Given below are two statements: one is labelled as Assertion (A) and the other is labelled as Reason (R).
Assertion (A): The 73rd Amendment granted constitutional status to the Gram Sabha.
Reason (R): The Balwant Rai Mehta committee mentioned the Gram Sabha.
In the light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Both (A) and (R) are correct but (R) is not the correct explanation of (A)
Assertion (A) — True. The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 (in force from 24 April 1993) added Part IX on the Panchayats to the Constitution. Its Article 243A provides for the Gram Sabha, the body of all registered voters of a village, so the Gram Sabha got constitutional status.
Reason (R) — True. The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee (1957), set up to review the Community Development Programme, recommended “democratic decentralisation” through a three-tier Panchayati Raj system, with panchayats elected directly by the people of each village. As per the answer given by NTA, its report also mentioned the Gram Sabha.
Does (R) explain (A)? No. A committee’s report can only recommend; it gives no body any legal standing. The Gram Sabha got constitutional status because Parliament amended the Constitution in 1992, some 35 years after the Mehta Committee, so the mention in that report does not explain the Assertion.