With a vision to strengthen digitalization in Panchayats for the purpose of empowering rural India, a unified tool e-Gram SWARAJ portal (https://egramswaraj.gov.in/) has been developed by the Ministry for effective monitoring and evaluation of works taken up in the Gram Panchayats.
e-Gram SWARAJ unifies the planning, accounting and monitoring functions of Gram Panchayats. It’s combination with the Area Profiler application, Local Government Directory (LGD) and the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) renders easier reporting and tracking of Gram Panchayat’s activities.
It provides a single window for capturing Panchayat information with the complete Profile of the Panchayat, details of Panchayat finances, asset details, activities taken up through Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP), Panchayat information from other Ministries/ Departments such as Census 2011, SECC data, Mission Antyodaya survey report etc.
For the year 2020-21, around 2.43 lakh Gram Panchayats have finalized their GPDP on e-Gram SWARAJ. Further, around 1.24 lakh Gram Panchayats have transacted online using the e-Gram SWARAJ Online Payment Module.
The Fifteenth Finance Commission (XV FC) in its report for 2020-21 has recommended grants for Rural Local Bodies (RLBs) in 28 States.
The grants have been recommended for all tiers of the Panchayati Raj and also to the Fifth and Sixth schedule areas. The grants are provided in two parts, namely, (i) Basic (Untied) Grants and (ii) Tied Grants in the ratio of 50:50.
The basic grants are untied and can be used by RLBs for location-specific felt needs, except for salary or other establishment expenditure. The tied grants can be used for the basic services of (a) sanitation and maintenance of Open-Defecation Free (ODF) status and (b) supply of drinking water, rain water harvesting and water recycling.
The RLBs shall, as far as possible, earmark one half of these Tied Grants each to these two critical services. However, if any RLB has fully saturated the needs of one category, it can utilize the funds for the other category. The total size of the XV FC Grants allocation recommended is Rs.60,750 crore in 2020-21. Grants to RLBs are to be released in two equal installments.
Ministry Launched Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan in 272 Most Affected Districts
Posted On: 20 SEP 2020 4:27PM by PIB Delhi
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has formulated and is implementing a National Action Plan for Drug Demand Reduction (NAPDDR) for 2018-2025. The Plan aims at reduction of adverse consequences of drug abuse through a multi-pronged strategy.
The activities under the NAPDDR, inter-alia, include awareness generation programmes in schools/colleges/Universities, workshops/seminars/ with parents, community based peer led interactions intervention programmes for vulnerable adolescent and youth in the community, provisioning of treatment facilities and capacity building of service providers.
The Ministry has also initiated focused intervention programmes in vulnerable districts across the country with an aim to increase community participation and public cooperation in the reduction of demand for dependence-producing substances and promote collective initiatives and self-help endeavour among individuals and groups vulnerable to addiction or found at risk.
The Ministry has launched Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan in 272 most affected districts with focus on institutional support, community outreach and awareness generation. These districts are identified based on inputs from Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and findings of Comprehensive National Survey done by Ministry. Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan in 272 districts is from 15th August 2020 to 31st March 2021. Abhiyaan Action Plan has the following components:-
Awareness generation programmes in the community and Youth in particular
Focus on Higher Educational institutions, University Campuses and Schools
Community outreach and identification of dependent population
Focus on Treatment facilities in Hospital settings
Capacity Building Programmes for Service Providers.