RAS question
The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957) recommended which type of Panchayati Raj system?
Correct answer: (A) Three-tier.
The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee, 1957 recommended a three-tier Panchayati Raj system comprising village panchayat, panchayat samiti and zila parishad.
Explanation
The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee's recommendation was a three-tier Panchayati Raj system. The cited Ministry of Panchayati Raj release supports this by placing the committee's major recommendations in an annexure and stating that, for democratic decentralisation to work, all three tiers of the scheme should start at the same time and operate simultaneously across the district. Those tiers were village panchayat, panchayat samiti and zila parishad. That is why option A is the substantive answer: the committee did not merely call for local bodies in general, but for a linked three-level structure. This model was first implemented in Rajasthan in 1959.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Four-tier is wrong because the PIB annexure identifies three tiers, not four, in the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee scheme.
- (C) Two-tier is wrong because it omits one level from the committee's named structure of village panchayat, panchayat samiti and zila parishad.
- (D) Single-tier is wrong because the recommendation was for simultaneous operation of all three tiers, not for one local body level alone.
Concept
This tests the evolution of Panchayati Raj and democratic decentralisation in Rajasthan Political and Administrative System. It recurs in RAS because Rajasthan is tied to the early implementation of the committee's three-tier Panchayati Raj model.