Ministry of Panchayati Raj e-PRI Study Project
Information & Services Need Assessment Report
for
Panchayati Raj Institutions
in
The State of Jammu & Kashmir
By
National Informatics Center Services Inc.
September 2009
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Confidentiality Statement
This report is intended solely for the information and use of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj,
Government of India and should not be used, circulated, quoted or otherwise referred to for any
other purpose by any institution or individual other than the Ministry, nor included or referred to in
whole or in part in any document without the prior consent of NICSI or the Ministry.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The field study was a key component of the information and Services Need Assessment as
envisaged at the commencement of the Project, and forms the basis of the report. In this regard the 3i
team would like to acknowledge the contribution made by key stakeholders in The state of Jammu &
Kashmir to facilitate the study.
The team wishes to express its gratitude to the following individuals in particular for their continued
support, valuable inputs and guidance throughout this study:
State Level
��� Mr. MS Khan, Secretary, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Department, J&K
��� Mr. Mir Altaf Ahmed, Addl. Secretary, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Department, J&K
��� Dr. Shahnawaz Alam, Professor, Institute of Management & Public Administration, J&K
District Level
��� Mr. Syed Sharief-ud-Din, District Development Commissioner- District Doda,
��� Mr. Riaz Ahmed Choudhary, Assistant Commissioner (Development), Rural Development &
Panchayati Raj Department - District Doda,
��� Mr. Kalyan Singh Parihar, Sub Divisional Magistrate- Bahdarwah Block of District Doda
��� Mr. Anil Kumar Thakur, Block Development Officer, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj
Department, J&K
Without the extensive co-operation and involvement of the State and District officials, compilation of
the State Information & Services Needs findings report would not have been possible. The study has
been conducted by NICSI empanelled firm M/s. 3i-Infotech Limited with the support of National
Informatics Centre (NIC) & NGO.
The Project team consisted of:
��� Mr. Abhay Kumar, State Informatics Officer, NIC, J&K
��� Mr. Anil Kumar, State Coordinator, NIC, J&K
��� Mr. Sunil Kaul, DIO, NIC Doda, J&K
��� Mr. Shailesh Gabhane, Principal Consultant, 3i Infotech Ltd.
��� Ms. Parul Batra, Senior Consultant, 3i Infotech Ltd.
��� Mr. Junaid Hasmi, Junior Consultant, 3i Infotech Ltd.
��� Mr. Siraj-ud-Din Salam, NGO, Kashmir Humanity Foundation
We sincerely hope that this report leads to meaningful computerization of the Panchayati Raj
Institutions and translates into an IT driven empowerment of the Panchayats.
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Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 8
2. Summary of findings............................................................................................................... 13
3. Project Background ................................................................................................................ 20
4. Approach & Methodology....................................................................................................... 23
4.1. Overall e-PRI Project Approach ................................................................................................. 23
4.2. Study Methodology..................................................................................................................... 25
4.3. Services identification methodology........................................................................................... 31
5. Status of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) ........................................................................ 34
5.1. Vision of State PR Department .................................................................................................. 37
5.2. Panchayati Raj Organization Structure ...................................................................................... 38
5.3. Devolution status........................................................................................................................ 47
5.4. PR Governance.......................................................................................................................... 54
5.5. G2G Functional Areas................................................................................................................ 55
5.6. Best Practices & Key Learning related to PR Governance........................................................ 65
6. Information and Services Needs ........................................................................................... 68
6.1. Information needs of line departments....................................................................................... 69
6.2. Information Needs of state RD&PR department and PRI ( ZP/BP/GP)..................................... 73
6.3. Information Needs of Citizens .................................................................................................... 79
6.4. Service Needs of Citizens .......................................................................................................... 85
7. e-Governance Readiness ....................................................................................................... 87
7.1. Initiatives for computerization of PRI.......................................................................................... 88
7.2. Extent of integration of NeGP initiatives with PRI ...................................................................... 88
7.3. ICT Infrastructure Assessment................................................................................................... 91
7.4. Civil work Assessment ............................................................................................................... 92
5.3.1. Status of Activity Mapping ............................................................................................ 52
5.3.2. Challenges .................................................................................................................... 54
5.5.1. Planning ........................................................................................................................ 55
5.5.2. Monitoring & Implementation ........................................................................................ 58
5.5.3. Accounting .................................................................................................................... 60
5.5.4. Extent of PRI involvement in Schemes......................................................................... 61
5.5.5. Participation in Committees .......................................................................................... 62
7.3.1. ICT Assessment of PRIs:.............................................................................................. 91
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8. State Capacity Assessment ................................................................................................... 94
8.1. Capacities................................................................................................................................... 94
8.2. Skills and Capabilities ................................................................................................................ 97
8.3. Training Needed......................................................................................................................... 98
9. Citizen Service Delivery ........................................................................................................ 101
10. Way Forward .......................................................................................................................... 102
10.1. Services finalized for Process re-engineering.......................................................................... 104
10.2. New Services ........................................................................................................................... 105
11. Annexure ................................................................................................................................ 106
11.1. List of Interview ........................................................................................................................ 106
11.2. List of Questionnaires............................................................................................................... 107
11.3. Minutes of key meetings held................................................................................................... 136
12. Brief Profile of Jammu & Kashmir....................................................................................... 139
13. Brief Profile of Doda District ................................................................................................ 142
14. Glossary.................................................................................................................................. 145
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List of Tables
Table 1: Various Phases of Study......................................................................................................... 22
Table 2: Topics covered in Templates .................................................................................................. 30
Table 3: Panchayati Raj Act Mapping ................................................................................................... 35
Table 4: Panchayats Status .................................................................................................................. 35
Table 5: Panchayat Assets.................................................................................................................... 36
Table 6: Internal Revenue Mobilizations............................................................................................... 48
Table 7: Details of Heads of Accounts .................................................................................................. 60
Table 8: Committees in District DODA.................................................................................................. 63
Table 9: Information Needs of line departments................................................................................... 70
Table 10: Information Needs of State PR Department & PRIs............................................................. 73
Table 11: Gram Sabha Findings (Information Needs of Citizens) ................................................. 82
Table 12: Service Needs of Citizens ..................................................................................................... 85
Table 13: IT Infrastructure Assessment of RD &PR Dept .................................................................... 91
Table 14: Panchayat Profile .................................................................................................................. 92
Table 15: Capacity Assessment of State PR Dept ............................................................................... 95
Table 16: List of Identified Services .................................................................................................... 104
Table 17: List of New Services............................................................................................................ 105
Table 18: List of Interviewees.............................................................................................................. 106
Table 19: Registers at Gram Panchayat ............................................................................................. 143
Table 20: Village Profile Khallaini Village ....................................................................................... 144
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Appreciation Letter from Secretary RD, Govt. of J&K ........................................................... 11
Figure 2: Appreciation Letter from DDC, Doda, Govt. of J&K .............................................................. 12
Figure 3: Overall e-PRI Approach ......................................................................................................... 23
Figure 4: State Level Workshop............................................................................................................ 27
Figure 5: District Level Workshop ......................................................................................................... 28
Figure 6: Press Note on District Workshop........................................................................................... 28
Figure 7: Gram Sabha at Village........................................................................................................... 29
Figure 8: Services Identification Methodology ...................................................................................... 31
Figure 9: Department wise service chart............................................................................................... 33
Figure 10: Type of Services .................................................................................................................. 33
Figure 11: Organization Structure State PR Department ..................................................................... 39
Figure 12: Organization Structure District Administration..................................................................... 41
Figure 13: District Planning & Development Board .............................................................................. 42
Figure 14: Block Development Council ................................................................................................. 43
Figure 15: Halqa Panchayat Structure .................................................................................................. 44
Figure 16: Meeting with line departments ............................................................................................. 69
Figure 17: Gram Sabha Dhrudu............................................................................................................ 80
Figure 18: Gram Sabha at Khallaini ...................................................................................................... 81
Figure 19: NeGP MMPs Integration ................................................................................................... 89
Figure 20: Panchayat Ghar Status........................................................................................................ 93
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1. Executive Summary
The functioning of the government offices, even though governed by the set of rules, regulations and
guidelines, generally remains slow, discretionary and at times chaotic also. In the absence of
automated information systems and real time information flow from the grass-root level to the top
level, the service delivery to the citizens gets perpetually delayed for want of availability of rules and
regulations and collecting information from varied sources. A great amount of time is spent in routing
business supporting the internal requirements of the government rather than delivering services to the
citizens causing great deal of harassment to the citizens when they have to travel 30-50 kms to avail
the particular government service and that too in the difficult hilly terrain till the Block level and
sometimes to the District level also.
The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act 1993 ushered in a new era of democratic decentralization, in
which both powers and responsibilities were devolved upon elected Panchayats at the District,
Intermediate and Village levels. The Panchayati Raj Institution in India is an effort to promote
decentralized and all inclusive governance in rural areas. To ensure inclusiveness of growth process
it is necessary that large numbers of elected representatives in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) are
fully involved in planning, implementing and supervising the delivery of essential public services.
e-PRI, the extension of e-Governance till the Gram Panchayat level seeks to achieve a set of
objectives like increasing efficiency and effectiveness of the processes, employee productivity,
efficient management of data, information and knowledge sharing within the Government, better
communications and coordination and advancement towards knowledge lead governance for the
benefit of the citizens as well as government.
Another important issue to be addressed through this e-PRI project is information dissemination that
is not only useful for an ordinary citizen for his / her daily contact with the Government, but also for
other purposes such as planning, monitoring, awareness creation on different issues related to
society in general. It will redefine the scope and execution of governance and services by augmenting
the Government citizen interface. Thus it would enable state government to offer convenient,
transparent and expeditious delivery of the government services to the citizens.
This information flow would be possible only if the Panchayats are established with suitable IT
infrastructure along with seamless connectivity and trained manpower to handle the day to day
operations and a policy in place for the optimum utilization of available IT Infrastructure.
