Parliament Question: Strengthening of Gram Panchayats through financial devolution

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRYOF PANCHAYATIRAJ RAJYASABHA UNSTARREDQUESTION NO. 2965 ANSWEREDON 18.03.2026 STRENGTHENING OFGRAM PANCHAYATS THROUGH FINANCIAL DEVOLUTION 2965.SMT.P.T. USHA: Will the Minister of PANCHAYATI RAJ be pleasedtostate: (a) the steps taken during the last decade to strengthen Gram Panchayats through financial devolution, including Finance Commission grants and digitalgovernance initiatives such as e -Panchayat and e-GramSwaraj, particularly in Kerala, with details of funds allocated and releasedduring the last three years? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRIRAJIVRANJAN SINGH ALIAS LALAN SINGH) Panchayat”, being “LocalGovernment”, isa Statesubject andpart of the StateList of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. Panchayats are set up and operate through the respective StatePanchayati Raj Acts, which may varyfrom StatetoState, subject to the provisions of the Constitution. The performance and development of the Panchayats depend on the extent of powers and resources devolved to them by the States concerned. Accordingly, all matters relating to Panchayats, including effective functioning of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), strengthening the institutional mechanism toensure the accountability of PRIs towards people and its performance monitoring and evaluation, comes within the jurisdiction of the State Government. However, Article 280(3)(bb) of the Constitution of India provides the basis for the Central Finance Commissions to recommend grants to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats in the State. Under Fourteenth FinanceCommission (FFC)award, ₹ 2,00,292.20 Crores had been allocated to the Gram Panchayats (GPs) constituted under Part IX of the Constitution in 26 States includingKerala for the award period 2015-16 to 2019-20 for deliveringbasic services including water supply, sanitation including septic management, sewerage and solid waste management, storm water drainage, maintenance of roads, footpaths etc. Out of this total allocation, ₹ Rs.183248.54 crore have been released. This includes ₹ Rs.3774.20 crore releasedtoKerala. Further, under the Fifteenth Finance Commission (15thFC) Grants to the tune of ₹60,750 Crores were allocated for the interim period FY 2020-21 and ₹2,36,805 Crore were allocated for the period FY 2021-26 to Panchayats in all the three tiers and Traditional Local Bodies and Sixth Schedule areas in 28 States, including Kerala. Out of the total allocation, ₹2,67,250.78 crore have been released (as on 11.03.2026). This includes ₹ Rs.7321.50 crore releasedtoKerala. 1This grant is further divided into Basic (Untied) grants that can be used for felt needs of basic facilities under the 29 subjects enlisted in the ‘Eleventh Schedule’ of the Constitution of India,exceptfor salariesandotherestablishment costs. The TiedGrants are to be utilised for basic facilities, specifically, for drinkingwater andsanitationsectors. For promotion of eGovernance in the Panchayats, under the Digital India initiative, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has developed various digital platforms and applications to bring in transparency, accountability and efficiency in local rural governance of the country including the State of Kerala. This Ministry has launched eGramSwaraj (https://egramswaraj.gov.in), a user friendly web-based portal, which aims to bring in better transparency in the decentralized planning, progress reporting, financial management, work- based accounting and details of assets created. The application has been further integrated with Public Fund Management System, Government e-Marketplace, AuditOnline applications for hassle-free payment, transparent procurement, and auditing of Panchayats accounts. During the current FY 2025–26, out of a total of 2,64,211 Gram Panchayats and equivalent bodies across the country, 2,54,604 Gram Panchayats and equivalent (96.36%), have uploaded their Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs) on eGramSwaraj and 2,42,871 Gram Panchayats and equivalent (91.92%) have made payments amounting to ₹38,491 crore to vendors through the eGramSwaraj–PFMS interface. For FY 2024-25, over 2.58 lakh PRIs have finalised their annual accounts and 1.63 lakh PRIs have PRIs generated theirAudit reports. The detailsof funds allocated andreleasedduring the last three yearsto allStates includingKerala isplaced at Annexure. *** 2Annexure Annexure referred to in part (a) of the Rajya Sabha Unstarred Q.No.2965 answered on 18.03.2026 State-wise details of allocation and release of 15thFinance Commission grant to Rural Local Bodiesduring the last three years (ason 11.03.2026) (Rs. incrore) Sl.No. States 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 Allocation Release Allocation Release Allocation Release 1 Andhra 2031.00 1997.45 2152.00 2109.97 2099.00 2053.81 Pradesh 2 Arunachal 179.00 0.00 189.00 0.00 185.00 0.00 Pradesh 3 Assam 1241.00 1241.00 1315.00 1315.00 1283.00 1283.00 4 Bihar 3884.00 3855.33 4114.00 4109.01 4012.00 2806.31 5 Chhattisgar 1125.00 1125.00 1192.00 1185.25 1163.00 802.06 h 6 Goa 58.00 36.13 62.00 0.00 61.00 0.00 7 Gujarat 2473.00 2473.00 2619.00 2619.00 2555.00 1782.04 8 Haryana 979.00 953.59 1036.00 1012.51 1011.00 988.14 9 Himachal 332.00 318.04 352.00 352.00 343.00 341.50 Pradesh 10 Jharkhand 1307.00 1307.00 1385.00 962.94 1351.00 0.00 11 Karnataka 2490.00 2086.59 2637.00 2133.25 2572.00 0.00 12 Kerala 1260.00 1260.00 1334.00 1334.00 1301.00 650.50 13 Madhya 3083.00 2923.89 3265.00 3262.75 3185.00 630.65 Pradesh 14 Maharashtra 4510.00 3629.21 4776.00 3169.72 4659.00 2507.25 15 Manipur 137.00 0.00 145.00 0.00 142.00 0.00 16 Meghalaya 141.00 0.00 149.00 0.00 146.00 0.00 17 Mizoram 72.00 72.00 76.00 76.00 74.00 37.00 18 Nagaland 97.00 0.00 102.00 0.00 99.00 0.00 19 Odisha 1747.00 1746.91 1851.00 1851.00 1805.00 1712.98 20 Punjab 1074.00 1058.35 1138.00 1127.86 1110.00 555.00 21 Rajasthan 2989.00 2847.96 3166.00 3166.00 3087.00 757.60 22 Sikkim 33.00 33.00 35.00 32.78 33.00 22.85 23 Tamil Nadu 2791.00 2791.00 2957.00 2957.00 2884.00 637.93 24 Telangana 1430.00 1430.00 1514.00 640.07 1477.00 0.00 25 Tripura 148.00 148.00 157.00 156.31 153.00 153.00 26 Uttar 7547.00 7547.00 7994.00 7994.00 7797.00 5441.38 Pradesh 27 Uttarakhand 445.00 444.13 471.00 470.30 458.00 89.41 28 West Bengal 3415.00 3415.00 3617.00 3472.22 3528.00 3403.92 Total 47018.0044739.57 49800.00 45508.95 48573.00 26656.33 *** 3