Answer: A
Correct answer: 29 subjects that may be devolved to panchayats
The Eleventh Schedule, inserted by the 73rd Amendment in 1992, lists 29 subjects that state legislatures may devolve to panchayats - among them agriculture, minor irrigation, animal husbandry, rural housing, drinking water, roads, education, health, poverty alleviation and the public distribution system. The wording is permissive rather than mandatory: Article 243-G says the legislature may endow panchayats with such powers. That is why devolution has been so uneven, with Kerala, Karnataka and West Bengal transferring substantial functions and funds while others transferred little. The distinction between devolving functions, funds and functionaries - the three Fs - is the usual measure of how real the transfer has been. Its urban counterpart is the Twelfth Schedule, added by the 74th Amendment, listing 18 subjects for municipalities. The Eighth Schedule lists languages and the Ninth holds laws shielded from judicial review, though that shield is no longer absolute.