SGT UNIVERSITY,

BUDHERA, GURUGRAM

BALWANTARAI MEHTA COMMITTEE

AND
ASHOK MEHTA COMMITTEE

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

Dr. Rakesh Kumari Malik Lakhvinder Singh
BA LLB
9 semester
181201018

INTRODUCTION

1|Page
 Local self-governance implies the creation of local government institutions at the village,
block, and district levels. These bodies play a vital role in rural administration in the present
age when more and more governments are carrying the banner of the welfare state. The
powers entrusted to these bodies make a State democratic or undemocratic. The units of local
self-government in rural areas are village Panchayat, Panchayat Samitis, and Zila Parishads.
The village Panchayats have been linked to the Panchayat Samitis at the block level and the
Zilla Parishad at the district level. No doubt the scheme of Panchayati Raj emerged after the
acceptance of the recommendations on Democratic Decentralisation of the Balwant Rai
Mehta Study Team. A new system of local self-Government has been introduced which seeks
to tackle the problems at the grassroots level, building up democracy and mobilize the entire
potential manpower resources of the country for economic and social progress. Panchayati
Raj makes democracy a reality—PR aims at making democracy real by bringing the millions
into the functioning of democracy. It is a grassroots democracy wherein the individual family
in the remotest village is linked up with the democratic process. The introduction of PR is the
most appropriate step for building up democratic traditions in the country. India is committed
to the democratic form of Government democracy not only a form of government but a way
of life. Democracy cannot be built up either from Delhi or from a State Capital. It can be built
up only when all people are directly or indirectly involved in it. It stands for local
government, local leadership, local competency, local initiative, and participation of local
people in all the activities.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In India, the system of village Panchayat is very old. In ancient India, the village formed the
basic unit of social and economic life in India. During the foreign rule, the inhabitants of our
country were denied all the benefits of civilized life. This tendency has been in its naked form
since the onset of the Industrial Revolution in England. The 18th century Revolution in
England bought far-reaching changes in Great Britain in different field‗s viz., agriculture,
transport, and Industry. These changes in Britain subsequently affected the economy of the
country. The village suffered the most. The village suffered the most. The village
organization as a self-sufficient unit which was the characteristic feature of the old Indian
economy disappeared. Our handicrafts and manufactured were ruined to provide a push to
British Industries. In due course of time, agriculture became more and more an uneconomic
population. Britishers made all efforts to ruin our culture, arts and crafts, and foreign trade.
The villagers became conservative and shrewd. In this way, the condition of the rural masses

2|Page
from physical-economic, social, educational, and cultural points of view became gradually
very unsatisfactory and beyond the limit of tolerance. There were the victims of mental
lethargy. Thus, in the course of a few decades a developed and advanced country due to the
imposition of certain checks, hindrances, and obstacles on the smooth path of developing
process in our country, lagged far behind many other countries was put in the category of
underdeveloped countries. The several causes led to the village Panchayats during the British
rule in our country. It is stressed and claimed that India had a self-governing system at the
base level during the ancient time in the form of village Panchayats. The village organization
then functioned as a centre of Community life independent of the state. It is, therefore, argued
that the British rule dismantled our self-governing system. Planning in a welfare State is a
social process in which every citizen has to participate says Planning Commission. India is a
land of villages and we have a lack of villages in the country. Gandhiji used to say that India
consists of villages and ultimately our progress will be regulated by the advancement that the
village people can show. Gandhiji drew the picture of free India’s political structure in the
words, Indian Independence must begin at the bottom. Every village should be a republic or a
Panchayat having full powers the greater the power of Panchayats, the better for the people.
Swaraj signified to him the vesting of the ultimate authority in the peasant and the labourer.
True democracy cannot be worked out by twenty men sitting at the centre. It has to be
worked from below by the people of every village. The Report on the organization of Local –
self Institutions (Rural and Urban) about Planned social and economic development in India
emphasized in 1951, ―A democratic Government at the centre can never function
satisfactorily unless it is supported by the democratic organization of local administration.
Democratic government will never be secure unless it is so supported. Our leaders were
careful, cautious, and watchful and they realized that we may also be in danger of losing our
democratic government unless we take steps to afford security to our system of Parliamentary
Democracy by establishing a properly organized scheme of local-self-government.

HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF PANCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS

Soon after achieving independence, the Planning Commission came into existence in 1950
and began to plan for large-scale economic and social progress. It was by then commonly
understood that actual all-around development could not be achieved until it is backed by the
development of rural areas. The Planning Commission, therefore, thought of shaping the
village development program, to attack the five giants of hunger, poverty, disease, squalor,
and ignorance through a self-help program of Community Development in 1952. These steps

3|Page
were designed to secure the involvement of rural people in the process of rural development.
The inadequate success registered by these necessitated the need for reforms. In 1954, the
Government of India established the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee for suggesting reforms in
this regard, which submitted its report in 1957. Among others, the most important
contribution of the report pertains to democratic decentralisation ‘and the proposed politico-
administrative system at the grassroots. The report emphatically stated that so long as we do
not discover or create a representative and democratic institution which will supply the local
interest, supervision, and care necessary to ensure that expenditure of money upon local
objects conforms with the needs and wishes of the locality, invest it with adequate power and
assign to it appropriate finances, we will never be able to evoke local interest and excite local
initiative in the field of development. Balwant Rai Mehta is widely known as the Architect of
Panchayati Raj in India and his birthday (19th February) is observed as Panchayat Day.

Balwant Rai Mehta Committee

The report recommended the creation of a three-tier system of democratic decentralisation

namely, Gram Panchayat at the village level, Panchayat Samiti at the block level, and Zilla
Parishad at the district level. It is recommended that the entire development administration
should be handed over to these bodies. The Committee gave details of organisation,
functions, resources, and relations of one with the other. In brief, the village Panchayat
should be elected, with provision for the co-option of two women members and one member
each from the SC and ST communities. Panchayat Samiti should be constituted for the area
included in a block by indirect election, that is, members of the Panchayats within the block
area will elect members of the Panchayat Samiti from amongst themselves. The Committee
emphasised the importance of a block and said, the block offers an area large enough for
functions which the village Panchayat cannot perform and yet small enough to attract the
interest and service of the residents. The third tier was to be occupied by the Zilla Parishad
whose main function would be to achieve necessary coordination between the Panchayat
Samitis within the district. It will consist of presidents of Panchayat Samitis, Members of
Parliament and State Legislatures and district level officers of the development departments.
The Zilla Parishad would be an advisory-cumsupervisory body, having no executive
functions. The Committee gave a broad blueprint for democratic decentralisation, and it was
left to each State to work out the structure and functional details best suited to its local
conditions. Consequently, different patterns of Panchayati Raj emerged in different states.
These recommendations were considered by the National Development Council (NDC) in

4|Page
January 1958, and democratic decentralisation became a part of the national agenda.
Panchayati Raj institutions did not take off successfully. In the 1960s, PRIs was portrayed as
a God that failed. One of the main reasons for the failure was sabotage by state politicians
who were not enthusiastic about devolving powers to the district level and below. State
politicians were apprehensive that PRIs with real powers may pose a threat to their power and
influence. The lack of resources, absence of 16 coordination, dependence on district
development staff, lack of delegation of effective authority, domination by the upper castes,
and better-off sections of society had rendered the PRIs ineffective and purposeless as
institutions of decentralisation and development. By the middle of the 1970‘s governments,
both at the centre and in the states had become indifferent to PRI ‘s, which had become
defunct. Elections to these institutions had not been held in most places, and the sitting
councils were either dissolved or suspended. The mid-seventies marked a discernible shift of
opinion in favor of conceding larger political space to local communities in the governing
process. Local self-governing institutions were expected to play an important role in
reordering societal power equations. As the Janata Party Government had pledged its
commitment to the Gandhian philosophy, the overall atmosphere seemed to be conducive for
the resurgence of the Panchayati Raj Institutions. Another plausible reason seems to be the
fact that by the late 1970s the Green Revolution had become a decade old and it had given
birth to a rich peasant class who were fully aware of the importance of direct access to
decentralised government machinery, more particularly it's the delivery system. The central
place of PRIs was thus restored.