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The central aim of this project is to fully equip & make Panchayats self sufficient for governing
themselves .To make Panchayats self sufficient it is imperative to analyze the current standing of
PRI. Therefore, e-PRI project apart from ICT assessment aims at reviewing decentralization and
assessing the extent to which the Indian states have devolved administrative, political & fiscal
authority to local Panchayats. This project also aims at analyzing the capacity in terms of manpower
& infrastructure.
The project has been conceptualized to be executed in four phases mentioned as under:
��� The Initiation and Planning phase (Phase I)
��� The I&S Needs assessment phase (Phase II)
��� The Process Re-engineering phase (Phase III)
��� The DPR preparation phase (Phase IV)
The present report “Information and Service Needs Assessment Report” is the out come of the
Phase II of the project, which highlights our analysis related to information and service needs of the
PRIs, Line departments and citizens. The report is aimed at identification the needs and services
facilitating the PRIs in better service delivery. In this phase, the consultant team has captured the
information needs of the various line departments, state RD&PR department, at all levels of PRIs,
citizens, self help groups, etc vis-à-vis the expectations from the government in implementing e-PRI
project. Similarly, the service needs of the citizens has also been captured separately during the gram
Sabha held at two Gram Panchayats known as Halqa Panchayats in the village Khalleni and Drudhu
in the block Bhadarwah of the district Doda.
The team was at the State Capital in the Phase I for 2 weeks and for the next 7 weeks in the district,
block, gram to interact with state government officials of diverse departments, ex-elected members,
anaganwari workers, self help groups, NGOs, citizens, etc. in understanding their expectations.
The team also studied the existing delivery mechanism of the various government to citizen services
and based on the inputs received from various stakeholders, finalized the list of services which can
be delivered through the PRIs framework. At present these services are being delivered through the
line departments at the district and block / Taluka level.
The team had vigorous deliberation on the details of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) at the
various level of Governance with the corresponding line departments. In J&K, due to non-functioning
of the PRIs the planning, implementation, execution, and monitoring of these CSS schemes are
performed by the several committees constituted by the state government. The further study would be
re-engineering of these services.
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The 73rd constitutional amendment accorded constitutional status to PRIs and it was called to devolve
29 functions as per the 11th schedule along with the functionaries and funds. However, an important
first is carrying out an ‘activity mapping’ exercise for devolution of powers to PRIs as per the
guidelines adopted at various round table conferences of state ministers of Panchayati Raj. The state
of Jammu & Kashmir lags many other states in terms of carrying out and adopting an activity mapping
exercise which will contain how the roles and responsibilities will be divided among the three tiers of
PRIs for every devolved function.
Following these sections, the report provides an overview of the state of e-Governance readiness in
J&K. The three Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) under National e-Governance Plan of Department of
Information Technology, Government of India i.e. State Wide Area Network (SWAN), State Data
Cenre (SDC) and Common Service Centres (CSC) are still in the initial stage of implementation. The
Service Level Agreement has been signed by the J&K e-Governance Agency (J&KeGA), the Sate
Designated Agency, with the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, however, there are slippages in the roll out
of the CSC across state and only 50 CSCs till date could be established. SWAN is being
implemented by BSNL and earlier NIC was working as a facilitator and providing technical expertise
in the roll out of SWAN.
The report also discusses the current capacity of the PRIs at various level and their readiness and
training needs for the e-PRI project. Since the PRIs do not exists in J&K, the Government has not yet
augmented the necessary staff for the functioning of PRIs. Once PRIs comes into the picture after the
elections, the current capacity of the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj department is not
sufficient to efficiently delivery the services and perform the regular activities such as planning,
accounting etc. Most of the positions are vacant and the existing staff is handling additional
responsibilities.
It was noted by the consultant team that even when the Panchayats were in existence three years
back, the main activities per formed by the Panchayats were towards local level development and not
even a single service was delivered. However, it is felt that the Panchayats can play a greater role in
delivery of various citizen centric services, if devolution of funds, functions and functionaries takes
place and Panchayats are ICT enabled. The team on the basis of interactions with the state PR
Department, line departments, ex-elected members and citizens identified 15 citizen centric services
which can be delivered by the Panchayats and 5 new services as desired by the citizens.
Development of PRIs in the state of J&K will require a series of initiatives and focused approach to
tackle the peculiar problems being faced by the state. As the part of the next phase of the project an
As-Is report would be prepared for all the identified services and next step would be to carry out
Process Re-engineering. This activity will result in preparation of new workflows and cost estimates
which would facilitate the subsequent roll out of these services.
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Figure 1: Appreciation Letter from Secretary RD, Govt. of J&K
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Figure 2: Appreciation Letter from DDC, Doda, Govt. of J&K
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2. Summary of findings
Status of Panchayati Raj:
There is no separate PR Department in the State of J&K for the execution of the functions of
Panchayati Raj Institutions. The Rural Development Department is the governing body responsible
for execution and implementation of all the activities of the PRIs.
Panchayats have been defunct from the past three years since they were dissolved in the year 2006
after the expiry of the first term. Panchayats came into being in the year 2001 after a gap of 23 years
and lasted for a period of five years. However, out of 2700 Panchayats only 1693 could be constituted
resulting in the non-formation of the second tier of Panchayats at the Block level in view of elections
in the remaining Panchayats not being held due to administrative problems resulting in non formation
of three tiers of Panchayati Raj System.
As per the act, the elections have to be held within six months of dissolution of Halqa Panchayats and
since the elections were not held, the Department of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj had to
think of some temporary measures like monitoring committees so that the centrally sponsored
schemes and programmes running in the villages could be continued without interruption. But they
also had an option of continuing the same Halqa Panchayats for six more months till the next
elections. But none of these measures were taken up. It has been over three years now and the
Panchayat elections still have not been announced by the government, whereas this activity could
have been done as soon as the term of the Panchayats was expired. (Refer to the Status of
Panchayati Raj Section of the document – Chapter 5)
Vision of Sate PR Department:
��� Enable PRIs to undertake need based planning at the grass-root that factors in people’s
participation in planning, implementation and monitoring functions
��� Promote the use of ICT across all the three tiers of PRIs so that transparency and
accountability gets inbuilt into the routine working of the institutions and functionaries Establish
citizen rights to services through a well defined Citizen Charter and grievance redressal
mechanism.
��� Strengthen the functioning of PRIs by providing technical support in domain areas that need
specialized skills such as estimating, planning, budgeting, setting up social indicators,
monitoring, etc.
(Refer to the Vision of State PR Department Section of the document – Section 5.2 of Chapter
5)
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Devolution status:
Devolution Status of 3 F’s: The preparation of Activity Mapping Document (AMD) is of the
paramount importance which is required to actually provide detailed guidelines for devolutions of
functions, however, the state government needs to initiate / take action for making Activity mapping
document, which is important to achieve the desired state of devolution of various functions to PRIs. It
was also noted that most of the government officials are not aware about the activity mapping.
Activity Maps are key instruments to actualize constitutional provisions such as the 73rd Amendment
Act and also to provide clarity and communicate how various stakeholders have control over funds,
functionaries and functions. If correctly done and implemented, they have the potential to ease the
bandwidth of Line Departments and Senior functionaries who can focus on policy issues, strategic
aspects of schemes etc.
It was also observed that, the Panchayati Raj Act 1989 is silent about the preparation of activity
mapping document. Had it been the part of the act, each government department would have taken
the appropriate action to prepare the activity mapping documents first to align the function,
functionaries and the funds. Even though few functions have been transferred to the PRI, the
functionaries are not aligned with PRIs to take care of the devolved functions, thus defeating the
purpose of the PRI Implementation.
What is evident from the analysis of Devolution of Functions and Functionaries is that there is an
inherent fear amongst many line departments that they would loose control and the power centres
would shift if they relinquished control over functions and functionaries, even if they are to be
ultimately devolved to the PRIs in the near future.
(Refer to the Devolution Status Section of the document – Section 5.5 of Chapter 5)
The state government in the recent development has constituted a high level committee to
be chaired by Minister for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj to look into the various
aspects of amending the Panchayati Raj Act 1989 of J&K Government.
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Planning for development at village level:
In the absence of the elected members of the PRIs and the Panchayats having been dissolved, the
planning for the schemes (CSS) is being done at the village level with the concurrence of the citizens,
village level committees, VLWs and inclusion of government officials of the concerned line
departments. Each Gram Panchayat makes its plans in the Gram Sabha after prioritizing its plans in
concurrence with the village communities and in the presence of state government officials and ex-
elected members.
The plans received from various Panchayats are consolidated and compiled at the block level in the
BDO Office, since BDC does not exist, all the plans received from each Halqa are compiled at the
office of Assistant Commissioner Development, at the district level and under the Chairmanship of
DDC, the plans are approved for a particular district and the approved plans are sent to the State
department.
The consultant team observed that further to the 73rd & 74th Constitutional Amendments, the focus
should have been more on the local level planning along with the setting up of District Planning
Committees (DPCs). The setting up of the DPCs and the process of district planning are inherent
parts of the Constitutional Amendments, since the district planning is a constitutional responsibility.
There has been considerable delay in the setting up of the DPCs.
The consultant team feels that local planning is essential because effective planning rests on inputs
from the bottom up, starting from a family to the community to the village to the state and, finally, the
national decision-makers. National planning can be appropriately designed by the government in
power and there can be proper devolution of funds only on this basis.
It was also observed that the government at any level is not using any IT application or software
package for making plans for any of the scheme. Recently, a presentation was made by Chandigarh
based organization for using the PlanPlus software developed by NIC in making the plans for the
BRGF scheme.
(Refer to the Planning Section of the document – Section 5.10.1 of Chapter 5)
The interesting and a unique thing observed by the consultant team is that the cabinet of
ministers lead by Chief Minister moves from district to district in state and approves the
various developmental plan then and there only. All the important functionaries of the
government from the state and the district attend this mega conference.
