The Balwant Rai Mehta Committee was a committee originally appointed by the Government of India in January 16,1957 to examine the working of the Community Development Programme (1952, Oct 2nd) and the National Extension Service (1953 Oct 2nd) and to suggest measures for their better working. The Chairman of this committee was Balwantrai G Mehta The committee submitted its report in November 24,1957 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. Some of the recommendations of the committee were- establishment of 8 3-tier Panchayati Raj system; the village Panchayat should be constituted with directly elected representatives, whereas the Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parishad should be constituted with indirectly elected members; sufficient resources should be transferred to these bodies to enable them to discharge their functions and fulfil their responsibilities.