BEST PERFORMING PANCHAYATS

centivizing the best performing Panchayats under its scheme of Incentivization of Panchayats (IoP), one of the central components of Centrally Sponsored scheme of revamped Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA). The best performing Panchayats in the country are conferred with National Panchayat Awards and given financial incentives by organising competition at national level every year. These awards are currently aligned to Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs) to assess the performance of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in attainment of SDGs in the areas of poverty reduction and livelihood support, health, women and child development, water sufficiency, climate action and clean environment, infrastructure development, social security, and promotion of good governance in the Panchayats. Financial incentives in the range of Rs.50 lakh to Rs.5 crore is released to the best performing Panchayat depending on the Panchayat tier and category of Award.

The details of Panchayats that have received National Panchayat Awards under the Incentivisation of Panchayat scheme including the amount of incentives during the award year 2023, 2024 and 2025 are given at Annexure.

Panchayat being a State subject, providing infrastructural facilities and modernise them in tune with time for their overall transformation are primarily the responsibility of States. The Ministry, through the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Revamped/Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA), supplements the efforts of States including Punjab on a limited scale by providing financial support for certain infrastructural facilities like construction of Gram Panchayat Bhawans, computers and peripherals, and facilitating co-location of Common Service Centre. Under the RGSA scheme, 759 number of Gram Panchayat Bhawan and 4,300 number of computers & peripheral have been approved for the Panchayats in Punjab.

The provision of last-mile digital connectivity to Gram Panchayats under the BharatNet programme is being implemented by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats. Under the BharatNet project, as on 05.02.2026, 12,807 out of 13,236 Gram Panchayats in Punjab have been made service-ready, and network upgradation and expansion are being undertaken under the Amended BharatNet Programme. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India initiated a project namely “Common Services Centre (CSC-2.0: A Way Forward Project)” in August, 2015 under Digital India Programme, which aims to set up at least one CSC at Gram Panchayat (GP) level to cover all around 2.55 lakhs GPs across the country. A total of 500 CSC have been co-located in as many Gram Panchayat Bhawans in Punjab under the RGSA scheme.

The Ministry is implementing the e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP), which has significantly enhanced transparency, efficiency, and governance at the grassroots level. The eGramSwaraj application, developed as part of the e-Panchayat MMP, has facilitated digital planning, accounting, monitoring, and online payments at the Panchayat level. The integration of eGramSwaraj with the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) enables real-time payments to vendors and service providers, ensuring seamless fund flow and reducing delays. During FY 2025–26, 2,53,992 Gram Panchayats across the country, including those in Punjab, uploaded their Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs). During the same period, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) transferred more than ₹44,000 crore to vendors through the eGramSwaraj–PFMS interface of which ₹1,000 crore as transferred by the Gram Panchayats in Punjab.

Further, applications developed by the Ministry like Meri Panchayat has endeavoured to bring transparency in Panchayat Governance by making information on planning, activities and progress of works in Panchayat accessible to public. Similarly, Panchayat NIRNAY is an online application aims at bringing transparency and better management in conduct of Gram Sabhas by Panchayats. Similarly, an application of ‘AuditOnline’ has been developed for online audits of Panchayat accounts and their financial management. AuditOnline for transparent auditing of Central Finance Commission funds utilization to strengthen financial management of Panchayats launched in April 2020. For audit period 2023-24, audit report for 13,272 GPs in Punjab have been generated.

Annexure

Details of Panchayats that have received National Panchayat Awards under the Incentivization of Panchayat scheme during the award years 2023, 2024 and 2025

This information was given by Union Minister Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on 11^th February 2026.