UPSC Mains 2024 GS2 Q5: model answer
Analyse the role of local bodies in providing good governance at local level and bring out the pros and cons merging the rural local bodies with the urban local bodies.
What the question wants
Role of local bodies in governance, then merits and demerits of merging rural with urban bodies.
How to structure it
Intro: The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) gave constitutional status to panchayats and municipalities as institutions. Body: (1) Role in good governance; (2) Merging rural bodies into urban (peri-urban villages). Conclusion: Mergers should be gradual.
- 1(1) Role in good governance
- 2(2) Merging rural bodies into urban (peri-urban villages)
Model answer
The 73rd and 74th Amendments (1992) gave constitutional status to panchayats and municipalities as institutions of self-government.
Role in good governance
- Participation: Gram Sabhas and ward committees bring people into decisions.
- Local planning: Gram Panchayat Development Plans.
- Delivery of water, sanitation, roads; social audits in MGNREGA.
- Representation: one-third (in many States half) seats for women.
Merging rural bodies into urban (peri-urban villages)
Pros
- Planned growth of fringe areas; better services like piped water and sewerage.
- Larger revenue base, economies of scale.
- Ends unregulated construction outside city limits.
Cons
- Higher property taxes and loss of rural schemes like MGNREGA.
- Gram Sabha's direct democracy replaced by distant councillors.
- Agricultural land and commons lost to real estate.
- Large corporations already struggle; adding villages strains them (e.g., Pune and Gurugram).
Mergers should be gradual, consultative and backed by funds, so that urbanisation adds services without taking away voice.
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
73rd/74th Amendments Gram Sabha peri-urban ward committees merger
Where most answers lose marks
- Writing only on role without merger.
Same theme in Prelims
Consider the following statements in respect of questions asked by the Members in the Parliament of India :
- 1. Unstarred questions are those to which a Member desires an oral answer in the House.
- 2. Starred questions are those to which a Member desires a written answer.
- 3. No supplementary question can be asked on an unstarred question.
Which one of the following conclusions based on the above statements is correct ?
Answer (c) & explanation
Only one statement is correct (c). Statement 3 is right: an unstarred question gets a written answer, so no supplementary question can follow. Statement 1 is wrong: unstarred questions get written, not oral, answers. Statement 2 is wrong: a starred question, marked with an asterisk, gets an oral answer on the floor, and supplementaries may follow. Statements 1 and 2 swap the two types. So options (a), (b) and (d) fail.
Notice the third type: a short notice question is on a matter of urgent public importance, asked with less than ten days' notice and answered orally. Question Hour is usually the first hour of a sitting, followed by Zero Hour, an Indian innovation not found in the Rules of Procedure.
a clean swap of definitions. Remember: the star is for the spoken answer on the floor.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following statements about the Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes of the Parliament of India :
- 1. Although members of this Committee are elected from both Houses of Parliament, the Chairperson of this Committee is appointed by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
- 2. Twenty members are elected by the Rajya Sabha and ten members by the Lok Sabha.
- 3. No Minister, except for the Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, is eligible to be a member of this Committee.
- 4. Members are elected for a fixed term of two years from the date they enter their office.
Which one of the following conclusions based on the above statements is correct ?
Answer (d) & explanation
No statement is correct (d). The Committee on the Welfare of SCs and STs has 30 members. Statement 1 is wrong: the Speaker appoints its Chairperson from among the Lok Sabha members. Statement 2 is wrong: 20 members come from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha, the reverse of the statement. Statement 3 is wrong: no Minister at all can be a member. Statement 4 is wrong: the term is one year, not two. So options (a), (b) and (c) fail.
Notice the pattern: like the Estimates and Public Accounts committees, it is a financial-style committee where Ministers are barred. Its job is to examine the work of the National Commissions for SCs and STs and the implementation of safeguards.
four confident details, all slightly off. When every line has a number or an office, check each one.
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Consider the following statements :
- I. On the dissolution of the House of the People, the Speaker shall not vacate his/her office until immediately before the first meeting of the House of the People after the dissolution.
- II. According to the provisions of the Constitution of India, a Member of the House of the People on being elected as Speaker shall resign from his/her political party immediately.
- III. The Speaker of the House of the People may be removed from his/her office by a resolution of the House of the People passed by a majority of all the then Members of the House, provided that no resolution shall be moved unless at least fourteen days' notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution.
Which of the statements given above are correct?
Answer (c) & explanation
Statements I and III are correct (c). Statement I is right: under Article 94, on dissolution of the Lok Sabha the Speaker stays in office until just before the first meeting of the new House. Statement III is right: the Speaker may be removed by a resolution passed by a majority of all the then members, after at least 14 days' notice. Both lines are copied almost word for word from Article 94. Statement II is wrong: nothing in the Constitution asks the Speaker to leave the party.
Notice that resigning from the party is a convention in Britain, not a rule in India. The Speaker decides defection cases under the Tenth Schedule and certifies Money Bills. The Deputy Speaker post stayed vacant for the whole 17th Lok Sabha.
a good practice dressed as a constitutional rule. Ask, "Which Article says this?"
Fell for this one? Most aspirants do. The PYQ Book puts every UPSC trap side by side, so the pattern finally clicks. Try the free sample
Answer as per the official UPSC answer key.
Fresh examples from current affairs
VB–G RAM G: 375 permissible rural works notified, 41% more than the previous scheme
The Rural Development Ministry has notified 375 permissible works under the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025, the law that replaced MGNREGA. That is 41% more than the 266 works earlier. Works fall under four pillars: water security (128), core rural infrastructure (111), livelihood infrastructure (98) and disaster preparedness (38), all planned through Gram Sabha-approved village plans.
UPSC angle: Prelims: Act name, 125 days, works count. · Mains GS-II: welfare schemes; GS-III: rural employment.
6 Oct 2026
16th Finance Commission recommends ₹4.35 lakh crore for rural local bodies
The Sixteenth Finance Commission has recommended grants of ₹4,35,236 crore for rural local bodies in all 28 States for 2026-31, the Panchayati Raj Ministry told Rajya Sabha on 12 August 2026. Basic and performance grants are in the ratio 80:20. Half the basic grant is tied to sanitation and water; the rest is untied.
UPSC angle: Prelims: FC grant structure.
12 Aug 2026
SVAMITVA: drone mapping for rural property rights
SVAMITVA gives property owners in rural inhabited (abadi) areas a Record of Rights, the Panchayati Raj Minister told Rajya Sabha on 5 August 2026. Drone surveys with CORS technology create high-accuracy maps. Drone survey is complete in 3.30 lakh villages, and 11,147 loans worth ₹1,713 crore have been given against SVAMITVA property cards.
UPSC angle: Prelims: SVAMITVA tech.
5 Aug 2026
National study on low participation in Gram Sabhas released
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj released a two-volume national study on "Low Participation in Gram Sabha across States and Union Territories" on 30 June 2026. Prepared by NIRD&PR, it covered nearly 7,800 respondents in about 400 Gram Panchayats across 26 States and UTs and 213 districts, including PESA and Women-Friendly Gram Panchayats.
UPSC angle: Mains: why Gram Sabhas fail to function; remedies.
30 Jun 2026Learn the concept
Question text as printed in the official UPSC question paper: https://www.upsc.gov.in/sites/default/files/QP_CSM_2024_GenStud_II_03102024.pdf The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.