Balwantrai Mehta Committee PDF

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Government of India created The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee in 1957 to assess the working of the Community Development Programme(1952) and the National Extension Service(1953) and to suggest measures for their improved working. The Chairman of this committee was Balwantrai G Mehta. The committee pub...

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BALWANTRAI MEHTA COMMITTEE Government of India created The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee in 1957 to assess the working of the Community Development Programme(1952) and the National Extension Service(1953) and to suggest measures for their improved working. The Chairman of this committee was Balwantrai G Mehta. The committee published its report in November 1957 and advocated the development of the scheme of 'democratic decentralisation' which finally came to be known as Panchayati Raj. The fundamental purpose of Panchayat raj system is to settle the local problems locally and to make the people politically conscious Recommendations of Balwantrai Mehta Committee Establishment of a 3-tier Panchayati Raj system-Gram Panchayat at the village level, Panchayat Samiti at the block level, and Zila Parishad at the district level. These layers should be organically linked through a device of indirect elections. The major goal of this division is to simplify and to lower the work load of the state and central government [MSD]. The village Panchayat should be created with directly elected representatives, whilst the Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad should be constituted with indirectly elected members. This is because Panchyat is comparable to that of state legislature where there is place for politics where as Samiti and Zilla Parishad should members should be more educated and knowledgble and may not need the majority support. All planning and developmental activities should be delegated to these bodies. The Panchayat Samiti should be the executive body while the Zila Parishad should be the advising, coordinating and supervisory body. The District Collector should be the Chairman of the Zila Parishad. There should be a genuine transfer of authority and responsibility to these democratic entities. Sufficient resources should be allocated to these entities to enable them to fulfil their activities and fulfil their responsibilities. It is necessary to develop a framework that will allow for increased devolution of authority in the future. The National Development Council approved these suggestions in January 1958, and they became effective immediately.

First and foremost, the Committee recommended the co-optation of two women who have expressed an interest in working for the advancement of women and children. Wives, like the rest of the male members, were not to be elected, but rather were to be co-opted into the organisation. The recommendations of the Balwantrai Mehta Committee took effect on April 1,1958, and were implemented throughout the country. Rajasthan became the first state to implement it on October 2, 1959, when it was implemented in the state. By the mid-1960s, the panchayat system had spread throughout the country. More than 2,17,300 village panchayats had been constituted, representing more than 96 percent of the country's 5,79,000 inhabited villages and 92 percent of the country's rural population. There was a lot of excitement in rural India, and people felt like they had a voice in the decisions that affected their everyday lives. The Panchayati Raj Institutions in India were believed to be in their earliest stages of development during this period. According to a 1964-65 study by the Ministry of Community Development, younger and better leadership was emerging through Panchayati Raj Institutions, and there was a relatively high level of satisfaction among the people with the way the panchayats were functioning....