Parliament Question: Digital Infrastructure and Internet Connectivity in Panchayats

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRYOF PANCHAYATI RAJ LOK SABHA STARREDQUESTION NO. 223 ANSWEREDON 05/08/2025 DIGITALINFRASTRUCTUREAND INTERNETCONNECTIVITYIN PANCHAYATS †*223.SMT.SHOBHANABEN MAHENDRASINH BARAIYA: SHRIMANOJ TIWARI: Will the Minister of PANCHAYATIRAJ be pleased to state: a) the total number of Gram Panchayats in the country and the details of parameters/criteria prescribed for providing dedicated office infrastructure and internetconnectivity toGram Panchayats,Stateanddistrict-wise; b) the details andnumberof computers sanctionedfor empoweringthe Gram Panchayats digitally and the States where 100 percent digital saturation has been achieved, State and district-wise including Mahasamund in Chhattisgarh and Jalgaon in Maharahstra LokSabhaConstituencies; c) the future plan outlined by the Government to provide infrastructural and digital resources tothe remainingPanchayats; d) the role of the said initiatives in enhancing service delivery and administrative efficiency to Panchayats under the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan(RGSA), State- wise; and e) the details of other facilities provided so far to the Gram Panchayats and funds allocated and utilized under RGSA for better performance and strengthening Panchayats during the last three years State and district-wise including Mahasamund LokSabhaConstituency in Chhattisgarh? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF PANCHAYATI RAJ (SHRIRAJIVRANJAN SINGH ALIAS LALAN SINGH) (a)to(e): Astatement islaidonthe Tableof the House. 1(a)to(c)Panchayat, being “LocalGovernment”,isa Statesubject andpart of the Statelist of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. Thus the primary responsibility of providing dedicated office infrastructure for Gram Panchayats and internet connectivity in Panchayats lies with States/UTs. The Gram Panchayat Bhawan functions as the office for Panchayats to carry out its various administrative functions. The States/ UTs have to ensure the Gram Panchayat Bhawan is functional, with provisions such as public seating, space for Gram Sabha meetings, information walls, multifunctional rooms etc. to support effective governance and community use. However, under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA), the Ministry supplements the efforts of States/UTs in building Panchayat infrastructure and Computers and peripherals, at a limited scale, with particular focus on the North Eastern States. Further, Ministry with its limited resources under RGSA, attempted saturation approach for supporting Gram Panchayat Bhawans and computerization. With regard to Gram Panchayat Bhawans, the focus was on approving GP Bhawan for Panchayats having a population of over 3,000 but lacking their own building. Accordingly, during 2024–25, construction of 3,301 Gram Panchayat Bhawans was approved under the scheme to different States/UTs, in addition to the 9,639 Bhawans already approved for various States/UTs. Similarly, with regard to the computer, the focus was on approving computer for the GPs having their own building and approved 22,164 computers to different States/UTs, apart from the already approved 30398 computers under the scheme. As per information available, there are 2,63,989 Gram Panchayats/ Traditional Local Bodies (GPs/TLBs) across the country, out of which 2,26,948Panchayats havingBuilding. State/UT- wise detailsare givenat Annexure-I.District-wise information isnot maintainedcentrally. Further, to attain the vision of Digital India, the BharatNet project is being implemented by Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in a phased manner to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats in the country. So far, 2.18 lakh GPs/TLBs have beenmade service-ready for providing high-speed internet services underthe BharatNet project Additionally, to improve digital connectivity, the Amended BharatNet Programme was approved by the Cabinet on 04.08.2023 for the upgradation of the existing network of BharatNet Phase-I