionalism. Therefore by 1977 the Panchayati Raj institutions had become ineffective in most of the ....
Question : Examine the provisions of 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment from the point of view of autonomy of the local bodies.
(1996)
Answer : The passage of the Constitutional (73rd and 74th) Amendment Act, 1992 marks a new era in the federal democratic set up of the country and provides constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
Some specific provisions were incorporated into the constitution to make this ground level institution autonomous and self-dependent. Those few provisions are:
Question : “The Panchayati Raj institutions at grass-root level are ensuring greater peoples participation and involvement in development work.” Comment.
(1996)
Answer : The Panchayati Raj institution’s were brought into the scene, to enhance the people’s participation so that development of administration at grass-root level can be increased leap and bound. The popular participation not only enhances the dignity of the individual and his sense of responsibility to the community at all levels but also adds vitality to government programmes and provides a means for local control over them. It makes the programmes more responsive and better adapted ....
Question : “The most important feature of the second generation Panchayats is their change from local developmental organizations to local political institutions”.
(1995)
Answer : India has been a traditional home for the local governments since ancient times.This practice has always remained one of most respected political phenomena. But now due to the unhealthy political scenario which got impetus after the parties were allowed to contest in Panchayats the novel notion of Panchayats has been under constant threat.
The second generation Panchayats called so after the 73rd constitutional amendment has more issues than only administration. They have changed in their work ....
Question : “In rural development, people are the starting point, centre and end goal of all development programme.”
(1995)
Answer : Rural development is a strategy to enable a specific group of people, poor rural women and men, to gain for themselves and their children more of what they want and need. It involves helping the poorest amongst those who seek livelihood in the rural areas to demand and control more of the benefits of rural development.
Rural development is indeed the crux of India’s development strategy because still more than 70% of India’s population reside in ....
