E-Panchayats

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj proposes to extend the benefits of information and communication technology (ICT) to all sections of the rural population of the country through e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP), the centrally sponsored scheme for e-governance in Panchayati Raj Institutions(e-PRIs).The scheme will bring about improved governance and improved service delivery through the Panchayats and enable greater accountability of Panchayati Raj Institutions to the community and other authorities. In this project an expenditure of Rs. 48.66 crore has been made for preparation of Information & Services Need Assessment (ISNA), State Detailed Project Report (DPR), Business Process Re-Engineering (BPR) and Software Development.

Under the aforesaid scheme, all Village and Block Panchayats are proposed to be provided with ICT infrastructure, including broadband connectivity. Appropriate software applications will also be deployed so as to enable Panchayats to meet the service needs of various stakeholders such as citizens, States/UTs and the Central Government. Induction of ICT at the Panchayats level on such a large scale will eventually result in building ICT culture at the level of the masses and enable rural public linkage to access the external world of knowledge and markets. 

The above information was given by the Minister of Panchayati Raj Shri V. Kishore Chandra Deo in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.