• President Droupadi Murmu presented National Panchayat Awards and inaugurated National Conference on Incentivisation of Panchayats in New Delhi on April 17.

• Ngopa village council in Mizoram was adjudged the best panchayat in India as it won the Nanaji Deshmukh Sarvottam Panchayat Satat Vikar Puraskar at the National Panchayat Awards. Ngopa, about 182 km from state capital Aizawl, is located in Saitual district, bordering Manipur.

• Milak Amawti in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district and Kapilo in Jharkhand’s Giridih district bagged the second and third place respectively. 

• Ganjam in Odisha was awarded the best district panchayat followed by Mulugu in Telangana and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

• Hinjilicut in Odisha followed by Thimmapur (LMD) in Telangana and Kumarghat Bac in Tripura won the top awards in block panchayats category. 

• The ministry of panchayati raj is celebrating the National Panchayat Awards Week from April 17-21 as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav 2.0 in the run-up to the National Panchayati Raj Day on April 24. 

• The ministry has made concerted efforts to create a suitable, conducive and positive environment for Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs) through Panchayati Raj Institutions in rural India. 

There are four main categories for National Panchayat Awards 2023. They are:

i) Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar for the performance under individual Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs) themes.

ii) Nanaji Deshmukh Sarvottam Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar for the aggregate performance under all nine LSDG themes and green initiative related Special Categories.

iii) Gram Urja Swaraj Vishesh Panchayat Puraskar.

iv) Carbon Neutral Vishesh Panchayat Puraskar.

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