Parliament Question: Formulation of PESA Act

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.– 2606 ANSWERED ON- 04.08.2026 FORMULATION OF PESA ACT †2606. SHRI RAJKUMAR ROAT:

Will the Minister of PANCHAYATI RAJ be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government had issued directions to all the States to formulate rules under the PESA Act, if so, the details of the rules framed by each State along with the dates on which these rules were enacted along with the details thereof, State-wise;

(b) the details of the steps taken by the Government so far to effectively implement the PESA Act at the ground level along with statistical details of the number of Gram Sabhas constituted under the Said Act in the country, State-wise;

(c) whether the Government is aware that under the PESA Act in Rajasthan, the Sarpanch of the Panchayati Raj Gram Panchayat has been designated as the Chairperson of the Gram Sabha, due to which the core objective of the PESA Act is not being achieved in the State, if so, the details thereof; and

(d) whether the Union Government proposes to direct the State Government to make provisions for electing a separate Chairperson for the PESA Gram Sabha on the lines of Maharashtra and if so, by when and if not, the reasons therefor? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRI RAJIV RANJAN SINGH ALIAS LALAN SINGH)

(a) Yes, Sir. The Parliament enacted “The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996” (PESA), for extending the provisions of Part-IX of the Constitution, with certain exceptions and modifications, to the Fifth Schedule Areas, as per article 243M(4)(b) of the Constitution. The Ministry has drafted Model PESA Rules and circulated to all PESA States in 2009. For framing of PESA Rules, Ministry issues advisories, from time to time, to the PESA States. At present, out of 10 PESA States 9 States namely Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Telangana, have notified their PESA Rules (except the State of Odisha). These State PESA Rules are available on the website of the Panchayati Raj Department of the respective States and are also available on the website of this Ministry at the following 1link: https://panchayat.gov.in/en/document-category/pesa-rules-framed-by-pesa-states/. Dates of enactment of the PESA Rules framed by the respective States are placed at Annexure-I.

(b) ‘Panchayat’, being a ‘local government’, is a State subject and part of State list of Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. Panchayats are set up and operate through the respective State Panchayati Raj Acts. States have made their own Panchayati Raj Act, subject to provisions of the Constitution. Accordingly all matters relating to Panchayats, including effective implementation of PESA Act at the ground level fall within the purview of the State Government concerned. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj does not maintain the State-wise statistical details of the number of Gram Sabha constituted under PESA Act To supplement support to the State, MoPR has also taken the following initiatives-

(i) For the first time, in order to assess the ground-level implementation of PESA across States, the Ministry has developed PESA Indices, which capture various aspects of PESA implementation at the State level. On the basis of these Indices, the ranking of PESA States for Financial Year 2024-25 was released. This ranking is intended to help States objectively assess their areas for improvement and to bridge the gaps in the implementation of PESA.

(ii) Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA), from 2022-2023 to 2025-2026, a total of 1,86,971 participants have been trained on key PESA subjects at the State, District, and Block levels. 630 State-Level Master Trainers and 25 National Level Master Trainers have also been trained during 2024-2025 & 2025-2026 across 10 PESA States, who can further impart training at the grass root level.

(iii) Ministry of Panchayati Raj is also supporting all 10 PESA States in appointing dedicated staff under RGSA, to work on implementation of PESA-including coordinators at State, District, Block levels and mobilizers at Gram Panchayat Level.

(iv) Further, under RGSA, MoPR has initiated PESA-GPDP integration to enable the preparation of PESA-specific Village Development Plans within the Gram Panchayat Development Plan

(GPDP) framework. As a result, a total of 65,738 PESA villages have prepared their PESA GPDP plan for Financial Year 2025-26. The portal allows PESA villages to submit their development plans digitally, ensuring convergence with mainstream schemes while safeguarding traditional governance.

(v) The Ministry has developed seven training manuals on key PESA subjects in Hindi and English and for better dissemination at the ground level manuals have been translated in regional languages, namely Odia, Gujarati, Telugu, Marathi, and tribal languages, namely Bhili, Mundari, Santhali and Gondi.

(c) The matter of appointment/selection of Chairperson of a Gram Sabha comes under the jurisdiction of the State Government concerned.

2The State of Rajasthan has informed that the Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat has been designated as the Chairperson of the Gram Sabha as per ‘Rajasthan Panchayati Raj (Modification of Provisions in their Application to the Scheduled Areas) Rules, 2011’. Since the Sarpanch of a Gram Panchayat in a PESA area also belongs to the same area, they carry out their duties in accordance with the PESA Act.

(d) No, Sir. The matter comes under the jurisdiction of State Government concerned. *** 3Annexure-I Annexure referred to the part (a) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2606 for answer on 04.08.2026 reg. ‘Formulation of PESA Act’ PESA States Date on which PESA Rules notified Andhra Pradesh 24.03.2011 Chhattisgarh 08.08.2022 Gujarat 17.01.2017 Himachal

26.03.2011 Pradesh Jharkhand 2.1.2026 Madhya Pradesh 15.11.2022 Maharashtra 04.03.2014 Rajasthan 01.11.2011 Became a separate State on 2nd June, 2014. Adopted the PESA Rules of Telangana Andhra Pradesh, 2011 in 2014 4