(b) 2 only
Explanation:
• The 73rd amendment gave constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj institutions. It brought in uniformity with the three-tier Panchayati Raj structure. At the base is the ‘Gram Panchayat‘. A Gram Panchayat covers a village or group of villages. The intermediary level is the Mandal (also referred to as Block or Taluka). These bodies are called Mandal or Taluka Panchayats. The intermediary level body need not be constituted in smaller States. At the apex is the Zilla Panchayat covering the entire rural area of the District.
• The act provides for a Gram Sabha as the foundation of the Panchayati raj system. It is a body consisting of persons registered in the electoral rolls of a village comprised within the area of Panchayat at the village level. Thus, it is a village assembly consisting of all the registered voters in the area of a panchayat. Hence statement 1 is not correct.
• It may exercise such powers and perform such functions at the village level as the legislature of a state determines. Hence statement 2 is correct.

(b) 4-3-1-2

(c) Both 1 and 2
Explanation:
• Statement 1 is incorrect: Parliamentary forums are constituted for sharing of knowledge and providing a platform of discussions and dialogue between parliament members and government officials and key Experts. The Parliamentary Forum on Water Conservation and Management was the first to be constituted in 2005. Subsequently, seven more Parliamentary forums were constituted. At present, there are eight Parliamentary forums. They are –
• Parliamentary Forum on Water Conservation and Management
• Parliamentary Forum on Youth
• Parliamentary Forum on Children
• Parliamentary Forum on Population and Public Health
• Parliamentary Forum on Global Warming and Climate Change
• Parliamentary Forum on Disaster Management
• Parliamentary Forum on Artisans and Craftspeople
• Parliamentary Forum on Millennium Development Goals.
• Statement 2 is incorrect: Speaker of the Lok Sabha is the ex-officio President of all the Forums except the Parliamentary Forum on Population and Public Health wherein the Chairman of Rajya Sabha is the ex-officio President and the Speaker is the ex-officio, Co-President.

(a) 1 and 2 only

Explanation:
• Statement 1 is correct: In the US, only the powers of the Federal Government are enumerated in the Constitution and the residuary powers are left to the states. The Australian Constitution followed the American pattern of single enumeration of powers. In Canada, on the other hand, there is a double enumeration—Federal and Provincial, and the residuary powers are vested in the Centre.
• The Constitution provides for a three-fold distribution of legislative subjects between the Centre and the states, viz., List-I (the Union List), List-II (the State List) and List-III (the Concurrent List) in the Seventh Schedule.
• Statement 2 is correct: The Government of India (GoI) Act of 1935 provided for a three-fold enumeration, viz., federal, provincial and concurrent. The present Constitution follows the scheme of this act but with one difference, that is, under this act, the residuary powers were given neither to the federal legislature nor to the provincial legislature but to the governor-general of India. In this respect, India follows the Canadian precedent.
• Statement 3 is incorrect: The power to make laws with respect to residuary subjects (i.e., matters which are not enumerated in any of the three lists) are vested in the Parliament. This residuary power of legislation includes the power to levy residuary taxes.

(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Explanation:
Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (or PESA), 1996
• Village level democracy became a real prospect for India in 1992 with the 73rd amendment to the Constitution, which mandated that resources, responsibility and decision making be passed on from central government to the lowest unit of the governance, the Gram Sabha or the Village Assembly.
• A three tier structure of local self-government was envisaged under this amendment. Since the laws do not automatically cover the scheduled areas, the PESA Act was in acted on 24 December 1996 to enable Tribal Self Rule in these areas.
• The Act extended the provisions of Panchayats to the tribal areas of nine states that have Fifth Schedule Areas.
• The nine states with Fifth Schedule areas are: Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Rajasthan.
• The fundamental spirit of the Panchayat Extension Act for tribal areas under 5th Schedule is that it devolves power and authority to Gram Sabha and Panchayats rather than delegation; hence it paves way for participatory democracy.
• The provision under constitution and the composition under this act call for every legislation on the Panchayat in 5th Schedule area are in conformity with the customary law, social and religious practices and traditional management practices of the community resources. The provisions under PESA include the following:
• Gram sabha at the para, majra and tola levels
• Gram sabha to protect the traditions, beliefs and culture of the tribal communities
• Local disputes to be resolved by the gram sabha
• Gram sabha to manage and protect common properties based on their traditional systems of management and protection
• The administration to seek permission from the gram sabha in case of land acquisition
• Gram sabha to have the rights over minor forest produce; powers to restore land to the tribals; and control over money-lending to tribals, tribal welfare activities by social organizations and local plans and sub-plans for the development of tribal areas and communities
• Gram sabha to have the control over local markets and melas
• Gram sabha to have rights to control the distillation, prohibition and manufacture of liquor
• District panchayats to have rights and powers similar to the district panchayats falling under Sixth Schedule