Identify the incorrect statement.

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → It provides 40 percent seats for women as reserved.

Option (1) Panchayati Raj translates literally to ‘Governance by five individuals’. — True. That is the literal meaning. The idea is to ensure a functioning and vibrant democracy at the village or grass root level.

Option (2) It provides reservation of seat for the scheduled castes. — True. The 73rd Amendment provided reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Option (3) It provides 40 percent seats for women as reserved. — False. The reservation for women is thirty three percent of the seats, not forty percent.

Option (4) The 73rd Amendment provided a three-tier system of Panchayati Raj for all states having a population of over twenty lakhs. — True. The amendment also made it mandatory that elections to these bodies be held every five years.

Note: The chapter ‘The Story of Indian Democracy’ of the pre-rationalised NCERT, which NTA followed in 2023, has been renamed ‘The Constitution and Social Change’ in the NCERT book (2025-26). Its section on Panchayati Raj and the 73rd Amendment is still there.

NCERT (2025-26): “3.1 The Panchayati Raj and the Challenges of Rural Social Transformation … Panchayati Raj translates literally to ‘Governance by five individuals’. The idea is to ensure at the village or grass root level a functioning and vibrant democracy.…”

“…The 73rd Amendment provided a three-tier system of Panchayati Raj for all states having a population of over twenty lakhs. It became mandatory that election to these bodies be conducted every five years. It provided reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and thirty three percent seats for women.…”