Spatial Planning Application ‘Gram Manchitra’ launched

Out of the 2.5 lakh panchayats in the country 240 panchayats were confered the National Panchayat Awards 2019 by Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Panchayati Raj in New Delhi today. Congratulating the award winners, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar called upon every panchayat to move ahead for making a new India. The Minister said that Gram Panchayats and Sarpanchs should fully utilize the powers given to them and should formulate the Development Plans for their panchayats at the earliest to effectively implement the Government programs.

Shri Tomar said that every elected representative should be proud of the responsibility given to them by the voters and they are no less than any other elected representative of the country. He also asked the awarded panchayat representatives to be a model and motivation to other panchayats so that they also can learn and strive for betterment.

The Panchayati Raj Ministers from states of Karnataka, Chattisgarh, Assam and Tamil Nadu along with representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions across the country took part in the award ceremony.

The Best performing Panchayats were selected based on various criteria and indicators. This incentivization encourages Panchayat representatives who make special efforts; creates models for other Panchayats and Gram Sabhas to follow and focuses public attention on Panchayats’ performance, which encourages all Panchayats to improve their performance. Finally, this creates an eco-system for overall good governance at the local level.

The Awards were given under the following categories:

i. Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar (DDUPSP): given to best performing Panchayats (District, Intermediate and Gram) in recognition of the good work done for improving delivery of services and public goods. DDUPSPs are given for general and following nine thematic categories:

• Sanitation

• Civic Services (drinking water, street light, infrastructure)

• Natural Resource Management

• Serving Marginalized Section (women, SC/ST, disabled, senior citizen)

• Social Sector Performance

• Disaster Management

• CBOs/ Individuals taking voluntary actions to support Gram Panchayats

• Innovation in revenue generation

• e-Governance

ii. Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar (NDRGGSP): Given to Gram Panchayats (GPs) for their outstanding contribution to the socio-economic development by involving Gram Sabhas.

iii. Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) Award: Introduced during the year 2018, this award is conferred to best performing Gram Panchayats (GPs) across the country which have developed their GPDPs according to the State/UT specific guidelines prepared in line with the model guidelines issued by Ministry of Panchayati Raj [or adopted as such].

iiii. Child-friendly Gram Panchayat Award: This award has been instituted during the year 2018-19 for best performing GPs/Village Councils (VCs) (one in each State/UT) for adopting child-friendly practices.

v. e-Panchayat Puraskar is given to States/UTs or promoting e-enablement of PRIs for bringing in efficiency, transparency and accountability in their functioning. The main aim of this award is to encourage the Panchayats for the use of information and communication technology and to incentivize those States/UTs, which have made dedicated efforts in adopting and implementing the e-Panchayat Applications and enabling electronic delivery of services through Panchayats & equivalent rural bodies. The States/UTs are analyzed on the basis of the performance assessment parameters.

Details of number of awards under various categories of National Panchayat Awards 2019 are as follows:

The Minister also launched a Spatial Planning Application called ‘Gram Manchitra’ which is a Geo Spatial based decision support system for the panchayats. The panchayats can utilize this App to plan, develop and monitor developmental activities on re3al time basis.