Study on backwardness of Gaon Panchayats on the basis of the availability of basic amenities (Amar Gaon Khoni) : The SIPRD, Assam has undertaken a research study on identification of backwardness in panchayats on the basis of the some parameters based on the basic amenities available in the panchayats. Subsequently information so collected from the field have been put into a software called “Amar Gaon Khoni”. The institute prepared the parameters on the following broad subjects:
1. Profile of the Gaon Panchayat.
2. Villages covered under the Gaon Panchayat.
3. Name of the Secretary and President of Gaon Panchayat.
4. Basic facilities available.
5. Panchayat infrastructure relating to agriculture, business, health, road, market etc.
6. Educational infrastructure.
7. Household information.
8. Sanitation.
9. Livelihood promoting infrastructure.

The institute developed a questionnaire having all the basic information about the panchayat besides the details of the village headmen. The questionnaire has two sections, one section contains marks and other section has no marks. Question with no marks are general information while question with marks are meant for real evaluation. Moreover, there are specific questions on agriculture, education, health, livelihood, social, infrastructure and finance and business sector. Against each question there is mark and it has been put into an algorithm, which was given the shape of software.
The software so developed by the institute can provide a scale to judge the performance of the panchayat periodically with a data base which churn out various reports, most essential for both macro and micro level planning. The data base can be further enhanced with better IT technology to serve the need of the user using the method of both segregation and aggregation. The software can generate report activity wise which can be further focused on administrative zones for micro planning. The complete data base have been divided into three geographical zones of panchayat, block and district and it is further divided into four performance category of vulnerable, marginal, average and good. This has enabled to give a bird’s eye view of the state both by geographical zone as well as by gradation.
With each district, blocks and panchayats have their own cumulative score and again which can be further narrowed down to activity wise, it become extremely helpful for the micro and macro level planning of rural development. The software based score shall be an indirect watch dog and element of competition will come in as each village, panchayat, block and district have their individual cumulative score for comparison with their peers. The panchayats have been graded in the following categories based the marks attained through the parameters:
• Total marks : 200
• Good : 150 – 200
• Average : 100 – 149
• Marginal : 60 – 99
• Vulnerable : 0 – 59