e-Governance in Panchayats

Under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has formulated a project namely e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) that addresses core aspects of Panchayats’ functioning viz. Planning, Monitoring, Implementation, Budgeting, Accounting, Social Audit etc. with the aim to make their functioning more efficient, accountable and transparent. Under the e-Panchayat MMP, 11 Core Common Software Applications (reduced from initial 12 due to merger of two Applications) namely, PRIASoft, PlanPlus, National Panchayat Portal, Local Governance Directory, Area Profiler, ServicePlus, Asset Directory, ActionSoft, Social Audit, Trainings Management and GIS, collectively constitute the Panchayat Enterprise Suite (PES). These PES Applications are based on open source.

State Governments have been regularly advised to adopt these Applications. Four of these Applications namely PRIASoft, PlanPlus, National Panchayat Portal and Local Governance Directory have been adopted by States and can be accessed at http://accountingonline.gov.in, http://planningonline.gov.in, http://panchayat.gov.in and http://panchayatdirectory.gov.in respectively. Six other Applications (except GIS which is in development stage) were also launched on 24th April, 2012 on the occasion of National Panchayat Day and are in the process of adoption by the States. A Training Plan for six months has been shared with all States/UTs to train officials on PES Application during this year.

PRIASoft (web based Panchayat accounting software) and PlanPlus (web based participatory Planning software) are the two important Applications under e-Panchayat MMP that foster transparency and accountability in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). PRIASoft has been adopted by sixteen States and one Union Territory upto 2011-12. States like Gujarat, Kerala, West Bengal and Karnataka having their own accounting softwares, have also been advised to map their respective software Applications with PRIASoft. PlanPlus has been adopted by twenty-three States upto 2011-12.

M/o Panchayati Raj deals only with State Governments and has been regularly advising for increased adoption of these Applications which would enhance transparency, accountability and credibility of the Panchayati Raj Institutions.