(Electronic Knowledge Based Panchayat)
E-Panchayat is a software product conceptualized, designed and developed by National Information Centre, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, as a part of its E-governance initiatives. E-Panchayat has been designed taking into consideration all the information and knowledge management requirements in a Gram Panchayat. The 1992 Panchayat raj Act of Government of India, and the Success stories of the Gram Panchayats in various states in the country have been taken into consideration while developing e-Panchayat. The Government Order issued by the Government of Andhra Pradesh regarding the village secretariat and the functions of the village secretary besides the elected representatives of the gram Panchayat are all considered in this package. Thus e-Panchayat fits well into gram panchayat are all considered in this package. Thus e-Panchayat fits well into the information systems at gram panchayat level. The e-Panchayat fits well into the information systems at gram panchayat level. The e-Panchayat fits well into the information systems at gram panchayat level. The software is web enabled, and citizen-centric. Therefore, even with less overheads the village level functionaries and the citizens are envisaged to benefit by e-Panchayat.
E-Panchayat comprises nearly 30 main modules, and Nearly 150 sub-modules, in line with the 30 sectoral functions of the gram panchayats. Ramachandrapuram Gram Panchayat (Merdak District, Near Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh) was taken as panchayat for e-Panchayat.
The module facilitates provision of following information services:
• Minutes of meetings
• Schedules of Gram Sabhas
• Agenda update
• Certificates, Licences
• Bill payments
• Attendance monitoring of the Panchayat functionaries
• Gram Panchyat Meeting Management
• Gram Panchayat Cleanliness Monitoring
• Registration of Births/Deaths/Marriag,e Etc.
• SGSU works monitoring, issue of trade licences
• Pension schemes management system
• Self-help group and other villagers welfare schemes management system.
• Assets management, property tax assessment and management.
• Property lost/found reporting system
• Encroachments checking and monitoring module
• Government orders searching and retrieval system
• Village statistics maintenance and reporting system
• Intensive sanitation management information system.
This module enables the elected representatives of the gram panchayats to manage the farmers' grievances.
It facilitates rendering educational services on the best agricultural practices to enhance the yield and reduce expenditure practices to enhance the yield and reduce expenditure and enhance the quality of produce for the farmers. Also it facilitates its agriculture and related department to provide season-specific, region-specific information services to the farmers, apart from offering of counseling services to the farmers by agriculture experts.
This module also enable the gram Panchayat secretariat to report the agriculture production details of the villages.
This module provides information on irrigation canals to the public. It facilitate education on various water harvesting and conservation scheme. The module enables reporting of problems on pipelines, canals, etc. and subsequent review of problems by Sarpanch (or the head of Panchayat or Village Council).
This module facilitates provision of the following information services:
• Veterinary counseling services
• Information on animal diseases
• Information on milk procurement and quality management
• Reporting on breed improvement program.
• Livestock data collection and reporting
Fisheries
The fisheries module facilitates provision of the following information services:
• Fisheries, counseling
• Provision of information on potential fishing zones
• Provision of fishermen welfare scheme related information
• Rendering market related information services.
• Weather forecasts.
Social Forestry
This modules facilities provision of the following information services.
• Mobilization of volunteers by secretary.
• Submitting report on illegal feeling of trees.
• Procurement and management of information on the vegetative resources of the gram panchayat.
Elections
This module provides the following information services:
• Registration of voters
• Objection to voters list
• Elected representative information
• Publication of electoral role
• Dissemination of electoral roles.
This module extends following information services:
• Loans/schemes for entrepreneurs
• Raw material sources
• Market information
• Marketing services
• Loan repayment
• Information on income generating projects.
Housing
The module provides information service such as:
• Low cost housing technique information
• Apply for housing scheme
• Loan recovery status information
• Information on housing
Water
Information services provided under the module are:
• Information on water clearing technology
• Approved vender’s information for water treatment.
