The major highlights of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj during the year 2021 are as follows:

1. SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas)

1.1      SVAMITVA Scheme was launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on   National Panchayati Raj Day, 24^th April 2020 with a resolve to enable economic progress of Rural India by providing “Record of Rights” to every rural household owner. The scheme aims to demarcate inhabited (Abadi) land in rural areas through the latest surveying drone-technology, is a collaborative effort of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, State Revenue Departments, State Panchayati Raj Departments and Survey of India. The scheme covers multifarious aspects viz. facilitating monetisation of properties and enabling bank loan; reducing property related disputes; comprehensive village level planning, would be the stepping-stone towards achieving Gram Swaraj in true sense and making rural India Atmanirbhar.

Phase I – Pilot Scheme (April 2020 – March 2021): Covers States of Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and establishment of Continuous operating Reference systems (CORS) in the State of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan

Phase II (April 2021 – March 2025) – Complete survey of remaining villages by 2025 and CORS network coverage across the Country by 2022.

1.2 Need for the Scheme

Survey of rural land in India for Settlement and record of rights had last been completed many decades back and moreover, ABADI (inhabited) area of villages were not surveyed/ mapped in many States. Hence, in the absence of a legal document, the owner of the property in the rural areas are not able to leverage their own property as a financial asset acceptable by the banks for the purpose of providing loans and other financial assistance. Therefore, to provide the legal right of the property to the household owners, there is a need of latest Drone Technology and Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) technology for capturing images.

1.3 Objective of the Scheme

1. Provide the right of the property to the household
2. Opens avenue for applying loans from Financial institutes by Property Owners
3. Reduction in disputes related to property
4. With clear titles, accurate size determination and transparent land titles, SVAMITVA provides the States with an unprecedented prospect of empowering the Gram Panchayats to levy and collect Property Tax, which would be available to the Panchayat for local use/ development work. This would provide financial wherewithal to the Gram Panchayats.
5. Creation of accurate land records and GIS maps, to support in preparation of better-quality Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP)
6. Enhance the socio- economic profile of the Panchayats, making them self- sustainable

1.4 Achievements under the scheme during the year

As on December 2021, drone flying has been completed in 90,504 villages; out of which feature extraction is completed in 70,554 villages and ground-truthing completed in 43,487 villages. Nearly 36 Lakh Property cards have been prepared in 28,603 villages:

*Number of properties registered

2. e-Gram Swaraj e-Financial Management System

2.1 In order to strengthen e-Governance in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), eGramSwaraj, a Simplified Work Based Accounting Application for Panchayati Raj, was launched on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day on April 24, 2020. It has been developed amalgamating the functionalities of all the applications under e-panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP). e-GramSwaraj subsumes the e-FMS applications and comprises of following modules:

• GP Profile: Maintains Panchayat profile with Election Details, Elected Members, Committee information etc.
• Panchayat Planning: Facilitates the planning of activities and action plan creation
• Physical Progress: Records the physical and financial progress of approved activities
• Financial Progress: Facilitates the work-based accounting and monitoring of funds
• Asset Directory: Stores the details of all the immovable and movable assets of the Panchayats.
• Strong Authentication Mechanism based on open source technologies.

2.2 e-GramSwaraj assists in enhancing the credibility of Panchayat through inducing greater devolution of funds to PRIs. It brings better transparency through decentralized planning, progress reporting and work-based accounting. Furthermore, the application provides a platform for effective monitoring by higher authorities. Few of the salient features incorporated in eGramSwaraj Application are:

• Workflow Enabled
• Assets available on Gram Manchitra GIS,
• Supports multi-tenancy; multiple tenants in the same instance and
• Strong Authentication Mechanism based on open source technologies.

