Ministry of Panchayati Raj

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is a branch of the Government of India.

Ministry of Panchayati Raj
Emblem of India
Agency overview
JurisdictionRepublic of India
HeadquartersNew Delhi
Annual budget₹825.17 crore (US$120 million) (2018-19 est.)[1]
Agency executives
Websitewww.panchayat.gov.in
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In a federation the powers and functions of the government are divided among two governments. In India it is the Union Government and the various State Governments. However, with the passage of 73rd and 74th amendment act of the Constitution of India, in 1993 the division of powers and functions have been further trickled down to Local Self Governments (Panchayat at Village levels and Municipalities and Municipal Corporations in towns and large cities). As such India now has not two but three tier of Governments in its federal setup.

Ministry of Panchayati Raj looks into all matters relating to the Panchayati Raj and Panchayati Raj Institutions. It was created in May 2004. The ministry is headed by a minister of cabinet rank. The ministry is now headed by Narendra Singh Tomar.

Functions of the Ministry

Ministry of Panchayati Raj is responsible for the work of advocacy for and monitoring of the implementation of Constitution 73rd Amendment Act the Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act 1996.

E-PANCHAYAT

As per the World Bank, "E-Government refers to the use by government agencies of information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government." Government of India (GoI), with an intention to transform the governance landscape by ensuring participation of citizens in policy making and providing ease of access to information to the citizens, introduced the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) in 2006. The vision of the NeGP was to "Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man." e- Panchayat is one of the Mission Mode Project (MMP), currently being implemented with a vision to empower and transform rural India.

As a first step towards formulating the project, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj constituted an Expert Group in June, 2007 under the Chairmanship of Dr. B.K. Gairola, Director General, NIC, Government of India. The Expert Group was entrusted with the task of assessing the IT Programmes of Ministry of Panchayati Raj and recommending cost effective solutions along with the cost implications. Adopting a consultative approach, the Committee interacted with the States/UTs to assess the existing status of computerisation up to the Gram Panchayat level, including the initiatives undertaken by the State Governments. In order to understand the ground realities, the Committee conducted field visits to some of the Gram Panchayats in the selected rural areas where some IT initiatives had been undertaken. Inputs from eminent experts in the public and private sector were also taken into account as part of the consultative process. In essence, it found that while some computerisation efforts had already been made at Panchayat level by States like Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Goa, these attempts were limited as they were driven by short term goals and were unable to completely transform Panchayats due to lack of a holistic perspective. It was felt that a more comprehensive approach was required to make a cognisable impact on the functioning of the Panchayats for the benefit of the citizens. These recommendations formed the basis for the conceptualisation of ePanchayat MMP.

The e-Panchayat project holds great promise for the rural masses as it aims to transform the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) into symbols of modernity, transparency and efficiency. This is one of its kind nationwide IT initiative introduced by Ministry of Panchayati Raj that endeavours to ensure people's participation in programme decision making, implementation and delivery. The project aims to automate the functioning of the 2.45 lakh Panchayats in the country. The project addresses all aspects of Panchayats' functioning including Planning, Monitoring, Implementation, Budgeting, Accounting, Social Audit and delivery of citizen services like issue of certificates, licenses etc.

List of former ministers

The Ministry was created on May 27, 2004, with Mani Shankar Aiyar being the first minister.

Ministers of Panchayati Raj
Name Portrait Term of office Political Party Prime Minister
Mani Shankar Aiyar 27 May 2004 22 May 2009 Indian National Congress Manmohan Singh
C. P. Joshi 22 May 2009 18 January 2011
Vilasrao Deshmukh 19 January 2011 12 July 2011
Kishore Chandra Deo 12 July 2011 26 May 2014
Gopinath Munde 26 May 2014 3 June 2014 Bharatiya Janata Party Narendra Modi
Nitin Gadkari 4 June 2014 10 November 2014
Birender Singh 10 November 2014 5 July 2016
Narendra Singh Tomar 5 July 2016 Incumbent[2]
gollark: Also, I can randomly be extremely productive on entirely worthless projects nobody ever needs.
gollark: Me too, except possibly more than three hours.
gollark: Preemptive multithreading, while technically possible in certain environments, is not presently being worked on.
gollark: This would also not happen in potatOS, since it uses cooperative multithreading.
gollark: Just as planned.

See also

References
  1. "MINISTRY OF PANCHAYATI RAJ : DEMAND NO. 68" (PDF). Indiabudget.gov.in. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
  2. "No more a people ministry for Birender Singh, now the steel minister". Business Standard. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
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