Telangana excels in first Panchayat Advancement Index data: Union govt

New Delhi: Telangana and Gujarat topped in the panchayats’ performance across nine themes of localized Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj announced on Wednesday, April 9.

The report was based on performance in the Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI), a tool to measure the progress of over 2.5 lakh gram panchayats across India. As per data for 2022-23, 699 panchayats, most from Telangana and Gujarat, are in the top categories.

The nine themes include poverty-free and enhanced livelihoods in panchayat, healthy panchayat, child-friendly panchayat, water-sufficient panchayat, clean and green panchayat, panchayat with self-sufficient infrastructure, socially just and secured panchayat, panchayat with good governance and women-friendly panchayat.

Under the index, based on scores achieved by different gram panchayats, they are grouped into various categories of performance — Achiever (90+), Front Runner (75 to 90), Performer (60 to 75), Aspirant (40 to 60) and Beginners (below 40).

As per the index, while 699 (0.3 percent) panchayats emerged as Front Runners, 77,298 (35.8 percent) were Performers, 1,32,392 (61.2 percent) were Aspirants, while 5,896 (2.7 percent) gram panchayats were at the Beginner level. None of the gram panchayats is qualified as an Achiever.

As of now, no interstate comparison has been done, the statement said.

Among 699 Front Runners, Gujarat led the pack with 346 such gram panchayats, followed by Telangana with 270 Front Runners, it said.

States with a high number of Performers include Gujarat (13,781), Maharashtra (12,242), Telangana (10,099), Madhya Pradesh (7,912), and Uttar Pradesh (6,593), while Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh have a significant share of Aspirant gram panchayats, highlighting areas needing focused development efforts.

The 2022-23 PAI data reveals that out of 2,55,699 gram panchayats, 2,16,285 submitted validated data.

The PAI is a composite index and has been compiled based on 435 unique local indicators (331 mandatory and 104 optional) consisting of 566 unique data points across nine themes of localised SDGs, aligned with National Indicator Framework (NIF) of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, the statement said.

Data from over 2.16 lakh panchayats has been processed, with validation by states/ UTs. Data for 11,712 panchayats from five states/UTs (Meghalaya, Nagaland, Goa, Puducherry, and West Bengal) were not included due to pending validation, it added.

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