RAS question
Article 40 directs the State to organize:
Correct answer: (C) Village panchayats with powers of self-government.
Article 40 directs the State to organise village panchayats and give them the powers and authority needed to function as units of self-government.
Explanation
Article 40 is a Directive Principle of State Policy on the organisation of village panchayats. The official Constitution text says the State shall take steps to organise village panchayats and endow them with the powers and authority necessary for them to function as units of self-government. That wording makes option C precise: the focus is not merely on creating local bodies, but on enabling village panchayats to exercise self-government. This Directive Principle later gained institutional force through the 73rd Amendment Act, 1992, which gave constitutional effect to Panchayati Raj. For an RAS MCQ, the trap is usually the neighbouring governance provisions: workers' participation, cooperative societies and urban municipal bodies are separate ideas, not Article 40.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Workers' participation in management is tied to Article 43A, whereas Article 40 deals with village panchayats as units of self-government.
- (B) Cooperative societies relate to Article 43B added by the 97th Amendment, not to Article 40's direction on village panchayats.
- (D) Article 40 names village panchayats, so it concerns rural local self-government rather than municipal bodies in urban areas.
Concept
This tests Directive Principles of State Policy and their link with local self-government. It recurs in RAS because governance MCQs often ask candidates to match constitutional articles with Panchayati Raj institutions and related reforms.