New index to assess performance of gram panchayats  

In a push for data driven governance, the Department of Panchayati Raj has come up with the first ever Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI). The index is aimed to identify gaps and frame evidence-based policies. Based on the rating system, the highest number of D-category panchayats are in Chhattisgarh, closely followed by Uttar Pradesh.

There are 2.5 lakh gram panchayats in the country. Out of these, data of around 2.16 lakh gram panchayats from 29 States have been assessed. PAI has been compiled based on 435 unique local Indicators on nine themes – rate of poverty, availability of livelihoods, health indices, whether a panchayat is child friendly, water sufficient, clean and green, self-sufficient infrastructure, socially just and socially secured panchayat, good governance and women-friendly. Based on these, gram panchayats are grouped into one of the categories of performance – achiever: (90+), front runner:(75 to below 90); performer:(60 to below 75); aspirant: (40 to below 60) and beginners (below 40).

As per the data shared by the Department of Panchayati Raj, of the 2.16 lakh gram panchayats, 699 (0.3%) of gram panchayats are front runner, 77,298 (35.8%) are performer, 1,32,392 (61.2%) are aspirant, and 5,896 (2.7%) are beginners. None of the gram panchayat is qualified as an “achiever”.

Gujarat with 346 and Telangana with 270 panchayats lead the tally of ‘frontrunner’ panchayats. Chhattisgarh leads the tally of ‘beginners’ with 1,449 panchayats under this category and Uttar Pradesh follows closely behind with 1,237 panchayats.