Ashok Mehta Committee

In the late seventies, another Committee chaired by Ashok Mehta was given the task of
revisiting the institutions of Panchayats and making suitable recommendations to renew the
Gandhian vision of village republics ‘. The Ashok Mehta Committee report refused to accept
the view that Panchayati Raj was a failed God. The Committee credited these institutions
with starting the process of democratic decentralisation and making the citizens more
conscious of their rights than before. Among other positive fallouts was the bridging of the
gap between the bureaucratic elite and the people. The Ashok Mehta Committee was
innovative in many ways. It recognised the importance of participation of political parties in
Panchayati Raj elections to make them more accountable and to link Panchayati Raj
institutions with the national political process. The Committee also proposed reservation of
seats for both women and weaker sections of society. The decline of the Janata Government

5|Page
created a hostile climate for the implementation of the Ashok Mehta Committee report.
Despite this, the NonCongress State Governments of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and West
Bengal took concrete measures to reactivate the PRIs. In Karnataka, the PRIs that came into
existence incorporated most of the recommendations made by the Mehta report. 17 While
Non-Congress State Governments were busy implementing the recommendations of the
Ashok Mehta Committee, the new Congress government at the centre appointed other
commissions. C.H. Hanumanth Rao’s working group of 1983 and G.V.K. Rao Committee
report of 1985 emphasized the need for integration of the Panchayati Raj system with
development programs and administration. The concept paper on Panchayati Raj prepared by
the L. M. Singhvi Committee Report of 19863 suggested that Panchayati Raj institutions
should be closely involved in the planning and implementation of the rural development
programs. Both the Singhvi and the Ashok Mehta Committees recommended a constitutional
basis for democratic decentralisation.

73rd CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

The 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Constitution in 1992 bestowed constitutional status
on Panchayati Raj and Nagarpalika institutions. The main aim of the Panchayati Raj system
envisaged under the 73rd constitutional amendment is the socio-economic development of
rural India. Panchayati Raj has been designed to encourage rural people to actively participate
in governance, thereby inculcating a habit of democratic living. It seeks to transform villages
into self-governing and self-sufficient units, and thus imbue a sense of self-confidence among
the villagers. Its further acts as a system of education and training in the democratic process
and ensures that local needs and development are attained through local efforts. Some of the
fundamental principles of the Panchayati Raj system as envisaged in the amendment are as
follows:

 There should be a three-tier structure of local self-governing bodies at the village level, the
intermediate/block/taluka level, and the district level, with all three bodies being organically
linked.

 There should be a genuine transfer of power and responsibilities to them.

 Adequate resources should be transferred to these bodies to enable them to discharge their
responsibilities.

6|Page
 All welfare and development schemes and programs at these levels should be channeled
through these bodies alone.

 These bodies being charged with various duties and functions, no higher body should be
allowed to do what a lower body can do.

 The three-tier system should be such that it facilitates further devolution and dispersal of
power and responsibility in the future.

The amendment added a new part IX to the Constitution consisting of 16 Articles and the
Eleventh Schedule. The Eleventh Schedule contains 29 subjects on which the Panchayats
have administrative control. We will now look at the relevant constitutional provisions about
different aspects of Panchayati Raj.

Structure of PRIs

Article 243A provides that the Gram Sabha may exercise such powers and perform such
functions at the village level as the State Legislature may by law provide. The Gram Sabha is
envisaged as the foundation of the Panchayati Raj system. The Gram Sabha consists of all the
residents of a village who are above 18 years of age and are on the electoral rolls of the
village. Almost all the State Acts identify the functions of the Gram Sabha. The functions
include discussion on the annual statement of accounts, administration, and reports, and
selection of beneficiaries of anti-poverty programs. Drafting and implementation of
development plans have to be vetted and monitored by the Gram Sabha. The State Acts of
Haryana, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu gives the power of approval of the budget to the Gram
Sabha. In the Panchayati Raj system, Gram Sabha is the only permanent unit. The tenure of a
Panchayat i.e., Mukhiya and other members is for 5 years, but the villagers do not change.
All the representatives in the PRIs are answerable and accountable to the Gram Sabha.
Further, under laws like the Panchayati Raj (Extension) Act (PESA), Gram Sabha has been
endowed with extensive powers to take decisions on all matters affecting it directly and
locally. The Gram Sabha elects the Gram Pradhan and other members of the Gram
Panchayat. Success or failure of the Panchayati Raj system depends largely upon the strength
of the Gram Sabha. We will discuss the role and powers of the Gram Sabha in detail in the
next unit of this block. Article 243B envisages three tiers of elected Panchayats at the village
level, the intermediate level (also known as the Block or Taluka level), and finally at the
district level, and creates an organic linkage between the three. The constitution of

