Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) being implemented since 2018-19, the Ministry has provided financial support to the tune of Rs1508.728 crores to the States/ Union Territories (UTs) during the last three years for various activities relating to strengthening of Panchayats including Trainings on eGramSwaraj and support for e-Enablement of Panchayats viz. providing e-governance support group at State & District level, support for computers & peripherals for Gram Panchayats at limited scale. Under the scheme of RGSA, computers & peripherals have been approved for 37,516 Panchayats during the last three years. No support is provided to States for internet connection under the scheme of RGSA. However, as per information available out of 170136 service ready GPs, 58385 GPs are using active internet connections through BharatNet Project.

The Ministry has undertaken evaluation of scheme of RGSA during 2020-21. The evaluation report has appreciated the interventions made through the scheme of RGSA for enhancing the capabilities of Panchayats for good governance and attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through participatory local planning. It has underlined the need for paradigm shift in functioning of Panchayats, modest shift in Capacity Building and Training strategies, innovation in use of technology for responsive service delivery for transparency and accountability. The evaluation has recommended for the continuation of RGSA with suitable revamping to further improve the governance capabilities at third tier of Government for localisation of SDGs and to deliver on the targeted performance.

This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj Shri Kapil Moreshwar Patil in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.

*****

APS/JK

(Release ID: 1794828) Visitor Counter : 1417