Lok Sabha Question No. 4410 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-22
Subject: Infrastructure Facilities in Panchayats
Ministry: PANCHAYATI RAJ
Asked by: R. GOPALAKRISHNAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4410

TO BE ANSWERED ON 22.03.2018

## Infrastructure Facilities in Panchayats

## 4410. SHRI R. GOPALAKRISHNAN:

Will the Minister of PANCHAYATI RAJ be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is implementing any plans/schemes to ensure adequate infrastructure facilities in the Gram Panchayats across the country and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has also proposed for computerization of all panchayats and provision of services online;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and the financial allocation made by the Government for this purpose during the last three years and the current year, State-wise; and
- (d) whether  the  computerisation  efforts  are  made  with  the  latest  technology/softwares/internet connectivity, etc. and are frequently upgraded with the changing technologies/softwares and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRI PARSHOTTAM RUPALA)

(a) to (c) 'Panchayat' being a State subject, providing infrastructure facilities to the Panchayats is primarily the responsibility of the State / UT Governments. Under the scheme of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj  Abhiyan  (RGSA)  /Capacity  Building-  Panchayat  Sashaktikaran  Abhiyan  (CB-PSA)/ erstwhile Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA), Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) provides financial assistance to States/ UTs for capacity building including infrastructure and  e-enablement  including  computers  and  peripherals,  to  Gram  Panchayats.  However,  in  the context of devolution of funds under Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) award, the support for procurement  of  computers,  construction  of  building  etc.  to  States  has  been  discontinued  w.e.f. 2015-16.  The State/ UT-wise details of funds sanctioned for e-enablement during the last three years and current year are given in Annexure .  Further, some amount from the FFC grant can also be utilised by the Gram Panchayats for procurement of computers.

MoPR  is  also  implementing  e-Panchayat  Mission  Mode  Project  (MMP)  that  seeks  to transform  the  functioning  of  all  the  Panchayati  Raj  Institutions  (PRIs)  by  making  them  more transparent, accountable and effective as organs of decentralized self-governing institutions. Under e-Panchayat MMP, a suite of Core Common 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  etc. Together these applications constitute the Panchayat Enterprise Suite (PES).  The aim of the MMP is to automate the internal functioning and e-enable the service delivery across all nearly 2.5 lakh Panchayats. The level of adoption of various PES Applications at panchayat level varies across States / UTs due to differentials in the preparedness of panchayats for e-enablement. Besides, some States have also developed their own State-specific applications for similar purposes.

Department  of  Telecommunications  (DoT),  Government  of  India,  is  implementing  the BharatNet  project  to  provide  broadband  connectivity  to  all  GPs  of  the  country.    Phase-I  of  the project to connect one lakh GPs has been completed in December, 2017.  As on 4 th March, 2018, about 1,13,226 GPs in the country have been connected by Optical Fibre and 1,03,730 GPs have been made service ready. All the GPs in the country are targeted to be connected by March, 2019 in phase II of the project.

Further,  the  Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology,  Government  of  India, initiated 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 2.5 lakh 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  February, 2018, there are 2,92,481 CSCs functioning across the country; among which, 1,83,184 CSCs are at GP level.

(d) Based on the feedback received from States, the PES applications are continuously updated to  meet  the  various  State-specific  requirements.  Furthermore,  with  changing  technologies,  the software applications are also continuously upgraded by National Informatics Center (NIC).  Also, under BharatNet it  is  now  targeted  to  connect  all  the  GPs  in  the  country  through  Optical  Fibre Cable by using an optical mix of underground fibre, aerial fibre, radio and satellite media.

## Annexure

Annexure referred in reply to part (a) to (c) of the Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 4410 for 22.03.2018 regarding Infrastructure Facilities in Panchayats

## Statewise amount sanctioned for e-enablement (2014-15 to 2017-18)

| S. No.   | State             |   2014-15 |   2015-16 |   2016-17 |   2017-18 |
|----------|-------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 1        | Andhra Pradesh    |      6.53 |      0.76 |     12.89 |     10.55 |
| 2        | Assam             |      4.4  |      1.26 |      1.2  |      3    |
| 3        | Arunachal Pradesh |      0    |      0.08 |      0    |      0    |
| 4        | Bihar             |      7.32 |      0    |      0    |      0    |
| 5        | Chhattisgarh      |      8    |      2.96 |      2.29 |      0.13 |
| 6        | Chandigarh        |      0    |      0    |      0    |      0    |
| 7        | Daman &Diu        |      0.18 |      0    |      0    |      0    |
| 8        | Dadra &Nagar      |      0.14 |      0    |      0    |      0    |
| 9        | Haveli Goa        |      0    |      0.33 |      0.01 |      0.03 |
| 10       | Gujarat           |      4.31 |      3.25 |      4.82 |      0    |
| 11       | Haryana           |      3.68 |      0    |      1.4  |      1.9  |
| 12       | Himachal Pradesh  |      7.64 |      0.51 |      0.4  |      0    |
| 13       | Jammu &Kashmir    |      6.19 |      1.5  |      0    |      0    |
| 14       | Jharkhand         |      0    |      2.05 |      2.09 |      2.12 |
| 15       | Karnataka         |      2.52 |      1.37 |      1.32 |      1.33 |
| 16       | Kerala            |      9.78 |      0    |      0    |      0    |
| 17       | Lakshadweep       |      0    |      0.06 |      0    |      0    |
| 18       | Maharashtra       |      0    |      0    |      3.06 |      8.31 |
| 19       | Madhya Pradesh    |      0    |      0    |      0    |      1.85 |
| 20       | Manipur           |      0    |      0.26 |      0.18 |      0.29 |
| 21       | Mizoram           |      0.48 |      0    |      0    |      0.5  |
| 22       | Odisha            |      5.61 |      0.88 |      1.12 |      1.12 |
| 23       | Punjab            |      0.4  |      0    |      0.94 |      0.95 |
| 24       | Rajasthan         |      0    |      0.75 |      3.54 |      3.52 |
| 25       | Sikkim            |      0.7  |      0.28 |      0.31 |      0.38 |
| 26       | Tamil Nadu        |      0    |      0    |      0.61 |      0.15 |
| 27       | Telangana         |      8.22 |      0    |      0    |      5.42 |
| 28       | Tripura           |      0.08 |      0    |      0    |      0    |
| 29       | Uttar Pradesh     |     40    |      0    |      0    |      6.09 |
| 30       | Uttarakhand       |      4    |      0.99 |      0.62 |      0    |
| 31       | West Bengal       |      2.03 |      0.89 |      0.91 |      1    |
| 32       | Andaman           |      0    |      0    |      0    |      0    |
|          | Total             |    122.21 |     18.18 |     37.71 |     48.64 |

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