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Information & Services Need of the Citizens and other line departments
To understand the information & services needs of the various beneficiaries, the team had rigorous
interactions at all levels of PRIs. The team found out that the basic essential services is not being
delivered through any level of PRIs and the citizens are desperately waiting for the Panchayats to
come into being so that their demands are fulfilled at the GP level in the best possible way. The team
had rigorous interactions at various levels of governance and at all the tiers of PRIs to identify the
information needs with respect to planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and accounting
with respect to different centrally sponsored schemes, central sector schemes, state sponsored
schemes, etc.
In order to gauge the intensity of the needs of the citizens with respect to various services which can
be delivered across the PRI framework, consultant team along with the local administration
conducted Gram Sabhas at two different places in the Bhadarwah block of the Doda District. The
villages were Dhrudu and Khalleni. The objective of conducting two Gram Sabhas were to have a
better understanding and better need assessment of the citizens in the state and also to apprise the
people about the objective of the ePRI and how it can be helpful to the citizens. The participants of
the Gram Sabha were Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers, Teachers, Ex-Sarpanch, Panchayat
Secretary, Block Development Officer and various social help groups including the citizens from all
walks of life.
The methodology used to interact with the citizens was Gram Sabhas and one on one interaction.
The soul objective of the discussion was to gauge the efficiency of services provided, take their
suggestions to improve the existing service delivery and also to understand their expectation of new
services that they wanted to have at Gram level. The Panchayat Secretary or the Village Level
Worker plays crucial role in educating the people about various schemes.
During the Gram Sabha, the consultant team found that the citizens were not much aware about the
roles and responsibilities of the Panchayats. They were more or less dependent on the Block
Development Officer for deriving any kind of benefits. However, the people had sufficient knowledge
about various schemes that were in operation and had projected their needs and requirements.
Expectations of Rural Citizen are availability of Government Services at their doorstep in a convenient
manner. Besides that the citizens are more concerned about the awareness regarding the process of
delivery of services like finding the right application form for the particular services which is a very
difficult task for majority of people living in the rural areas since most of them are illiterate. The other
demand from the citizens was regarding payments of utility bills such as electricity, water, telephone.
(Refer to the Information & Services Needs Section of the document –Chapter 6)
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e-Governance readiness:
The government of J&K during the interaction at different level of governance bought out that
because of insurgency, security concerns and various other issues, the government could not make
the ideal use of ICT. The one area which remained neglected is the usage of ICT for the
developmental purposes. The ICT, if implemented few years back, could have made the remarkable
impact on the overall progress of the state.
Department of Information Technology, Government of India, has established the Community
Information Centres (CICs) in the state of J&K with the objective to address the basic needs of
citizens such as information, education, entertainment and health services, etc.
DIT had funded the project and has the responsibility of overall monitoring and management. NIC
was the Implementation agency. Application Software development and Training of CIC Operators
were a part of NIC’s responsibilities. The State Governments were entrusted with the mandate of site
selection, preparation and maintenance, manpower recruitment and identification and creation of
content for various services/applications to be delivered through the CICs.
As per the arrangement, DIT/NIC has provided the manpower support and technical and
maintenance for the period of five years along with satellite connectivity through the V-SATs.
However, the consultant team observed that, further to the handing over of the CICs to the state
governments, most of the CICs are non-functional either because of not having the proper AMC with
the vendors or because the state governments could not evolve a viable and sustainable business
model to make the CICs self-sustaining during these five years.
(Refer to the e-Governance Readiness Section of the document –Chapter 7)
Capacity Assessment :
During the capacity assessment, it was found that the state of J&K is lacking in terms of trained
manpower vis-à-vis the inadequate staff in the government offices and extra responsibilities are being
handed over to the present staff by the government. Since the PRIs do not exists in J&K, the
manpower for the PRIs has not been identified by the state government and the work related to PRIs
is being done by the RD department, thus they are overloaded with assignments.
��� Non existence of PRI: To function as a true local self government, the foremost importanat
thing is to have the PRIs in place and then it requires a strong technical & administrative
capacity along with strong financial base. To achieve “Gram Swaraj”, PRIs should be
devolved more and more functions with adequate manpower to handle the activities related
to local level development and for redressal of grievances.
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��� Low literacy rate of elected members: One of the reasons for inadequate performance of
Panchayats during there existence is the low literacy rate of the elected members. During the
interaction with various citizens during the Gram Sabha and also with the government officials,
the strong demand has been raised for the literate elected members. The other aspect of
having a educated Sarpanch is that, only Sarpanch in the whole governance is having both
the powers i.e. the administrative and financial powers. It was brought out to the consultant
team that since, the uneducated elected members do not understand government policies,
plans, their roles & responsibilities etc., they are actually driven by the dominant person from
the local area who has vested interest in something without looking at the other aspects of the
development or priority of others.
��� There is also a need to impart proper training to the government officials of various line
departments and elected members of PRIs. Institute of Management, Public administration &
Rural Development, J&K, has conducted few training sessions for the elected members and at
all levels of PRIs when they were in existence, under the UNDP supported project, after
carrying out the training need assessments.
(Refer to the Capacity Assessment Section of the document –Chapter 8)
General findings
��� Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir. This
article specifies that except for Defense, Foreign Affairs and Communications, the Indian
Parliament needed the State Government's concurrence for applying all other laws. Thus the
state's residents lived under a separate set of laws, including those related to citizenship,
ownership of property, and fundamental rights, as compared to other Indians.
��� Article 370 therefore provides for greater sovereignty for Jammu and Kashmir as far as the
matters of the state are concerned. Therefore even in the case of 73rd amendment that lays
down principles for devolution through panchayati raj institutions the state has the prerogative
to include or exclude provisions of this amendment as per its needs.
��� Low reaches of service delivery; citizen needs to travel to district / Tehsil to avail services
through the departments since the Panchayats had been dissolved.
��� Citizens in state are not satisfied with the current service delivery model, since lot of time is
consumed in current service delivery mechanism.
��� Most of the office work is done manually, thus increasing paper work. Due to lack of any IT
applications/ software/ automation tool, the quality of service is severely affected.
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��� Awareness: The citizens at the village level are not much aware about the various schemes
that are being implemented by different departments in J&K. The awareness is only for few
prominent schemes like NREGS, IAY, Scholarship, Pension, TSC etc. The citizens are also
not aware about the effectiveness of the Panchayats, their rules and regulations. Awareness
of villagers about roles / responsibilities of Panchayat and about services offered was poor.
��� Shifting of Secretariat: The officials of the civil secretariat switch between Jammu and
Srinagar after every six months. This practice is being followed since decades and is a time,
money and effort consuming activity.
��� Infrastructural issues: There is a shortage of Panchayat Ghars in the state of J&K. Most of
the villages are deprived of the same and use cow sheds and schools as their place of
meeting and conducting Gram Sabha. Limited availability of electricity in the state and
inadequate physical infrastructure at Gram Panchayats are some of the infrastructural issues.
��� Forming up of Committees: In place of the Panchayats, the government has made various
committees for execution of work. These committees form as an important part and work in
place of the Halqa Panchayats at present.
Elections: Despite of the adverse conditions in J&K in the year 2001, the government of J&K
did a commendable job by holding elections of the Panchayats. This step has been very
fruitful for the economy of J&K, as it has changed the whole perception of the people of rest
of India and had also boosted up the confidence of the local citizens towards local self
governance. However, the same momentum can not be retained by the government, though
the citizens are still eagerly waiting for the elections to be held.
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3. Project Background
Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in India are a homegrown effort to decentralize Government to
promote greater participation by the rural populace in their own governance. This process of
democratic decentralization was set in motion with the Constitution (Seventy Third Amendment) Act
passed by the Indian Parliament in 1992, which enabled decentralized governance through PRIs in
rural areas.
PRIs function at the village, intermediate (block) and district level. There are approximately 2,34,030
Gram Panchayats at the village level, 6053 Janpad Panchayats at the block level and 535 Zilla
Panchayats at the district level with more than 31 lakhs elected representatives at all three tiers.
“Article 243-G of the Constitution of India, provides that the States/UTs may, by law, endow the
Panchayats with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as
institutions of self-government and to prepare plans for economic development and social justice and
their implementation including those in relation to the matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule.”
PRIs offer India’s rural villagers an opportunity to participate in village planning processes, to engage
with the various developmental schemes being implemented by the Government and to interact with
their elected representatives directly to ensure that their interests are being effectively served and
their money properly spent.
While PRIs are an excellent initiative but have so far remained in theory, reality has been less
positive, as many PRIs have been criticized for poor representation, failure to implement the
participatory decisions of their constituencies and mismanagement of funds. In this context, citizen
participation in Panchayat institutions is more meaningful when people have the information to make
informed choices and to participate in decision-making processes based on facts, not rumors and
half-truths.
The PRIs are also saddled with the problems of inadequate capacity vis-à-vis physical and financial
resources, technical capabilities and extremely limited computerization. This has limited the
usefulness of PRIs as the preferred delivery channel for the schemes of State and Centre as well as
for citizen services.
Computerization & IT enablement of Government functioning has received a high impetus with the
implementation of the NeGP of GoI and various states have realized the importance of e-
Governance.
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This has led to a concerted thrust towards computerizing the functioning of the state line departments
in most of the states. The result of this is cognizable and has brought in its wake significant
efficiencies in the departmental functioning.
While some computerization efforts for PRIs have been made by NIC over the years; unfortunately,
the e-Governance revolution sweeping the country has not touched the PRIs yet in significant
measure. The Government of India in association with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj has realized this
and decided to take up the computerization of PRIs on a mission mode basis.
The Ministry for Panchayati Raj (MoPR) is keen on executing the computerization of PRIs in a fast
track and time bound manner. To achieve this, MoPR in association with NIC has conceptualized a
nation-wide study to take stock of the needs of citizens as well as various government entities
involved in the delivery of developmental schemes and services. This study is expected to result in
drafting the requirements of computerization for PRIs across the country and is being undertaken
across 27 states within duration of 23 weeks.
