On December 14, 2019, 2019 rankings on gram panchayats in the country, on implementation of development and infrastructure programmes under the Mission Antyodaya scheme was released. As per the ranking, Tamil Nadu’s (TN) Molugamboondi gram panchayat topped the ranking for the year 2019. Gujarat has most top 10 entries with 99 gram panchayats in the list. The rankings in detail are as follows:
Mission Antyodaya scheme Gram panchayat ranking:
i.Top three rankings: Bambhaniya GP of Bhavnagar in Gujarat ranked second on the list while four more Gujarat panchayats were tied for third ranks. One in Maharashtra, two each of Punjab and Tamil Nadu, and five Gujarat panchayats were tied at fourth ranking.
ii.Top 6 ranking table 2019: Compared to ranking table of 2018, the year 2019 saw major changes in the ranking with 49 out of 50 gram panchayats placed in the top 6 places.
iii.Gram panchayat entries in top 10 list: 269 panchayats from just 15 states were ranked in the top 10 places. Gujarat has maximum entries with 99, followed by Punjab with 66, Kerala with 69 and Tamil Nadu with 21 entries.
iv.Top gram panchayats of certain states:
- The top panchayat from Chhattisgarh is Mura in Raigarh
- Inamadugu in SPSR Nellore is the top panchayat of Andhra Pradesh,
- Nandagad in Belagavi is the top ranked panchayat of Karnataka.all these panchayats were tied at fifth slot.
- Athirampuzha panchayat in Kottayam district of Kerala is figured first at the sixth slot.
- Meghalaya’s Jangnapara gram panchayat falling in South West Garo Hills is ranked at 7th slot.
v.Large states like Madhya Pradesh(MP), Rajasthan and Telangana have just one panchayat each in top 10 places, while Uttar Pradesh(UP) and West Bengal(WB) have two panchayats each.
vi.A total of 2.4 lakh panchayats are to be ranked, with around 2.1 lakh completed.
Ranking assessment:
i.Ranking parameters: 112 parameters were used in 2019 for ranking. It was only 46 parameters in 2018. The progress made by the gram panchayats is measured at the end of every year through a survey which ranks them on a scale of 100.
ii.The national rankings were made to gauge the implementation of schemes across fields ranging from agriculture, roads, health parameters to poverty alleviation, rural housing, electrification, drinking water,education etc.
About Mission Antyodaya scheme:
Fact1- It is a convergence and accountability framework that aims to bring use and management of resources allocated by 27 Ministries/ Department of the govt of India under various programmes for the development of rural areas. Gram Panchayats are the focal points of convergence efforts.
Fact2- Annual survey in Gram Panchayats is carried out coterminous with the People’s Plan Campaign (PPC) of Ministry of Panchayat Raj. the purpose of the survey is to lend support to the process of participatory planning for Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP).
Agency responsible- Ministry of Panchayat Raj.
Panchayati raj minister- Narendra Singh Tomar. (Constituency- Morena, Madhya Pradesh).
