Digital India Boost: eGramSwaraj Transforms Panchayat Governance

• Radiance News Service
• 07 Aug, 2024
• Delhi
• Digital India, eGramSwaraj, Panchayati Raj, local self governments, transparency, accountability, GPDPs, 15th Finance Commission, Citizen Charter, Sustainable Development Goals

Under Digital India Programme, Ministry of Panchayati Raj is implementing e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) with the aim to making Panchayats, more transparent, accountable, and effective as local self-governments. Building on the achievements in the past, the Ministry launched eGramSwaraj, a work-based comprehensive application for Panchayats under the e-Panchayat MMP on 24th April 2020. This application encompasses all aspects of Panchayat functioning viz. planning, budgeting, accounting, monitoring, asset management etc., on a single digital platform including online payments. So far, 2.44 lakh GPs have prepared and uploaded their Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs) for 2024-25. Further, 2.06 lakh Panchayats have already completed online transactions for 15th Finance Commission grants for 2024-25. State wise adoption of eGramSwaraj is given below:

Adoption of eGramSwaraj at Panchayat level during FY 2024-25

 

S.No	State Name	Total Number of Village Panchayats &Equivalent	Village Panchayat onboard	Village Panchayats &Equivalent With Online Payment	Total Number of Block Panchayats	Block Panchayat onboard	Block Panchayats With Online Payment	Total Number of Zila Panchayats	Zila Panchayat onboard	Zila Panchayats With Online Payment
1	ANDHRA PRADESH	13325	13285	10657	660	660	572	13	13	13
2	ARUNACHAL PRADESH	2108	2100	63	0	0	0	25	25	3
3	ASSAM	2662	2197	1926	191	191	93	30	27	15
4	BIHAR	8054	8054	7120	534	534	451	38	38	35
5	CHHATTISGARH	11596	11594	9145	146	146	137	27	27	25
6	GOA	191	189	38	0	0	0	2	2	1
7	GUJARAT	14621	14588	9653	248	248	246	33	33	33
8	HARYANA	6225	6218	4419	143	143	102	22	22	22
9	HIMACHAL PRADESH	3615	3614	2550	81	81	43	12	12	6
10	JHARKHAND	4345	4345	3869	264	264	240	24	24	23
11	KARNATAKA	5953	5953	5731	238	232	54	31	31	17
12	KERALA	941	941	698	152	152	107	14	14	11
13	MADHYA PRADESH	23011	23003	22566	313	313	272	52	52	49
14	MAHARASHTRA	27820	27769	18449	351	351	174	34	34	32
15	MANIPUR	3180	161	17	0	0	0	12	6	3
16	MEGHALAYA	6817	0	0	2241	0	0	3	3	0
17	MIZORAM	842	834	754	0	0	0	0	0	0
18	NAGALAND	1289	185	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	ODISHA	6794	6794	5769	314	314	267	30	30	20
20	PUNJAB	13236	13207	4534	152	151	66	22	22	10
21	RAJASTHAN	11208	11202	8079	361	353	338	33	33	32
22	SIKKIM	199	198	145	0	0	0	6	6	5
23	TAMIL NADU	12525	12524	11045	388	388	385	36	36	36
24	TELANGANA	12771	12768	11194	540	540	422	32	32	31
25	TRIPURA	1176	1176	859	75	75	64	9	9	6
26	UTTARAKHAND	7795	7794	6690	95	95	92	13	13	12
27	UTTAR PRADESH	57691	57691	44538	826	826	788	75	75	75
28	WEST BENGAL	3339	3339	3327	345	345	344	22	21	21
Total		263329	251723	193835	8658	6402	5257	650	640	536

 

Also, for strengthening the transparency and accountability at grassroots level; the Ministry has rolled out an application - AuditOnline under e-panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP). It allows for online audit of Panchayat accounts and records detailed information about internal and external audit.  For audit year 2022-23, 2.52 lakh Audit Plans have been created and 2.48 lakh Audit Report have been generated.

For attaining the vision of Digital India, BharatNet project is being implemented by Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in a phased manner to create network to connect all the GPs by broadband in the country. So far, 2.17 lakh GPs have been made Service Ready under the BharatNet project in the country. The scope of BharatNet on 30.06.2021 has been extended up to all inhabited villages beyond GPs in the country. The State/UT-wise details of Service Ready Gram panchayats is given below:

State/UT-wise details of Service Ready Gram Panchayats

Sr. No	State Name	Total GPs/ TLBs	Service Ready GPs/TLBs	Operational GPs/TLBs
1	ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS	70	81	46
2	ANDHRA PRADESH	13326	12967	5559
3	ARUNACHAL PRADESH	2108	1117	157
4	ASSAM	2662	1634	501
5	BIHAR	8054	8860	2892
6	CHHATTISGARH	11645	9759	1651
7	GOA	191	0	0
8	GUJARAT	14621	14559	11465
9	HARYANA	6225	6204	1941
10	HIMACHAL PRADESH	3615	415	276
11	JAMMU AND KASHMIR	4291	1113	454
12	JHARKHAND	4345	4646	2296
13	KARNATAKA	5952	6251	3659
14	KERALA	941	1130	946
15	LADAKH	193	193	40
16	LAKSHADWEEP	10	9	5
17	MADHYA PRADESH	23011	18105	2754
18	MAHARASHTRA	27911	24597	3877
19	MANIPUR	3812	1479	21
20	MEGHALAYA	6831	696	27
21	MIZORAM	841	529	61
22	NAGALAND	1304	233	13
23	ODISHA	6794	7099	3337
24	PUDUCHERRY	108	101	94
25	PUNJAB	13238	12807	9432
26	RAJASTHAN	11208	8997	6421
27	SIKKIM	199	54	6
28	TAMIL NADU	12525	9882	3449
29	TELANGANA	12771	10915	5812
30	THE DADRA AND NAGAR HAVELI AND DAMAN AND DIU	38	41	19
31	TRIPURA	1176	771	424
32	UTTAR PRADESH	57691	47341	3921
33	UTTARAKHAND	7795	2014	1127
34	WEST BENGAL	3339	2958	2319
Grand Total		268841	217557	75002

*Some GP may have more than 1 service points.

Further, Ministry of Panchayati Raj has prepared a Model Panchayat Citizens Charter/ framework for delivery of the services across the 29 sectors, aligning actions with localised Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the Panchayats to adopt & customize. The aim is to provide services to the people in a time bound manner, redressing their grievances and improving their lives. The ‘Meri Panchayat, Mera Adhikaar- Jan Sevaayein Hamaare Dwaar’ campaign was rolled out from 01st July to 30th September, 2021. The campaign had emerged as an effective strategy for ensuring the Gram Panchayats have a Citizen Charter approved by the respective Gram Sabhas in place, cataloguing the different categories of services rendered to the citizen by the Panchayat and the time limit for such service.

As on date, over 2.32 Lakh Gram Panchayats across 31 States/ UTs have conducted Gram Sabha and 2.15 Lakh Gram Panchayats have now finalised their Citizen Charters.

This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj Prof. S. P. Singh Baghel in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.