• Water sources information
• Problems reporting and counseling
Fodder and Fuel
This module provided information services on:
• Smokeless chullas
• Bio-gas plants
• Application for sanction subsidized loans for setting
• Problems reporting in maintaining the plants
• Request for samplings
• Energy saving techniques.
Roads, Bridges and Culverts
Under this module the information services available are:
• Submission of proposals by people
• Authentication of cost estimates
• Maintenance problems reporting
• Monitoring the repair activities.
Street Lighting and Electric Supply
The module facilitates provision of following information service
• Proposal for erecting polls and transformers.
• Problems reposting on electrical lamps replacement
• Status on bulbs procured/replaced
• Electrical correction application.
• Payment of electrical bills
Alternative Energies
Information services available under the module are:
• Information on Solar Water Heater
• Solar Cookers/Dryers
• Wind Mills. Wind Zoning information
• Information on Bio-gas plants (Rich busk based)
• Submission on available bio-mass.
• Directory of manufacturers
Poverty Eradication
The following information service are provided by this module.
• Authentication of BPL status
• Applying for schemes by citizens
• Verify credentials
• Analyze the requests
• Funds disbursement status
• Feedback on the beneficiaries
• Information on income generating schemes.
Primary Education
This modules provides information services on:
• Inventory of schools
• Resource available at schools
• Teachers information
• Teaching materials
• Enrolment status
• Information dropouts
Technical Education
Information made available under the module are as follows:
• Inventory of ITI and Polytechnic Institutes
• Details of courses offered
• Apply the administration
• Schedule of training program
• Problems reporting and counseling by technicians
• Results and other information.
Library
• This module facilities provision of information services such as
• Information on library tax collected
• Details on expenditure on books procurement in village library
• Requests for new books information by Public
• Preservation of books.
Cultural Program
The module facilities provision on information services such as:
• Directory of libraries
• Information on library tax collected
• Details on expenditure on books procurement in village library
• Requests for new books information by public
• Preservation of books.
Cultural Program
The module provided information on:
• Enrolment of articles
• Training the artist
• Schedule of program
• Information on opportunities
Markets
The modules facilitate information service on:
• Price information on food grains
• Vegetable price
• Marketing services
• Scheme information
• Marketing
Health
This module provide following information:
• Disease information
• Communicable diseases
• Attendance of doctors in PHC
• Status of medicines and consumable
Women and Child Welfare
The modules extends information services such as:
• Immunization schedules
• Nutrition program, ICDS schemes information
• Eligible children and nursing mothers information updating
• Schedule of campus
• Counseling by health workers
Social Welfare
Under the module information service available are:
• Atrocities reporting
• Welfare scheme information
• Inventory handicapped persons
• Donors information
• Counseling
• Apply for schemes.
Cottage Industries
• Inventory
• Counselling
• Loans application
• Marketing services
• Raw materials sources information
Weaker Sections Welfare
This module offers information service on:
• Atrocities reporting
• Welfare scheme
• Inventory and weaker artisans
• Marketing service
• Produce of weaker sections
Public Distribution
Information services available in this module are:
• FB shops
• Stock status
• Card holder information
• Problems report
Protection of Property
The module facilitates information services such as:
• Encroachment complex
• Status of encroachment
• Maintenance
• Tax collection bills.
Land Records module of e-Panchayat enable Land Records Maintenance by village secretary and rendering verification and certification service to the citizens. This also facilitates land revenue management, with appropriate reports to the revenue/gram Panchayat official and the citizens.
Village Accounting System (VAS)
Follows are the features of VAS:
• Cash transactions
• Bill receipts
• DDS and challan receipts
• Automatic challan submission
• Treasury payments
• Classified accounts
• All kinds of taxes, fee collections (online/offline)
• Cheques/DDs reconciliation.
• Reports (Daily collection report)
– Ersalnama
– Chilla
– Monthly classifications
– Challan receipts
– Demand and collection reports.
Births and Deaths Registrations
• Capturing of event details
• Name inclusion
• Non-availability certificate
• Registration of events
• Issuance of certificates
• Statistics.
