The Hindu : Front Page : Village panchayats to be computerised

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 10, 2005

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Village panchayats to be computerised

T. Ramakrishnan

Second phase of the ambitious State Government programme to kick off shortly

1,113 village panchayats provided with computers Next phase to cover 5,409 village panchayats Local Fund Audit department also to be computerised

CHENNAI: As part of its efforts in taking Information Technology-enabled administration and e-governance to villages, the State Government proposes to computerise all 12,618 village panchayats in the current year.

Till date, 1,113 village panchayats have been provided with computers. They were covered in the first phase of the computerisation programme launched by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa last October.

The second phase, scheduled to be taken up shortly, will cover 5,409 village panchayats. Orders have been placed with the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT). Last week, it informed the Rural Development department that the supply would be made by the first week of November.

The village panchayats have been identified and Rural Development officials have advised them to keep buildings ready for installation of computers, say sources.

In the first phase, 385 panchayat unions, 29 offices of Assistant Directors of Panchayats in the districts and the Directorate of Rural Development were also covered. The total cost was Rs.10.37 crore.

In the current phase, apart from around 5,400 panchayats, the Local Fund Audit department will be computerised.

The cost is estimated at Rs. 28 crore. Funds for the two phases have been provided from the 11th Finance Commission grants.

The Rural Development department has also initiated steps for the third and final phase.

The proposal has been sent to the Government for sanction of about Rs.32 crore to cover the remaining 6,096 village panchayats.

The ELCOT has been sounded for making available the computers. An elaborate training programme is being given to panchayat presidents or officials.

A Web-enabled software, designed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General, is being used for maintenance of accounts of Panchayat Raj institutions. The officials say the emphasis is on training and re-training.

"Encouraging response"

Asked how the village panchayats were making use of the computers, the officials said the response was encouraging. Of 1,113 panchayats covered under the first phase, nearly 900 were using computers for data-entry.

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