Question : E PANCHAYAT MISSION MODE PROJECT

(a) whether the e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) formulated for e-Governance in panchayats has been implemented in the country and if so, the details thereof, State/UT-wise and if not, the reasons therefor;

(b) whether internet and other basic infrastructure facilities have been provided to all the panchayats in the country under the MMP;

(c) if so, the details thereof, as on date, State/UT-wise and if not, the reasons therefor along with the time by which the said facilities are likely to be provided to all the panchayats in the country;

(d) whether the Government proposes to provide additional funds to States under the said Project;

(e) if so, the details thereof along with the funds earmarked and progress made under the said Project; and

(f) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to strengthen e-Governance in Panchayati Raj Institutions across the country and build associated capacities of the PRIs for effective adoption of the e-Governance initiative?

MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRI V. KISHORE CHANDRA DEO)

(a) In 2009-10, Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) commissioned a comprehensive study to create a roadmap for e-enabling the Panchayats. Reports on Information and Service Needs Assessments (ISNA), Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) and Detailed Project Reports (DPR) were done for every State/UT as well as for the national level. Meanwhile, to expedite the rollout of the project, Rs 46.36 Crores were given to National Informatics Centre (NIC)/National Informatics Centre Services Inc. (NICSI) for development and rollout of 11 Core Common Software Applications (reduced from 12 to 11 due to merger of two) addressing all aspects of Panchayats’ functioning including Planning, Monitoring, Implementation, Budgeting, Accounting, Social Audit and delivery of citizen services like issue of certificates, licenses etc. The list of 11 Core Common Applications, collectively called Panchayat Enterprise Suite (PES) is at Annex I. Four of these Applications namely PRIASoft, PlanPlus, National Panchayat Portal and National Panchayat Directory (now renamed Local Governance Directory) have been in use for last three years. Six more Applications namely Area Profiler, ServicePlus, Asset Directory, ActionSoft, Social Audit and Trainings Management were launched on 24th April, 2012 and training is being imparted on these Applications. These Applications are also gradually being adopted. The State/UT-wise adoption status of these Applications is shown in Annex II.

(b) to (e) Under the e-Panchayat MMP, internet connectivity is not being provided. A separate project namely, the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is expected to provide broadband connectivity to all the Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country. MoPR has advised all States and UTs to take advance action for developing/ implementing Applications that would realize the full potential of such connectivity. In so far as providing computers and other basic infrastructure facilities is concerned, in the 11th Five Year Plan period, no funds were provided to States/UTs. However, they were advised to utilize available funds from different sources such as 13th Central Finance Commission Grants, Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF), Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Yojana (RGSY), to procure computers and other basic infrastructure facilities. In the 12th Five Year Plan period, after the dovetailing of e-Panchayat MMP with the Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashastikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA), all States/UTs have been advised to build their specific requirements for computers, UPS, printer etc in their respective Annual Plans @ Rs. 40,000 per GP. Funds sanctioned/ released to States/UTs, year-wise, under the e-enablement component of RGPSA is shown in Annex III. In 2011-12, Rs.38.5 Crores were released to States/UTs for setting up Programme Management Units (PMUs) at State and District levels and Rs. 1.61 Crores were released to four States/UTs in 2012-13 and these details are shown in Annex IV.

(f) Under the e-Panchayat, electronic delivery of services through Panchayats is being promoted through ServicePlus Application. All States/UTs have been advised to identify Panchayat-centric services that can be delivered online and to configure them on ServicePlus. MoPR is imparting training to Panchayat functionaries on the usage of PES Applications using the Training-of-Trainers (ToT) model so that the trainings benefit Panchayat functionaries at local level. MoPR has imparted trainings on 10 PES Applications to over 10,000 Panchayat functionaries since August, 2012. Computer Based Tutorials (CBT), User Manuals, and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) have also been made available for these Applications. To address queries, feedback and suggestions from end-users, interactive online groups have been created for all Applications. All stakeholders (end users at Panchayat level, officials of Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Panchayati Raj Department, Consultants and the technical team at NIC) are members of these groups. MoPR has also engaged National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) to impart basic IT literacy training to PRI functionaries and elected representatives wherein over 15,000 PRI functionaries and members have already been trained. To incentivize adoption of PES Applications, MoPR gives e-Panchayat Puraskars to best performing States/UTs on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day.