Punjab and Haryana failed to find a mention in the National Panchayat Awards, under the Incentivisation of Panchayat scheme, for the years 2023, 2024 and 2025, even as Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana fared well.”Dawaa S gram panchayat in Gondia district of Maharashtra won Rs 1 crore prize under the Climate Action Special Panchayat Award (CASPA) for 2025. Mall gram panchayat in Rangareddi district of Telangana won the Atma Nirbhar Panchayat Special Award for the same year,” Union Minister of Panchyati Raj, Rajiv Ranjan Singh told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.”In 2024, Galibeedu gram panchayat in Kodagu district of Karnataka was adjudged as the best ‘Poverty Free and Enhanced Livelihoods’ Panchayat. Bommasamudrum gram panchayat in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district won the award under the ‘Healthy Panchayat’ category. Jengrai in Assam’s Majuli district won it for ‘Child-Friendly Panchayat’. Nayampudi in Visakhapatanam won the recognition for ‘Water- Sufficient Panchayat’. South Manubankul gram panchayat in Tripura was the best ‘Women- Friendly Panchayat’,” he said.”Khandobachiwadi gram panchayat in Maharashtra was adjudged as the best ‘Poverty Free and Enhanced Livelihoods’ Panchayat in the year 2023. While Gowthampur in Telangana won in the ‘Healthy Panchayat’ category, Cheruthana in Kerala was the best ‘Child-Friendly Panchayat’ and Aipoor in Telangana was the best ‘Women- Friendly Panchayat’ that year’,” the minister added.Among the northern states, Sira A gram panchayat in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir won the second position in the ‘Child-Friendly Panchayat’ category for 2023. Phalmerg in the Union Territory stood third in the ‘Water- Sufficient Panchayat’ category that year. Fatehpora gram panchayat was one of the winners in the ‘Women- Friendly Panchayat’ category, the government said.It added that Sikander gram panchayat in Himachal Pradesh’s Hamirpur district won in the ‘Water- Sufficient Panchayat’ category, while Thanadhar in the state won in the ‘Socially Secured Panchayat’ category in 2024.Singh was responding to Punjab MP Satnam Singh Sandhu’s query on steps taken by the ministry towards incentivisation of best performing panchayats in the country, particularly towards modernisation of the grassroots democracy in Punjab.”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 this scheme, 759 number of Gram Panchayat Bhawan and 4,300 number of computers & peripherals have been approved for the Panchayats in Punjab,” he said.The minister said under the BharatNet project, as on February 5, a total of 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.
