{"id":89364,"date":"2026-02-23T15:48:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T10:18:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=89364"},"modified":"2026-02-23T15:48:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T10:18:03","slug":"bela-gram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/bela-gram\/","title":{"rendered":"Bela Gram Panchayat, India\u2019s First Net-Zero Panchayat"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Why in the News?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bela Gram Panchayat in Bhandara district of Maharashtra was recognised as India\u2019s first net-zero panchayat. It received national attention during Mumbai Climate Week 2026 for its carbon-neutral initiatives. The recognition highlights the role of local bodies in climate action and sustainable development.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Bela Gram Panchayat<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bela Gram Panchayat is located in Bhandara district of the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It became India\u2019s first net-zero panchayat through community-led climate initiatives.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bela <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/panchayati-raj-institutions\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gram panchayat<\/a><\/strong> planted more than 90.000 trees during weddings and festivals.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also advocated for a smooth energy transition from smoky chulhas to LPG.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It installed solar panels at homes, anganwadis, and Panchayat offices<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Promoted waste segregation and eliminated single-use plastics.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It had earlier received the 2024 Rashtriya Panchayat Puraskar for excellence in governance.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Also Read: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/zero-poverty-programme\/\" target=\"_blank\">Zero Poverty Programme<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><b>What is Net-Zero?<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Net-zero means balancing the amount of greenhouse gases emitted with the amount removed from the atmosphere.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This does not mean that emissions completely stop. It means we reduce them as much as possible through clean energy, energy efficiency and sustainable lifestyles.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The small amount that still remains is then balanced by planting trees or using other carbon absorption methods.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2070.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Also Read: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/pradhan-mantri-gram-sadak-yojana\/\" target=\"_blank\">Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><b>Panchayat-Led Climate Initiatives in Other States<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similar panchayat-led climate initiatives are as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perinjanam in Kerala implemented the \u201cSolar Gramam\u201d project, turning households into rooftop solar prosumers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Siyari in Jharkhand revived lakes and promoted solar irrigation through District Mineral Fund support.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Badakichab in Odisha restored forests through indigenous women-led plantation drives.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Garhi in Bihar built check dams and ponds to tackle water scarcity and soil erosion.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kolar in Karnataka promoted climate-resilient <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/agriculture-in-india\/\" target=\"_blank\">agriculture<\/a><\/strong> and revived water bodies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These examples show that climate governance is becoming decentralised and community-driven.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bela Gram Panchayat in Maharashtra\u2019s Bhandara district became India\u2019s first net-zero panchayat, leading climate action with solar energy, tree drives and waste reform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":89462,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[786],"tags":[5649],"class_list":{"0":"post-89364","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general-studies","8":"tag-bela-gram","9":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89364"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89434,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89364\/revisions\/89434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}