Lok Sabha Question No. 234 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-22
Subject: Panchayat Advancement Index
Ministry: PANCHAYATI RAJ
Asked by: Smt. Aparajita Sarangi, Shri Godam Nagesh, Shri Damodar Agrawal, Dr. Manna Lal Rawat, Shri Jagdambika Pal, Shri Suresh Kumar Kashyap, Shri Khagen Murmu, Shri Pradeep Kumar Singh, Shri Chandan Chauhan, Smt. Roopkumari Choudhary, Shri Vishnu Dayal Ram

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 234

ANSWERED ON 22/07/2025

## PANCHAYATADVANCEMENTINDEX

## 234. SHRI VISHNU DAYAL RAM:

SMT. ROOPKUMARI CHOUDHARY:

SHRI CHANDAN CHAUHAN:

SHRI DAMODAR AGRAWAL:

SHRI SURESH KUMAR KASHYAP:

DR. MANNALALRAWAT:

SHRI PRADEEP KUMAR SINGH:

SMT. APARAJITA SARANGI:

SHRI GODAM NAGESH:

SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL:

SHRI KHAGEN MURMU:

## Will the Minister of PANCHAYATI RAJ be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the evidence-based planning tools are being used to empower panchayats through Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) 2.0 thereby transforming rural governance;
- (b) the manner in which PAI 2.0 is transforming the rural governance by empowering panchayats through evidence-based planning tools;
- (c) whether there are any significant difference between PAI 1.0 and PAI 2.0 which have further improved the utility, effectiveness and accuracy of the mechanism;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the manner in which PAI 2.0 is promoting transparency, participatory and accountable government at the grass root level and is strengthening India's commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR PANCHAYATI RAJ

## (Prof. S.P. SINGH BAGHEL)

- (a) to (e) The Ministry has led the process of the Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs) through Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) by aggregating the

17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into 9 themes in line with India's commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This initiative aims to achieve the Sustainable Development Agenda by 2030 at the grassroots level.This thematic approach simplifies the alignment of global goals with local governance structures, making them more relevant and actionable for implementation at the local level i.e at Panchayat level.

The Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) indicates the current saturation level of LSDGs in Gram Panchayat and also measures the incremental progress made by Gram Panchayat in achieving localized SDGs and, consequently, attaining SDG 2030. The Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) is a multi-domain and multi-sectoral index that is intended to be used to measure the overall holistic development, performance & progress of Gram Panchayats.

One of the purposes of the PAI is to identify the development gaps across 9 themes of LSDGs of the Gram Panchayats through the thematic scores and to enable Panchayat to undertake evidence based planning at grassroots level by setting local targets of development and action points, prioritizing Sankalp in themes for preparation of Thematic Gram Panchayat Development Plan.

The exercise of PAI FY 2023-24, i.e. PAI 2.0, was launched recently in the month of May 2025. The data collection process for PAI 2.0 is currently in progress. The compilation of the PAI Score & Theme Score will be done only after the validated data submitted by the State/UT. The thematic & composite PAI2.0 (FY2023-24) scores support in assessing the incremental progress of the Gram Panchayat from baseline PAI 1.0 (FY 2022-23); identify the critical gaps in 9 themes & pave the way for evidence-based planning & strengthen the delivery of rural governance.

The transition from PAI 1.0 to PAI 2.0 reflects a focused refinement of the framework, with a more relevant and representative set of local indicators and data points to improve usability and also to enhance the efficiency of Gram Panchayat operations by simplifying workflows and enabling automatic data standardization from different National Portals. The PAI Portal has also been enhanced by providing an integrated data entry form & imposing soft validation checks at the level of entry of data to ensure accurate & quality data entry. Based on feedback received from the concerned Ministries/Departments, Government of India; participating States/UTS & the committee on rationalization of Indicators and data points of PAI, there is a 70.93 % and 71.04% reduction in the data points & indicators, respectively, in PAI 2.0 compared to PAI 1.0.

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