E-Panchayats

Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) has formulated “e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP)” for implementation of e-governance in Panchayats as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme under the umbrella of National e-Governance Programme (NeGP). The scheme aims at supporting all the State Governments for making effective use of IT in Panchayats in the process of planning at grassroots level, bring out transparency in the working of the PRIs and also help in increased accountability of these institutions. Internet connectivity is to be provided to the Panchayats by the respective States/UTs by utilizing funds from various schemes, such as Central Finance Commission Grants, State Finance Commission Grants, Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes, etc. As on 31 March, 2011, 1,19,245 Village Panchayats have been provided internet connectivity. It is targeted to provide internet connectivity to all Panchayats by 2012. The total approved cost for the project is Rs.130.39 crore, spread over a period of 5 years (2008-09 to 2012-13), against which the expenditure so far has been Rs.48.66 crore.
Ministry of Panchayati Raj has proposed to provide basic computer literacy to 25,000 Panchayat functionaries under the e-PanchayatMMP during year 2011-12, in collaboration with the Department of Electronics and Accreditation of Computer Courses (DOECC), an autonomous body under the
Department of Information Technology (DIT).