New index introduced to track progress of 250,000 gram panchayats
The Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) 2022-23 to track the progress of 250,000 gram panchayats, the rural grassroots governing bodies, combines all SDGs
The government has introduced the Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) 2022-23 to track the progress of 250,000 gram panchayats, the rural grassroots governing bodies, combining all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into nine actionable themes, such as poverty eradication.
The United Nations adopted the SDGs in 2015 to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure peace and prosperity for all by 2030.
The PAI empowers the gram panchayats to drive sustainable change from the ground up. “...the baseline PAI 2022-23 will play a vital role in setting local targets…,” said a panchayati raj ministry statement on Tuesday. It added that it would identify the development gaps through the scores achieved across nine localised themes and enable evidence-based planning.
A person familiar with the matter said that the index has been developed through collaboration across ministries. The index will assess panchayats also on health, child welfare, water sufficiency, clean and green initiatives, self-sufficient infrastructure, social justice and security, good governance, and women’s empowerment with 435 unique indicators.
Panchayats will be graded as Achievers (A plus), Front Runner (A), Performer (B), Aspirant (C), or Beginner (D) based on the scores.
Only 216,000 gram panchayats validated their data in the first baseline survey of 2022-23, and the majority, or 13,2000 (61%), fell in the C category, signalling room for improvement.
As many as 5,896 panchayats got the grade D, with Chhattisgarh (1,439) and Uttar Pradesh (1,237) accounting for the highest such bodies. Officials said 699 panchayats (0.3%) earned grade A status, and 77,298 or 35.8% Grade B. None of the panchayats achieved the A-plus status.
The ministry said only panchayats with duly validated data submitted through states and Union territories through a robust multi-level validation process via the PAI portal were included in the survey.
Data from 11,712 local bodies in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Goa, Puducherry, and West Bengal remained invalidated, excluding them from the current rankings.
