(a) whether a study was undertaken last year on strengthening of Panchayats under Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan;
(b) if so, the results of the study, State-wise; and
(c) the fresh steps taken/being taken to strengthen the PR institutions in the country?
THE MINISTER OF PANCHAYATI RAJ
(SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)
(a) & (b) No Sir.
(c) ‘Panchayat’ being “local government”, which is part of the State List of Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India is a State subject and is the responsibility of the States. However, Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) supplements the efforts of the States through its schemes and programmes. Towards this, in order to strengthen governance capabilities of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) through training and capacity building of PRIs to deliver on Sustainable Development Goals, the Government is implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA). This is being implemented from 2018-19 and is for four years upto 2021-22, has a total outlay of Rs.7255.50 crore. Under 14th Finance Commission, grants of Rs. 2,00,292 crore for the period from 2015 to 2020 have been allocated to Gram Panchayats (GPs) constituted under Part-IX of the Constitution for delivering basic services.
Realising the importance of e-governance at the Gram Panchayat level, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) is implementing e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) wherein a suite of core software applications for Panchayats have been developed. These applications are collectively called Panchayat Enterprise Suite (PES) which address planning, budgeting, implementation, accounting, monitoring, social audit and delivery of citizen services like issue of certificates, licences, etc. These applications are available to all the Gram Panchayats.
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