2.3 In order to have a robust system for effective monitoring of public expenditure by means of a holistic system capturing the entire gamut of activity right from the stage of planning to monitor the various stages of work, recording the expenditure incurred for the works to providing a complete details of the asset created. In this endeavour, the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has put in place an e-Financial Management System (e-FMS) comprising of Panchayat Planning, Physical Progress, Financial Progress, and Asset Management with Local Government Directory (LGD) forming the base for such a robust system along with the Public Financial Management System (PFMS), Special Planning and Geotagging.

2.4       Further, Ministry has enabled data sharing between eGramSwaraj, PFMS and Core Banking System (CBS) through PFMS integration. The process of Reverse Integration with respective State treasuries and eGramSwaraj Interface (eGSPI) has been envisaged that obviated the need to book the receipt vouchers manually in the application which was an error prone process. This intervention has ensured end to end automation of accounting being done by the Panchayats under XV Finance Commission grants.

Current progress of the adoption of e-GramSwaraj including eGramSwaraj-PFMS Interface:

2.5       Integration of Beneficiary details with eGramSwaraj: In order to enhance transparency and empower panchayats, Ministry has integrating beneficiary details of various union Ministries/ Departments with e-Gram SWARAJ Application. The information shall be available to Gram Panchayats, to read out in the course of the Gram Sabhas for public verification. This verification would be a landmark in ensuring accountability through digitalization and public participation. As on December 2021, beneficiary details of nine scheme of three Union Ministries/ Departments are integrated with eGramSwaraj Application. This includes five schemes of Ministry of Rural Development viz. PM Awas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G), Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS), Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS), Indira Gandhi National Family Benefit Scheme (IGNFBS), two Schemes of Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying viz. National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP & NAIP II) and National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP), One scheme of Ministry of Agriculture and Family Welfare viz. Pradhan Mantri KISAN Samman Nidhi (PMKSN); One scheme of Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti viz. Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin).

3. Geo-tagging of assets

3.1 As a part of effective monitoring, it is imperative to have field-level monitoring of physical progress of the works. Further, supplementing to strengthening the system; geo-tagging of assets (on completion of work) is of utmost importance. 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 asset as an output. Geo-tagging of the assets is done in all three stages viz. (i) before start of the work, (ii) during the work and (iii) on completion of work. This would provide a repository of information on all works and assets related to natural resource management, water harvesting, drought proofing, sanitation, agriculture, check dams and irrigation channels etc.

3.2 Progress (as on December 2021): 2.52 lakh photographs of the assets have been uploaded by the Gram Panchayats for the activities taken under Fifteenth Finance Commission in the current year.

3.3 Citizen Charter               

In order to focus on the commitment of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) towards its Citizens in respects of Standard of Services, Information, Choice and Consultation, Non-discrimination and Accessibility, Grievance Redress, Courtesy and Value for Money, Ministry has provided platform to upload Citizen Charter document (https://panchayatcharter.nic.in/)  with the slogan “Meri Panchayat Mera Adhikaar – Jan Sevaayein Hamaare Dwaar” (मेरी पंचायत मेरा अधिकार – जन सेवाएं हमारे द्वार). This also includes expectations of the Organization from the Citizen for fulfilling the commitment of the Organization.

Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India, in its efforts to provide more responsive and citizen-friendly governance, coordinates the efforts to formulate and operationalize Citizens' Charters in Central Government, State Governments and UT Administrations. It provides guidelines for formulation and implementation of the Charters as well as their evaluation. Till December 2021, 1.95 lakh GPs have uploaded their approved Citizen Charter and offering 921 services to citizen out of which 241 services are delivered through online mode.

Ministry organized a one-day National level Consultative Workshop on Citizen Charter and Delivery of Services by Panchayats on November 22, 2021 with the aim to share experiences w.r.t Service Delivery at the grassroots level along with recognizing/ establishing Citizen Centric Services as the “Heart of Governance”. The workshop was attended by Senior Officials, Elected representatives and Policymakers from 16 States, involved in improving delivery of services to citizens. The Workshop culminated with the signing of the Mysuru declaration which focusing on Provision of Common Core Services that would be rolled out across the Panchayats by April 1, 2022

4. Finance Commission Grants to Rural Local Bodies

Fifteenth Finance Commission (XV FC) has made allocations of grants to the Rural Local Bodies. Its allocation for the period FY 2020-21 is Rs.60,750 Crore and for the period 2021-2026 is Rs.2,36,805 crore, which have been allocated to Panchayats in all tiers and traditional bodies in Non-Part IX States and Sixth Schedule areas.

