Compulsory and voluntary provisions of the 73rd Amendment

Topic: Panchayati Raj: Rural Local Government · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The compulsory and voluntary provisions of the 73rd Amendment split Part IX of the Constitution (Arts. 243–243O) into two kinds of rules. Compulsory provisions are rules every state must write into its panchayat law. Voluntary provisions are matters each state may decide for itself.

This split explains why panchayats look the same across India but differ a lot in real power. The Constitution guarantees that panchayats exist. How much money and work they get is left to each state.

Explanation

Compulsory provisions (every state must follow)

• Gram sabha in every village (Art. 243A). The gram sabha is the body of all persons on the electoral roll of the village panchayat area, meaning every adult voter of the village [3].
• Three tiers (Art. 243B). Panchayats must exist at the village, intermediate (block) and district levels [1].

• A state with a population not exceeding 20 lakh may skip the middle tier [1].

• Direct election to all seats (Art. 243C(2)). Voters elect every panchayat member themselves.

• Indirect election of chairpersons of the intermediate and district panchayats (Art. 243C(5)). The members choose these chairpersons from among themselves.
• Minimum age of 21 to contest (Art. 243F).
• Reservation (Art. 243D):
• seats for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in proportion to their population;

• at least one-third of seats for women, for both members and chairpersons.

• Five-year term (Art. 243E).

• When the term ends normally, the new election must be held before it ends.

• After a dissolution (when a panchayat is ended early), the election must be held within six months.

• State Election Commission (SEC) (Art. 243K). It conducts panchayat elections.

• State Finance Commission (SFC) (Art. 243I). It is set up every five years to review panchayat finances.

Voluntary provisions (each state decides)

• Reservation for OBCs (Other Backward Classes) (Art. 243D(6)).
• Whether MPs and MLAs sit in panchayats (Art. 243C(3)).
• How the village head (sarpanch/pradhan) is elected (Art. 243C(5)). The state can choose direct election by voters or election by panchayat members.
• How many Eleventh Schedule subjects to hand over (Art. 243G). The Eleventh Schedule lists 29 subjects, such as agriculture, drinking water and primary education. States may give these to panchayats, but they are not required to.
• Taxes and money (Art. 243H). The state decides whether panchayats can levy taxes, fees and tolls, and what grants it gives them.

Limits on the compulsory rules

• They do not apply everywhere (Art. 243M). Part IX does not apply to:
• Fifth Schedule Scheduled Areas and Sixth Schedule tribal areas [2];

• the states of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram, and the hill areas of Manipur that have district councils [2].

• Darjeeling: the district-tier rules do not apply to the Darjeeling hill areas, where the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council works [2].

• Arunachal Pradesh: it is exempt only from SC reservation (Art. 243M(3A), added by the 83rd Amendment, 2000) [2].
• Gram sabha: having a gram sabha is compulsory, but its powers are not. Under Art. 243A it does whatever the state legislature decides by law.

In the Constitution and practice

• Source: the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992.
• It was passed by special majority in December 1992 and ratified by more than half the state legislatures.
• It received assent on 20 April 1993 and came into force on 24 April 1993 [4].

• It added Part IX and the Eleventh Schedule.

• States had to obey quickly (Art. 243N). A state law that clashed with Part IX could continue for at most one year, so every state had to rewrite its panchayat law by April 1994.

• Local government is still a state subject. It sits in the State List (Entry 5, List II), so states write the detailed laws and fill in the voluntary parts [5].
• States can go beyond the minimum. 21 states, including Bihar, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal, have raised women's reservation from one-third to 50% [5].

• Result: about 14.5 lakh elected women representatives, about 46% of all elected panchayat members [5].

• Scale (2024): India has about 2.7 lakh gram panchayats and about 32 lakh elected representatives [6].

• Extension to tribal areas: PESA 1996 (Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act) used Art. 243M(4)(b) to extend Part IX to Fifth Schedule areas, with extra powers for gram sabhas.

Don't confuse with

• Women's reservation, one-third vs 50%: one-third is the compulsory minimum under Art. 243D. The 50% in 21 states is a voluntary choice those states made [5].
• Chairpersons of the intermediate and district tiers vs the village head: the first two must be elected indirectly, which is compulsory. How the village head is elected is left to the state, which is voluntary.
• SC/ST reservation vs OBC reservation: SC/ST seats in proportion to population are compulsory (Art. 243D). OBC reservation is voluntary (Art. 243D(6)).
• The Eleventh Schedule existing vs subjects being handed over: the list of 29 subjects is in the Constitution. Actually transferring them to panchayats is voluntary under Art. 243G.

Prelims Hooks

• Compulsory: gram sabha (243A), three tiers (243B), direct elections (243C), minimum age 21 (243F), SC/ST and one-third women's reservation (243D), five-year term (243E), SEC (243K), SFC every five years (243I).
• Voluntary: OBC reservation (243D(6)), MPs/MLAs in panchayats (243C(3)), mode of electing the village head (243C(5)), devolution of Eleventh Schedule subjects (243G), taxes and grants (243H).
• Trap: skipping the intermediate tier is allowed only for states with a population not exceeding 20 lakh (Art. 243B(2)) [1].
• Trap: after a dissolution, the election must be held within six months (Art. 243E).
• Trap: Arunachal Pradesh is exempt only from SC reservation (Art. 243M(3A), 83rd Amendment, 2000) [2].
• Which body does what: the SEC conducts panchayat elections (243K). The SFC reviews panchayat finances (243I). The Election Commission of India has no role here.

Mains Points

• Same shell, uneven substance:
• The compulsory provisions guarantee that panchayats exist, with regular elections, an SEC and an SFC.
• Devolution of funds, functions and functionaries (staff) is voluntary (Arts. 243G, 243H), so panchayats in many states have little real power.

• This is the "decentralisation through a centralised process" paradox: Parliament pushed power down, but states still control how much actually reaches villages. Unlike Brazil's constitution, Part IX does not protect local bodies from state interference.

• Voluntary clauses can deepen democracy:

• States that raised women's reservation to 50% now have about 14.5 lakh women in office [5].
• Problems remain, such as the "sarpanch-pati" (a male relative running the office in the woman's name).

• Reform: training and capacity building for elected women, and making some devolution of subjects compulsory.

• Asymmetric federalism (different rules for different regions):

• Art. 243M keeps Sixth Schedule and north-eastern customary institutions outside even the compulsory rules [2].
• PESA 1996 brings Fifth Schedule areas under Part IX with tribal safeguards.
• This respects tribal self-rule, but it creates parallel systems of local government with different rights.

Related concepts

• 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1992
• National Panchayati Raj Day
• Gram sabha
• Mahila sabha
• Three-tier panchayat system

Read more

• The 73rd Amendment: framework, gram sabha and three tiers