Lok Sabha Question No. 82 (STARRED), answered on 2018-02-08
Subject: Internet/e-Panchayat Facility
Ministry: PANCHAYATI RAJ
Asked by: SANTOSH KUMAR, HARI OM PANDEY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 82 ANSWERED ON 08.02.2018 Internet/e-Panchayat Facility

## *82. SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR: SHRI HARI OM PANDAY:

Will the Minister of PANCHAYATI RAJ be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  proposed  to  provide  internet/  e-Panchayat  facility  in  all  the Panchayats of the country;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the extent to which this initiative will be helpful to the Panchayats in transparent and speedy trial of cases;
- (c) if not, the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether  any  proposal  for  modernization  of  Panchayats  in  the  districts  of  Purnea  and Ambedkar Nagar is under consideration; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof ?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

- (a) to (e) A statement is laid on the table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED  TO  IN  PARTS  (a)  to  (e)  OF  REPLY  TO  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 82 FOR 08.02.2017, REGARDING INTERNET/EPANCHAYAT FACILITY

(a) to (c): Yes,  Government has taken initiatives  to  provide  internet/e-Panchayat  facility  in all Panchayats in the country. The Ministry of Panchayat Raj (MoPR) has been implementing ePanchayat  Mission  Mode  Project  (MMP)  that  seeks  to  transform  the  functioning  of  all  the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), making them more transparent, accountable and effective as organs of decentralized self-governing institutions. Under e-Panchayat,  a suite of core software applications has been developed to address various aspects of Panchayats' functioning including planning, budgeting, implementation, accounting, monitoring, social audit and delivery of citizen services  like  issue  of  certificates,  licences,  tax  collection  etc.  Together  these  constitute  the Panchayat Enterprise Suite (PES). Further, under the Fourteen Finance Commission, a provision has also been made to permit Gram Panchayats (GPs) to use upto 10% of the grant for operation and maintenance including internet connectivity.

Further,  Department  of  Telecommunication  (DoT)  has  been  implementing  BharatNet project  to  provide  broadband  connectivity  to  all  GPs  in  the  country  and  to  provide  nondiscriminatory  access  of  this  network  to  the  Service  Providers  for  provisioning  of  broadband services in rural areas.  As part of this project, the last mile connectivity,  through Wi-Fi or any other suitable broadband technology is to be provided at all GPs in the country. BharatNet project (Phase-I)  has  been  implemented  to  provide  broadband  connectivity  to  1,00,000  GPs  in  the country.  As  on  21.01.2018,  optical  fibre  connectivity  has  been  provided  to  1,10,848  GPs by laying 2,58,635 km Optical Fibre Cable and 1,01,936 GPs have been made service ready under the  BharatNet  project  (Phase-I).  Government  approved  a  modified  implementation  strategy  of BharatNet on 19.07.2017, at an estimated cost of Rs. 42,068 crore. Phase-II of the project, that aims  to  connect  the  remaining  1.5  lakh  GPs,  is  targeted  to  be  completed  as  per  the  modified strategy by March, 2019.

Furthermore, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) also commenced  a  project  namely  'Common  Services  Centre  (CSC)  2.0'  in  August,  2015  under Digital India Programme for a period of four years, which aimed to set up at least one CSC at GP level to cover all GPs across the country. The key objective of CSCs is to deliver various citizen centric  services,  such  as,  Government  to  Citizen  (G2C),  Business  to  Citizen  (B2C)  services, financial inclusion services, educational services, skill development services etc. Till December,

2017, there are 2,71,311 CSCs functioning across the country; among which, 1,73,853 CSCs are at GP level. The project is to be completed within 4 years - by August, 2019. Moreover, according to  MeitY, Common Services Centre Special Purpose Vehicle (CSC-SPV) has been directed by Telecom Commission to enable Wi-Fi Choupal project at BharatNet enabled 5000 GPs, with an aim of provisioning & enhancing Wi-Fi connectivity in rural India through end delivery points i.e. CSCs.

The  aforesaid  initiatives  regarding  internet/e-Panchayat  are  helpful  in  providing  in accessing Panchayat Enterprise Suite (e-Panchayat) from Panchayat itself and Internet Service to Panchayats.  These  facilities  are  focussed  to  implementation  of  scheme,  Gram  Panchayat Development  Plan  and  achieving  transparency.  In  very  few  States,  Panchayats  have  judicial power to dispose legal cases and in these States also internet/e-Panchayat have very limited role in helping speedy trial of legal cases.

(d) & (e): The PES applications developed under  e-Panchayat MMP have also been rolled out in Purnea and Ambedkar Nagar districts by the respective State Governments. However, no specific proposal from these districts has been received by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj so far, for modernisation of Panchayats. Regarding Purnea District, Government of Bihar has informed that in total 2500 GPs, internet service has been tested and 36 out of these are in Purnea district. The internet connectivity will enable the implementation of PES applications developed under ePanchayat MMP. For Ambedkar Nagar district, Government of Uttar Pradesh has informed that all  the  initiatives  of  e-Panchayat  programs  are  being  implemented  in  Ambedkar  Nagar  District e.g. Laptop  distributed  to  96  Panchayat  Secretaries  for  e-Panchayat  works,  training  of  PES Applications to functionaries, internet  facility  getting  provided  through  BharatNet  and  Dongles are  issued  to  Panchayat  Secretaries,  fully  online  service  delivery  through  CSCs  and  Plan  Plus, PRIA Soft and Action Soft Softwares implemented in 927 Gram Panchayats.

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