English Releases

Ministry of Panchayati Raj16-December, 2025 15:46 IST

CENTRAL SUPPORT FOR STRENGTHENING RURAL LOCAL BODIES

Panchayat is a State subject and the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) supplements and complements the efforts of State Governments, including fund support under the schemes towards functioning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) on a continuous basis. The details of ongoing schemes and recent major initiatives/reforms of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj to strengthen PRIs through Centrally supported programmes, including reforms promoted under the revamped Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) are given in Annexure-I.

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj implements the only Centrally Sponsored Scheme of RGSA for capacity building of the elected representatives and functionaries of the PRIs. Also, assistance in limited scale is provided for infrastructure needs such as construction of Gram Panchayat Bhawan and computerisation. The State/UT-wise release of Central Share of funds and utilisation under the RGSA scheme during the last five years is as per Annexure-II. The release/expenditure have been audited up to the year 2023-24.

The proposals submitted by the States/UTs in their respective Annual Action Plans (AAPs) are examined within the framework of RGSA scheme. The AAPs of 2025-26 received from 32 States/UTs, which was considered and approved by Central Empowered Committee, consisting of different components viz. Capacity Building & Training (CB&T), institutional support for CB&T and basic infrastructure like Gram Panchayat Bhawan ad computer on limited scale. Under the scheme of RGSA, 1.37 crore participants have been provided training under different categories. The State / UT- wise detail is at Annexure-III. Under the scheme, construction of 13,342 Gram Panchayat Bhawans and procurement of 55,587 computers have been approved for effective functioning of Gram Panchayats. The State-wise detail of Gram Panchayat Bhawan and computers approved under the scheme is at Annexure-IV. Further, to strengthen institutional support for CB&T, recurring cost for 25 State Panchayat Resource Centres and 490 District Panchayat Resource Centres have been approved under the scheme during 2025-26.

To empower local communities and to promote participatory governance, MoPR conducts People’s Plan Campaign (PPC) every year commencing from 2^nd October (Gandhi Jayanti) to facilitate the preparation of Panchayat Development Plans (PDP) at District, Block and Gram Panchayat levels focusing on inclusive development. Under PPC, structured meetings at Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) levels are held to prepare development plans. These deliberative forums bring together local communities, elected members, Self-help Groups (SHGs), and line department officials to discuss local needs, review progress of earlier works, and prioritise future actions. Preparation of PDPs ensures participatory planning at all three levels, i.e. Zilla Parishad at District level, Panchayat Samiti at Block level and Gram Panchayat at village level.

Under the Digital India initiative, Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been promoting financial as well as governance transparency, efficiency, and accountability at the grassroots level by developing and popularising various digital platforms and applications. The eGramSwaraj application has been designed to facilitate digital planning, accounting, monitoring, and online payments at the Panchayat level. The integration of eGramSwaraj with the PFMS enables real-time payments to vendors and service providers, ensuring seamless fund flow and reducing delays. The eGramSwaraj application has been integrated with the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) to bring transparency to Panchayat procurement. This integration allows Panchayats to procure goods and services through GeM via the eGramSwaraj platform, promoting the “Vocal for Local” initiative. The digital applications developed by the Ministry like Meri Panchayat have endeavored to bring transparency in Panchayat Governance by making information on planning, activities and progress of works in Panchayat accessible to public. The Online Panchayat NIRNAY application aims to bring transparency and better management in conduct of Gram Sabhas by Panchayats. Further, the ‘AuditOnline’ application developed under the e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) facilitates online audits of Panchayat accounts and supports improved financial management.

Under the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA), training is provided to the elected representatives and functionaries of the PRIs at all levels for building their governance capabilities on various subjects/themes including preparation of effective PDPs and e-Governance tools. In addition to the arrangement of training in State Institute of Rural Developments & Panchayati Raj (SIRDPR), District Panchayat Resources Centers at the State and District levels, at National level, the National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) conducts various capacity building training programmes. Besides, the Leadership/ Management Development Programme (MDP) are being conducted in collaboration with the Institute of Excellence such as Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), etc. with the major objective of honing the essential leadership skills, including but not limited to communication, decision-making, and conflict resolution, thereby nurturing effective leadership qualities of the Panchayats.

