Award aims to inspire gram panchayats to deliver stronger services and sustainable development
BENGALURU
Two hundred and thirty-eight Gram Panchayats from across Karnataka will receive the prestigious Gandhi Gram Award today, in a ceremony attended by the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister at Vidhana Soudha’s Banquet Hall. The annual award recognises Gram Panchayats that have demonstrated exemplary performance in delivering essential services, strengthening local governance, and improving the quality of life in rural communities.
Functioning as self-governing institutions, Gram Panchayats shoulder critical responsibilities such as providing basic amenities, maintaining infrastructure, and implementing welfare schemes. The Gandhi Gram Award, instituted to encourage and incentivise effective grassroots administration, seeks to foster competition among panchayats while motivating them to elevate service delivery. Officials believe the recognition will spur them to undertake more public development programmes and focus on enhancing living standards in rural areas.
The evaluation process for the award is based on a comprehensive set of criteria, including statutory development activities, initiatives undertaken independently by the Panchayats, implementation of government programmes, financial management, governance practices, quality of life indicators, and delivery of public services. The government developed a detailed questionnaire to collect data from Panchayats across taluks, and selections were made based on this assessment.
In recent reforms aimed at strengthening local bodies, the state government has brought Gram Panchayat properties under the e-Asset system to enhance their own revenue resources. A persistent challenge has been the provision of civic amenities—such as drinking water, street lighting, roads and sanitation—to houses constructed outside Gram Thanas without proper land conversion. This has imposed a significant financial burden on Panchayats. To address this, amendments were introduced to Section 199 of the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act, 1993, with Sections 199B and 199C added through a notification issued on April 7. These changes aim to streamline responsibilities and ensure better financial discipline.
The government hopes that recognising top-performing Panchayats will reinforce the importance of accountable and progressive local governance.
Presidents of the award-winning Gram Panchayats from every taluk will receive the honours from the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister today at Vidhana Soudha. The award amount must be utilised exclusively for development works, Minister Priyank Kharge has instructed.