7|Page
intermediate Panchayats is not mandatory and is dependent on the size of the population in
that state. In states having a population of fewer than twenty lakhs, the State Government
may decide not to constitute intermediate Panchayats. The obligatory functions of the Gram
Panchayat include the provision of safe drinking water, maintenance of public wells, ponds,
dispensaries, primary and secondary schools, etc. Now they have also been assigned
developmental functions like minor irrigation schemes, rural electrification, cottage, and
small industries, and poverty alleviation programmes. The Block level PRI institution is
known by different names in different parts of the country. For example, in Gujarat they are
called Taluka Panchayat; in UP Kshetra Samiti; and in MP Janapada Panchayat. The powers
of the Panchayat Samiti include the provision of an improved variety of seeds and fertilizers,
maintenance of schools, hospitals, roads, and implementing anti-poverty programs, and
supervising the functioning of the Gram Panchayat. 19 The Zilla Parishad is the apex body of
the PRIs. It approves the budgets and coordinates the activities of the Panchayat Samitis. It
maintains educational institutions, irrigation schemes, and undertakes programmes for the
weaker sections. Article 243C enunciates how Panchayats shall be constituted. The State
Legislatures, when identifying the territorial extents of various Panchayats within their States,
as far as may be practicable, shall ensure that all the Panchayats are similar in size. Further,
the ratio between the number of seats and the population of the Panchayat area should be
maintained as a constant. The experience of the last 15 years shows that Panchayats covering
a small area not only function better but are also more financially viable. At the Gram
Panchayat level, all the seats in a Panchayat shall be filled in by direct election from the
territorial jurisdiction of the Panchayat.

Reservation of Seats

The constitutional scheme seeks to redress caste and gender discrimination by providing for
mandatory reservation for women and members of the SC and ST communities in the various
tiers of the Panchayati Raj system. Article 243D provides for 33 percent reservation for
women in Panchayat institutions as well as for the position of chairpersons. Rural women,
who for centuries have lived in conditions of malnutrition, illiteracy, and powerlessness, are
now taking leadership roles in addressing these very issues. This Article further provides for
the reservation of seats in these bodies for SCs and STs according to their proportion in the
population in that Panchayat. For example, if citizens belonging to SC communities
constitute 17 percent of the local population, then 17 percent of the seats in the PRIs shall be
reserved for them. One-third of the total seats reserved for SC and ST communities shall be

8|Page
reserved for women belonging to these communities. Thus, in the above-mentioned example,
not only will 17 percent of the seats be reserved for SCs and STs, 1/3rd of the 17 percent will
be reserved for women belonging to SC and ST communities, which will be counted towards
the 33 percent reservation for women. Of the total number of posts of Chairpersons available
in a State, there shall be reservation of seats for SCs and STs according to their proportion in
the population in that State. Of the total number of posts of Chairpersons available in a State,
33 percent shall be reserved for women. However, the posts reserved for women will be
identified on a rotation basis, so that every Panchayat at some point of time or the other is
chaired by a woman. The extent of reservation that is permissible under this provision was
debated in the case of Krishna Kumar Mishra v State of Bihar, where the following main
issues were agitated before the Patna High Court:

I. The constitutional validity of reservation in Panchayat elections.

II. Determination of permissible limit of reservation in Panchayat elections. After
considering these issues and interpreting various provisions of the Constitution
and the Bihar Panchayati Raj Act, the High Court held that reservation can be
made in the matter of Panchayat elections, in favor of Scheduled Castes,
Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Classes. However, it was clarified that the limit
of such reservation cannot exceed 50% of the total seats. The court further held
that no reservation can be made against solitary seats like that of Mukhiya of
Gram Panchayat, Pramukh of a Panchayat Samiti, or Adhyaksha of a Zilla
Parishad.

Principle of Subsidiarity

Article 243C (3) enunciates the principle of subsidiarity between the various tiers of the
Panchayati Raj system. The Article provides that the State Legislatures may by law provide
for the representation of: a) Chairpersons of Panchayats at the village level in the Panchayats
at an intermediate level b) Chairpersons of Panchayats at the intermediate level in the
Panchayats at the district level c) Member of Legislative Assembly representing
constituencies falling wholly or partly in a Panchayat area, in intermediate or district level
Panchayats, but not in the village level Panchayats, d) Member of Legislative Council being
registered as electors within a Panchayat area at the intermediate level, in that Panchayat at
the intermediate level, and if they are electors of a Panchayat area at the district level, then in

9|Page
the district level Panchayat. The Article while providing for subsidiarity mentions that the
persons so represented, shall have equal voting rights as the other members of that Panchayat.