Under the broad umbrella of the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), bringing ICT to Panchayats
has been conceptualized. It has been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs as
one of the Mission Mode Projects (MMP). This MMP, which is a State MMP, has been named as ‘e-
Panchayati Raj Institutions’ or e-PRI in short. Interestingly, the e-PRI MMP aligns itself as one of the
most important MMPs in realizing the NeGP Vision as articulated below.
In order to achieve its vision and objectives, e-PRI MMP envisages implementation of various
application modules covering the following services / management functions within various levels of
PRIs including the Gram Panchayats:
��� Issue of Trade Licenses and NOCs
��� House Related Services
��� Certificate of Birth and Death, Income and Solvency
��� Dissemination of Internal Process of Panchayat agenda, voting, resolution
��� Copy of Proceedings of Gram Sabha and Action Taken Report
��� Receipt of Funds / Progress Report
��� Dissemination of Data BPL, PF for Landless Agricultural Laborers, education, Health facilities
& status and digitization of the Village Infrastructure on a Map
��� Use of National Panchayat Portal (http://panchayat.nic.in) for display of information and
sharing of best practices
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This initiative poses unique challenges, as the coverage of the program is in itself unprecedented not
only in India but perhaps globally too. The geographic and demographic coverage of the program,
therefore, makes it a challenging initiative to rollout.
In addition, the level of devolution of powers to Gram Panchayats across the country varies
depending upon the administrative arrangements in a particular State/UT. This implies that the
services that could be delivered to the citizens by Village Panchayats in one State/UT could differ
from another. Consequently, design of the process re-engineering, computerization and capacity
building program would face significant challenges. This also leads to related challenges around
stakeholder’s involvement in the program.
The project execution primarily was carried out across the following five tiers:
��� Ministry of Panchayati Raj (or ‘Ministry’) level
��� State level
��� Zilla Panchayat level
��� Block Panchayat level
��� Village Panchayat level
The study comprises of four distinct phases, namely:
Table 1: Various Phases of Study
Phase Name Timeline
Phase I Inception & Planning for the Study 04th Jun 2009 to 21
st Jun 2009
Phase II Information and Service Needs Analysis (ISNA) 22nd
Jun 2009 to 21st Aug 2009
Phase III Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) 24th Aug 2009 to 16
th Oct 2009
Phase IV Preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) 19th Oct 2009 to 13
th Nov 2009
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4. Approach & Methodology
This section outlines the Approach and Methodology of study for the e-PRI project. It provides overall
view of the project across four phases and dwells deep on the current phase by discussing aspects
such as study methodology, stakeholders consulted, data gathering tools used and challenges faced
in executing this phase (Information & Services Needs Assessment).
4.1. Overall e-PRI Project Approach
It is important to have a well defined approach and methodology for executing a project of this
magnitude in the desired timeframe. Accordingly, a four phase approach has been designed
as illustrated below:
Figure 3: Overall e-PRI Approach
Phase I: The Initiation and Planning
In this phase the focus is primarily on setting the tone for execution of the project. The key
outcomes of this phase were identification of stakeholders and the consultation mechanism
and formalizing the deliverable templates. During this phase data gathering tools and
templates were also prepared, which were targeted on focused information capture.
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Phase II: The INS Needs assessment
This is the current phase of the project in which the team undertook a field study in Srinagar,
Doda and Bhadarwah between 22nd June 2009 to 21st August 2009. This report is the output
of Phase-II. Four broad areas were studied in this phase by interacting with relevant
stakeholders. The areas of study are:
��� Execution of Centrally Sponsored Schemes with respect to aspects of Planning,
Fund flow, Implementation, Monitoring & Reporting: The team studied the role of PRIs,
if any, and got to know issues, challenges, best practices and information requirements
as articulated by the nodal departments concerned with the scheme execution in J&K.
��� PRI Domain study: The team assessed the state of devolution of powers to PRIs and
staff capacities in PRIs to understand what are the current issues & challenges faced
by them in attaining complete self-governance as envisaged in the 73rd Amendment
Act.
��� Citizen Service Delivery from PRIs and Citizen Needs: The team studied citizen
services provided by the Gram Panchayats using a bottom-up approach & identified
additional services that can be offered by the Gram Panchayats, which comprises of
Elected Representatives & Government Machinery closest to the Citizens.
��� ICT & Capacity Building Assessment: The team assessed capacity in terms of ICT
infrastructure, ability to collect local data, ability to plan from grass-roots using a
participative approach, ability to monitor at the grass-roots through Social Audit, ability
to prepare funding proposals & knowledge about roles, responsibilities &
accountabilities of PRIs.
This report shall be submitted to the SIO, NIC, J&K and the same report is to be submitted to
the state government. A subset of this report was presented to the District Administration and
DIO, NIC, Doda. The brief on the report and findings were given through the power point
presentation in the workshop organized at the Doda on 22nd Aug 2009, wherein the officials of
the line departments were also present. The report was approved then and there only by the
Deputy Commissioner, Doda in the presence of the officials of all the line departments.
This phase involved interactions, including surveys, with the identified stakeholders. This
phase resulted in forming an understanding of the needs of the stakeholders and helped in
identification of the services. The citizen centric services that are currently being delivered &
the services that are expected to be delivered through PRIs were also identified and studied.
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Phase III: The Process Re-engineering
Phase III of the project is aimed at completing Process Mapping of short listed Services and
Process Reengineering of the same. It is envisaged that a BPR framework would be worked
out by central Team present at New Delhi in concurrence with the MoPR & NIC and the core
team based on which the BPR would be undertaken. The state stakeholders from PR
Department & Line Departments would be taken into confidence while reengineering the
processes. The outcome of this phase would be a BPR report to be submitted to the state
stakeholders & MoPR.
This phase would entail the in-depth analysis of the identified services and creating AS-IS
process document. This will lead to the To-Be scenario, where the services would be re-
engineered for optimizing the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.
Phase IV: The DPR preparation phase
Phase IV deals with preparation of the DPR report which would contain the way forward for
realizing the e-PRI MMP through Capacity building, ICT Infrastructure building, legal changes
to be brought about, business models, timelines and budget requirements. The team would
work with state stakeholders from PR Department & NIC-J&K to define the DPR. This report
would be submitted to the State stakeholders & MoPR. End of this phase marks the
culmination of e-PRI MMP preparatory study. This phase will be the eventual outcome of the
study where apart from State specific DPR; a national DPR would also be prepared. This
national DPR would be shared with the respective states to enable them to directly undertake
implementation of e-Governance in Panchayati Raj Institutions.
4.2. Study Methodology
This section comprises of sub sections dealing with how stakeholders were identified and what
kind of interactions happened with them. The team interacted with Line Departments & PRIs to
understand CSS related details. They interacted with Line Departments, PRIs & NIC to
understand the status of ICT & Capacity building. The team also interacted with PRIs, Citizens
& Elected representatives to understand Citizen Service Requirements. Subsequent sections
deal with this in detail.
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Stakeholder consultation
Establishing Project Core Team: This included setting up a Project Execution Unit (PEU)1, a
Central team comprising of representatives from MoPR, NIC and the consulting firms, to
provide a day to day support and guidance to the state teams. The PEU acted as the core
team at the central level entrusted with tasks such as identification of various stakeholders,
orientation of the field teams, establishing reporting and escalation mechanisms, providing
ongoing guidance and support. The core team was also responsible for the co-ordination of
the designated field teams for each of the states/UTs undertaking the INS Study. The core
team identified a set of about 30 centrally sponsored schemes spread across 11 CLMs that
should be taken up for study. The criterion used for selecting these schemes was that there
should be an existing or envisaged role of PRIs in the scheme execution.
Central Line Ministry Study: The project started with a National Kick-off chaired by the
Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and was attended by the senior officials from various
stakeholder line ministries. The group of 12 consultants2 was formed to conduct this study
over a period of 2 weeks. The teams assigned ministries and were responsible for interviewing
stakeholders from the Central Line Ministries (CLM) to capture information relating to the
implementation of the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) and to understand the
expectations of the CLMs from the ePRI project. The key CLMs covered were:
��� Ministry of Agriculture – Department of Agriculture
��� Ministry of Woman and Child Development - Department of Woman & Child
Development
��� Ministry of Rural Development-Department of Rural Development, Department of Land
Records, Department of Drinking Water Supply
��� Ministry of Tribal Affairs - Department of Tribal Affairs
��� Ministry of Health & Family Welfare - Department of health & Family Welfare
��� Ministry of Social Justices & Empowerment - Department of Social Justice &
Empowerment
��� Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports - Department of Sports
��� Ministry of Human Resource Development – Department of School Education &
Literacy
��� Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
��� Department of IT and Ministry of Panchayati Raj
1 The PEU consists of one member from each of the four consultancy forms that are involved in ePRI project
and have the direct interface with the client i.e. MoPR 2 The team of 12 comprised of three principle consultants from each of the consulting firms.
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Field study for identifying INS needs of Citizens: The field teams comprised of the SIO/DIOs of
the State/District, the team of consultants from M/s. 3i-infotech Ltd. and the domain experts drawn
from NGOs, Community Building Organizations, retired PR officials. The study was conducted across
all the three tiers of Panchayati Raj administration, namely District / Zila Panchayat, Block Panchayat,
Gram Panchayat, which led to the identification of information and services needs of citizens.
State level
Initially the field team held discussion with the State Panchayati Raj department to gain the
knowledge of the PRI framework established by the State under the State Panchayat Raj Act. The
consultant team gathered information on various schemes, centrally & state sponsored, that were
being provided to the citizens, using questionnaires and discussions with various state line
departments. The consultant team also met support departments and agencies such as Department
of Information Technology, J&KeGA etc. for the assessment of the existing technology infrastructure
being implemented within the state.