The Grants are provided in two parts, namely, (i) a Basic (Untied) Grant (50%) and (ii) a Tied Grant (50 %). While the basic grants are untied and can be used by RLBs for location-specific felt needs, except for salary or other establishment expenditure, the Tied Grants are earmarked for the national priority focus areas of Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation. Rs.60,704.50 Crore (99.85% of allocation) and Rs. 22,327.90 Crore as the Basic (Untied) and Tied Grants for the RLBs for FY 2020–2021 and FY 2021–2022 respectively have already been released to the States based on the recommendation of Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR), which have helped create infrastructure for basic services and also augment delivery of services to the rural citizens.

XV FC has also recommended 'Health Grants' for the award period 2021–2026 amount to Rs.70,051 crore, earmarked for the improvement of health services as a component of local body grants. The rural component of the Health Grants is Rs.43,928 crore. These grants have been provided for the activities of support for diagnostic infrastructure to the primary health care facilities of sub-centres& primary health centres, establishing block level public health units, grants for building less sub-centres, primary health centres& community health centres and conversion of rural primary health centres& sub-centres into Health and Wellness Centres.

5. Social Audit Guidelines:

Social Audit is an important mechanism by which the effective utilization of grants and their outcomes by RLBs can be monitored. Social Audit involves verifying the field realities with data in official documents and discussing the findings in a public platform such as Gram Sabha. The social audit process goes beyond just accounting for the funds that has been spent to examine whether or not the expenditure was made properly. It also checks the outcomes as to the material difference in people’s lives as a result of such expenditure. the substantial amounts of grants being devolved to the RLBs, in order to promote transparency and accountability, MoPR with the assistance of NIRD&PR has formulated detailed guidelines for conduct of Social Audits of works/activities taken up with the XV FC Grants. The Social Audit Guidelines document was released by the Hon’ble Minister for Panchayati Raj on 22^nd June, 2021.

6. Dashboard on Management of COVID-19 at Rural Local Bodies

India’s fight against COVID-19 till now, has established the importance of bringing data driven strategies for COVID-19 management, especially in rural areas where the lack of information regarding COVID-19 management can be severely constraining pandemic management. Considering the recent increase in number of COVID-19 cases, MoPR, along with NIC, launched the COVID-19 Dashboard on 18^th June, 2021 for enhancing effective COVID-19 management in rural areas. The Dashboard captures several Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as GPs with VHNSC, GPs taking up IEC activities on COVID-19 awareness, volunteers enrolled, frontline workers enrolled, GPs with isolation centers etc. This dashboard shall be a crucial resource for State and Central Government in bringing localized policy interventions to ensure optimization of critical resources. The URL of the dashboard is https://egramswaraj.gov.in/covidDashboard.do

7. Audit Online

As a part of the critical institutional reform, XV FC has stipulated that the audited reports of Panchayat accounts need to be made available in the public domain, as an eligibility criteria. In this regard, MoPR had conceptualized the application “AuditOnline” for carrying out online audit 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. This application provides for streamlining the various audit processes, namely, audit inquiries, draft local audit reports, draft audit paras etc. One of the unique features of this application is that it is entirely configurable to suit to the States’ Audit process / flows complying to the respective State Audit Rules/Act(s). AuditOnline is also linked to eGramSwaraj for ease of flow of accounting related information pertaining to the Panchayats. The AuditOnline application was launched on 15th April 2020, by Secretary, MoPR through a video conference with all States. For the audit period of 2019–2020, States were asked to carry out audit of at least 25% Gram Panchayats for Fourteenth Finance Commission Grants’ accounts. So far, 25 States have achieved the target of completing audit of 25% GPs for accounts of 2019-2020. So far, 7,659 Auditors and 2,47,085 Auditees (i.e., PRIs) have been registered on the portal. For the Audit Period 2019–2020, 1,26,813 Audit plans have been created and 97,733 Audit reports have been generated. For the Audit Period 2020–2021, 1,08,318 Audit plans have been created and 42,444 Audit reports have been generated.

