Gujarat, Tripura, Telangana shine in Panchayat index ranking, shows data

Around 61.2 per cent of gram panchayats in India fall under the ‘aspirant’ category according to the latest Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, while 36 per cent fall within the ‘performer’ grade. However, no panchayat across India could make the cut for the ‘achiever’ rank.  Among states, Gujarat had the maximum number of panchayats, which were in the ‘front-runner’ category, which was next best after the ‘achiever’ category, followed by Telangana and Tripura.  The index, which has been developed to measure how the over 255,699 gram panchayats across India perform in various parameters, was released recently.   Around 216,285 panchayats participated in the ranking exercise. The PAI aims to assess and measure the progress made by grassroots-level institutions in achieving localised Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

This index is based on various local development indicators across the nine themes. One of the purposes of the PAI is to identify the development gaps of the panchayats through the scores achieved across various themes and enable the Panchayat for evidence-based planning at the grassroots level.