Annexure-I

Details of Schemes and Major Initiatives/Reforms of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj for Strengthening the Panchayati Raj Institutions

Sl. No.	Schemes/Initiatives	Objectives
1	Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya revamped Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA)	To strengthen Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) through capacity building and training of the Elected Representatives (ERs) and their functionaries, and providing infrastructural support like construction of Gram Panchayat Bhawan and computerization.
2	Incentivization of Panchayats (IoP), a central component of the RGSA scheme	To promote healthy competition among PRIs by recognising and rewarding best-performing Panchayats for their achievements in service delivery, public welfare, and recently—their progress toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
3	Mission Mode Project on e-Panchayats (MMP-ePanchayat), a central component of the RGSA scheme,	To fund various e-governance projects to develop digital solutions to promote digitalization of Panchayats, bringing efficiency, accountability, and transparency to the functioning of PRIs and contributing to their overall transformation. The digital platform such as eGramSwaraj and AuditOnline have been developed for overall transformation in rural local governance and ensuring transparency.
Recent Major Initiatives/Reforms
4	Enablement of Panchayats to Mobilize Own Sources of Revenue	The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is actively working in collaboration with the States to augment OSR generation in PRIs by facilitating the formulation of relevant rules. The Ministry has developed the Samarth digital application for tax demand generation and collection at the PRI level and is collaborating with Institutions like IIM on capacity-building modules.
5	Leadership/ Management Development Programme (MDP) for Panchayati Raj Intuitions (PRIs)	The Leadership/ Management Development Programme (MDP) for Elected Representativeness and officials of Panchayats with the institute of Excellence such as Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA), etc. has been started with the major objective of honing the essential leadership skills, including but not limited to communication, decision-making, and conflict resolution, thereby nurturing effective leadership qualities of the Panchayats.
6	Long-Term Domestic Training Programmes for Higher Learning of Panchayat Officials	Ministry of Panchayat Raj has taken initiative for the “Funding for Long-Term Domestic Training Programmes” for upto one year of duration for officials of PRIs and Panchayati Raj Department in the States/UTs under the State component of RGSA. The move aims at ensuring that the officials receive advanced, sector-specific training from Institutes of Excellence which will upgrade their skill set for better service delivery at the grassroots.
7	Residential Foundation Training Programme up to 45 days under RGSA for the Newly Recruited Functionaries of PRIs:	Ministry is supporting Residential Foundation Training Programme at State/UT level for up to 45 days for the newly recruited functionaries of PRIs, including Block Development Officers, Panchayat Development Officers, Panchayat Secretaries, Village Extension Officers, Accountants, Tax Collectors, Rozgar Sahayaks, Panchayat Engineering Cadre officials, Gram Sevaks/Sevikas and other officials recruited specifically for serving in the PRIs.
8	Shashkta Panchayat Netri Abhiyan	The Ministry has launched a comprehensive specialized training module for the capacity building of Women Elected Representatives (WERs) of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). The focus of the training module are to build the capacity of the WERs on different aspects of rural governance; enhance the knowledge & practical skills for effective delivery of roles & responsibilities as elected representatives and also to develop the leadership, communication, managerial& decision-making skills for effective women led governance.
9	Centre of Excellence on PESA (For PESA States such as Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana)	Towards strengthening the local self-governance in tribal areas and effective implementation of the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA-1996), Centre of Excellence on PESA has been established in the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarakantak, Madhya Pradesh under the aegis of Ministry of Panchayati Raj for capacity building of tribal leaders, preservation & promotion of customary law and practices and strengthening institutional support and research.
10	Model Youth Gram Sabha	To foster awareness and participation among the youth in grassroots democracy and the Panchayati Raj system by simulating the functioning of Gram Sabhas within educational institutions, the initiative has been launched encouraging the school students to participate and learn the functioning of the rural local governance and instil democratic values of inclusivity and equity, and build leadership and critical thinking skills. It also seeks to enhance awareness about local governance and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), thereby empowering students to contribute meaningfully to national development.
11	Meri Panchayat Application	Meri Panchayat App is a Mobile Governance (m-Governance) App developed to make information, aggregated from different portals of this Ministry pertaining to functioning of Gram Panchayats, easily accessible to public.
12	Gram Panchayat Level Weather Forecasting	The Gram Panchayat level weather forecasting initiative, developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) and the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), provides Gram Panchayats with weather forecast on temperature, rainfall, wind speed, cloud cover, humidity with a five-day weather forecast and hourly updates.
13	eGramSwaraj-BHASHINI integration	This integration allows eGramSwaraj to provide services in 22 scheduled languages of India through Bhashini’s AI-powered translation, making local-language accessibility a reality for users across India.
14	SabhaSaar	To make Gram Sabha documentation faster, easier, and in a structured format, an AI-enabled application-"SabhaSaar" has been developed and launched on 14.08.2025 to automatically generate Minutes of Meetings (MoM) from audio and video recordings of Gram Sabha meetings.
15	Citizen Charter and Service Delivery by PRIs	Citizen Charter, has since been extended to the Gram Panchayat with the prime emphasis on ease of living. In 2021, the Model Citizen Charter was launched to standardize service delivery across Panchayats by setting clear service standards, time limits, grievance redress mechanisms, and citizen scrutiny.