8. Rural Technology Advancements – Smart Vending Cart

In its efforts towards leveraging technology for Rural Development, MoPR has collaborated with Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India, Department of Science and Technology and six IITs in developing Smart Vending Cart to be used by Vendors in the rural areas. The Smart Vending E-Cart, designed by IIT Bombay, has been demonstrated and found to be quite appropriate for use the vendors / small businesses in rural, peri-urban and farm sectors.

The Smart Vending E-Cart has multifaceted user-friendly enabling technologies and features which provides proper storage and temperature for enhanced shelf life of perishable foods/items like vegetable & fruits etc. It has enhanced features for modularity, ergonomics, foldability, customer attraction, solar power LED lighting, mist cooling, weighing machine, mobile charging, radio, sitting facility, water, cash box, waste disposal bin, sanitizers, digital payment facility etc. IIT Bombay is collaborating with fabricators for mass production of the Smart Vending Carts through PPP model.

           This Smart Vending Cart has been designed with a view to minimize loss to Vendors due to wastage of perishables food items, enhance their income from fresh & good quality items, beneficial employment to new vendors, delivering comfort and convenience to them in vending as well as in mobility of Cart and availability of fresh vegetable and fruits etc. at affordable price to the people near their surrounding throughout the year. The product has also been developed in various types, namely, retrofit, manual and smart 'e versions'.

MoPR’s efforts to promote such ventures of technology adaptation will lead to development of rural entrepreneurship as well as effective and efficient provision of basic services to the rural citizens.

9. Making Gram Sabhas Vibrant

Article 243 of the Constitution defines Gram Sabha as comprising of persons registered in the electoral rolls relating to the village. The Gram Sabhas have been envisaged in the Constitution as the unique institution to play stellar role in self-governance of the rural citizens, being the grass root level democratic platform and the authority for overseeing implementation of various development programmes of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). MoPR has initiated efforts to revitalize the institution of Gram Sabhas, namely, ‘Making Gram Sabhas Vibrant’, in an effort towards strengthening the rural local self- governance by adopting a radical approach for augmenting rural economy through intensive implementation of development schemes for saturation. After intensive consultations with concerned State/UT Panchayati Raj Departments through number of virtual meetings and also after deliberations with various experts/ stakeholders on the subject, an advisory on the subject dated 16^th August, 2021 has been issued to the States/UTs.

The advisory has provided many suggestions towards making the Gram Sabhas vibrant, prominent of these being the restructuring of the frequency and methodology of conduct of the Gram Sabha meetings, the contents of the agenda and nature of deliberations in Gram Sabha meetings, awareness creation measures amongst the masses towards enhanced participation, intensive participation of the line department officials and the support systems to be developed in terms of strengthening the sub-committees of the Gram Panchayats.

            MoPR has also developed an online portal with dashboard to assimilate and display key performance parameters related to the operationalization of Vibrant Gram Sabhas in the States /UTs. The dashboard displays in real time the details of schedules of Gram Sabha and the Panchayat subcommittees, mobilization efforts and IEC activities for awareness generation. The URL of the dashboard is https://meetingonline.gov.in/

