Page 87 - PDI_Report

Special Initiatives Level, shared, broadcast, telecast, and attracting media attention

for all the good reasons.
GPs will need to take initiatives and do a number of activities
and actions for the improvements they seek to achieve. What of MoPR has in the NPA provided for awards for Innovative work
that is Special in what is measurable as it is, or not measurable, in particular for action related to addressing the looming issue
would need to be emerging from the field, where it gets spoken of Climate Change. Special Initiatives and Innovative action
about, or must show in the figures that speak, saying, ‘hey, how needs to be in the limelight, so that all GPs are inspired by it
come?’ Workshops at National, Regional , State, levels have and GPs are motivated to think more and more beyond the
provided the stage for them to showcase their work. These boundaries of Schemes.
initiatives of theirs go as beacons for others. In the Indicator Relationship between LIF and PDI
Framework, there are some indicators for which there is no
specific data available or likely to be obtained easily. The A composite score namely Panchayat
Committee has identified a couple of such areas for special development Index (PDI) to fetch a reflection
initiatives by the Gram Panchayat. These may be related to of the level/status of overall development of
amongst others: the GP based on these local indicators on
all the 9 themes of development as
i) Prevention of drug abuse
mentioned in LIF.
ii) Addressing the issue of mental health

iii) Taking up social issues- such as child marriage, dowry As already mentioned in the earlier section, to achieve the 17
iv) Ensuring protection for women and girls and prevention of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at grassroots level in
Gram Panchayats, the initiatives are localized through 9 themes,
violence
developed by Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) with a Local
v) Empowerment of women
Indicator Framework (LIF) that correlates to the National
vi) Promotion of value system and social harmony, best stated Indicator Framework (NIF) .The framework can be summarized

as Vasudhaiva kutumbakam as a consolidated list of indicators responding to needs and
priorities of rural India and of the country. These indicators can
vii) Protection of the environment and ecosystem
be considered as measuring tools to quantify and evaluate the
viii) Providing palliative care progress of GPs towards achieving the SDGs.
No points assignment can be made at this beginning juncture of
In the present report, it has been attempted to develop a
arriving at the PDI. Further, Special Initiatives are difficult to
composite score namely Panchayat Development Index (PDI) to
compare, as no single standard can be applied, till further
fetch a reflection of the level/status of overall development of
clearer pictures emerge. Assessing and marking Special
the GP based on these local indicators on all the 9 themes of
Initiatives on a scale can be developed in future.
development as mentioned in LIF. The index is intended to
Special Initiatives taken by GPs, may best be provide a holistic view on social, economic and environmental
hence identified by the State Government at status of the GPs. The index for a GP can be described as the
District level, State level and National Level, average score of all 9 separate thematic scores of that GP. The
shared, broadcast, telecast, and attracting thematic score of a GP measures the progress calculated on the
media attention for all the good reasons. Indicators under the Theme. At a glance, LIF and PDI seem to

be synonymous however there are some underlying differences
These Special Initiatives, may best be hence identified by the between these two in terms of structure and concept.
State Government at District level, State level and National

PDI Committee Report - 2023: Panchayat Development Index 61