Parliament Question: Strengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRYOF PANCHAYATI RAJ LOKSABHA UNSTARRED QUESTIONNO. †5181 ANSWEREDON 24.03.2026 STRENGTHENING OFPANCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS †5181.SMT.SANDHYARAY: Will the Minister of PANCHAYATIRAJ be pleased to state: a. the total amount of funds allocated, released and utilized the Central Schemes and Finance Commission grants for the strengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions in Madhya Pradeshfrom the year2019-20 to 2026-27; b. the details of the funds received, district-wise including by Bhind and Datia districts during the last three years; c. the details of the development works sanctioned and completed through the Panchayats such as rural roads, drinking water, sanitation, community buildings, Panchayat Bhawans anddigital services, district-wise andassembly constituency-wise; d. whether any special programmes are being organised for the capacity building of Panchayat representatives and for strengthening the e-governance and digital accountingsystems, if so, the details thereof; and e. whether the Government is taking any additional initiatives to strengthen local self- governance by providing more financial and administrative powers to the Panchayats, if so, the detailsthereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRIRAJEEVRANJAN SINGH ALIAS LALAN SINGH) (a) & (b) The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) is implementing (i) Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) with the primary objective of strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) by way of capacity building and training of the Elected Representatives (ERs) and their functionaries, providing infrastructural support like Gram Panchayat Bhawan and Computerisation, (ii) Incentivization of Panchayats (IoP) to encourage competitive spirit among PRIs under which, Awards including financial incentives are given to best performing Panchayats in recognition of their good developmental works, (iii) Mission Mode Project on e-Panchayats (MMP-ePanchayat) under which various e-governance projects are funded towards digitalization of Panchayats to bring inefficiency,accountability andtransparency inthe functioningof the PRIsandfor itsoverall transformation. These schemesare implementedfor all rural localbodiesinallthe States/UTs in the Country including in the state of Madhya Pradesh and its Districts of Bhind and Datia. The Central Sector Scheme of Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA) is also being implemented in the State of Madhya Pradesh along with most of other States/UTs to provide the ‘Record of Rights' to village households 1owning houses invillages. The Central Finance Commission’s devolved funds are allocated, presently under the Fifteenth Finance Commission (FFC), for the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) through the States.The FFC Grants have two components—Tied andUntied. The untied grant, which is 40% of the total grant, can be used by RLBs for their location- specific felt needs under the 29 subjects enshrined in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution, except for salary or other establishment expenditure. The tied grant, which is 60% of total grants, can be used for providing basic services of (a) sanitation and maintenance of Open Defecation Free (ODF) status, which includes management and treatment of household waste, human excreta and faecal sludge management and (b) supply of drinking water, rainwater harvesting and water recycling. If any local body has fully saturated the needsof one category, it canutilise the funds for the othercategory. The funds under the RGSAscheme are not released to any Districts or any constituency, but to the State/UTs. Based on the award money provided to the Panchayats under the IoP scheme, the District-wise funds received in the State inlast three years is as perAnnexure-I. The details of funds allocated/released/utilized under RGSA scheme and FFC in respect of Madhya Pradeshduring 2019-20 to2025-26 are asunder: (Rs. incrore) Finance Fund Allocated Fund Released Fund Utilized Commission/Scheme RGSA * 354.17 741.57# IoP * 10.25 7.53 FinanceCommission 23,618.48 21553.79 13,757.16 Grants^ Note: Fundsallocation for 2026-27 isyet tobe done. *No State/district specific prior allocationof fund ismade. # Fund utilization includes the Central Share, the State Share, and the unspent balance of the previousyear. ^ Includesinterimaward of the FFC for the year2020-21. The utilisation isasreportedbythe RLBson eGramSwarajPortal since 2020-21. (c) Gram Panchayat Development Planning and project execution is a continuous process. Since 2020-21 and till date, a total number of 16,773 project works have been completed in various Gram Panchayats in Madhya Pradesh utilising the Central Finance Commission grants of which 151 projects are in the Districts of Bhind and 70 projects are inthe district of Datia. The sector-wise projects executed by the Panchayats in Madhya Pradesh utilising FFC grants after formulating Panchayat Development Plansand as reported on eGramSwaraj portal are at Annexure-II. (d) The Ministry has been focusing on the capacity building of the PRIs in various areas of Governance. For this the Ministry has been implementing Revamped Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan scheme. During 2022-23 and till date more than 1.57 crore cumulative number of elected representatives and functionaries of the PRIs have been imparted training. During the same period more than 9 lakh cumulative numbers of elected representatives of the PRIs and their functionaries have been imparted training in Madhya Pradesh on various aspects including on thematic plan formulation. Besides, the Leadership/ Management Development Programme (MDP) are