Parliament Question: Panchayat Development Index

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2627 ANSWERED ON 04/08/2026 PANCHAYAT DEVELOPMENT INDEX

2627. SMT. BHARTI PARDHI:

SHRI SHRIRANG APPA CHANDU BARNE:

DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE:

SHRI RAVINDRA DATTARAM WAIKAR:

SHRI NARESH GANPAT MHASKE:

Will the Minister of PANCHAYATI RAJ be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Ministry has successfully implemented the "Panchayat Development Index"

(PDI) to rank all 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats on their socio-economic performance, if so, the details thereof, State-wise;

(b) whether a special incentive fund has been created in the 2026-27 Budget for "Frontrunner" Panchayats that achieve the status of 'Child-Friendly' or 'Water-Sufficient' villages, if so, the details thereof, State-wise;

(c) whether the Ministry has completed the thematic training of over 30 lakh elected representatives to align local planning with the Sustainable Development Goals, if so, the details thereof, State-wise;

(d) whether the "Gram Panchayat Development Plans" (GPDP) for the current fiscal year have successfully integrated climate-resilient farming techniques, if so, the details thereof, State-wise;

(e) whether the Ministry is collaborating with international agencies like the UNDP, if so, the details thereof, State-wise; and

(f) whether case India’s LSDG model as a global benchmark for rural governance, if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRI RAJIV RANJAN SINGH ALIAS LALAN SINGH)

(a) Yes, Sir. The Ministry has developed the Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI), earlier known as Panchayat Development Index (PDI), as a composite assessment framework to measure the incremental performance of Gram Panchayats/Equivalent to Gram Panchayats across the themes 1of localization of sustainable development goals. The PAI provides theme-wise and overall scores through scorecards and dashboards, enabling identification of performance gaps, relative strengths, and areas requiring focused attention at the Panchayat level. A total of 2.59 Lakh Gram Panchayats/Equivalent to GPs of 33 State/UTs have been onboarded in the exercise of PAI

2.0 for FY 2023-24. State/UT wise numbers of GPs by overall PAI grades in 2.0 are placed at Annexure I.

(b) No, Sir. Special incentive fund has not been created in the 2026-27 Budget for “Frontrunner” Panchayats in any themes of localization of sustainable development goals, including Theme 3:

Child Friendly Village and Theme 4: Water Sufficient Panchayat.

(c) The Ministry has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Revamped Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) w.e.f. financial year 2022-23 with the major objective of Capacity Building & Training (CB&T) of Elected Representatives, Functionaries and other stakeholders of Panchayats across all States/UTs for enhancing the leadership skills and improving Panchayat Governance. Under the scheme of RGSA, the Ministry provides support for CB&T of elected representatives, functionaries and other stakeholders of Panchayats in different categories viz. basic orientation and refresher training, thematic training, specialized training, panchayat development plan training etc. A total of 36,81,750 elected representatives & other stakeholders of Panchayati Raj Institutions were trained on themes of localization of sustainable development goals (LSDGs) from FY 2022-23 to FY 2026-27 (as on 10th July 2026) under the scheme. State/UT wise details of Thematic Training from FY 2022-23 to 2026-27 is placed at Annexure II.

(d) The Ministry of Panchayati Raj facilitates the preparation of Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs) through a thematic planning approach aligned with the nine themes of the Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs). Gram Panchayats are advised to identify and prioritize key developmental sectors, referred to as “Sankalp”, before the preparation of their GPDPs.

Sectors related to climate-resilient agricultural practices viz efficient water management through drip irrigation & sprinkler systems, watershed development, agroforestry, and other sustainable agricultural practices, are integrated under Theme 4: Water Sufficient Panchayat and Theme 5:

Clean and Green Panchayat.

For the Plan Year of FY 2026-27 (as on 29.07.2026), a total of 1,56,019 Gram Panchayats have taken Sankalp for the preparation of GPDP. Of these, 31,789 Gram Panchayats have selected Theme 4: Water Sufficient Panchayat and 32,806 Gram Panchayats have selected Theme 5:

Clean and Green Panchayat as their respective focus areas.

(e) No, Sir. No such collaboration has been established by the Ministry with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under PAI.

(f) The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a globally accepted framework for sustainable and inclusive development. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has localized the SDGs for Panchayats by developing a framework of nine Localization of Sustainable Development 2Goals (LSDG) themes, making the global development agenda more relevant and actionable at the grassroots level. The localization of SDGs through the nine LSDG themes, supported by the PAI framework, facilitates effective rural governance, improved service delivery, and outcome- oriented Panchayat development.

