Why in news?
- The Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj celebrating National Panchayat Awards Week from 17th – 21st April 2023 as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) 2.0 in the run-up to the National Panchayati Raj Day (24th April 2023).
About National Panchayat Awards:
- The award was given to the best-performing Panchayats by assessing their performance in the attainment of SDGs.
- These annual awards were first instituted in 2011.
- The Awardee Panchayats under various categories of National Panchayat Awards–2023 namely,
- Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar(DDUPSVP) for the performance under individual LSDG themes,
- Nanaji Deshmukh Sarvottam Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar(NDSPSVP) for the aggregate performance under all 9 LSDG themes and green initiative-related Special Categories.
- Gram Urja Swaraj Vishesh Panchayat Puraskar.
- Carbon Neutral Vishesh Panchayat Puraskar.
- During the event Union Minister of Rural Development launched the GS NIRNAY,National Initiative for Rural India to Navigate, InnovAte and Resolve PanchaYat decisions, a mobile application.
- It provides easy access to critical information discussed during a Gram Sabha.
- This would bring in more transparency and increase efficiency in the functioning of Panchayats, which play a vital role in decentralized participatory democracy.
