J-K's first-ever Panchayat rankings released; Harwan, Palli dominates

Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir ) [India], June 16 : In what could be termed a historic milestone in the planning process, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary, Arun Kumar Mehta on Thursday released the rankings of Panchayats under the Aspirational Panchayat Development Programme (APDP), a J-K government initiative to assess the performance of these rural administrative units on key developmental parameters.
The first-of-its-kind Panchayat rankings released on Thursday have put Syedpora, Harwan Panchayat of District Srinagar at first rank with an overall score of 91.69 out of 100. It is followed by Palli (Samba) with a score of 90.71, Balhama-A, and Khonmoh (Srinagar) in 3rd spot with a score of 89.04.
These rankings were released by the Chief Secretary in the presence of all the Administrative Secretaries, District Development Commissioners, HoDs of Planning, Finance, and other concerned departments.
Regarding the procedure for determining the rankings of Panchayats, it was informed that the APDP has been conceived on the analogy of ABDP of UT of J-K. It was revealed that 100 Parameters/Indicators across 09 sectors have been identified for assessing 285 aspirational panchayats in consultation with the District Development Commissioners concerned.
The process included rating all the 4291 Panchayats spread over 285 Blocks and 20 Districts of the UT on socio-economic indicators concerning the lives of the people residing in the rural areas. One backward panchayat in each block has been selected from 4291 Panchayats of UT of J-K, on the basis of the least aggregate score obtained on the selected 100 parameters/ indicators in the Panchayat Development Index (PDI) in the concerned Block. The relevant data was then collected from the concerned districts.
These 100 measurable indicators identified across 9 Sectors namely Agriculture & allied Activities (6 indicators), Health & Nutrition (11), Education (13), Rural Development & Sanitation (7), Individual Beneficiary Oriented Schemes (4), Skill Development (4), Basic Infrastructure (17), Environment (5), & Good Governance (33) are providing insights into existing status and will also capture incremental progress over a period of time.
At the outset, the Chief Secretary complimented the whole team of the Planning Development and Monitoring Department for carrying out this massive exercise of data collection, compilation, and ranking of Panchayats using scientific criteria.
Mehta called this exercise a foundation stone for adopting a more focused approach with several key datasets available in each District. He observed that these rankings have pinpointed the lacunae in each sector or area of the district thereby making targetted interventions possible.
He termed the rankings a significant achievement that has laid the foundation for evidence-based planning in the future. He made out that these rankings tell us all about our endeavours made till now and the way forward.
He urged all the Deputy Commissioners to thoroughly go through these rankings and formulate plans accordingly to fill the developmental voids pointed out in this ranking system.
Mehta observed that this data has the added advantage of providing them with a baseline to measure the progress in the future. He exuded hope that in the years ahead with such a planning process at back, most of the problems would find resolution expeditiously.
Narwal Bala (Jammu) was at 4th spot with a score of 88.93, Nowgam-A (Srinagar) ranking 5th, Khonmoh-A (Srinagar) at 6th, Birpur Upper (Samba) at 7th, Theed-A, Dara-B of Srinagar at 8th and 9th rank with Gatha Panchayat of Baderwah (Doda) ranking 10th in the list of most developed Panchayats in the UT.
Mehta directed that all rankings may be made public in the shape of a compendium so that people also have a fair idea about the kind of interventions needed in their areas.
He called it a tool for ensuring good governance in the UT. He also advised creating a permanent dashboard for monitoring and updating these rankings monthly.
He also directed the Housing and Urban Development Department for carrying out Town rankings in the days ahead on similar lines.
The lowest scoring Panchayats include Buglinder-B (49.78) of Tulail District Bandipora, Dhakikote (50.01) of District Reasi, Channa-A (51.58) of Reasi, Panchalthan (51.77) in Anantnag, Bandhar (51.96) in Reasi, Neeru (51.97) in Tulail, Bandipora, Badhal-A (52.58) in Rajouri, Zadigye- B (52.73) in Bandipora, Balihote-B (52.94) in Ramban and Zadigye-A (53.46).
Out of the total of 4291 Panchayats, 73 fall in the score range of 50-60, 1054 in 60-70, 2359 in 70-80, and 807 Panchayats in the range of 80-90 across all the districts of J-K.
Additional financial assistance of Rs. 10 Lakh is being provided to the selected Panchayats for improving the key performance indicators mentioned in the Panchayat Development Index.
Among the Border area, almost 77 Panchayats from 82 border Blocks fall in the aspirational panchayats program. Out of these based on the set criterion the most backward Panchayat found through assessment is Buglinder-B from Block Tulail District Bandipore having a score of 49.78.
While as, the last Aspirational Panchayat selected from Border Areas is Panchayat Nanga of Block Ramgarh, District Samba having a score of 79.59 making it the most developed Panchayat among the Border panchayats spread across 08 districts of the UT.