The consultant team observed and examined various artifacts such as the department annual report,
citizen charters, status reports for the projects under implementation, accounting & monitoring reports
etc., to support the captured information and discussions. The team spent approximately two weeks
at the state level to collect required information.
State level Workshop
Figure 4: State Level Workshop
As a part of assessment study a work
shop was held at state capital Srinagar
on 3rd July 2009, which was chaired by
The Secretary, Rural Development
Department, to apprise the participants
regarding the objective of the project.
The important functionaries of the
various line departments of the state
Government had attended this
workshop. Prior to the workshop, the
team had visited each line department
and encouraged them to participate in
the workshop and also briefed the Secretaries / Directors of the each department individually
regarding the importance and urgency of the project. In the workshop the team has again interacted
individually with each department with respect to the various schemes being executed by them.
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Figure 5: District Level Workshop
The identical exercise was
carried out at the district wherein
the workshop was conducted to
apprise the participants
regarding the project objective &
the assistance required from line
departments. Further to that, a
Gram Sabhas at the Halqa
Panchayat level was conducted
with the help of block level
officials to understand the basic
needs of the various citizens
with respect to the government service delivery and the expectations from the e-PRIs by the various
stake holders like line departments, district office, block level office, citizens, etc.
Figure 6: Press Note on District Workshop
Key officials met in the district
administration included District
Development Commissioner,
Assistant Commissioner
Development, Project Officer -
DRDA & various committees
formed by the government. The
consultant team, wherever
possible, also attended the
committee meetings to
understand the ground work being
undertaken by them.
The consultant team spent about
2 weeks at the district level to
collect the required information for
the study.
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Block & Village Level
Figure 7: Gram Sabha at Village
At the Block Panchayat and
Village Panchayat level the
consultant team, apart from
interacting with the government
officials also undertook
interactions with the villagers by
organizing a Gram Sabha and
discussions with focused groups.
The consultant team organized
two3 Gram Sabhas and met the relevant stakeholders to understand their needs of new
services and the actual implementation of various schemes at the ground level. Team also
met the common villagers and inquired about their wish list from the Panchayat. The teams
later translated the villager’s wish list into new services that can be offered through various
levels of PRIs.
The consultant team also enquired about the existing technology and related infrastructure
such as buildings, electricity availability, network connectivity etc. at each level of the PRI.
Identification of interviewee groups
The core team identified the various interviewee groups. The consultant team prepared and
customized questionnaires and data gathering templates for these interviewee groups and
finalized a comprehensive list of interviewees based on discussions with state level
stakeholders including state and district administration. The list included the following:
��� Ex-Panchayat officials and support staff – The list included District Administration
officers, Gram Panchayat members and support staff in the village such as Primary
Health Workers, Anganwadi workers, Agriculture/Irrigation officer, Watershed
Committee, Forest Committee, SSA Committee, Health Committee, etc.
��� Villagers & Village Organizations – This group included the village level committees
formed at the lower level of the PRI, citizens, etc.
��� Specific focus groups - Additional discussions have been conducted with specific focus
groups such as farmers, teachers, youth, women, rural health officer, SC/ST families,
minorities etc.
3 The two Gram Sabhas were conducted at Khalleni and Dhrudu, Doda District, J&K and the strength of the
Sabha was over 30 each time.
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Data gathering tool
Data gathering tool is very concisely, preplanned set of questions designed to yield specific
information to meet a particular need of the project. The questionnaires are very specific &
simple. Data gathering tool was the out come of months of secondary research & multiple
sittings with authorities involved in the project. Due care has been taken to make the data
gathering tool simple so that it is acceptable by both interviewee & interviewer. Data gathering
tools helps in quantitative research and precise and desired outcome.
Interview questionnaires
Exhaustive templates were formulated by the core team based on the project scope and the
information required were then circulated to the consultant teams. All the relevant information
based on the objective of the template was captured based on their interactions with the
identified stakeholders. Consultant teams observed and examined various artifacts at various
levels to support the information captured during the INS Study.
Data capturing templates
The following are the various sections that were captured by the consultant team with the help
of various questionnaires at State level, District level and Gram level. Different parts were
covered at different levels. All the topics that were covered are listed in the form of a table as
under:
Table 2: Topics covered in Templates
Sr. No. Sections State level District level Gram Level
1. PR Governance √ √
2. Government of Citizen Services √
3. Panchayat Schemes √ √
4. Current ICT assessment √ √
5. ICT Capacity Assessment of PR staff √ √
6. Planning & Implementing √ √
7. Accounting Practices √ √
8. Transparency Assessment √ √
9. Expectations from e-PRI √ √ √
10. Focused group discussions √
11. Awareness about the schemes & services √
12. Service Delivery √
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4.3. Services identification methodology
One of the objectives of the project is to provide services to the citizen at their door step with
ICT enablement of the PRIs at all the tiers and to provide these services at their door step, it is
imperative to identify the first list of indicative services. The methodology for identifying those
services is explained diagrammatically.
Figure 8: Services Identification Methodology
To identify the services need of the citizen the first step was to identify the services provided
by Panchayat, which is available in most of the states in the Activity Mapping Document,
which states the involvement of three tiers of PRI in different department & its activities. Since
this document is not prepared by the department, the first draft of the services were identified
based on the discussion with their officials.
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The project envisages the study and subsequent re-engineering of the two broad categories of
services namely G2G services and G2C services. The project scope includes identification of
15 existing services to be identified for re-engineering for each state and 5 new services. The
methodology for the services identification can be given as follows:
��� Step1: Define broad list of services to be studied. This was done based on extensive
interactions with various levels of officials at the Center, including central line ministries
and conducting various surveys like departmental surveys, internet surveys, state
based surveys etc. the indicative list of services was recognize. The services identified
at this step are the umbrella list of services which were refined subsequently at the
state level. The team had visited websites of various departments, states, CSCs
website and also referred to the RFPs prepared for the selection of SCAs for the
implementation of CSC project.
��� Step2: Define state specific list of services from the umbrella list of services finalized at
the central level based on interactions at the Central Ministry level. Further to
identification of approximately seventy services, the same was presented to the State
Government for their deliberation.
��� Step3: Consultation with line Departments: After a series of discussions with the
various line departments at the state level and at the time of the state level workshop,
the list was further improved upon.
��� Step4: Consultation with District Officials: While carrying on the discussions with
various officials at the District level, consequently, the list was further improved upon
considering several parameters like volume of transactions, demand by the citizens
during Gram Sabha and other informal discussions, etc.
��� Step5: Consultation with Target Beneficiaries: The Gram Sabha / Halqa Majlis were
organized at two places in the Bhadarwah block of Doda district to understand the
requirements of the citizens. At the end of this robust exercise the list of 15 services
were identified which can be delivered through the various levels of PRI framework and
specially through Gram Panchayats once they are in existence.
��� Step6:- Further to the completion of study on information & services needs of the
various stake holders, a district level workshop was organized wherein the officials of
all the line departments were present.
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��� The purpose of the workshop was to apprise the district administration to get the
feedback on the study report being submitted and the gaps identified during the study
with respect to the functioning PRIs, Based on the inputs received during the workshop
the list of identified services was further improved upon and finalized.
Figure 9: Department wise service chart
7
3
3
11
1 1
Department wise services
Revenue
Police
Social welfare
Agriculture
Electricity
Rural Development
PHE
Figure 10: Type of Services
(Refer Section 9.1 for list of Services identified)
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5. Status of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs)
This section deals with the Status of PRIs from multiple perspectives like PRI organization structure
and its current assessment of progress of PRIs as institution of local governance, the status of
devolution of 3Fs, status of Activity Mapping, status of PR governance in terms of Planning,
Monitoring, Implementation and Accounting and highlights any learning / best practice.
Jammu & Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act formulated in the year 1989 had provided a three-tier
Panchayat system. These tiers were Halqa Panchayat at the Village level, the Block Development
Council (BDC) at the Block level and District Planning & Development Board (DPDB) at the District
level. Panchayats came into being in the year 2001 after a gap of 23 years and lasted for a period of
five years. However, out of 2700 Panchayats only 1693 could be constituted resulting in the non-
formation of the second tier of Panchayats at the Block level in view of elections in the remaining
Panchayats not being held due to administrative problems. Thus, Jammu & Kashmir had never been
able to implement the three tiers of Panchayati Raj System.
The Panchayats were dissolved in the year 2006 and since then, the elections have not been held
due to varying reasons. Circular No. 8 of the department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj,
Government of J&K, notified the dissolution of Halqa Panchayats as their term of office had ‘expired’
and in place of them appointed monitoring committees and also stressed the need for involving Halqa
Majlis (Gram Sabha) for the formulation of plans, their periodical appraisal and social auditing. The
secretary of the concerned Panchayat is responsible to ensure this. Further the Halqa Majlis has to
select members for the monitoring committee that will monitor the work undertaken by the
department. The funds that have been transferred to Panchayats under different scheme as per
guidelines are being operated jointly by the Block Development Officer and Panchayat Secretary.
