Hary gives star rankings to panchayats on 7 parameters

In a novel initiative, Haryana has decided to give star rankings to its panchayats on the basis of seven social parameters under the state's 7-Star Gram Panchayat Rainbow scheme.

As many as 1,120 villages of the state have achieved the rankings under the scheme, launched in January this year, an official release said.

Speaking at a State level Panchayat Performance Assessment Committee (SPPAC) meeting here today, Haryana Agriculture minister O P Dhankar said the panchayats will be judged on sex ratio, education, hygiene, environment preservation, governance and social participation.

The selected villages will be honoured at an award ceremony to be held in Panchkula, Gurugram and Rohtak next month.

Dhankar said the villages would be rewarded Rs one lakh for achieving each parameter.

"The villages having equal or more girl population will be given Rs 50,000 as bonus with their reward money. Similarly, the villages which adopt Swachhta Mission will be given additional Rs 50,000 as reward," he said.

An online portal has also been developed for receiving claims of panchayats, for evaluation and verification, he said.

The minister added that Ambala topped the star ranking with 407 stars followed by Gurugram with 199 stars and Karnal with 75 stars.