10. Organisation of National Conference on PESA

Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) and Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) jointly organised a ‘National Conference on PESA’ on completion of 25 years of its enactment and also as a part of observance of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) celebrations commemorating the 75^th year of independence. The Conference had the august presence of Hon’ble Cabinet Ministers of Ministry of Panchayati Raj and Ministry of Tribal Affairs; Hon’ble Minister of State of Ministry of Panchayati Raj; Secretaries of both the Ministries; Director General, Indian Institute of Public Administration; Director General, National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR); other senior officers of MoPR, MoTA and NIRD&PR, Principal Secretaries of Panchayati Raj as well as Tribal Development Departments of the PESA States, and representatives of the Civil Society Organizations / NGOs etc. Hon’ble Governor of Maharashtra addressed this Conference through virtual mode. Principal Secretaries / Secretaries of Governors of ten PESA States also joined this Conference through virtual mode.

11. Disaster Management Plan of Ministry of Panchayati Raj

The Disaster Management Plan (DMP) of Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been finalized after carrying out modifications based on the suggestions received from National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The Disaster Management Plan of MoPR has been approved by NDMA and conveyed to the Ministry on 27.08.2021.

12.      SKOCH Challenger Award to Ministry of Panchayati Raj for Transparency in Governance

The SKOCH Challenger Award for best performance in the area of Transparency in Governance was conferred on the Ministry of Panchayati Raj virtually during the 70^th SKOCH Summit (SKOCH Public Policy Forum) held on 16^th January 2021. Shri Sunil Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj received the SKOCH Challenger Award conferred to Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) under “Transparency in Governance” category for IT-led initiatives and transformational reforms leading to outcome-based performance improvement, better transparency and strengthening of the e-Governance in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) across the country.

13.      IEC Campaigns

The Ministry took to bulk SMSes, social media platforms and WhatsApp Groups to disseminate relevant information regarding major campaigns, initiatives, and activities of the Ministry among Panchayati Raj Institutions and other stake-holders of Panchayati Raj.

Ministry of Panchayati Raj continued to share/ retweet/ repost the IEC materials on COVID-19 Vaccination Drive and COVID-19 Positive Behavioral Change Campaign available on social media pages of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, MyGov and MyGov Corona Hub through Ministry of Panchayati Raj’s social media platforms to maintain the momentum of intensive common fight against COVID-19 at grassroots level. An initiative of Mysuru District Administration in Karnataka on COVID MITRAS – A Community Participation Based Immediate Triage & Treatment System For COVID-19 Control & Management in order to ensure the early intervention and treatment to avoid people scrambling for ICU beds due to the delay in treatment as well as Illustrated (Revised) Guidelines for Home Isolation of Mild / Asymptomatic COVID-19 Cases (Developed by MoHFW) (in Hindi and English) and SoPs on COVID-19 Containment and Management in Peri-urban, Rural and Tribal Areas were circulated among States /UTs for further sharing with Panchayati Raj Institutions across the country and the same were uploaded on dedicated web-link on the website of the Ministry [https://panchayat.gov.in/en/covid]. Best practices / innovative steps undertaken by Gram Panchayats in various States/ UTs for slowing / stopping the spread of COVID-19 in rural areas were extensively shared through Social Media / WhatsApp Groups for wider dissemination and replication in other Panchayats across the country.

