An Expert Group chaired by Director General, National Informatics Centre, on Information Technology (IT) Programmes of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), had recommended preparation of plans incorporating a minimum computing environment for all three tiers of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). Accordingly, the MoPR formulated the e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) wherein 11 Core Common Applications (together called Panchayat Enterprise Suite) were planned addressing all aspects of Panchayats™ functioning viz. from internal core functions such as Planning, Monitoring, Implementation, Budgeting, Accounting, Social Audit, etc to citizen service delivery like issue of certificates, licenses etc. Four of these Applications namely PRIASoft, PlanPlus, National Panchayat Portal and Local Governance Directory have been in use by the States for two years. Six more Applications namely Area Profiler, ServicePlus, Asset Directory, ActionSoft, Social Audit and Trainings Management were launched on the occasion of National Panchayat Day on 24th April, 2012 and training is being imparted on these Applications before their adoption.
Under e-Panchayat MMP, so far, no funds have been released to States/UTs for procurement of any hardware including computers. However, the States/UTs have been advised to utilize available funds from other sources such as 13th Central Finance Commission grants, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF), State funds, etc. for procuring IT infrastructure including computers at Panchayats. Due to differentials in levels of availability of infrastructure as well as preparedness of the States for e-enablement, no time frame has been fixed for computerization of all the Panchayats in the country during the Twelfth Five Year Plan.
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