STRUCTURE OF PANCHAYATI RAJ SYSTEM

Balwant Rai Mehta Committee in its Report suggested a three-tier system of Panchayati
Raj Gram Panchayat at the village level, Panchayat Samiti at Block level, and Zilla
Parishad at the district level. Gram Panchayat The Panchayat is the executive committee
of Gram Sabha. It is known by a variety of names. The membership of the Panchayat
varies from five to thirty-one. Members of the Panchayat are called Punches and are
elected by the Gram Sabha by secret ballot. The President is directly elected by the people
in Orissa; by the Gram Sabha in Assam, Bihar, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal,
and by the Panches in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. The President can be removed from office by a
majority of two-thirds of the votes of the members of the panchayats present and voting.
Several states provide for reservations of a specified number of seats for women as well
as members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The tenure of the Panchayat in
various states varies from three to five years. The Panchayat is looked up as an instrument
for the execution of the Community Development Programme. The functions of
Panchayat are obligatory and discretionary. The Panchayat may also be entrusted with
any other functions given by the state government. To perform these functions the
panchayat has been given certain sources of revenue. It has been seen that the Panchayats
do not function as an effective institution. Agenda of meetings was not issued, meetings
held without a proper quorum, sometimes with proper delay. They suffer from a lack of
resources, secretarial assistance, adequate powers, and cooperation from revenue and
police agencies, guidance and supervision, apathy on the part of Panches. Apart from all
these, they have group rival which hinders smooth functioning. There exists the
complexity of rules and procedures, lack of timely action against defaulters, the proximity
of the Panchayat Samitis. So, to reduce all these loopholes some remedial suggestions by
the Balwant Rai Committee are as follows: Finances of the Panchayats should be
augmented; Powers and functions should be more clearly enunciated; Efficient and
regular secretarial assistance should be there; roles and procedures should be simple;
cooperation from revenue and police agencies must be ensured; Cooperation of

10 | P a g e
 government departments is needed; gram sabha should be active; Education among the
people need to be stepped up. There is state control over Panchayat. It includes the power
to delimit and alter its jurisdiction, appointment of staff, records management, financial
administration, election. The state government may call for necessary reports and records.
It may suspend or remove a panch or a sarpanch under certain conditions.

Function of Gram Panchayat

At this level, administrative functions include

(i) Preparation of annual plans for the development of the village Panchayat
(ii) preparation of the annual budget
(iii) mobilizing relief in natural calamities
(iv) removal of encroachment on public properties
(v) organizing voluntary labour and contribution or community works
(vi) maintenance of statistics of the village
(vii) any other functions entrusted by the Panchayat Samiti,

Zilla Panchayats or state or central government on an agency basis, is most commonly found
across the states. Apart from this, village defence, information and publicity, and the
constitution of Nyaya Panchayat were found in Andhra, West Bengal, and Maharashtra. In
the case of developmental and social activities, are agriculture, social forestry, animal
husbandry, rural housing, education, etc. Next is a maintenance function which includes rural
electrifications, rural sanitation, and conservation.

Panchayat Samiti

The Panchayat Samiti is the intermediate tier in the PRIs of rural local government in India.
The term varies from three to five years. There is no uniformity in consisting of a Panchayat
Samiti in different states. It consists of Ex-Officio, associate, and co-opted members. The
Sarpanches of the Panchayats is an ex-officio member. Members of State Legislatures and
Parliament are also members. Women members and members from Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes in Panchayats are also members. President of Panchayat Samiti can be
removed from his office by a noconfidence vote of the Panchayat Samiti passed with a
special majority. President exercises control over the Block Development Officer for
implementing resolutions of the samiti or its standing committee. He has all access to all
records of the Panchayat Samiti. He is empowered to demote, suspend or dismiss any