Presently, the functions of the Panchayats are being performed by different committees at the village
level with the support of the ex-members of the Panchayati Raj who were once in power and are
working like an advisory body to blocks. Although, these members work voluntarily, they cannot
exercise any controlling influence. These committees are actively involved in planning,
implementation and monitoring of different schemes in the village. The structure of the J&K
Panchayati Raj system wrt the PRIs is mapped as under:
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Table 3: Panchayati Raj Act Mapping
Sr. No. As per the PRI As per the J&K
Panchayati Raj Act 1989
Current Status Gap Analysis
1 Gram Panchayat Halqa Panchayat Dissolved Elections to be held in the month of Oct / Nov 2009
2 Block Panchayat / Panchayat Samiti
Block Development Council Not available Required to be constituted
3 Zilha Parishad District Planning Development Board
Physical Structure not available
Required to be constituted
4 District Planning Committee (DPC)
Not available Not available Required to be constituted
5 State Finance Commission (SFC)
SFC Existing None
6 Reservation of SC / ST
Amendment was carried out in 1989 act in the year 2003 to accommodate the PRI recommendations
Existing None
7 System of checks & balances
Social Audit Existing None
Present Status of Panchayats
In the state of J&K, after delimitation, the total numbers of Panchayats as of today are 4139 as
compared to the 2700 Panchayats available in the year 2001. The district wise details are as under:
Table 4: Panchayats Status
Sr. No. District Before de-limitation After delimitation
1 Srinagar 10
2 Ganderbal
93
104
3 Pulwama 186
4 Shopian
236
103
5 Anantnag 294
6 Kulgam
309
165
7 Budgam 199 283
8 Baramulla 365
9 Bandipua
276
113
10 Kupwara 224 359
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Sr. No. District Before de-limitation After delimitation
11 Leh 65 93
12 Kargil 68 95
13 Jammu 297
14 Samba
295
99
15 Kathua 183 245
16 Udhampur 204
17 Reasi
215
147
18 Doda 232
19 Kishtwar 134
20 Ramban
262
124
21 Rajouri 160 296
22 Poonch 115 191
Total 2700 4139
Panchayats Assets
The Panchayats in a period of five years have created certain assets in the state of Jammu &
Kashmir. The details of which are as follows:
Table 5: Panchayat Assets
Sr. No. Name of the asset Unit Total
1 Land Hectares 3482
2 Roads-Surfaced/un-surfaced Kilometers 6906
3 Plantations Hectares 2231
4 Buildings No. 4818
5 Irrigation Khuls Rmts. 2.16 lacs
6 Culverts No. 6364
7 Lanes and drains Kilometers 7714
8 Tanks and Ponds No. 2416
9 Others No. 80913
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5.1. Vision of State PR Department
As mentioned earlier, there is no separate PR Department in the State for the execution of the
functions of Panchayati Raj Institutions. The Rural Development Department is the governing
body responsible for execution and implementation of various activities of the PRIs.
Delineation of authority
The Rural Development Department has a buoyant approach towards re-formation of the
Panchayati Raj in J&K. The department believes in delineating authority to the PRIs by giving
them full independence to take decisions. The vision of the department is in accordance with
the objective of e-PRI, which means the department buys the bottom to top approach with the
powers vested to Panches & Sarpanches for the local self governance. The Department
wishes to provide all kind of services to the citizens under one roof with accountability and
transparency in the processes.
Active participation
The department opines that the Panchayat should have a supervisory role in all kind of
activities along with shifting of the functions and the functionaries of the core activities. All the
schemes that are centrally sponsored, state sponsored, centrally sectored etc. must be rooted
from the PRIs so that they can decide what is good and bad for them.
Efficient planning
Enable the efficient planning and implementation of specially targeted programmes and works
for rural development, especially for the up-liftment of the rural poor. Support the
empowerment and capacity building of Panchayat Raj institutions to enable them to use their
resources effectively and efficiently for development. This includes planning, implementation,
monitoring, accounting, and other aspects of administration.
In a nutshell, the vision of State RD & PR Department is to:
��� Holding Panchayati Elections in the month of Oct / Nov 2009 is the utmost priority of
the state of J&K.
��� Enable PRIs to undertake need based planning at the grass-root that factors in
people’s participation in planning, implementation and monitoring functions.
��� Build a social accountability framework by creating awareness about the role of Gram
Sabha as the Voice of Citizens so that it can counter balance any unjustifiable
deviations in the local development agenda by actively participating in the processes
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��� Create capacity at the grass root so that PRIs are able to discharge their duties
responsibly by adhering to good governance principles (perhaps by defining a
Standard Operating Procedure Manual which incorporates these principles)
��� Promote the use of ICT across all the tiers of PRIs so that transparency and
accountability gets inbuilt into the routine working of the institutions and functionaries
Establish citizen rights to services through a well defined Citizen Charter and grievance
redressal mechanism
��� Strengthen the functioning of PRIs by providing technical support in domain areas that
need specialized skills such as estimating, planning, budgeting, setting up social
indicators, monitoring, etc.
5.2. Panchayati Raj Organization Structure
This section outlines the PR organizational structure at Jammu & Kashmir. It covers the
hierarchy at the State Level and the PRIs. In the section on PRI structure, the report covers
the status of the PRIs as per the Panchayati Raj Act 1989, structure at the time when
Panchayats were in place and the situation at present.
State PR Department
The Rural Development Department attains the present stature courtesy Panchayati Raj
Institutions in state because of the non entity of the PR Department in the state. All the
functions & duties of the PR Department are efficiently being performed by the Rural
Department. The Department is headed by the Secretary followed by the Additional Secretary,
Director and Project Director. The Director has the Assistant Commissioner Development
under him followed by the Block Development officer at the Block level and later, the
Panchayat members.
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Figure 11: Organization Structure State PR Department
District Administration
The District administration at the District has the District Development Commissioner / Deputy
Commissioner at the top of the hierarchy, followed by the Assistant District Development
Commissioner. The Project Director – DRDA performs the functions of ADDC in the Doda
District of J&K. Under his governance in RDD, there is Assistant Commissioner Development
followed by the Block Development Officer and Inspector Panchayat and members.
It was observed by the consultant team that the Govt of JJ&K follows the single line
administration in the district, due to which DDC is brought at the centre-stage of the planning
process and all district level officers put under his administrative control for purposes of
preparation, monitoring and implementation of plans. DRDA also brought within the purview
of DDC as Chairman DRDA. De-centralised planning process set in motion in 1976 introduced
by late Jenab Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Sahib.
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The chief administrative authority within the district vests in the Deputy Commissioner, who
more due to single line administration is not only District Magistrate and Collector but for all
intents and purposes, is also the head of all the district level offices. In addition to the usual
and traditional role as Deputy Commissioner he has multifarious duties. As Deputy
Commissioner, he is the executive head of the District looking after development, Panchayats,
local bodies and civil administration. As District Magistrate, he is responsible for the
maintenance of law and order and is the head of Police and prosecuting agency in the district.
As Collector he is at the apex of the revenue administration and is responsible for the
collection of land-revenue and all dues recoverable as arrears of land-revenue. He is also
revenue-applause authority. He ensures the successful execution of plan-schemes and co-
ordinates the functions of all development departments and in fact due to the peculiar
circumstances and situation of the area his functions are largely those of a Development
Officer. In order to avoid procedural delays and in the interest of early disposal of work, he has
been given special and enhanced powers. He has been declared Head of Department for all
offices functioning in the district.
In addition to the above the Deputy Commissioner has been invested with so many other
administrative and financial powers. The Deputy Commissioner is also the disciplinary
authority and is competent to take disciplinary action in matters concerning non-gazetted staff
posted in the district. He can order any punishment, short of dismissal and removal from
service. This arrangement has been made to ensure smooth working in the area because of
its remoteness.
The concentration of powers in the Deputy Commissioner is primarily to ensure the speedy
disposal of work and execution of development schemes. These arrangements have worked
very well. The people, who were hitherto unused to the immediate presence of a high
powered executive and were, therefore initially apprehensive, that the induction of such an
elaborate administrative machinery might mean a certain curtailment of their idyllic freedom,
are now convinced that from small waziris to a sub-tehsil and then to a full-fledged district, the
change has been all along for the better.
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Figure 12: Organization Structure District Administration
Panchayati Raj Institutions structure:
This section is dedicated for PR organization structure. It covers the organization structure at
state Panchayati Raj Department, organization structure of District Planning Development
Board, Block Development Council & Halqa Panchayat.
District Planning Development Board (DPDB):
As per the J&K Panchayati Raj Act 1989
The State Act prescribes District Planning & Development Board which is a combination of the
Urban and Rural local bodies. The State Act does not provide for a Zilla Panchayat
independently apart from District Planning & Development Board. The DPDB comprises of the
following:
��� Chairman of the Block Development Council
��� Member of the Parliament representing the area
��� Members of State Legislature representing the areas within the district
��� Chairmen of Town Area Committees at the District
��� President of the Municipal Council, if any
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Figure 13: District Planning & Development Board
The chairman of the Board is nominated by the Government from amongst the members of
the DPDB. The vice-chairman shall be elected by the members of the DPDB and no
government nomination is accepted. The District Development Commissioner acts as the
Chief Executive Officer of the DPDB.
Findings by the team:
Since the DPDB / DP do not have a physical structure at the district level, the DPDB/ DP do
not have staff of its own. Out of 29 subjects to be devolved, only few functions have been
devolved to the PRI, however, functionaries associated with the line departments are not
devolved at any level of PRI framework and even not placed at the disposal of DPDB. Even
the DP office does not have any Staff from any other line departments as diverted capacity.
It was also observed by the team that at few districts, the Assistant Commissioner
Development (ACD) of the Rural Development Department is holding the charge of District
Panchayat Officer (DPO) also, due to shortage of manpower and also because of non-
functioning of the PRIs. District Development Commissioner (DDC) was brought at the centre-
stage of the planning process and all district level officers put under his administrative control
for purposes of preparation, monitoring and implementation of plans. District Rural
Development Agency (DRDA) is also brought within the purview of DDC as Chairman.
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Block Development Council (BDC):
As per the J&K Panchayati Raj Act 1989
The State Act prescribes the BDC at the Block Level that performs the functions of the Block
Panchayat. The Block Development Council to be constituted by the government that must
bear the name of respective Block. The BDC should comprise the following members:
��� Chairman
��� All the Sarpanches of the Halqa Panchayats falling within Block
��� Chairman, marketing society within the jurisdiction of the block
Figure 14: Block Development Council
The act states that the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the BDC shall be elected out of the
members of the BDC from amongst themselves. If the Sarpanch is elected as chairman of the
BDC, he will have to vacate his office as Sarpanch. The Block Development Officer would act
as the Secretary of the Block Development Council.
Findings by the team:
Since, in the year 2001, the elections could not be held across the state for all the designated
Panchayats due to varied reasons, the Block Development Council at the block level as the
middle layer of the PRI framework could not be formed, resulting in a non formation of three-
tier Panchayati Raj System when the Panchayats were in existence and because of which the
functions were performed by the BDO.