and Phase-II and the creation of a network in the remaining Gram Panchayats. In addition, Panchayats are also using internet connection of private service providers. Details of computers approved under the scheme are at Annexure-II. So far, the State/ UTs of Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Manipur, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar, DNH&DD and Ladakh have reported 100% computer saturation. Further, as reported, 20 computers have been sanctioned to Mahasamund Lok Sabha Constituency in Chhattisgarh and 14 Jalgaon LokSabhaConstituency in Maharahstra. (d) to (e) Under the RGSA scheme, various initiatives have been taken to enhance service delivery and administrative efficiency in Panchayats across States. These include support for 2the construction of Gram Panchayat Bhawans with essential civic amenities, with focus on the North Eastern States, toprovide a functionalspace for governance andpublic service. Additionally, the Ministry is implementing the e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) under RGSA, which has significantly enhanced transparency, efficiency, and governance at the grassroots level. The eGramSwaraj application, developed as part of the e- Panchayat MMP, has facilitated digital planning, accounting, monitoring, and online payments at the Panchayat level. The integration of eGramSwaraj with the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) enables real-time payments to vendors and service providers, ensuring seamless fund flow and reducing delays. In FY 2024-25, a total of 2.55 lakh Gram Panchayats across the country uploaded their Gram Panchayat Development Plans (GPDPs), and over ₹61,000crore was transferred through the eGramSwaraj-PFMS interface.The State -wise adoption status of eGramSwaraj for the XV Finance Commission is provided at Annexure-III. The Ministry has also integrated eGramSwaraj with the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) to bring transparency to Panchayat procurement. This integration allows Panchayats to procure goods and services through GeM via the eGramSwaraj platform, promoting the “Vocal for Local” initiative. Further, applications developed by the Ministry like Meri Panchayat have endeavored to bring transparency in Panchayat Governance by making information on planning, activities and progress of works in Panchayat accessible to public. For instance, Panchayat NIRNAY is an online application which aims to bring transparency andbettermanagement inconductof Gram Sabhasby Panchayats. Further, an application of ‘AuditOnline’ has been developed for online audits of Panchayat accounts and their financial management. Launched in April 2020, AuditOnlineis meant for transparent auditing of Central Finance Commission funds utilization to strengthen financial management of Panchayats. For audit year 2023-24, 2.45 lakh Audit Plans have beencreated and2.39 lakhAudit Report have been generatedbyGram Panchayats.The State wise progress on AuditOnline for the auditperiod2023-24 isprovided at Annexure-IV. Furthermore, to ensure ease of living and quality of life in rural areas of the country, the Ministry is supporting the States in co-location of Common Services Centres (CSCs) within Gram Panchayat Bhawans and isbeing implemented inconvergence with the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY).Through CSC co-location, Panchayats are being equipped to offer a wide range of e-governance services to rural citizens at their door steps. The main objective of the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) is to build capacity of Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs) through imparting training to Elected Representatives (ERs) and other stakeholders of Panchayats to develop their governance capabilities for leadership roles to enable the Panchayats to function effectively. Apart from training, the scheme also provide support to the States/ UTs to establish institutional 3mechanism for the Capacity Building & Training and to create Panchayat infrastructure like Gram Panchayat Bhawan, Computer and Co-location of