AHMEDABAD: The grassroots governance in Gujarat presents a contradiction. It ranks sixth among 18 general-category states in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj’s Panchayat Devolution Index with a score of 58.26, with the national average at 43.89.
However, its performance is uneven on six aspects of decentralisation.
Gujarat has bagged the first place under the functionaries head with a score of 90.94 and is placed at the third position under capacity building with a score of 83.96. However, under the finances head, it is at the 14th spot (41.63) and the 12th position under the accountability head (47.90).
The data point to a paradox: the state has built administrative capacity, but financial devolution, functional autonomy and accountability remain weak links. Its high performance under the functionaries and capacity building heads indicates a strong institutional workforce and training ecosystem.
At the gram panchayat level, the Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) shows that 82.3% of Gujarat’s 14,534 panchayats are in B-grade. Of the 14,534 gram panchayats assessed in 2023-24, as many as 11,963 were graded at the B level.
Another 2,471 were in the C-grade, while 25 were in the D-grade. Only 75 Panchayats achieved A-grade and none secured A+. The distribution means that while Gujarat has very few panchayats at the bottom, it has an overwhelmingly large middle band and an extremely small pool of top performers.
The Centre’s Devolution Index is based on an assessment covering 2013-14 to 2021-22, while the PAI data relates to 2023-24.
According to data tabled by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj in the Lok Sabha, Gujarat trained 1,16,682 participants under the revamped Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) between 2022-23 and July 10, 2026. Yet against 109 approved Panchayat Learning Centres, not a single one has been developed in Gujarat. However, the training data reinforces Gujarat’s capacity-building strength, although the annual figures are uneven. The state recorded 40,020 participants in thematic training in 2024-25, compared with 32 in 2023-24 and 266 in 2025-26.
Gujarat has just one functional State Panchayat Resource Centre (SPRCs), but no functional District Panchayat Resource Centres (DPRCs) and no Block Panchayat Resource Centres (BPRCs) under the RGSA. Nationally, the Centre has sanctioned 28 functional SPRCs, 447 DPRCs and 2,844 BPRCs across states and Union territories.