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Halqa Panchayat
As per the J&K Panchayati Raj Act 1989
Every Halqa Panchayat to bear the name of the place where it is headquartered and shall
consist of the minimum seven number of Panches including the Sarpanch who will be elected
directly by the electorate of the Halqa Panchayat. The Naib Sarpanch shall be elected by the
elected Panches of the Halqa Panchayat among themselves. The Village Level Worker to act
as the Panchayat Secretary.
Figure 15: Halqa Panchayat Structure
Findings by the team:
The Halqa Panchayats were formed in full power and authority. They were actively
participating in the day to day affairs of the village for the developmental purposes. The
Sarpanches and Panches were elected as per the guidelines stated in the Panchayati Raj Act.
However, out of 2700 Panchayats only 1693 Panchayats could be formulated due to varied
reasons. The Halqa Panchayats are dissolved at present. The functions of the same are being
performed by the Committees that have been formed which include the ex-members of the
Halqa Panchayats, Social Workers.
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Overall Analysis
As per the act, the elections have to be held within six months of dissolution of Halqa
Panchayats and since the elections were not held, the Department of Rural Development had
to think of some temporary measures like monitoring committee so that the centrally
sponsored schemes and programmes running in the villages could be continued without
interruption. But they also had an option of continuing the same Halqa Panchayats for six
more months till the next elections. But none of these measures were taken up.
Since the Panchayats does not exist, as mentioned earlier, the government order stressed the
need for involving Halqa majlis for the formulation of plans, their periodical appraisal and
social auditing. The secretary of the concerned Panchayat is responsible to ensure this.
Further the Halqa majlis has to select members for the monitoring committee that will monitor
the work undertaken by the department. The funds that would have otherwise been
transferred to Panchayats under different scheme as per guidelines shall be operated jointly
by the block development officer and Panchayat Secretary.
During the study phase and discussion with at various levels in the governance, what we
could understand, that, there were multiple constraints that were stated as reasons for
delayed elections. One has been the bureaucratic delay because of the ongoing process of
delimitation of Halqa Panchayats; however, this activity was completed in the month of June
2009. The second concern cited from the political front was that of security.
Since the state is under the constant grip of internal violence the Panchayat elections will call
for large scale security arrangements. However, the government has recently had the
parliamentary and assembly elections conducted. Over and above all the constraints, the
consultant team could understand the important aspect is that of political will to
conduct the elections seems to be missing from the picture thus delaying the process.
It has been over three years now and the Panchayat elections still have not been
announced by the government. The consultant team observed that elections could
have been announced before the expiry of the term of the Panchayats. Since it was
not announced during that time, the government has lost the momentum and it has
taken three years for the government to decide on to hold the elections in the month
of Oct/ Nov 2009.
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The Secretary, Rural Development Department, Mr. M.S.Khan said that the state has no
choice but to hold elections as the grant money from the centre has not been released to the
state treasury as the Panchayat elections have not been held. It has been told that, a cabinet
decision would be taken for holding the elections in the month of Oct/ Nov 2009. He further
reiterated that, if it could not be held during these months then it will further delay the process
by another six months because of change climatic conditions in the Kashmir region.
Since the Panchayati Raj department is not a separate department in the state, consequential
of which the Rural Development Department is overloaded and is understaffed. Thus, the ever
increasing work of the PRI is creating a lot of pressure on the officials to cater to the needs of
the parent department and fulfill yet greater than ever demands of the citizens in terms of
service delivery, schemes execution and various other needs and delivery is getting badly
affected.
In order to achieve the objective and vision of the PRI it is imperative that the state
government to give a thought on augmenting necessary qualified domain knowledge experts
in the department with a clear-cut roadmap for the next 5 year and policies in place.
Besides that adequate number of manpower may be put in place to cater to the needs of the
rural citizens. Initially the administrative staff at the state level can be pulled from the Rural
Development and allied departments or staff can be put on deputation. Similarly, the separate
IT cell may be created at the State level to implement, guide and monitor the progress of the
IT implementation at the district, block & at the Gram Panchayat level.
The State Act does not have a provision for constitution of independent State Finance
Commission. The State Act proposes the selection of the Chairman District Planning
and Development Board unlike elections proposed for three tiers under the 73rd
Amendment of Constitution of India. The 73rd Amendment of Constitution of India
asks for DPCs which is a mix of urban local bodies and rural local bodies. However,
the State Act prescribes District Planning & Development Board which is a
combination of the Urban and Rural local bodies.
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5.3. Devolution status
This section deals with the Devolution status of Funds, Functions and Functionaries. It also
discusses the status of Activity Mapping. In Jammu & Kashmir, the devolution of functions has
been done on paper and much is still in the control of the Line Departments.
Funds, Functions, Functionaries
The 73rd amendment of the Constitution of India has empowered the Panchayats and
provided a constitutional framework for the state governments for delegation of powers and
has a legal standing in the structure of local self governance in the country.
Jammu & Kashmir Government adopted some of the provisions of the 73rd amendment to
some extent, in fact, the J&K Panchayati Raj act came 3 years before the 73rd amendment of
the constitution of India, however, further to the meetings with various stake holders in the
governance and the analysis of the study carried out at the state, district and block gives the
impression that this state still has a long way to go as far as the devolution is concerned.
Funds
As per the Panchayati Raj Act 1989
Section 14 of J&K Panchayat Act envisages that a Halqa Panchayat shall have a fund to be
called as Halqa Panchayat fund which shall comprise taxes and fees levied by Panchayats,
proceeds from the property and enterprises run by the Halqa Panchayats, court fees,
compensation paid to Halqa Panchayat, donation and contribution by public proceeds of
sanitation, cess, grants from the government and other agencies and all other incomes of
Halqa Panchayats.
There is no separate Panchayat window in the State budget. The finances/funds are not being
transferred to the Panchayats. There is no involvement of Panchayats in the fund flow
mechanism of the Centrally Sponsored Schemes. As per the discussion with Secretary,
Department of Rural Development, that there is a proposal for starting a 'Panchayat Window'
in the State Budget and it may be possible that in this budget session, a specific 'Panchayat
Window' may be approved.
Taxes collected
According to the Panchayati Raj Act of J&K 1989, the provision has been made wherein
Halqa Panchayat may impose taxes on eighteen functions.
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The Halqa Panchayat Adalat is the authorized body for collection of any kind of taxes; on the
other hand, as per the present situation since the Panchayats are non-functioning, no taxes
are being collected at the Panchayat level as a source of funds for their activities. Moreover,
this practice was never implemented even when the Panchayats were functioning as per the
law. However, no taxes have been collected by the government of J&K from the citizens. .
Other sources of revenue
According to the Panchayati Raj Act, apart from the revenues collected from taxes, the funds
of the Halqa Panchayats known as “Halqa Panchayat Fund” comprises of the following :-
��� Proceeds from the property and enterprise run by Halqa.
��� Court fees, fines and compensation paid t the Halqa Panchayat.
��� Donations and contributions paid by public for works undertaken by Halqa Panchayat.
��� Proceeds of the sanitation Cess collected by Government on the revenue being loaned
within Halqa Panchayat area
��� Grants from the Government for general purposes on per capita basis and also for
specific functions.
��� Loans from the Government or other agencies approved by Government, or other
financial institutions.
All other income of Halqa Panchayat and such grants as may be assigned to the Halqa
Panchayat by the Government, keeping in view the topography and backwardness of
the area. When the Panchayats were in existence, the Panchayats have generated the
revenue as under since 2002-03 onwards:
Table 6: Internal Revenue Mobilizations
Sr. No. Year Amount
1 2002-03 8.86
2 2003-04 16.39
3 2004-05 20.21
4 2005-06 21.50
5 2006-07 22.37
6 2007-08 184.00
7 2008-09 156.32
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The revenue was generated on the following account:
��� Fee for mobile towers.
��� Adda Fee.
��� Fee for issuance of NOCs for Establishment of commercial units.
��� Cattle Pond Fee.
��� Rent of Panchayat Assets.
��� Income from Nurseries/Clousers.
��� Compensation of land from Railways.
��� Interest from bank on deposits etc.
However, these funds are lying unutilized with the Panchayats and are deposited in the bank
account of respective Panchayats.
Present Status
A modest effort has been made about engaging the Panchayats towards levying of toll, cess
and taxes so that the revenue in some measure could be generated which could be ploughed
into the developmental activities and self sustainability of the Panchayats. Since, the BDC not
existing, the control and guidance is not available at the Panchayats.
There is no Panchayat window in the state budget. However, it has constituted a Finance
Commission, which, among other issues, will also consider provision of a share for
Panchayats from amongst the available resources on a sustained basis as a part of the
annual budget exercise. In order to give a reasonable share to the Panchayats in the various
resources besides the grants devolving under the Twelfth Finance Commission and the
resources targeted to be realized through taxes, cess and non-tax revenues, the State
Government has constituted a Finance Commission.
12th Finance commission has allocated an amount of Rs. 281 Crores, for the Panchayats in
the state of J&K out of which Rs. 52.83 crores4 have been received as annual installment till
now. The balance amount of Rs. 229.17 crore has not been released so far by the Ministry of
Finance, GoI. The reason of this step was non-formation of the Panchayats in the J&K. The
purpose of these funds available under TFC was meant for the operation and maintenance of
sanitation and drinking water.
4 Source: Presentation given by IMPA to the 13
th finance Commission in June 2009.
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The State Finance Commission (SFC) is authorized to review the financial position of
Panchayats and to make recommendations regarding principles governing:
��� Distribution between the State and the Panchayats of the net proceeds of taxes,
duties, tolls and fees leviable by the State;
��� Determination of the taxes, duties, tolls and fees which may be assigned to, or
appropriated by the Panchayats;
��� The grants-in-aid to the Panchayats from the Consolidated fund of the State
��� The measures needed to improve the financial position of the Panchayats
��� Any other matter referred to the Finance Commission in the interests of sound finance
of the Panchayats.
