Ministry of Panchayati Raj Year End Review 2022

• 24 Dec 2022

For Prelims: Panchayati Raj Institution, Initiatives for Development of PRI

For Mains: Year End Review of Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Achievements of the Ministry, Initiatives for Development of PRI

Why in News?

Recently, the year-end-review of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj for the year 2022 was released.

What are the Key Achievements of the Ministry?

• SVAMITVA Scheme:
  • About:
    • Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas (SVAMITVA) scheme was launched by the Prime Minister on National Panchayati Raj Day 2020 to enable economic progress of Rural India by providing “Record of Rights” to every rural household owner.
  • Achievements:
    • As on December 2022, drone flying has been completed in around 2 lakh villages.
    • Drone flying has been saturated in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Delhi, Haryana, Lakshadweep Islands, Puducherry, Uttarakhand, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
    • Property cards have been prepared for all the Inhabited villages of Haryana and Uttarakhand.
• e-Gram Swaraj e-Financial Management System:
  • e-Gram Swaraj is a Simplified Work Based Accounting Application for Panchayati Raj.
  • It assists in enhancing the credibility of Panchayat through inducing greater devolution of funds to Panchayati Raj Institutions. It brings better transparency through decentralized planning, progress reporting and work-based accounting.
• Geo-Tagging of Assets:
  • Ministry has developed “mActionSoft”, a mobile based solution to help in capturing photos with Geo-Tags (i.e., GPS Coordinates) for the works which have assets as an output.
  • As of December 2022, 2.05 lakh photographs of the assets have been uploaded by the Gram Panchayats for the activities taken under Fifteen Finance Commission in 2022.
• Citizen Charter:
  • In order to focus on the commitment of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) towards its Citizens in respects of Standard of Services, the Ministry has provided platform to upload Citizen Charter document with the slogan “Meri Panchayat Mera Adhikaar – Jan Sevaayein Hamaare Dwaar”.
  • Till December 2022, 2.15 lakh Gram Panchayats have uploaded their approved Citizen Charter and offering 952 services to citizen out of which 268 services are delivered through online mode.
• Audit Online:
  • In order to provide audited reports of Panchayat accounts in the public domain, the Ministry had conceptualized the application “AuditOnline” for carrying out online audits of Panchayat accounts pertaining to Central Finance Commission Grants.
  • It not only facilitates the auditing of accounts but also provisions for maintaining digital audit records pertaining to audits that have been carried out.
• Gram Urja Swaraj:
  • The Ministry has started the Gram Urja Swaraj initiative, with an aim to promote adoption of renewable energy at Gram Panchayat level.
  • The Ministry has also launched the Gram Urja Swaraj Portal in May 2022, to capture the inclination of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) towards adoption of renewable energy.
• Revamped Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (2022-23 to 2025-26):
  • The focus of the scheme of Revamped RGSA is on re-imagining Panchayati Raj Institutions as vibrant centers of local self-governance with special focus on Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs) at grassroot level adopting thematic approach through concerted and collaborative efforts of Central Ministries and State Line departments and other Stakeholders with ‘Whole of Government and Whole of Society’ approach.
  • The Revamped RGSA will extend to all States and Union Territories (UTs) of the country.
  • As of December 2022, an amount of Rs.435.34 crore has been released to 11 State and other implementing agencies and more than 13 lakh Elected Representatives, Functionaries and & other stakeholders of Panchayats were provided various and multiple trainings for which details have been uploaded on Training Management Portal.

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Q. The fundamental object of Panchayati Raj system is to ensure which among the following? (2015)

1. People’s participation in development
2. Political accountability
3. Democratic decentralization
4. Financial mobilization

Select the correct answer using the code given below

(a) 1, 2 and 3 only
(b) 2 and 4 only 
(c) 1 and 3 only 
(d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

Ans: (c)

Exp:

• The most fundamental objective of the Panchayati Raj system is to ensure people’s participation in development and democratic decentralization.
• Establishment of Panchayati Raj Institutions does not automatically lead to political accountability.
• Financial mobilization is not the fundamental objective of Panchayati Raj, although it seeks to transfer finances and resources to the grass root government.

Source: PIB