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UPPCS Polity Gap Sheet: Panchayati Raj and Municipalities.
UPPCS has asked 19 of these. 2 have not been asked yet. Lock the first list, then read the second: it holds what UPPCS has not used yet.
First, the concept
Panchayats were a Directive Principle (Article 40) for forty years. Committees kept asking for them; the 73rd Amendment (1992, in force 24 April 1993) finally made them constitutional, with the 74th doing the same for towns.
What is compulsory and what is left to the States is the core of every question: three tiers, five-year terms, one-third seats for women and State Election Commissions are compulsory; reservation for backward classes is optional.
✅ Already asked (19)
Committees
- Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957) · Three-tier system; 'democratic decentralisation'
- Ashok Mehta Committee (1977) · Two-tier system; political parties in local polls
- G. V. K. Rao Committee (1985) · District as the basic unit of planning
- L. M. Singhvi Committee (1986) · Constitutional status for Panchayats
The 73rd Amendment
- First States · Rajasthan first (Nagaur, 2 October 1959), then Andhra Pradesh
- Part IX, Articles 243 to 243O; Eleventh Schedule (29 subjects) · Gram Sabha the base (243A)
- Three tiers; States under 20 lakh may skip the middle tier · Village, block (intermediate), district
- One-third seats for women · Including chairpersons; many States give 50%
- Minimum age 21 · To contest Panchayat elections
- State Election Commission (243K) and State Finance Commission (243I) · Finance Commission every five years
- Fresh polls within six months of dissolution · Term is five years
- PESA Act 1996 · Extends Panchayats to Fifth Schedule areas; Bhuria Committee
- Not applicable to Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram · Also hill areas of Manipur and Darjeeling
- National Panchayati Raj Day, 24 April · The day the 73rd Amendment came into force (1993)
Towns: the 74th Amendment
- Part IXA, Articles 243P to 243ZG; Twelfth Schedule (18 subjects) · Urban planning, water, roads, slums
- Three types of urban body · Nagar Panchayat, Municipal Council, Municipal Corporation
- District Planning Committee (243ZD) and Metropolitan Planning Committee (243ZE) · Metropolitan area: 10 lakh or more
- Oldest Municipal Corporation: Madras (1688) · Then Bombay and Calcutta (1726)
- Cantonment Boards · Under the Defence Ministry; Cantonments Act 2006
❌ Not asked yet (2)
Items marked 'asked in other exams' have come in UPSC or other state exams, not yet in UPPCS.
🔒 2 items not asked yet
Committees: 2
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⚠️ Balwant Rai Mehta gave three tiers; Ashok Mehta suggested two. Rajasthan (Nagaur) started first, not Andhra Pradesh. Reservation for backward classes in Panchayats is left to the States; one-third for women is compulsory.
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