Annexure-II

State/UT-wise Funds Released and Utilized under the Scheme Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan from 2020-21 to 2024-25

(Rs. in Crores)

		2020-21		2021-22		2022-23		2023-24		2024-25
Sl. No	State Name	Funds Released	Funds Utilized^	Funds Released	Funds Utilized^	Funds Released	Funds Utilized^	Funds Released	Funds Utilized^	Funds Released	Funds Utilized^
1	ANDHRA PRADESH	22.34	65.20	38.54	7.45	0.00	5.62	0.00	21.35	2.52	59.64
2	ARUNACHAL PRADESH	0.00	8.53	30.07	35.42	108.69	132.45	72.09	89.97	70.00	77.94
3	ASSAM	26.12	62.48	44.04	30.79	55.29	95.15	77.70	91.41	60.00	71.87
4	BIHAR	0.00	38.63	63.76	59.31	33.37	70.07	25.00	51.81	0.00	75.08
5	CHHATTISGARH	4.04	11.24	7.93	6.04	0.00	29.52	17.57	22.25	16.50	34.12
6	GOA	0.00	0.98	0.59	0.39	0.00	1.12	0.89	1.00	1.35	1.29
7	GUJARAT	0.00	11.54	0.00	5.16	0.00	0.01	0.00	1.28	0.00	15.48
8	HARYANA	9.89	3.39	0.00	7.90	0.00	3.06	0.00	8.84	5.00	8.22
9	HIMACHAL PRADESH	22.10	12.40	32.42	74..74	60.65	37.49	19.31	69.30	27.21	42.94
10	JAMMU AND KASHMIR	25.00	9.56	40.00	66.15	40.00	57.75	65.00	98.61	65.00	57.89
11	JHARKHAND	2.34	0.92	7.74	1.78	0.00	18.44	31.00	25.95	0.00	26.47
12	KARNATAKA	0.44	49.32	29.15	32.34	36.00	25.67	20.00	39.02	16.25	49.53
13	KERALA	8.13	11.40	12.00	12.15	30.40	23.13	10.00	37.04	10.00	32.65
14	MADHYA PRADESH	71.42	110.91	47.11	84.40	28.00	145.17	32.17	74.16	40.00	96.82
15	MAHARASHTRA	66.76	73.71	73.34	102.26	37.84	129.03	116.12	194.26	80.00	134.79
16	MANIPUR	3.41	4.18	2.98	0.00	8.63	3.31	9.56	8.34	0.00	3.91
17	MEGHALAYA	3.97	0.60	0.00	2.64	0.00	6.41	6.00	6.26	8.00	7.60
18	MIZORAM	21.19	4.72	5.56	0.52	14.27	25.48	10.00	15.64	12.00	19.63
19	NAGALAND	3.72	9.15	4.58	10.38	0.00	0.00	10.00	5.46	10.00	15.32
20	ODISHA	2.94	4.24	1.33	23.62	11.40	24.83	27.33	44.22	20.00	60.15
21	PUNJAB	13.45	22.42	10.78	2.88	34.25	42.91	10.00	23.06	5.00	23.89
22	RAJASTHAN	12.98	34.65	17.27	4.54	0.00	32.53	21.72	40.12	15.00	30.88
23	SIKKIM	4.75	5.77	1.19	6.01	6.01	4.98	6.00	7.90	7.00	7.19
24	TAMIL NADU	56.88	103.01	39.89	71.12	25.42	8.53	0.00	25.98	45.00	63.69
25	TELANGANA	12.00	1.69	0.00	2.42	0.00	3.19	20.00	20.47	0.00	8.99
26	TRIPURA	2.53	5.42	4.67	4.98	9.80	3.76	7.43	10.96	10.00	20.24
27	UTTAR PRADESH	32.54	245.33	83.08	109.25	85.05	96.33	84.13	158.95	38.77	180.84
28	UTTARAKHAND	26.75	28.67	0.00	15.33	42.48	57.15	64.67	66.29	50.00	63.72
29	WEST BENGAL	33.52	56.50	15.14	35.28	4.28	50.89	33.69	57.32	52.68	82.56
		489.21	996.56	613.17	740.51	671.83	1133.98	797.38	1317.22	667.28	1373.34
UTs
30	Andaman & Nicobar	0.00	0.83	0.00	1.09	0.00	1.03	0.79	1.28	2.12	1.18
31	DNH&DD	0.00	0.35	0.00	0.18	1.14	4.5	1.00	0.38	1.00	0.24
32	Ladakh	2.15	0.00	1.08	1.56	0.00	1.52	1.00	0.80	0.00	0.58
Sub-Total		491.36		614.25		672.97		800.17		670.40
Agencies		8.59		3.75		10.01		14.69		23.77
Total		499.95	997.74	618.00	743.34	682.98	1141.03	814.86	1319.68	694.17	1375.34