Common Service Centres (CSCs) in Gram Panchayat Bhawan on limited scale. Under the scheme, funds are released to States/UTs and not directly to districts. Details of Central Share released and fund spent by the States/UTs includingChhattisgarh during last three yearsisat Annexure-V. **** 4Annexure-I Annexreferto inreplyto Part(a) to (c)of theLok SabhaStarredQuestion No. 223to be answered on05/08/2025 State/UT-wise detailsof Gram Panchayatswith PanchayatBuildings Sl.No. Name of theState/UTs TotalGPs/ Equivalent* GPswith Bhawan 1 Andhra Pradesh 13371 12139 2 Arunachal Pradesh 2108 1182 3 Assam 2192 1934 4 Bihar 8053 1548 5 Chhattisgarh 11693 11623 6 Goa 191 183 7 Gujarat 14648 12047 8 Haryana 6227 2690 9 HimachalPradesh 3615 3537 10 Jammu andKashmir 4291 3964 11 Jharkhand 4345 4247 12 Karnataka 5948 5690 13 Kerala 941 940 14 Madhya Pradesh 23011 21556 15 Maharashtra 27943 23454 16 Manipur 161 134 17 Meghalaya 6431 5372 18 Mizoram 834 470 19 Nagaland 1315 753 20 Odisha 6794 5576 21 Punjab 13236 8329 22 Rajasthan 11193 11193 23 Sikkim 199 185 24 Tamil Nadu 12525 11694 25 Telangana 12848 10160 26 Tripura 606 588 27 Uttar Pradesh 57691 55058 28 Uttarakhand 7817 7037 29 West Bengal 3339 3252 UnionTerritories 1 Andaman& Nicobar 70 68 The Dadra And Nagar Haveli 2 42 42 And DamanAnd Diu 3 Lakshadweep 10 10 4 Ladakh 193 185 5 Puducherry 108 108 Total 263989 226948 *AsperinformationprovidedbytheStates/UTsintheAnnualActionPlan 5Annexure-II Annexreferto inreplyto Part(a) to (c)of theLok SabhaStarredQuestion No. 223to be answered on05/08/2025 State/UT-wise detailsof Computers approvedunderrevamped RGSA Sl.No. State/UTs Approved* 1 Andhra Pradesh 1922 2 Arunachal Pradesh 1936 3 Assam 2055 4 Bihar 4267 5 Chhattisgarh 6496 6 Goa 0 7 Gujarat 43 8 Haryana 1363 9 HimachalPradesh 334 10 Jammu andKashmir 1318 11 Jharkhand 2306 12 Karnataka 0 13 Kerala 200 14 Madhya Pradesh 289 15 Maharashtra 1625 16 Manipur 141 17 Meghalaya 1677 18 Mizoram 591 19 Nagaland 739 20 Odisha 350 21 Punjab 8334 22 Rajasthan 1554 23 Sikkim 235 24 Tamil Nadu 1594 25 Telangana 3452 26 Tripura 493 27 Uttar Pradesh 3145 28 Uttarakhand 4260 29 West Bengal 1712 30 Andaman& Nicobar 0 31 The Dadra & Nagar Haveli andDaman& Diu 4 32 Lakshadweep 0 33 Ladakh 127 34 Puducherry 0 Total 52562 *Approved from 2022-23 to 2025-26 (ason31.07.2025) 6Annexure-III Annexreferto inreplyto Part (d)to (e)of theLok SabhaStarred QuestionNo. 223to beanswered on05/08/2025 eGramSwaraj- Statewise Usage (2024-25) Village Total Pancha Total Block Total Zila Number yats & Number Block Pancha Number Zila Pancha of Village Equival of Block Pancha yats of Zila Pancha yats Village Pancha S.No. StateName ent Pancha yat With Pancha yat With Pancha yat With yats & onboar Online yats & onboar Online yats & onboard Online Equival d Paymen Equival d Paymen Equival Paymen ent* t ent* t ent* t 1 Andhra Pradesh 13328 13320 13002 660 660 645 13 13 13 2 Arunachal Pradesh 2108 2108 426 0 0 0 27 26 11 3 Assam 2662 2197 2183 191 191 191 30 29 27 4 Bihar 8054 8054 8046 534 534 531 38 38 38 5 Chhattisgarh 11701 11684 11540 146 146 146 33 33 27 6 Goa 191 191 97 0 0 0 2 2 2 7 Gujarat 14656 14645 14006 248 248 248 33 33 33 8 Haryana 6226 6226 5980 143 143 134 22 22 22 9 HimachalPradesh 3615 3615 3557 81 81 81 12 12 12 10 Jharkhand 4345 4345 4335 264 264 263 24 24 24 11 Karnataka 5954 5954 5942 238 232 127 31 31 29 12 Kerala 941 941 941 152 152 152 14 14 14 13 Madhya Pradesh 23011 23011 22987 313 313 311 52 52 52 14 Maharashtra 27955 27940 27025 351 351 312 34 34 34 15 Manipur 3812 161 125 0 0 0 12 6 4 16 Meghalaya 6817 0 0 2241 0 0 3 3 0 7Village Total Pancha Total Block Total Zila Number yats & Number Block Pancha Number Zila Pancha of Village Equival of Block Pancha yats of Zila Pancha yats Village Pancha S.No. StateName ent Pancha yat With Pancha yat With Pancha yat With yats & onboar Online yats & onboar Online yats & onboard Online Equival d Paymen Equival d Paymen Equival Paymen ent* t ent* t ent* t 17 Mizoram 842 842 832 0 0 0 0 0 0 18 Nagaland 1289 977 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19 Odisha 6794 6794 6794 314 314 314 30 