Discuss how Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans seek to combine grassroots participatory planning with national infrastructure platforms such as PM Gati Shakti. What challenges do they face?

The VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 replaced MGNREGA from 1 July 2026. Under the new Act, all wage works must be planned through Viksit Gram Panchayat Plans (VGPPs) [1]. VGPPs try to join the 73rd Amendment's idea of planning from below with national digital infrastructure systems. The design is promising, but its success depends on how much capacity panchayats have.

How VGPPs combine the two

Grassroots layer

• The Gram Sabha recommends and approves each VGPP [1].
• Gram Panchayats must carry out at least 50% of works by cost [2].
• The Gram Sabha must hold a social audit at least once every six months [2].

National layer

• VGPPs are combined at the Block, District, State and National levels into the Viksit Bharat National Rural Infrastructure Stack [1][2].
• Planning uses GIS, Yuktdhara and PM Gati Shakti, so that village assets line up with national connectivity and resource maps [1].
• There is one common list of 318 permissible works across four themes: water security, core rural infrastructure, livelihood infrastructure and extreme-weather mitigation [1].
• Geo-tagging and e-Measurement Books allow works to be tracked in real time [1].

Gram Sabha → VGPP → Block → District → State → National Infrastructure Stack
                 ↑ GIS / Yuktdhara / PM Gati Shakti layers

Flow of VGPP planning

Challenges

• Too few staff: The Devolution Index Report 2024 found that, on average, one Panchayat Secretary looks after 17 Gram Panchayats [3].
• Weak audit record: By December 2025, only 63% of 2.7 lakh Gram Panchayats had held even one social audit in 2025-26 [3]. Audits every six months therefore look ambitious.
• Risk of token participation: With so few staff, plans may be drawn up on software at higher levels, with the Gram Sabha only signing off.
• Uneven State capacity: The Economic Survey 2023-24 found that the work a State delivers depends on its institutional capacity [3].
• Money may not match plans: Funding is a fixed (normative) allocation, and States pay for any spending above it [2]. Villages may plan more works than there is money for.
• Assets versus wages: A list of works led by infrastructure may favour projects that need more materials and less labour. This could weaken the employment guarantee.

VGPPs rightly connect village needs with national spatial planning and turn scattered works into lasting, mapped assets. To keep them truly participatory, the Centre and States should fill panchayat posts. Part of the administrative spending cap, now raised to 9%, could fund independent Social Audit Units [2]. Gram Sabmas should also be trained in GIS tools. With these steps, VGPPs can deliver the 73rd Amendment's vision of planning from below while supporting the goal of a developed India (Viksit Bharat).