When it comes to devolution of power from the states to the panchayats, Congress-ruled states are way behind others. This is revealed by the rural development ministry's latest report.

According to the report, BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh tops the ranking chart for the year 2008-9, followed by West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Sikkim and Himachal Pradesh.

All the congress-ruled states are at the bottom of the heap with Haryana doing marginally better at number eight. Others like Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, Arunachal Pradesh and Rajasthan are ranked 10th, 11th, 13th, 14th and 15th, respectively.

Rural development ministry releases funds under the Panchayat Empowerment & Accountability Incentive Scheme (PEAIS) to the states and union territories (UTs) for carrying out measures for effective devolution of funds and improve functioning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

At present, the scheme has an annual allocation of Rs 10 crore.  Incentive grants are given to the states and UTs on the basis of independent evaluation and ranking as per the Devolution Index.