30 30 20 Punjab 13237 13234 10240 153 151 123 23 22 19 21 Rajasthan 11222 11219 10905 361 353 351 33 33 33 22 Sikkim 199 199 195 0 0 0 6 6 6 23 Tamil Nadu 12525 12525 12520 388 388 388 36 36 36 24 Telangana 12991 12768 12648 572 540 514 32 32 32 25 Tripura 1194 1194 1175 75 75 75 9 9 9 26 Uttarakhand 7795 7795 7757 95 95 95 13 13 13 27 Uttar Pradesh 57691 57691 57638 826 826 819 75 75 75 28 West Bengal 3339 3339 3339 345 345 345 22 21 21 Total 264494 252969 244235 8691 6402 6165 659 649 616 *As perthe informationprovidedbythe Statesonthe portal 8Annexure-IV Annexreferto inreplyto Part(d)to (e)of the Lok SabhaStarred QuestionNo. 223to be answeredon05/08/2025 Statewise progresson AuditOnlineforthe auditperiod2023-24 No. Audit Total Gram No. of Audit Plans S.No. StateName Reports Panchayats Created Generated 1 Andhra Pradesh 13328 13324 13308 2 Arunachal Pradesh 2108 2106 2093 3 Assam 2197 1713 620 4 Bihar 8056 8055 8051 5 Chhattisgarh 11656 11555 11121 6 Goa 191 191 191 7 Gujarat 14665 14638 14582 8 Haryana 6227 6218 4241 9 HimachalPradesh 3615 3615 3614 10 Jammu And Kashmir 4291 0 0 11 Jharkhand 4345 0 0 12 Karnataka 5950 5950 5950 13 Kerala 941 941 941 14 Ladakh 193 0 0 15 Madhya Pradesh 23012 22983 22741 16 Maharashtra 27952 27909 27456 17 Manipur 161 0 0 18 Meghalaya 0 0 0 19 Mizoram 843 0 0 20 Nagaland 0 0 0 21 Odisha 6794 6794 6752 22 Punjab 13240 13107 13003 23 Rajasthan 11255 11009 9291 24 Sikkim 199 199 199 25 Tamil Nadu 12525 12525 12525 26 Telangana 12772 12769 12737 27 Tripura 1194 1176 1176 28 Uttarakhand 7795 7795 7793 29 Uttar Pradesh 57754 57744 57651 30 West Bengal 3339 3227 3225 Total 256598 245543 239261 9Annexure-V Annexreferto inreplyto Part(d)& (e)of the Lok SabhaStarred QuestionNo. 223to be answeredon05.08.2025 Detailsof Central Sharereleased andfund spent bythe States/UTs during last three yearsunder revamped RGSA 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 Sl. StateName Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds No Released Utilized Released Utilized Released Utilized Andhra 1 0.00 0.00 0.00 21.35 2.52 59.66 Pradesh Arunachal 2 108.69 132.45 72.09 89.97 70.00 77.94 Pradesh 3 Assam 55.29 95.15 77.70 91.41 60.00 72.60 4 Bihar 33.37 70.07 25.00 51.81 0.00 78.05 Chhattisgar 5 0.00 29.52 17.57 22.25 16.50 34.13 h 6 Goa 0.00 1.12 0.89 1.00 1.35 1.29 7 Gujarat 0.00 0.01 0.00 1.28 0.00 15.48 8 Haryana 0.00 3.06 0.00 8.84 5.00 8.24 Himachal 9 60.65 37.49 19.31 69.30 27.21 43.13 Pradesh Jammu and 10 40.00 57.75 65.00 98.61 65.00 57.89 Kashmir 11 Jharkhand 0.00 18.44 31.00 25.95 0.00 26.56 12 Karnataka 36.00 25.67 20.00 39.01 16.25 49.52 13 Kerala 30.40 23.13 10.00 37.04 10.00 32.65 Madhya 14 28.00 145.17 32.17 74.16 40.00 96.92 Pradesh 15 Maharashtra 37.84 129.03 116.12 194.26 80.00 134.81 16 Manipur 8.63 3.31 9.56 8.34 0.00 3.91 17 Meghalaya 0.00 6.41 6.00 6.26 8.00 7.60 18 Mizoram 14.27 25.48 10.00 15.64 12.00 22.69 19 Nagaland 0.00 0.00 10.00 5.46 10.00 18.28 20 Odisha 11.40 24.83 27.33 44.22 20.00 60.15 21 Punjab 34.25 42.91 10.00 23.06 5.00 23.89 22 Rajasthan 0.00 32.41 21.72 40.12 15.00 30.88 23 Sikkim 6.01 4.98 6.00 7.90 7.00 7.35 24 Tamil Nadu 25.42 8.53 0.00 25.98 45.00 63.79 25 Telangana 0.00 3.19 20.00 20.47 0.00 9.05 26 Tripura 9.80 3.76 7.43 10.96 10.00 20.29 Uttar 27 85.05 96.33 84.13 158.95 38.77 180.84 Pradesh 28 Uttarakhand 42.48 57.15 64.67 66.29 50.00 63.72 102022-23 2023-24 2024-25 Sl. StateName Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds No Released Utilized Released Utilized Released Utilized 29 West Bengal 4.28 50.89 33.69 57.32 52.68 82.68 Union Territories Andaman 30 andNicobar 0.00 1.03 0.79 1.28 2.12 1.18 Island Dadra and Nagar 31 Heveli And 1.14 4.50 1.00 0.38 1.00 0.00 DamanAnd Diu 32 Ladakh 0.00 1.52 1.00 0.80 0.00 0.58 Sub-Total 672.97 1128.25 800.17 1317.21 670.40 1385.75 Others IA 10.01 10.01 14.69 14.69 23.77 23.77 Total 682.98 1138.26 814.86 1331.90 694.17 1409.52 Note: Whereverthe expenditureishigherthattherelease,itisbecauseof theunspent fundlying withthe state frompreviousyears. *FundreleasedasCentralShare ^FundsutilizedincludesCentral ShareaswellasStateshare. ` 11