People’s Plan Campaign Empowers Panchayats for Inclusive and Accountable Development
SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions | SDG 5: Gender Equality | SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
Institutions: Ministry of Panchayati Raj
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj launched the PPC 2025–26 on October 2, 2025, to initiate the nationwide process for preparing participatory, comprehensive, and convergent Panchayat Development Plans (PDPs) for the Financial Year 2026–27. The campaign is centered on preparing development plans (GPDPs, BPDPs, and DPDPs) at all three levels of the Panchayati Raj system, guided by the principle of “Sabki Yojana, Sabka Vikas” (Everyone’s Plan, Everyone’s Development).
It involves organizing structured Gram Sabha meetings with active participation from the community, Elected Representatives, frontline workers, Self Help Groups (SHGs), and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs).
The PPC aims to strengthen grassroots democracy, deepen transparency and accountability, and pave the way for more responsive, empowered, and self-reliant Panchayats, ultimately contributing to the vision of Viksit Bharat.
Key Integration:
Localization of SDGs: The campaign integrates the nine thematic approaches for the Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs) into the Panchayat Development Plans.
Convergence: It incorporates Village Prosperity and Resilience Plans (VPRPs) prepared by SHG federations.
Gender-Responsive Governance: Promotes active involvement of Women Elected Representatives and women community members in the planning process.
Tribal inclusion: Targeted tribal interventions under Adi Karmayogi to help center equity in local governance.
How does PPC actually function? →
At the core of the People’s Plan Campaign (PPC) is the preparation of Panchayat Development Plans (PDPs), specifically the Gram, Block, and District Panchayat Development Plans (GPDP, BPDP, DPDP), which translate Article 243G of the Constitution into practice. This Article empowers Panchayats to plan and implement programmes for economic development and social justice across the 29 subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule. Through PPC, these plans are prepared annually in open Gram Sabhas, ensuring that citizens directly identify priorities in health, education, sanitation, and livelihoods.
To make this process transparent and trackable, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) has created an integrated digital ecosystem. eGramSwaraj functions as the central platform for plan formulation, budgeting, and accounting; the Meri Panchayat App extends this transparency to citizens by displaying Panchayat budgets and project progress; and Panchayat NIRNAY supports digital review and performance monitoring. Together, they allow every stage-from deliberation to expenditure-to be publicly visible.
Performance is benchmarked through the Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI), which measures institutional capacity, citizen participation, and service delivery outcomes. Complementing this, SabhaSaar standardises the documentation of Gram Sabha discussions, ensuring that community voices-especially those of women and marginalised groups-feed directly into plan formulation.
Financial self-reliance is another policy pillar: by promoting Own Source Revenue (OSR) collection through local taxes, fees, and resource mobilisation, PPC seeks to reduce dependence on external transfers and strengthen fiscal autonomy at the grassroots.
The campaign also embeds gender and social inclusion as structural elements of governance. Women Elected Representatives (WERs) lead planning and facilitation processes, while Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and community federations shape Village Prosperity and Resilience Plans, aligning local priorities with national goals. Through this interlinked framework, PPC transforms Article 243G from a constitutional mandate into a living practice of participatory, accountable, and inclusive local governance.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders:
What incentives and metrics will ensure Gram Sabhas and Panchayats track outcomes (health, learning, resilience) rather than just plan uploads, especially for WER- and SHG-led priorities?
Follow the full news here: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2175077 |