3Annexure-I Annex refer to in reply to Part (a) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2627 to be answered on 04/08/2026 State/UT wise No. of GPs by overall score graded under PAI 2.0 FY 2023-24 S. NoState/UT Total A+ A B C D 1Andaman & Nicobar 70 0 0 21 49 0 2Andhra Pradesh 13,310 0 591 10,178 2,468 73 3Arunachal Pradesh 2,108 0 0 72 1,718 318 4Assam 2,192 0 25 1,209 884 74 5Bihar 8,053 0 2 771 6,862 418 6Chhattisgarh 11,643 0 30 3,936 5,941 1,736 7Goa 188 0 0 80 107 1 8Gujarat 14,534 0 75 11,963 2,471 25 9Haryana 6,225 0 7 3,342 2,779 97 10Himachal Pradesh 3,615 0 1 1,706 1,828 80 11Jammu & Kashmir 4,291 0 1 1,459 2,792 39 12Jharkhand 4,345 0 6 1,993 2,311 35 13Karnataka 5,946 0 36 3,707 2,172 31 14Kerala 941 0 95 840 6 0 15Ladakh 193 0 0 62 129 2 16Lakshadweep 10 0 0 5 5 0 17Madhya Pradesh 23,011 0 33 11,154 11,514 310 18Maharashtra 27,894 0 315 10,049 16,909 621 19Manipur 3,041 0 0 57 1,231 1,753 20Meghalaya 3,069 0 0 18 2,292 759 21Mizoram 840 0 34 549 253 4 22Nagaland 1,277 0 0 33 1,040 204 23Odisha 6,794 0 555 4,566 1,627 46 24Puducherry 108 0 0 77 31 0 25Punjab 13,233 0 1 3,275 9,464 493 26Rajasthan 11,037 0 8 5,437 5,389 203 27Sikkim 199 0 1 163 35 0 28Tamil Nadu 12,482 0 197 10,520 1,746 19 29Telangana 12,556 0 624 10,056 1,853 23 Dadra and Nagar Haveli and 30 42 0 1 29 12 0 Daman and Diu 31Tripura 1,176 0 943 233 0 0 32Uttarakhand 7,766 0 3 2,359 5,203 201 33Uttar Pradesh 57,678 0 51 18,905 32,598 6,124 Total 259,867 0 3,635 118,824123,71913,689 4Annexure-II Annex refer to in reply to Part (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 2627 to be answered on 04/08/2026 Total Participants trained in Thematic Trainings 2022-23 to 2026-27(As on

10.07.2026) 2026-27 (As on States/UT S.No 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 10.07.2026 ) Andaman And Nicobar Islands 536 1,396 2,305 2,457 - 1 2Andhra Pradesh 406,617 158 96,589 307,591 5,254 3Arunachal Pradesh - 1,363 798 568 - 4Assam 25,255 1,369 20,491 20,758 - 5Bihar 14,073 43,192 98,709 59,553 - 6Chhattisgarh 2,809 10,597 4,382 327 - 7Goa - 434 30 286 - 8Gujarat - 32 40,020 266 - 9Haryana - 151 - - - 10Himachal Pradesh - 123 3,023 332 - 11Jammu And Kashmir 189,327 171,419 - 20,413 - 12Jharkhand 27 323 113 - - 13Karnataka 30 150,462 56,226 50,829 10 14Kerala 98,592 83,307 54,129 4,923 - 15Ladakh - - - 4,368 - 16Madhya Pradesh 30,355 10,813 25,214 17,450 313 17Maharashtra 270,470 130,851 7,385 34,992 173 18Manipur - 341 42 - - 19Meghalaya 4,083 67,600 59,569 61,360 - 20Mizoram 1,260 846 4,424 150 - 21Nagaland - - 91 224 - 22Odisha 64 72,932 103,882 130,745 71 23Puducherry - - - - - 24Punjab 24,143 10,213 2,567 21,540 - 25Rajasthan 1,108 4,211 7,870 9,524 - 26Sikkim 8,999 4,565 2,890 4,039 - 27Tamil Nadu 8,568 38,765 31,220 1,195 - 28Telangana 762 608 64 57 - The Dadra and Nagar Haveli 457 250 335 800 - 29and Daman and Diu 30Tripura 100 51,643 27,937 24,400 - 31Uttar Pradesh 2,367 762 5,767 11,383 - 532Uttarakhand 72,937 21,764 141 159 - 33West Bengal 27,410 25,391 101,088 28,585 - 34Center 2,516 137 471 - - TOTAL 1192865 906018 757772 819274 5821 **** 6