The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee was a committee originally appointed by the Government of India on 16 January 1957 to examine the working of the Community Development Programme (2 October 1952) and the National Extension Service and to suggest measures for their better working.
The committee submitted its report on 24 November 1957 and recommended the establishment of the scheme of 'democratic decentralisation' which finally came to be known as Panchayati Raj.
The main aim of Panchayat raj system is to settle the local problems locally and to make the people politically conscious.
The report of the Team for the Study of the Community Projects and National Extension Service, Chaired by Balwantrai G. Mehta in 1957 is attached here.
[1] These recommendations were accepted by the National Development Council in January 1958.