Note: Fund utilized includes matching State Share and interest earned in Single Nodal Account (SNA). Data source for 2022-23 onwards is PFMS-SNA-01 report and prior to that UCs received from State.

^ Includes unspent balance of previous year and State share.

Annexure-III

Year-wise and State/UT- wise details of participants provided training under RGSA scheme

Sl. No	States	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	2025-26 (As on 25.11.2025
1	Andaman & Nicobar Islands	1874	2865	5221	1143
2	Andhra Pradesh	649156	165001	325643	201930
3	Arunachal Pradesh	3,711	6138	12344	8794
4	Assam	227733	348183	144936	49383
5	Bihar	404406	163809	435896	124860
6	Chhattisgarh	121099	163292	90559	42922
7	Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu	575	1000	1073	680
8	Goa	1777	3548	4519	1694
9	Gujarat	250	1938	90368	22112
10	Haryana	4859	12431	11909	89417
11	Himachal Pradesh	9531	92458	120455	10722
12	Jammu & Kashmir	284138	350026	82534	9091
13	Jharkhand	8302	54056	135817	88437
14	Karnataka	213467	363317	321380	196658
15	Kerala	179478	149153	129632	44072
16	Ladakh	0	0	26	31
17	Madhya Pradesh	281610	86884	242279	130586
18	Maharashtra	1041165	984321	363111	29978
19	Manipur	894	5591	195	2871
20	Meghalaya	11,588	74410	78537	6401
21	Mizoram	2659	9800	9841	5496
22	Nagaland	1832	3435	4725	2389
23	Odisha	79116	160774	279505	145435
24	Punjab	36378	13359	122848	58785
25	Rajasthan	2481	96389	71795	263011
26	Sikkim	13,552	11249	6709	3805
27	Tamil Nadu	106560	101513	78490	37384
28	Telangana	14506	2441	1701	13175
29	Tripura	7743	63715	54228	33849
30	Uttarakhand	48241	144374	22342	3171
31	Uttar Pradesh	263409	82712	76302	192955
32	West Bengal	174974	272762	228081	154769
33	NIRDPR and Others	5229	1438	1941	1709
	Total	42,02,293	39,92,382	35,54,942	19,77,715

Annexure-IV

State / UT wise Status of GP Bhawan/Computers Approved RGSA Scheme since 2022-23

Sl. No.	State/UT	Number of GP Bhawan approved	Number of Computers Approved
1	A&N Islands (UT)	2	0
2	Andhra Pradesh	617	1922
3	Arunachal Pradesh	1339	1936
4	Assam	610	2055
5	Bihar	500	4267
6	Chhattisgarh	334	6496
7	DNHDD (UT)	17	4
8	Goa	1	25
9	Gujarat	412	43
10	Haryana	892	1363
11	Himachal Pradesh	343	334
12	J&K (UT)	1000	1318
13	Jharkhand	0	2306
14	Karnataka	258	0
15	Kerala	7	200
16	Ladakh (UT)	3	127
17	Lakshadweep (UT)	0	0
18	Madhya Pradesh	50	289
19	Maharashtra	1376	1625
20	Manipur	43	141
21	Meghalaya	36	1677
22	Mizoram	368	591
23	Nagaland	183	739
24	Odisha	500	350
25	Puducherry (UT)	0	0
26	Punjab	759	8334
27	Rajasthan	43	1554
28	Sikkim	27	235
29	Tamil Nadu	146	1594
30	Telangana	856	3452
31	Tripura	131	493
32	Uttar Pradesh	1273	3145
33	Uttarakhand	1012	7260
34	West Bengal	204	1712
Total		13,342	55,587

This information was given by Union Minister Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh in a written reply in Lok Sabha on 16^th December 2025.

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(Release ID :280852)