11 | P a g e
member of the staff whose jurisdiction is less than the whole Block. The Panchayat Samiti is
the pivot of the Panchayati Raj system of rural local government. It is the principal executive
body in all the states except Gujarat and Maharashtra charged with the responsibility of
implementing Community Development Programmes. Besides, it also acts as an agent of the
state government in the performance of tasks that may be assigned to it. It also exercises
supervision and control over Panchayats within the jurisdiction and provides necessary
technical and financial assistance to them. It scrutinizes budgets of the Panchayats of the area
under its control and makes suggestions to them. Functions may be classified in two broad
areas:

(1) provision of civic amenities and

(2) fulfilment of development functions. A Panchayat Samiti appoints several
Committees to assist it in the performance of its functions. A Panchayat Samiti
appoints several Committees to assist it in the performance of its functions. Members
of the Standing Committee are elected by the members of the PS. The President of the
PS shall be the ex-officio member or the chairman of the standing committee.
Taxation is not a major source of revenue of the Samiti. The Samiti gets a certain
share of land revenue collected in the state. The Samiti is equipped with the
administrative machinery called the Block Development Officer. As, all the executive
authority in the three-tier local government structure has been vested in the Panchayat
Samiti, the body at the district level being given only a supervisory and coordinating
role.

Functions of Panchayat Samiti

At this level, general administrative functions include –providing relief in natural calamities
and other works entrusted by the Zilla Panchayat. Some of the functions like trusts, social
education, and village defence corps’ .Publicity and information and statistics were very
common. Regarding developmental social activities concerned are agriculture, animal
husbandry, fisheries, social farm, and forestry. Among the maintenance functions, the market
and fair maintenance, health, family welfare, sanitation, and medical and cultural activities
and sports were common responsibilities of PS in many states

Zilla Parishad

The Zilla Parishads constitutes the apex in the Panchayati Raj System of rural local
government in India. It is a corporate body. Membership of Zilla Parishads has been designed

12 | P a g e
in such a way as to link it, with the intermediate tier of PR, i.e., PS. ZP is an official rather
than a popular body because of its ex-officio and co-opted membership. The Zilla Parishad’s
membership varies between forty to sixty. Urban local governments in the districts must be
represented in the ZP to enable them to view and function in a comprehensive, intelligent,
and meaningful manner. The term varies from three to five years. The members of the ZP
elect amongst themselves a president called chairman. He exercises administrative
supervision over the chief executive officer for implementing resolutions and orders of the
ZP and sends a confidential report on the CEO to the Divisional Commissioner. The
provision is made in all statutes to remove the president by a vote of no-confidence. The ZP
functions through a network of standing committees. In most of the states, the ZP has been
assigned with the executive‗s authority, particularly in those of planning and development,
and designed to be the strongest tier of PRIs Except in Gujarat and Maharashtra, ZP functions
as a supervisory and coordinating body. It coordinates development plans prepared by the
Panchayat Samiti, advises the state government on all matters relating to developmental
activities in the district informs the district collector and Divisional Commissioner about
irregularities, collects statistics relating to the activities of local authorities in the district, it
advises the state government on allocation of work to be done among Panchayats and
Panchayat Samitis. Normally sources of income available to ZP are taxes, non-tax revenue,
grants from State Government, etc. Many problems hindered the success of PRIs

(i) the illiteracy and conservatism of the village people;

(ii) rural local self-government have become riddled with casteism, communalism,
factionalism;
(iii) benefits not reached to the common man;
(iv) dishonesty and corruption in the local bodies;(v) urbanization is another problem;
(v) excessive government control is also responsible for the slow progress;
(vi) shortage of funds;
(vii) irregular elections to these bodies.

Functions of Zilla Parishad

At this level, the major responsibility of the general administrative function is of overall
supervision, coordination; consolidation, integration, and implementation of development
schemes at block and district levels. Preparation of plans for economic development and
social justice of the entire district and securing the execution of plans, projects, schemes, or

13 | P a g e
other PS works were commonly found in almost all the 24 states. Amongst the developmental
variety, agriculture including extension and horticulture, animal husbandry, dairying and
poultry, social forestry, fuel, and fodder education were quite common among all the states.
Health, and hygiene and family welfare, medical, and sanitation were the only responsibility
of maintenance variety performed commonly performed by two or three levels of PRIs in
most of the states. In the case of maintenance variety of functions, the situation is slightly
better as compared to the development and social. Most of these functions are performed by
the GP only. In sum, concerning development and social variety of functions, the
demarcation of the areas of responsibilities in the state Acts are not defined clearly.

14 | P a g e