There are thousands of Panchayats in a huge country like India but the criteria for rating the Panchayat as good or bad is done on the basis of the services that they perform. There are about 400 to 1500 families covered under each Panchayat and this segregation is done on the basis of the number of houses, which constitutes of a single family.
An important consideration here is that the number of families covered by each family also takes into account the number of family members. There are some Panchayats where the numbers of families are less but the number of people in each family is more and thus there is an increase in the population of the village.
Usually, the Panchayat that has covered the maximum number of un-electrified households by Solar Lanterns, SPV Home Lighting Systems and SPV Street Lighting Systems, is considered to be efficient as these are essential for meeting lighting energy needs for most families.
Other tasks that are given to the Panchayats also include the coverage of a maximum number of families under family size biogas. This number is calculated out of the total number of families that already have the potential for the installation of biogas plants in their houses.
The Panchayats should also try and provide the families with replaced energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps instead of the regular bulbs. They should also try and provide most families under their jurisdiction with the adopted and improved chullah for cooking their foods and should try and improve the same with adopted solar cookers for meeting their cooking energy needs.
The Panchayats should also ensure that renewable energy conservation devices are installed in their villages so that families are saved from the added costs of non-renewable fuel. These are some of the basic amenities which the Panchayats should provide their villagers with.
There are various other areas which should be a concern of the Panchayats and these include providing employment to the members of families who are being denied this opportunity on the basis of caste or creed. The education of women in all families should be ensured for the development of the village and district.
Also, the children should be given the opportunity of free education at the basic levels, especially members of poor families. Apart from these problems of the family or violence against any family member should also be discouraged at all levels.