The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee was a committee appointed by the Government of India

Government of India

The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

 in January 1957 to examine the working of the Community Development Programme(1952) and the National Extension Service(1953) and to suggest measures for their better working. The Chairman of this committee was Balwantrai G Mehta

Balwantrai Mehta

Balwantrai Mehta was the second Chief Minister of Gujarat, India. He was a valiant freedom fighter, social worker and pioneer of concept of Panchayati Raj . He was a soldier in the Bardoli Satyagraha. His greatest contribution were in the sphere of princely states' peoples' fight for self-rule....

. The committee submitted its report in November 1957 and recommended the establishment of the scheme of 'democratic decentralisation' which finally came to be known as Panchayati Raj

Panchayati Raj

The panchayat raj is a South Asian political system mainly in India, Pakistan, and Nepal. "Panchayat" literally means assembly of five wise and respected elders chosen and accepted by the local community. Traditionally, these assemblies settled disputes between individuals and villages...

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Recommendations

The specific recommendations of the committee are:

1. Establishment of a 3-tier Panchayati Raj system-Gram Panchayat at the village level, Panchayat Samiti at the block level, and Zila Parishad at the district level. These tiers should be organically linked through a device of indirect elections.
2. The village Panchayat should be constituted with directly elected representatives, whereas the Panchayat Samiti and Zila Parishad should be constituted with indirectly elected members.
3. All planning and developmental activities should be entrusted to these bodies.
4. The Panchayat Samiti should be the executive body while the Zila Parishad should be the advisory, coordinating and supervisory body.
5. The District Collector should be the Chairman of the Zila Parishad.
6. There should be a genuine transfer of power and responsibility to these democratic bodies.
7. Sufficient resources should be transferred to these bodies to enable them to discharge their functions and fulfil their responsibilities.
8. A system should be evolved to effect further devolution of authority in future.

These recommendations were accepted by the National Development Council in January 1958.