Lok Sabha Question No. 349 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-04
Subject: Infrastructure Facilities to Panchayats
Ministry: PANCHAYATI RAJ
Asked by: Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 349 ANSWERED ON 04.02.2020

## Infrastructure Facilities to Panchayats

## 349. SHRI RAM MOHAN NAIDU KINJARAPU:

Will the Minister of PANCHAYATI RAJ be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  Government  is  implementing  any  scheme  to  provide  adequate  infrastructure facilities to the Panchayats in the country especially in Andhra Pradesh;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government proposes to provide ranking to the States based on the functioning of panchayats;

(d) if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the steps taken to incentivize States for greater devolution of powers to panchayats?

## ANSWER

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

(a) & (b) '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, including Andhra Pradesh through its schemes and programmes. The following programmes are also being implemented  for  providing  adequate  infrastructural  facilities  to  Panchayats  including  Andhra Pradesh by the Government of India:

- (i) Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) grants are provided to the Gram Panchayats (GPs) for infrastructure and basic services such as roads, drainage, footpaths, water supply, street lighting, sanitation, maintenance of community assets, cremation and burial grounds, etc. Rs.4197.33 crores as FFC grants has already been released for Panchayats of Andhra Pradesh.
- (ii) Ministry  of  Panchayati  Raj  (MoPR)  under  the  restructured  scheme  of  Rashtriya Gram  Swaraj  Abhiyan  (RGSA)  being  implemented  with  effect  from  2018-19,  is providing financial support for certain infrastructural facilities for GPs such as Gram

Panchayat Bhawans, computers and peripherals. Under RGSA Rs. 67.69 crore has been released for Andhra Pradesh during 2018-19.

- (iii) Implementation of computerization of GPs is being done under various programmes such as RGSA, FFC, etc. An estimated 4847 Gram Panchayats in Andhra Pradesh have computers at present.
- (iv) Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India, is implementing the BharatNet project to provide broadband connectivity to all GPs of the country. Currently, total of 1573 Gram Panchayats in Andhra Pradesh are service ready.
- (v) Towards provision of online services in the rural areas and GPs, Common Service Centres  (CSCs)  have  been  setup  through  a  'Common  Service  Centre  -  Special Purpose Vehicle' (CSC-SPV), a society of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. 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.

(c) to (e)  Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) has been implementing scheme of incentivising the Panchayats/States/Union Territories by rewarding best performing Panchayati Raj Institutions/  States/  UTs.  Awards  including  financial  incentives  are  given  annually  to  best performing  Panchayats  (District,  Intermediate  and  Gram)  and  States/UTs  under  the  five categories namely: Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar for Gram/Block/District  Panchayats,  Nanaji  Deshmukh  Rashtriya  Gaurav  Gram  Sabha  Puraskar for  Gram  Panchayats  (GPs),  Gram  Panchayat  Development  Plan  (GPDP)  Award  for  GPs, Child-friendly Gram Panchayat Award for GPs and e-Panchayat Puraskar for States/UTs only (without  financial  incentive).  The  awardees  are  selected  from  the  nominations  submitted  by State Governments/UT Administrations to MoPR.

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