Panchayati Raj is a South Asian political system of local Governance. In which…
2015
Panchayati Raj is a South Asian political system of local Governance. In which of the following countries does this system not exist?
- A.
Pakistan
- B.
Nepal
- C.
Bangladesh
- D.
Sri Lanka
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Panchayati Raj denotes the specific South Asian institution of local self-government run through elected village or area councils historically called 'panchayats'. India constitutionalised this model through the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992, which came into force on 24 April 1993. TPSC's own official answer key for this exam (CMIS Preliminary 2015, Question 22, Series D) marks Sri Lanka as the answer; the institutional record below shows why -- among the four options, Sri Lanka is the only one whose local-government tier has never at any point been named, modelled on, or descended from a panchayat, while each of the others has such a link, whether current or historical.
Tracing the panchayat link -- current or historical -- of the local-government tier associated with each of the four countries shows which one has none:
Country | Panchayat lineage of the local-government tier |
|---|---|
Pakistan | Ayub Khan's 1959 Basic Democracies reform was first announced using the term 'union panchayats' before being renamed 'union councils' days later -- so present-day Union Councils are the direct nominal descendant of a body first called panchayat |
Nepal | From 1962 to 1990 Nepal's local governance was itself organised as elected village and town panchayats (feeding into district and National Panchayats); that regime was later replaced by a different local-government structure, but Nepal's local self-government is thus historically rooted in bodies literally named panchayat, unlike Sri Lanka's |
Bangladesh | Its smallest rural administrative unit, now the Union Parishad, was itself named the 'Union Panchayat' before later being renamed -- a direct descent from a body literally called panchayat |
Sri Lanka | Local government rests on Municipal Councils and Urban Councils (created by ordinances that pre-date 1987) and the Pradeshiya Sabha (created by the Pradeshiya Sabhas Act No. 15 of 1987) -- none of these bodies was ever named, modelled on, or descended from a panchayat |
Pakistan's and Bangladesh's present-day local bodies are the direct nominal descendants of institutions first called 'panchayat'; Nepal's local self-government was itself organised as panchayats for nearly three decades, even though that regime later gave way to a different structure. Sri Lanka's local-government architecture -- Municipal Councils, Urban Councils, and the Pradeshiya Sabha -- has no such name or lineage at any point in its history. That is the institutional basis for the exam's keyed answer: among the four options, Sri Lanka is the country where the panchayat-based system does not exist.