Mission Antyodaya is a participatory framework developed in 2017, to assess and plan for every Gram Panchayat each year, on the basis of its deficits.

The annual ranking of Gram Panchayats on 143 parameters across human development, economic activity and infrastructure is captured each year as part of the People’s Plan campaign called ‘Sabki Yojana, Sabka Vikas’, organised by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Rural Development, in partnership with all the States, districts, blocks, Gram Panchayats and villages, from October 2 to December 31. The States have owned the initiative and find it useful.

However, the actual use of the village/panchayat level data is still low in planning. The calendar of Gram Sabha meetings are displayed and any Indian citizen can choose to go on a surprise visit to a Gram Sabha meeting. Each of the 29 sectors where Gram Panchayats have a role, were requested to send their frontline worker to the meeting.

Participation has gained some momentum. The performance of each Department is reported to the Gram Sabha, progress displayed on flex boards, and photographs of the meeting uploaded on public website.

These meetings have become an annual feature and attendance is increasing in the Gram Sabhas. Since the Socio Economic Census 2011 (SECC 2011) has given us the details of deprived households, special efforts to provide pre-populated data of deprived households through an app has been made for the data collectors, who are local frontline workers/leaders.

Regional variations

As is to be expected, there are huge variations in scores across the Gram Panchayats (GPs). Of the 2.67 lakh GPs surveyed in 2020, only 31.27 per cent secured more than 60 per cent in the ranking based on the 143 indicators. There are large regional variations, with 83.31 per cent panchayats securing over 60 per cent in Kerala compared to only 13.75 per cent in Bihar and 18.86 per cent in UP. Southern and Western region GPs generally have better scores.

Use of community owned data will need funds, functions and functionaries with local governments. The Budget can announce that major step.

With every GP having a Local Government Directory (LGD) code, it is possible to collect LGD-compliant data village institution-wise and through Application Programming Interface (API) sharing, ensure a full profile of the village and its performance.

The SECC Household Temporary Identification Number (TIN) could be the identifier for deprived households.

The DISHA platform for Members of Parliament provides real-time analysis on over 50 programmes that have become LGD compliant, through map, funnel view, and so on. Time has come to make DISHA data public for even greater accountability.

We mounted a study by NIRD&PR to understand the success factors in villages/GPs doing well. In many such GPs, leadership of SHGs, panchayats, ex-service person mattered. Transformation was possible if the village came together for collaborative action.

The decline of poverty in southern States happened on account of adolescent girls in higher education, decline in fertility, improvement in health services, formation of SHGs, access to skills and vocational courses, and bank loans to SHGs without collaterals.

The groundwork for effective decentralisation of funds, functions and functionaries for the 29 sectors listed in the Eleventh Schedule of the Constitution has been prepared.

Human resource support to panchayats, as envisaged by the Sumit Bose Committee, needs immediate focus in States. Mission Antyodaya is truly the pathway for an inclusive India. We need similar processes in urban India as well.

The writer is a retired civil servant. Views expressed are personal