NITI Aayog Holds National Workshop on Viksit Panchayat

The correct answer is the State Support Mission, abbreviated as SSM. The workshop on connecting people, places, resources and opportunities through stronger panchayats was an initiative under this mission, and it was conducted in collaboration with the state institute of panchayat and rural development of the Government of Assam. Option A names the programme that works on improving outcomes in districts lagging on development indicators, which is a separate initiative of the same institution. Option C names the mission that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship, including tinkering laboratories in schools, and it has no connection with panchayat planning. Option D names a farming programme run under the agriculture ministry rather than a NITI Aayog mission. Candidates should associate the State Support Mission with NITI Aayog's work alongside state governments.

The correct answer is the 73rd Amendment. Participants at the workshop discussed the constitutional foundation of panchayati raj under this amendment and under Part IX of the Constitution, which together give village level bodies their status, and the deliberations moved on from there to activity mapping, financial resources, staffing, decision-making powers, Gram Sabha participation and institutional accountability. Option A names the amendment that made sweeping changes to the Constitution during the emergency period, which is unrelated to rural local bodies. Option C names the amendment dealing with urban local bodies, that is municipalities, and it is the companion to the correct answer but applies to towns and cities rather than villages. Option D names the amendment on the right to education. Remember the pairing: rural bodies with the earlier number, urban bodies with the later one.

The correct answer is Dr R. Balasubramaniam, Member of NITI Aayog. He attended the inaugural session as the Guest of Honour and used his remarks to call for a move away from sector-wise planning towards a spatial approach, with greater weight given to human and social capital and to the building of local economic clusters. Option A names the state minister for panchayat and rural development, who inaugurated the workshop as the Chief Guest, a distinct designation from the one being asked about. Option B names the Chief Secretary of the state, who was present at the inaugural session but not in either of those two roles. Option D names the Secretary of the rural development department, who likewise attended without holding that designation. Questions of this type turn on the exact title, so each name should be memorised with its role.

The correct answer is the Panchayat Advancement Index. The workshop highlighted the integration of spatial information with the Gram Panchayat Development Plan process, with the eGramSwaraj platform and with this index as a means of making planning evidence-based and oriented towards convergence between departments and schemes. Option B names a measure of deprivation across several dimensions, which is used to track poverty rather than to plan at the panchayat level. Option C names an index on water resource management by states, a different subject from village planning. Option D names a measure of the regulatory environment for business, again unrelated to the planning tools discussed here. The three names to remember together are the development plan process, the digital platform for panchayat accounts and governance, and the advancement index.