The Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation and Rural Development Shri Narendra Singh Tomar today said that under the 14^th Finance Commission, Centre will be releasing more than 2 lakh crore rupess to Gram Panchayats for 5 years to undertake physical and social infrastructure projects in the villages. Addressing the media here on the eve of the National Panchayati Raj Day to be observed on 24^th April, 2017 at Lucknow, the Minister said that earlier about Rs 30,000 crore was allocated to the Panchayats in the 13^th Finance commission, wherein Panchayats found it difficult to execute developmental projects in a holistic fashion. Laying stress on training of Panchayat functionaries and to promote healthy completion among panchayats, the Ministry is making all out efforts for the real empowerment of Gram Panchayats.

Shri Tomar said that the Panchayati Raj Ministry has asked all Gram Panchayats to prepare advance planning related to problems faced by them and till date more than one lakh 75, 000 village development plans were received. He said that each village has on an average 4 to 5 major issues like drinking water, drainage system, roads and solid and liquid waste management, which can be solved easily as now there is no dearth of funds to the Panchayats. He said that training programme will be undertaken by SIRD and State Governments jointly to enlighten and empower the PR functionaries.

This year Ministry of Panchayati Raj is commemorating   National Panchayati Raj Day on 24^th April 2017 at Lucknow , Uttar Pradesh . The Chief  Minister of Uttar Pradesh  Shri Adityanath Yogi  will inaugurate the conference while the Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking water and sanitation will preside over the function.

 During the National Panchayat Raj Day event at Lucknow , UP   the following documents and applications will be launched.  

•      Launching of You-Tube Channel of Ministry of Panchayati Raj with short films on Best Practices and schemes of Government of India.

•      Sharing of audio-visual capacity building content for Panchayati Raj Institutions through instant messaging apps over smartphones to elected members of Panchayats.

•      Release of quarterly magazine with QR codes and its online version for access to PRIs over mobile phones.

•      National awards viz., Deendayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar, Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar to be conferred upon Panchayati Raj Institutions and e-Panchayat Puraskars to State Governments.

 Moreover, a quarterly Newsmagazine “Gramoday Sankalp”, published and distributed by Ministry of Panchayati Raj on behalf of three Ministries viz., Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Rural Development and  Drinking Water and Sanitation   will also be released on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day . This news magazine will be launched in Hindi, English and other regional languages. It is expected that this newsletter will act as a vehicle for direct communication between the Policy makers and Gram Panchayats.

A Mobile App ( mobile application software)  of “ Gramoday Sankalp” news magazine  will also be launched ON National Panchayati raj Day  . This application ( App)  is currently available for android devices. To make it more interactive, an option for posting comments and responses will be provided to the readers , on the app.

You Tube channel :

The You Tube channel of the Ministry will also be launched during the inaugural event. This You tube channel will showcase the short video films of the Ministry featuring the inspirational success stories and best practices of panchayats. This will give an opportunity to the stakeholders to view the best practices in the Panchayats and emulate. 

NATIONAL AWARDS

On National Panchayati Raj Day the national awards viz., Deendayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar, Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar will be  conferred upon Panchayati Raj Institutions and e-Panchayat Puraskars to State Governments.

•      The nominations for Panchayats Awards are  invited online every year .

•      About thirty thousand Panchayats participated in Deendayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar and about 13,000 Gram Panchayats participated in Nanaji Deshmukh Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar.

•      This year, 189 Panchayats in 25 States are being conferred with Nanaji Deshmukh Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar in recognition of their exemplary work for improving delivery of services and public goods. Out of total awards of 189 Panchayats, 24 awards belong to District Panchayats, 41 awards to Intermediate Panchayats and 124 awards to Village Panchayats. Out of 124 awards to Gram  Panchayats, 31 Thematic Awards have been decided in the category of Sanitation (18), Revenue Generation (5), e-Governance & Civic Services (3 each) and Disaster Management (2).

•      Twenty Gram Panchayats in 20 States are being conferred with Nanaji Deshmukh  Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar for outstanding performance through effective Gram Sabhas

•      Four States viz. Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal and Sikkim are being conferred e-Panchayat Puraskar for effective adoption, usage and encouragement of Panchayats in e-enablement.

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