Grassroots governance: Development requires strong panchayats at the core

Panchayats are the closest tier of governance to the people. Unlike top-down models, a panchayat-led approach allows for contextual strategies that take into account multiple local factors

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address on the occasion of the National Panchayati Raj Day on Thursday noted that several initiatives had been taken over the past decade. In this regard recently, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj took a significant step in India’s journey towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at grassroots level and launched the panchayat advancement index (PAI). Ranking over 216,000 panchayats on their progress across themes such as poverty alleviation and enhanced livelihood, health, water sufficiency, self-sufficient infrastructure, and good governance, the index is a bold acknowledgment of the central role rural local bodies can