Property Tax and Vacant Land Tax
• Assessment as per monthly rental value
• Warrants and distrains
• Title transfers
• Demand collections
• Write-off and temporary remissions
• Vacancy remissions
• Exemptions
• Special notice/endorsements/demand notices
• Registers/Field books/Defaults
Dangerous and Offensive Trades
• Issue of licenses
• Cancellations
• Renewal certificates
• Demand notices
• Fee collection.
Water Tap Connection and Water Tax Collection
• Sanction of metered/Non-metered connections
• Disconnections/Reconnections
• Regularization
• Work orders/Endorsements
• Demand notices
• Collection of water charges.
Advertisement Tax
• Advertiser registration
• Unauthorized advertisements
• Regularizations
• Renewals
• Tendered advertisements
• Demand notice
• Collection of rents/Lease amounts
Building Permissions
• Building approval for residential/groups housing/now
• Housing/commercial/educational institutions/industries
• Planning fee
• Technical scrutiny
• Proceedings
• Issue of occupancy certificates
• Unauthorized buildings.
• Unauthorized buildings
• Encroachments.
Building Permission
• Building approvals for residential/groups housing/now
• Housing commercial/educational institutions/industries
• Planning fee
• Technical security
• Proceedings
• Issue of occupancy certificates
• Unauthorized buildings
• Encroachments
Projects and Works Monitoring
• Contactor registrations
• Standard schedules rates
• Estimate cost value
• Fund allocation
• Tendered notices
• Tender schedules
• Work order
• Execution of work orders
• Monitoring of works
• Payments and recoveries
Grievance Redressal
• Grievance registrations.
• Pendency monitoring seat/section wise.
Assets and Inventory
• Assets/Inventory registrations
• Maintenance of assets
• Inventory management
• Rental/Lease of assets
Court cases
• Filing suits
• Monitoring of cases at different stages such as admission, interim order, hearing, judgement, appeal, disposal of suits.
Financial Accounting
• Head of accounts
• Payments
• Receipts
• Chitta and each book
• Demand collection balance.
Disbursement of Old Age/Widow and Disable Pensions
• Accepting applications for old age/widow/disabled pensions from anywhere on the internet under NOAP Scheme of Government of India Generation of acknowledgement slip for the same.
• Generation of acknowledgement slip for the same
• Reporting the sanction status of the application accepted
• Online disbursement of old age pension along with generation of acquaintance roll
• Generation of list and summary reports and disbursement and funds details for monitoring the scheme progress
• Reporting he disbursement status of the Beneficiaries.
• Linkage to MPHS data and SSIDs for verifying beneficiaries data.
SGRY and Other Works Monitoring
• Accepting work requests from anywhere on the Internet
• Capturing work details related to all the works as accepted by the Grama-Sabha resolution along with work estimates and technical details
• Capturing tender details of Works funded by Gram Panchayat.
• Capturing work stages and sanction details of works
• Capturing funds details on allocation and releases with respect to cash and food grains as part of SGRY, 11th Finance Commission Schemes
• Allotment of laborers/beneficiaries to works
• Payment of wages in case and food grains to beneficiaries along with generation of acquaintance and maintenance of master rolls.
• Generation of work agreement and work orders to agencies/contractors in case of works funded by gram panchayat
• Capturing voucher-wise works expenditure details
• Reporting of physical and financial progress of works
• Reporting on man-days generated with respect to SGRY stream I and II schemes
• Generation of cash books related to SGRY, EFC and GP funds.
• Reporting to MDO and DPO on Government of India formats
• Generation of beneficiary lists and work stage details on all works
• Reporting of work status.
Conclusion
E-Panchayat aims to cover all information requirement of the village Panchayat, both form the staff angle and the citizen angle.
E-Panchayat is already operationalized (by National Information Centre, Hyderabad) in several pilot village in Andhra Pradesh. A rollout plan for implementation at the national level is being taken up. This case study summarizes the main features of e-Panchayat.
REF: E GOVERNANCE BY CSR PRABHU