The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) organised a Regional Workshop titled Seva Se Samriddhi: Panchayat-led Service Delivery at Guwahati today. The workshop was organised in collaboration with the Common Services Centre Special Purpose Vehicle (CSC-SPV) and the Department of Panchayat and Rural Development, Government of Assam. It is part of a sustained series of initiatives by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj aimed at improving service delivery and strengthening Ease of Living in Grameen Bharat through empowered, accountable, and responsive Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Rural Local Bodies. The workshop brings together Panchayat functionaries and elected representatives, Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) along with State Government officials from seven States: Assam (host State), Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Telangana.

The workshop was chaired by Prof. S. P. Singh Baghel, Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj. Addressing the gathering Prof. Baghel emphasised that the path to national prosperity flows through villages, farmers, and rural livelihoods, and that the true empowerment of individuals is the bedrock of empowered villages, empowered States, and ultimately a developed and self-reliant nation.

The Minister highlighted that CSCs across the country, have generated large-scale rural employment while providing crores of citizens seamless access to essential services including pensions, certificates, insurance schemes, and welfare programmes. He underscored the importance of improving data accuracy in Aadhaar, bank, and land records, noting that even minor discrepancies often prevent eligible beneficiaries from accessing transformative schemes such as PM-Kisan.

Calling for enhanced training and capacity building of CSC operators, the Union Minister affirmed that when CSCs are effectively integrated with Gram Panchayats, they become powerful and responsive hubs of public service delivery at the doorstep of every citizen. He urged all stakeholders to deepen convergence between digital platforms and local governance institutions so that every eligible citizen receives timely benefits, thereby truly realising the vision of Seva Se Samriddhi and making a decisive contribution to Viksit Bharat 2047.

On this occasion Shri Rameswar Teli, Minister of Transformation and Development, Labour Welfare, and Tea Tribes and Adivasi Welfare, Government of Assam, appreciated the collaborative spirit of the Government of India and the Government of Assam in strengthening last-mile service delivery through Panchayati Raj Institutions. He highlighted that the welfare of Tea Tribe and Adivasi communities remains a central priority of the State government, with ongoing initiatives directed at improving livelihoods, access to welfare schemes, education, health, and social security for these communities, ensuring that the benefits of development reach every section of society. He emphasised the indispensable role of empowered local governance in effective scheme implementation and expressed confidence that sustained inter-departmental coordination would further accelerate Assam’s development journey.

The workshop felicitated outstanding Gram Panchayats and Village Level Entrepreneurs from the participating States. Suakati Gram Panchayat, Kendujhar District, Odisha, winner of the Jury Award at the National e-Governance Awards 2025 for Pioneering Digital Service Delivery, was recognised for digitising essential services through the OdishaOne and Seva Odisha platforms, providing 24x7 citizen access with real-time tracking while exemplifying women’s leadership and inclusive service delivery at the grassroots.

Shivareddygudem Gram Panchayat, Yadadri Bhuvanagiri District, Telangana, recognised among the top-performing Gram Panchayats at the National e-Governance Awards 2025, was felicitated as a replicable model of transparent, citizen-centric, and technology-enabled grassroots governance.

Champion Village Level Entrepreneurs felicitated at the workshop were: Smt. Girija Nath (Assam), Smt. Sumitra Das (Odisha), Shri Amandeep Singh (Punjab), and Smt. Surta Devi Saini (Rajasthan), each honoured for their exemplary contribution to digital service delivery at the village level.

Smt. Mukta Shekhar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, while delivering the inaugural address stated that the convergence of Gram Panchayats and CSCs has emerged as a strong pillar of rural transformation, combining local understanding with digital capability, and underlined that digital governance is, at its core, about ensuring dignity, accessibility, and inclusion for every rural citizen. She informed participants that a dedicated category for Gram Panchayat Service Delivery Innovations has been introduced under the National e-Governance Awards to recognise and celebrate excellence at the grassroots level.

On this occasion Dr. Ballepu Kalyan Chakravarthy, Addl. Chief Secretary, Panchayat & Rural Development, Govt. of Assam underscored the State’s commitment to inclusive and digital governance, emphasizing capacity building, devolution of powers, and the role of Panchayati Raj Institutions in ensuring efficient and citizen-centric service delivery at the grassroots level. He emphasised the importance of collaborative learning among States and the role of digital platforms in transforming rural governance. Reaffirming Assam’s commitment to the broader vision of Seva Se Samriddhi, he expressed confidence that the deliberations of the workshop would lead to actionable outcomes for strengthening Panchayati Raj systems across the country.

Shri Akhil Kumar, Managing Director and CEO, CSC-SPV, highlighted that CSC has grown into one of the world’s largest last-mile service delivery networks, enabling citizens even in the most remote areas to access services such as Aadhaar, PAN, banking, insurance, pensions, and welfare schemes without the burden of long-distance travel. He spoke of the profound socio-economic impact of the CSC model, noting that lakhs of VLEs, including a significant and inspiring number of women entrepreneurs, have been empowered while simultaneously strengthening digital infrastructure at the grassroots level.

The workshop provided a rich platform for peer learning and cross-State knowledge sharing on best practices in Panchayat-led service delivery. The first panel discussion, titled From Policy to People: Translating Governance into Action, brought together representatives of flagship State service delivery platforms, namely e-Mitra (Rajasthan), e-Sewa (Punjab), Lok Seva Guarantee Portal (Madhya Pradesh), Panchayat Secretariat (Andhra Pradesh), Mee Seva (Telangana), and OdishaOne (Odisha), along with CSC-SPV, moderated by Smt. Keerthi Jalli, Commissioner, Panchayat and Rural Development, Government of Assam.

The first technical session on Technology-enabled Panchayati Raj and Service Delivery was delivered by Dr. Siddhartha Singha, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. The second technical session, delivered by Shri Amitabh Nag, CEO, BHASHINI, titled Language as Infrastructure: Reimagining Last-mile Governance through BHASHINI, presented the transformative potential of multilingual digital infrastructure in enabling truly accessible and inclusive governance.