NITI Aayog Holds National Workshop on Viksit Panchayat

NITI Aayog organised a national workshop titled Viksit Panchayat: Connecting People, Places, Resources and Opportunities on 28 September 2026. It was held with the Golap Borbora State Institute of Panchayat and Rural Development (GBSIPRD) of the Government of Assam, and forms part of NITI Aayog's State Support Mission (SSM).

What the workshop set out to do

The one-day event looked at how panchayats can be made capable of driving inclusive growth, delivering public services well and sustaining development at the village level, in keeping with the goal of Viksit Bharat@2047. Four areas framed the discussion: decentralised and spatial planning, capacity development at the grassroots, spatial planning for priority sectors, and the folding of spatial planning into the Gram Panchayat Development Plan process.

Who took part

What was discussed

Participants went back to the constitutional base of panchayati raj in the 73rd Constitutional Amendment and Part IX of the Constitution, and took up clearer activity mapping, adequate funds, proper staffing, wider decision-making powers, Gram Sabha participation and institutional accountability. The workshop argued for a shift from a sector-by-sector approach to a spatial and integrated one. Geographic information systems, geospatial data, village master plans and digital platforms were discussed as ways of identifying local resources, gaps in infrastructure, land-use patterns and openings for development. Tying spatial information to the Gram Panchayat Development Plan, to eGramSwaraj and to the Panchayat Advancement Index was held up as a way of making planning evidence-based. Dr Balasubramaniam called for more emphasis on human and social capital and on building local economic clusters.

The priorities identified

• Clearer functional devolution and activity mapping for panchayats
• Better fiscal resources and stronger own-source revenue
• Stronger capacity and technical support at the last mile
• District Planning Committees made operational
• Greater convergence across departments and schemes, and rural-urban planning at the district level