beingconducted incollaboration with the Institute of Excellence such as Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Institute of 2Rural Management Anand (IRMA), etc. with the major objective of honing the essential leadership skills, including but not limited to communication, decision-making, financial management, and conflict resolution, thereby nurturing effective leadership qualities of the Panchayats. Due emphasis on capacity building of the PRIs are being given in recent years on mobilization of Own Sources of Revenue (OSR). The Ministry, in collaboration with IIM Ahmedabad, has developed a training module on the generation of Own Sources Revenue (OSR) to strengthen the financial position of Gram Panchayats. The module enables elected representatives and Panchayat functionaries to understand OSR generation through tax and non-tax sources. So far, 3,275 participants from Madhya Pradeshhave beenimparted training onOSRmodule. For strengthening and promotion of eGovernance in the Panchayats, under the Digital India initiative, the MoPR have developed various digital platforms and applications to bring in transparency, accountability, and efficiency in local rural governance. The eGramSwaraj application, a single sign on digital platform, launched in 2020-21, has been designed to facilitate planning, accounting, monitoring, and online payments at the Panchayat level. The application has beenfurther integrated with PublicFund 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 transferred ₹38,491 crore to vendors through the eGramSwaraj–PFMS interface. In Madhya Pradesh, out of 23,011 Gram Panchayats, 22,978 Gram Panchayats (99.85%) have uploaded their GPDPs on eGramSwaraj and 21,950 Gram Panchayats (95.5%) have transferred ₹2156.10crore tovendorsthrough the eGramSwaraj–PFMSinterface. (e) Panchayat isa State subject andtherefore it isthe responsibility of the State Governments to devolve power including fiscal to their Panchayats in accordance with the provisions contained in their respective State Panchayati Raj Acts. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) supplements and complements the efforts of State Governments, including financial support under its schemes towards strengthening and efficient functioning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) on a continuous basis. The Ministry has been advising the States to devolve more and more powers to their Panchayats to make them self-reliant in all matters, particularly generation of own sources of revenue (OSR) through transfer of financial power to them. In order to strengthen the financial autonomy and technical support to Panchayats to enable them to undertake local development projects effectively, all Finance Commission grants are deposited directly into the accounts of Panchayats by the States. The Ministry undertakes periodical studies like the Panchayat Devolution Index (PDI) which reviews the status of devolution to the Panchayats by the States/UTs in the areas of funds, functions and functionalities to foster competitiveness among the States to devolve more and more powers tothe Panchayats. Due emphasis on capacity building of the PRIs are being given in recent years on mobilization of Own Sources of Revenue (OSR), a mention of which is given in part (d) above. The Ministry, through its memorandum to the Sixteenth Finance Commission (SFC), had recommend higher allocation to the RLBs in view of their roles and responsibilities and as a result of which the SFC has recommended a total grant of ₹4, 35,236 crore for the RLBs, which is an increase of nearly 84% compared to the allocations made under the Fifteenth Finance Commission. Further, the SFC has recommended OSR generation performance- linked grants to Panchayats of all tiers. In addition, the Commission has also recommended 3performance grants to States provided they transfer funds to the RLBs out of their own resources. These recommendations have beenacceptedbythe Government. *** Annexure-I 4Statement referred to in Reply to Parts (b) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 5181answered on24.03.2026regardingStrengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions District-wise award moneyProvided to thePanchayatsundertheIoPscheme inthe year 2022-23 Sl.No. Name of theDistrict Amount inlakhs 1. Bhopal 50 2. Narsinghpur 50 3. Sagar 43 4. Chhatarpur 25 5. Sidhi 13 6. East Nimar 16 7. Harda 8 8. Ujjain 8 9. Jabalpur 8 10. Indore 12 11. Neemuch 8 12. Guna 16 13. Gwalior 5 14. Jhabua 10 Note: No award hasbeenreceivedbythe Panchayats of Bhind andDatia districts during the last three years. Annexure-II 5Statement referred to in Reply to Parts (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 5181answered on24.03.2026regardingStrengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions The sector-wise projects executed by the Panchayats in Madhya Pradesh utilising FFC grants after formulating Panchayat Development Plans and as reported on eGramSwaraj portal Sectors Total projectsexecuted AgricultureActivities 4 LandImprovementActivities 158 WaterConversationActivities 171 AnimalHusbandryActivities 15 FisheriesActivitiesCompleted 5 ForestActivitiesCompleted 26 MinorForestActivities 0 IndustryActivities 0 KhadiActivities 0 HousingActivities 22 DrinkingWaterActivities 3508 FuelActivities 0 RoadActivities 4494 ElectrificationActivities 238 EnergyActivities 6 PovertyActivities 3 EducationActivities 118 TechnicalActivities 10 AdultActivities 3 LibraryActivities 11 CulturalActivities 19 MarketActivities 10 FamilyWelfareActivities 5 WomenWelfareActivities 26 SocialWelfareActivities 180 WeakerSectionWelfareActivities 12 PDSActivities 43 CommunityAssetsActivities 240 TribalActivities 0 AdminActivities 712 InfraActivities 239 HealthActivities 130 SanitationActivities 6365 TOTAL 16773 *** 6