Community engagement remains central to India’s vision of eliminating TB. With this focus, the Government of India launched the TB Mukt Gram Panchayat Initiative on 24 March 2023 to harness Gram Panchayat leadership to expand TB awareness, enable early diagnosis, promote timely treatment, and support affected individuals and their families. The initiative aims to empower Gram Panchayats to combat TB stigma, improve healthcare access for vulnerable groups, and address socioeconomic barriers such as poverty and undernutrition.

Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), as the most immediate and accountable units of rural governance, are uniquely placed to strengthen public health delivery. Their proximity to communities enables mobilisation of local resources, grassroots awareness campaigns, and monitoring of interventions on the ground. Leveraging the Panchayati Raj system, the initiative decentralises TB detection and control by integrating TB elimination goals into Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs) and training Panchayat members alongside frontline health workers (ASHAs, ANMs). It emphasises village-level screening, prompt referral, treatment adherence, and community-led certification of TB-free villages.

The knowledge brief outlines the state’s progress during 2023–2024, capturing key milestones, implementation experiences, and emerging best practices from the field. Overall, by placing Gram Panchayats at the centre of the TB response, the initiative has strengthened local ownership and political participation, improved community awareness, and reinforced linkages between health systems and grassroots institutions.

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