Balwantrai Mehta Committee

Topic: Panchayati Raj: Rural Local Government · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 8 "Local Governments"

Meaning

The Balwantrai Mehta Committee was a team set up in January 1957 to find out why few people were taking part in the Community Development Programme and the National Extension Service. Its report in November 1957 recommended "democratic decentralisation": a three-tier Panchayati Raj made up of the village panchayat, the panchayat samiti and the zila parishad. Its official name was the Team for the Study of Community Projects and National Extension Service [4][2].

It matters because it gave India its first Panchayati Raj system. Rajasthan was the first state to adopt it, on 2 October 1959 [3]. The 73rd Amendment (1992) was later designed to fix the weaknesses of this model.

Explanation

Why the committee was set up

• Community Development Programme (CDP): a government plan for all-round rural development, such as farming, roads, health and schools. It began on 2 October 1952 with 55 projects. It grew out of the Etawah pilot project (1948) in Uttar Pradesh.
• National Extension Service (NES), 1953: field workers (extension officers) who took new farming methods and government schemes to the villages.
• The problem was a top-down design:
• Plans came from above, through the Block Development Officer (BDO) (the state officer in charge of a block) and extension staff.
• Villagers received these plans but had little say in making them.

• So people took little part, which defeated the main aim of the CDP.

• The government set up a team headed by Balwantrai Mehta to find out why and suggest a fix [4][2].

• Appointed: January 1957.
• Report: November 1957.

The main idea: democratic decentralisation

• Democratic decentralisation means giving real power and resources to elected local bodies, not just to government officers.
• The government should hand over certain duties completely to an elected body. That body would run all development work in its area. The government would keep only guidance, supervision and higher planning [2].
• The transfer had to be real. Power and resources had to be genuinely handed over. A change of name alone would not do.

The three-tier structure

Tier	Level	How chosen	Role
Village panchayat	Village	Directly elected by villagers	Basic unit
Panchayat samiti	Block	Indirectly elected (members come from the panchayats below)	Key executive body that carries out development work
Zila parishad	District	Indirectly formed; chaired by the Collector	Advisory and coordinating body only

• Only the bottom tier was directly elected. The two upper tiers were filled indirectly.
• The block was the centre of the system. The executive body (the one that actually carries out the work) was the panchayat samiti, not the zila parishad.
• All three tiers together: for the best results, all three tiers should start at the same time and work side by side across the whole district [2].

Limits of the model

• No constitutional protection. It was only a recommendation. Panchayats still rested on Article 40, a Directive Principle of State Policy (a guideline for the government that no court can enforce), and on each state's own laws.
• Officials kept control.
• The Collector chaired the zila parishad.
• The BDO and line departments kept running the blocks.
• So the samiti never became the real executive it was meant to be.

In the Constitution and practice

• Constitutional base at the time: only Article 40 (a Directive Principle). It asks the State to organise village panchayats and give them the powers they need to work as units of self-government.
• Acceptance: the National Development Council (NDC) (the body of the Prime Minister, Union ministers and state Chief Ministers that approves national plans) accepted the scheme in 1958.
• First state, Rajasthan: Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru opened Panchayati Raj at Nagaur on 2 October 1959 [3]. Rajasthan's 1959 law set up three levels of local government based on elected village panchayats [5].
• Second state: Andhra Pradesh, also in 1959.
• States that changed the model:
• Maharashtra (1962) and Gujarat (1963) made the zila parishad, not the samiti, the executive tier.

• So the states never followed one uniform pattern.

• Decline from the mid-1960s: Class 11 NCERT (Ch 8) lists these problems:

• Local bodies had few powers and functions.
• They depended on state and central grants.
• States often dissolved them and handed them to officials.
• Many bodies were indirectly elected.

• Elections were postponed again and again.

• Deeper causes of the decline:

• Elite and caste capture: rich landowners and dominant castes won most seats. Dalits, women and the poor were left out.
• Weak finances: panchayats had no fixed share of taxes.

• Parallel agencies from 1980: District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) ran the IRDP (a scheme of loans and subsidies for poor rural families) outside the panchayats.

• What came next:

• The Ashok Mehta Committee was appointed in 1977 and reported in 1978.
• The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 (in force from 24 April 1993) then gave panchayats constitutional status. It kept a three-tier system and added safeguards against the old failures:
  • a fixed five-year term, with a fresh election within six months if a body is dissolved early;
  • compulsory regular elections, run by an independent State Election Commission;
  • a State Finance Commission every five years;
  • reservation of seats for SCs, STs and women (at least one-third for women);
  • the Eleventh Schedule, which lists 29 subjects for panchayats.

Don't confuse with

• Ashok Mehta Committee (1977–78): a different committee from a different period. It was set up after the Balwantrai Mehta system had declined, and it opened the next stage of reform. The Balwantrai Mehta Committee came earlier (1957).
• Panchayat samiti vs zila parishad: under Balwantrai Mehta, the samiti (block) was the executive tier. The zila parishad was only advisory and was chaired by the Collector. Maharashtra (1962) and Gujarat (1963) later made the zila parishad the executive tier.
• CDP (1952) vs NES (1953): the CDP was the development programme. The NES was the network of extension workers that came a year later. The Mehta team studied both.
• 73rd Amendment (1992): this gave panchayats constitutional status and protection. The Mehta Committee's plan was only a recommendation, adopted through each state's own law.

Prelims Hooks

• The committee was appointed in January 1957 and reported in November 1957. Its official name was the Team for the Study of Community Projects and National Extension Service [4].
• Trap: the executive tier was the panchayat samiti (block). The zila parishad was advisory and chaired by the Collector.
• Only the village panchayat was to be directly elected. The samiti and zila parishad were indirect.
• The NDC accepted the scheme in 1958.
• Rajasthan was first: Nagaur, 2 October 1959, opened by Nehru [3]. Andhra Pradesh was second (1959).
• Before 1992, the only constitutional basis for panchayats was Article 40, a Directive Principle.

Mains Points

• Devolution without constitutional protection is fragile (GS-II):
• The Mehta model rested only on Article 40 and state laws.
• So states could dissolve the bodies, delay elections and take back powers.

• This is the case for the 73rd Amendment's fixed term, compulsory elections and State Election Commission.

• Bureaucratic and parallel control weakens elected bodies (GS-II):

• The Collector, the BDO and later the DRDAs kept the real power and money.
• Scheme-specific committees and gram panchayats face the same tension today.

• The reform needed is to merge these structures with the panchayats and give them untied funds (money they can spend as they choose).

• Decentralisation can strengthen local elites (GS-I post-1947 history and GS-II):

• In the 1960s, dominant castes and landowners captured the Mehta-era bodies.
• Handing power down is not enough on its own.
• It needs reservation, gram sabha oversight and social audit (a public check of how money was spent).

Related concepts

• Community Development Programme
• National Extension Service
• Block Development Officer

Read more

• Community Development and the first panchayati raj (1952-1977)