New Delhi, May 27 -- : In a bid to enable panchayats systematically assess and improve their performance across key areas of governance and service delivery, the Centre on Monday launched the Panchayat Advancement Index (PAI) 2.0 portal.

PAI is an assessment framework developed by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj to enable performance tracking of over 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats across nine themes aligned with the Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs).

While PAI Version 1.0 served as the baseline and covered data from 2.16 lakh Gram Panchayats across 29 States/UTs, PAI Version 2.0 represents a major leap forward in functionality, efficiency, and usability.

"The transition from PAI 1.0 to 2.0 reflects a focused refinement of...