The transformative mobile application “Meri Panchayat” has been internationally recognized with the prestigious World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes 2025 Champion Award under the Action Line Category: Cultural Diversity and Identity, Linguistic Diversity and Local Content. The honor was conferred during the WSIS+20 High-Level Event 2025, organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as part of the WSIS initiative. Meri Panchayat, as a WSIS Prizes 2025 Champion Project, symbolizes the global excellence of India’s digital governance model. The WSIS Champion Certificate was formally presented to the Union Minister of Panchayati Raj, Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, at a ceremonial event held in New Delhi today. The occasion was also graced by Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, Prof. S. P. Singh Baghel, Secretary MoPR, Shri Vivek Bharadwaj and other senior officers of the Ministry.

On this occasion, Union Minister Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh lauded the Meri Panchayat initiative that has helped in advancing citizen-centric governance through digital means. He also emphasized upon the need to further leverage such digital tools to enhance transparency, promote participatory democracy, and bridge the information and knowledge divide at the grassroots level.

 

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 High-Level Event 2025 was held from 7 to 11 July 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland. Also known as the WSIS Forum 2025, the event was co-hosted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Swiss Confederation and co-organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP, and UNCTAD. Marking twenty years since the original WSIS, it provides a global platform to assess progress, address emerging challenges, and chart the future course for building inclusive information societies. Ms. Sunita Jain, Senior Director, NIC / NIC–MoPR, received the prestigious Champion Award for “Meri Panchayat” on behalf of the Government of India in Geneva on 10 July during the WSIS+20 High-Level Event 2025.

About Meri Panchayat app

“Meri Panchayat App – The m-Governance Platform for Panchayats of India” empowers over 25 lakh elected representatives and approximately 950 million rural residents across India’s 2.65 lakh Gram Panchayats, transforming rural governance through digital inclusion and transparency. It is an initiative of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj and National Informatics Centre (NIC) under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.  

Through Meri Panchayat App, citizens can effortlessly access, on their mobile devices:

• Real-time Panchayat budgets, receipts, payments and development plans 
• Details of elected representatives and functionaries 
• Information on public infrastructure and civic services in their Panchayat
• Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs) and track project proposals
• Weather forecasting at Gram Panchayat level
• Social audit tools, fund utilization data, and grievance redressal with geo-tagged and geo-fenced features
• Multilingual interface supporting 12+ Indian languages to ensure inclusiveness

The app also enables citizens to propose new projects, review and rate implemented works, and access Gram Sabha agendas and decisions, thereby strengthening participatory democracy and civic engagement.

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Aditi Agrawal

(Release ID: 2146516)