For the last two years the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has extensively been disseminating useful information to create awareness among rural masses about Government schemes, programmes, policies and major campaigns of line Ministries/ Departments, especially social-sector Ministries/ Departments, through various forms of media i.e. Social Media and Bulk Short Messaging Service (SMS) and also through website and WhatsApp Groups of the Ministry. During the year 2021 the messages / posts relating to the following important days /events were disseminated through social media and/or Bulk Short Messaging Service (SMS): (i) Hon’ble Prime Minister’s interaction with beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G) after “Digital Fund Transfer” to 6.10 lakh PMAY-G beneficiaries in the State of Uttar Pradesh on 20/1/2021 [Ministry of Rural Development], (ii) Hon’ble Prime Minister’s interaction with the winners of Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar–2021 on 25/1/2021 [Ministry of Women & Child Development], (iii) National Girl Child Day on 25/1/2021 [Ministry of Women & Child Development], (iv) Reforms in the agriculture sector and farmer-centric initiatives [Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare], (v) Benefits for consumers under Consumer Protection Act, 2019 [Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution]; (vi) International Day of Yoga on 21 June 2021 [Ministry of Ayush], (vii) Merit-cum-Means Scholarship Scheme for minority students [Ministry of Minority Affairs], (viii) Poshan Maah (1 – 30 September 2021) [Ministry of Women & Child Development], (ix) Swachhta Pakhwada (1^st – 15^th October 2021) [Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation], (x) Vigilance Awareness Week (26^th October – 1^st November 2021) [Central Vigilance Commission], (xi) Constitution Day on 26 November 2021 [Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs], (x) Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Iconic Week (13 – 19^th December 2021) of Ministry of Defence / Swarnim Vijay Parv [Ministry of Defence] (xi) National Consumer Day (24 December 2021) [Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution], (xii) Good Governance Week (20 – 25 December 2021)/ Good Governance Day (25 December 2021) [Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG)], (xiii) Launching of  Yoga Break (Y-Break) App [Ministry of Ayush] etc.

For the Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Government of India, Ministry of Panchayati Raj facilitated organizing virtual interaction programs on consumer awareness with the Panchayati Raj Institutions of several States such as Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. This initiative has served as making possible meaningful and fruitful discussion between the policy-makers and Panchayats on the issues and interests of consumers and ensuring the better protection of consumer rights in rural India.

14. Press Conference on Budget Announcements

Shri Sunil Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj addressed a Press Conference on 8^th February 2021 and interacted with the PIB-accredited Correspondents / Journalists regarding the Budget Announcements and Initiatives in respect of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

15. Training & Capacity Building

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) is responsible for the work of advocacy, monitoring and implementation of the mandate of 73^rd Amendment to the Constitution. MoPR complements the efforts of State Government towards training and capacity building of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRls) through Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Ahhiyan (RGSA). During current year, Ministry has approved the Annual Action Plans (AAPs) of 33 States/UTs and released Rs. 494.94 crore to 22 States/UTs and implementing agencies till 29.12.2021. Some of the major activities approved during 2021-22 to States/UTs are as under:

* Including carryover activities

16.      People’s Plan Campaign (PPC) – Sabki Yojana Sabka Vikas

The Ministry has been rolling out People’s Plan Campaign as ‘Sabki Yojana Sabka Vikas’ since 2018 for preparation of holistic and inclusive Panchayat development plan(PDP) for the next year through people’s participation. This year, the campaign is being undertaken from 2^nd October 2021 and would last till 31^st January 2022. Preparation of a single integrated plan, responsive to the local needs and prepared through convergence of all the 29 sectors listed in the Eleventh Schedule, which are envisaged to be devolved to the Panchayats and integrating various other schemes and programmes / initiatives by other line departments, as per local priorities is the objective of the campaign. As a result of regular follow up with the states/UTs and intensive Capacity Building & Training of stakeholder of Panchayats through the scheme of RGSA, a record number of 95% GPs uploaded their GPDPs for   2021 – 2022 under the last year PPC. The status of PPC 2021 as on 29^th December 2021 is as under:

1. 2,18,352 numbers (81.1%) of Gram Sabhas held
2. 2,24,371 numbers (83.3%) of Gram Sabhas Scheduled
3. 1,27,163 numbers (47.2%) of facilitator’s feedback received.
4. 1,17,032 numbers (43.4%) of GPDP approved as per facilitator’s feedback.
5. 1,851 numbers of GPDPs uploaded on eGramswaraj portal
6. 4,675 numbers of GPDPs in pipeline

To support in preparation of holistic PDP, five regional workshops on ‘Socio-Economic Development of Panchayats’ has been conducted for Indo-Gangetic Plain, Coastal, PESA, Himalayan, North Eastern States during the campaign period.

