If we say we are talking about top 10 villages in the country, it doesn't mean there are only ten villages. There are around 128 villages in the top 10, of which 36 are in the state of Andhra Pradesh alone.

Under Mission Antyodaya, the Ministry of Rural Development has compiled data and rankings for around 1.22 lakh gram panchayats.

Tellapur gram panchayat in the Sangreddy district of Telangana holds the top spot at the podium as the best village in the country.

Top 5 villages in India

As per the Rural Development Ministry, Tellapur of Sangareddy district is the top village in India with a score of 92, followed by Parapatla (90) of Chittoor district, Adhuria (89) of Almora district, Charada (89) of Gandhinagar district and Cheedikada (89) of Vishakhapatnam.

Number of villages in top 10: State-wise

As mentioned earlier, Andhra Pradesh (36) has the highest number of villages ranked under top 10 whereas Tamil Nadu hosts 22 such villages. The third in line is Gujarat with 12 villages, followed by Telangana (10), Punjab (7), Haryana (7), Karnataka (7), Maharashtra (6) and Uttar Pradesh (1).

Factors defining the status of villages on the list

The criteria and parameters of the ranking of villages include:

Health and sanitation: Open defecation free and whether it has a waste disposal system

Open defecation free and whether it has a waste disposal system Agriculture, allied and livelihood: To assess the availability of markets and government seed centres

To assess the availability of markets and government seed centres Housing: Percentage of houses with pucca walls and roof

Percentage of houses with pucca walls and roof Land improvement

Animal husbandry

Drinking Water: Availability of piped drinking water

Availability of piped drinking water Roads: Availability of public transport and all-weather connectivity

Availability of public transport and all-weather connectivity Rural electrification: Per cent of houses with electricity connection

Per cent of houses with electricity connection Availability of non-conventional energy

Effectiveness of poverty alleviation programmes

Why assess the top 10 villages?

The main purpose of village assessment is to identify gaps in rural areas based on the above parameters. It will help trigger the targeted development and better execution of government schemes.

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