Question : Digitisation of Panchayats

(a) the details of the appointment of differently abled persons to various posts in Panchayati Raj in different States and UT’s particularly in the States of Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh;
(b) whether the Government is able to achieve its proposal to fully digitalize the panchayats in the country;
(c) if so, the details thereof;
(d) whether the Government has requested the States to ensure necessary infrastructure for the purpose;
(e) if so, the details thereof and response of the States thereto, State-wise; and
(f) the time by which all the panchayats are likely to be digitalised across the country?

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR PANCHAYATI RAJ
(SHRI KAPIL MORESHWAR PATIL)

(a) ‘Panchayat’ being ‘Local Government’, is a State subject and part of Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. Accordingly, matter related to Panchayats including appointment of person/ differently abled persons to various Posts in the Panchayati Raj Institutions are the concern of respective State Government. Details in this regard are not maintained centrally.

(b) & (c) The Government has been implementing eGramSwaraj under e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project, as a part of Digital India Program, in the country to revamp the functioning of Panchayats. eGramSwaraj addresses various aspects of Panchayat functioning viz. planning, accounting, budgeting including online payments through eGramSwaraj-Public Finance Management System (PFMS) Interface for services delivered. As on date, 2.55 lakh Gram Panchayat, 5390 Block Panchayat and 481 Zilla Panchayat have prepared and uploaded their Development Plans on eGramSwaraj Application for FY 2021-22. Further, 2.38 lakh GPs have adopted eGramSwaraj for the purpose of accounting in the current year 2021-22 out of which 2.19 lakh GPs have on boarded eGramSwaraj-PFMS Interface for carrying out online transactions. Also, 1.81 lakh GPs have done online payments worth cumulative of Rs. 72,554 crores (including all the onboarded schemes) through eGramSwaraj- PFMS Interface.
Further, BharatNet project is being implemented in a phased manner by Department of Telecommunications to provide broadband connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats and equivalent in the country. As on 17.01.2022, total 1,70,136 GPs have been made Service Ready under the BharatNet project in the country. The scope of BharatNet on 30.06.2021 has been extended upto all inhabited villages beyond GPs in the country.

(d) and (e) ‘Panchayat’ being the State subject and providing basic infrastructure at the Gram Panchayat level is primarily being the responsibility of the States. However, Ministry under the e-Panchayats component of the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan has been providing need based support to States for strengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) by providing e-Governance Resource Groups (e-State Project Monitoring Unit and e-District Project Monitoring Unit) and support for computers and peripherals on limited scale.

(f) The targeted date for the completion of the BharatNet project to provide broadband connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats and equivalent in the country is August 2023.


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