17.      Celebration of National Panchayati Raj Day

The National Panchayati Raj Day was successfully commemorated on 24^th April 2021 despite the constraints and challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. On this occasion, Hon’ble Prime Minister launched the distribution of e-property cards under the SWAMITVA scheme through video conferencing. More than 4.09 lakh property owners were given their e-property cards on this occasion, which also marked the rolling out of the SVAMITVA scheme for implementation across the country.

Hon’ble Union Minister of Panchayati Raj alongwith a host of dignitaries including Hon’ble Chief Ministers and Panchayati Raj Ministers of several States attended the event virtually. This edition of National Panchayati Raj Day was unique in several respects:

1. All the award-winning States and Panchayati Raj Institutions received the plaques and certificates on the same day at State / District headquarters;
2. For the first time, the award-money was transferred to the bank-accounts of awardee Panchayats on the same day;
3. Hon’ble Prime Minister launched SVAMITVA, a Central Sector Scheme, across the country after successful conclusion of its Pilot Phase; and
4. A total number of 5,70,25,070 citizens registered on PM Events web-portal, handled by PM Interactions Team in the PMO and National e-Governance Division (NeGD), for participating in the aforesaid iconic virtual event – graced and addressed by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on 24^th April 2021.

18.      Commemoration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav

In line with clarion call given by Hon’ble Prime Minister to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav as a Jan-Utsav in the spirit of Jan-Bhagidari through outreach initiatives like Jan-Samvaad and Jan-Jagran about Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Ministry of Panchayati Raj has made sincere efforts to create awareness among rural masses about Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav through taking onboard Panchayati Raj Departments of States/UTs to ensure active involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions. Ministry of Panchayati Raj has drawn up a detailed week-wise plan/ strategy for 75 weeks’ celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav at Panchayat level across the country. Ministry of Panchayati Raj has identified 75 Gram Panchayats, 75 Block Panchayats and 75 District Panchayats across the country from amongst Awardee (well-performing) Panchayats / based on Mission Antyodaya scores as “Agents of Change” or “Beacon Panchayats” in consultation with States/UTs. With active participation of the Panchayati Raj Institutions in undertaking different activities as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, it has been possible to reach out to rural masses and sensitize them about the importance and objectives of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

Since mid-July 2021 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj is celebrating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav in collaboration with Ministry of Rural Development (Department of Rural Development and Department of Land Resources), State /UT Department of Panchayati Raj and Panchayati Raj Institutions, and a dedicated dashboard [https://IndiaAt75.nic.in/] has been created to display the progress with regard to events/ activities undertaken at Panchayat level as part of celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and uploading of relevant materials (photos, videos, news-clippings etc.) on the said India@75 dashboard. A total number of 92,717 Gram Panchayats, 1,834 Block Panchayats and 314 District Panchayats have uploaded event-details on India@75 dashboard as on 29 December 2021. All the relevant details are available on the following link: https://IndiaAt75.nic.in/

In response to Joint D.O. letter dated 6^th August 2021 from Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Secretary, Department of Rural Development and Secretary, Department of Land Resources calling for greater synergy between the Departments of Panchayati Raj, Rural Development and Land Resources at State/UT and District headquarters level across the country for commemoration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, Organizing Committees have been constituted at 11,857 Gram Panchayats, 139 Block Panchayats and 27 District Panchayats as on 29 December 2021 to ensure proper coordination, better outreach and higher efficiency required for strategizing and implementing various activities / events as suggested or customized as per local conditions to celebrate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav in tandem – in the spirit of camaraderie.

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has organized six National Webinars in Amrit Mahotsav series of National Webinars in commemoration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav since its nationwide launch on 12 March 2021. The relevant details of 16 major events/ activities carried out at Ministry-level in commemoration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav under the aegis of Ministry of Panchayati Raj have been uploaded on the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav portal, developed and maintained by the Ministry of Culture – Nodal Ministry for Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.

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APS/IA