Facts & Findings
PRIs have got a very poor fiscal base and since revenue generation is not very high; they
have excessive dependency on state & centre for any activity to be performed. Further the
available own source of income is not sufficient as the government is also not willing to
impose any taxes on citizens.
The sources of funds of Panchayat under different schemes are BRGF, IAY, NREGS, Twelfth
Finance commission, Total Sanitation Campaign & Maintenance under RWSS. All the
mentioned schemes come with strict guide lines.
Therefore the Panchayats doesn’t have enough liberty to utilize the fund as per need of the
local area. Untied funds are very limited therefore even if the Gram Panchayat wants to take
any initiative for local area development it has to depend of state or district for the same.
Functions
As per the Panchayati Raj Act 1989
Devolution of functions is a very important aspect for empowerment of PRIs to act as
institutions of self-governance rather than as mere implementing agencies. Article 243G
(Eleventh schedule) provides for the transfer of powers to Panchayats so that they can be
effective institutions of local governance.
The constitution has listed down 29 matters that are open for the devolution. The Government
of Jammu and Kashmir through order No. 21 delegated the list of areas and activities that
would fall under the purview of Panchayats. Initially 9 subjects were transferred to the
jurisdiction of Panchayats and subsequently this list has grown to include 15 subjects.
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Facts & Findings
At the time when PRIs were in existence
When the Panchayats were in existence, though, the devolution of 15 subjects was done, it
was on paper only. In practicality, except for two functions actual devolution never took place
because the funds and the functionaries were never transferred to the PRI level.
Present Status
Since the Panchayats have been dissolved, most of their functions are being performed by the
committee members; Village Level Workers etc. The BDO along with these committee
members are responsible in making various developmental plans, schemes execution,
implementation and monitoring.
Functionaries
As per the Panchayati Raj Act 1989
The Govt. of J&K has not taken any measures to transfer the functionaries to the PRI. During
the period when the Panchayats were in existence, the Sarpanches were authorized to check
the attendance of the school teachers, guiding the Anganwari workers, Asha workers, etc.
However, after the dissolution of Panchayats, the Sarpanches are not any more authorized to
do the same.
Facts & Findings
At the time when PRIs were in existence
No functionaries have been devolved to PRI by the line departments. To cater to the
increasing work load PRIs have been using the services of VLW for most of the things and the
BDO is totally dependent upon the VLWs in the absence of the devolution of functionaries by
the various line departments.
Present Status
Since the Panchayats does not exists, the activities related to local level development is being
done through the various committees constituted by the Government. Moreover, devolution of
Functionaries needs to be carried out to the appropriate level of the PRIs according to the
functional devolution. It would be necessary to create posts in the Panchayats and develop
the Cadre & Recruitment Rules to specify the terms and conditions of appointment or
deputation, as the case may be.
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5.3.1. Status of Activity Mapping
As per the Panchayati Raj Act 1989
Activity Mapping is an exercise that has been recommended as part of the 73rd amendment of
the Constitution of India, for clearly laying out the functions of three tiers of Panchayats and
the manner in which they would coordinate with respect to each of the 29 subjects that would
be devolved to these institutions as listed in the 11th schedule. It also emphasizes on the
division of funds at the three levels. However, the Jammu & Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act
1989 is silent about the Activity Mapping Document.5
Findings by the team:
At the time when PRIs were in existence
The preparation of Activity Mapping Document (AMD) is of the paramount importance which
is required to actually provide detailed guidelines for devolutions of functions, however, the
state government needs to initiate / take action for making Activity mapping document, which
is important to achieve the desired state of devolution of various functions to PRIs. It was also
noted that most of the government officials are not aware about the activity mapping.
It was also observed that, the Panchayati Raj Act 1989 is silent about the preparation of
activity mapping document. Had it been the part of the act, each government department
would have taken the appropriate action to prepare the activity mapping documents first to
align the function, functionaries and the funds. Even though few functions have been
transferred to the PRI, the functionaries are not aligned with PRIs to take care of the devolved
functions, thus defeating the purpose of the PRI Implementation.
Present Status
Even though the guidelines6 for devolution of Functions, Funds and Functionaries (3Fs) to the
Panchayati Raj Institutions through Activity mapping (as a reminder) were issued this year by
Ministry of Panchayati Raj, no steps have been formulated to do the same. It has been
observed by the team, that most of the officials are not even aware about the Activity Mapping
Document.
5 Source: Panchayati Raj Act 1989
6 Activity Mapping Letter No. N- 1011/59/2006-Policy 1(Pt.) issued on 27
th April 2009
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Overall Analysis:
To accelerate rural development particularly in the direction of poverty alleviation state of J&K
recognizes the need to strengthen Panchayats at all levels so that they function as institutions
of self government in spirit of Part IX of the Constitution and reiterates its commitment to the
cause of strengthening Panchayati Raj.
For Panchayats to effectively plan and implement the functions that have been devolved upon
them, it is necessary that funds pertaining to the schemes are transferred to them. As part of
this process, the Government of J&K agrees to put in place systems that are capable of
tracking transfers of funds to PRIs, both through Banks and treasuries.
It is the endeavor of the state to equip the PRIs with substantive financial power in order to
generate adequate resources for them to enable them to discharge functions and obligation
adequately. In J&K, there is a great scope for Panchayats to generate their own revenue.
There is a need to encourage all levels of PRIs, particularly Gram Panchayats to levy taxes
and user charges. The government of J&K states that Panchayats will also be permitted to
spend revenue collected by them without restriction or delay.
For the effective performance of functions devolved to PRIs, it is necessary that the
functionaries concerned with these functions are accountable to Panchayati Raj Institutions.
The Government of J&K agrees to further strengthening this process, so that all functionaries
involved with these functions are accountable to the Panchayati Raj Institutions concerned.
In Jammu & Kashmir, the status of devolution of the 3Fs is incomplete. The funds and
functionaries have not been fully devolved at the PRI. The devolution of the functions is also
just on paper and not in real life. Thereby, it is suggested by the consultant team, that as soon
as the elections of the Panchayats are held, maximum devolution of the 3Fs should be done
to them so that the PRIs have utmost participation in planning, decision making, monitoring,
local self governance etc.
Activity Maps are key instruments to actualize constitutional provisions such as the
73rd Amendment Act and also to provide clarity and communicate how various
stakeholders have control over funds, functionaries and functions. If correctly done
and implemented, they have the potential to ease the bandwidth of line departments
and senior functionaries who can focus on policy issues, strategic aspects of
schemes etc.
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What is evident from the analysis of Devolution of Functions and Functionaries is that there is
an inherent fear amongst many Line Departments that they would loose control and the power
centers would shift if they relinquished control over functions and functionaries, even if they
are to be ultimately devolved to the PRIs in the near future.
5.3.2. Challenges
��� One of the major challenges faced by the line departments in devolution of
functionaries to PRIs is the shortage of manpower especially at the third tier.
��� Activity Mapping Document has not been prepared; therefore, clarity wrt PRI is not
available with various line departments. Few officials of the line departments are totally
unaware about the functioning of the PRIs and the activity mapping activity.
��� Presently, Panchayats are supplanted by parallel institutions, to which entitled funds of
Panchayats are diverted like LAHDC of Laddakh region
��� Empowerment of communities to exert control over Panchayats is to ensure
downwards accountability and good social audit.
��� Monitoring Challenges: Adequate mechanism is also not in place to check and
assess asset creation & its impact and value realization by intended beneficiaries from
the funds received under various schemes. Use of ICTs iat any tier of PRIs including
Panchayats is nil, the monitoring and reporting to state is still paper based and no
major initiatives are taken to control the functions/ activities electronically.
��� Lack of Functionaries: Govt. orders have been issued for the transfer of functionaries
but only for two or three departments, functionaries have actually been transferred.
Quality of functional devolution is poor – activity mapping not carried out, functional
devolution through executive orders may not be stable. There is no formal record with
state regarding the actual devolution status.
��� Political Challenges: Lack of Political commitment from the local MLAs and Ministers
to allow them to function as autonomous bodies. The transferring of political,
administrative and fiscal responsibilities to Panchayats has not been achieved.
5.4. PR Governance
As per the 73rd Amendment Act, the Panchayati Raj Institutions have been empowered and
authorized to function as institutions of self-government. The Act also contains provision of
devolving powers and responsibilities upon Panchayats at the appropriate level with reference
to (a) the preparation of plans for economic development and social justice; and (b) the
implementation of such schemes as may be entrusted to them.
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PR Governance involves the way the Panchayats governs itself. In this section the team has
highlighted how the PRIs are involved in the process of Planning, Monitoring, Implementation,
Accounting of various schemes as well as how do they govern themselves? The team has
studied the involvement of the PRIs in a number of Central Sponsored Schemes (CSS), and
also which committees are formed at the district level, village level and what is their extent of
involvement. In J&K, since the PRIs does not exists, the planning, implementation, monitoring
and accounting is done by the respective line departments. BRGF and NREGA are the
schemes wherein actual Rural Development and PR department is playing a significant role in
the activities.
The Governments vision of inclusive growth, reducing poverty and bridging the various divides
that continue to fragment our society can only be achieved if there is a significant improvement
in the quality of governance.
Good Governance should have following features:
��� Effective participation by all sections of population.
��� Government at all level must be accountable and transparent.
��� The Government must be effective and efficient in delivering social & economic
services.
By and large governance in the state of Jammu & Kashmir is done by the Rural Development
and Panchayati Raj Department. The department has been working very hard for the
upliftment of people in spite of non-existence of Panchayats. The department envisions
developed Rural J&K with transparency and reduced gaps following bottom to top approach.
5.5. G2G Functional Areas
This section talks about the involvement of PRIs in Planning, Monitoring, Accounting and
Implementation of the various CSS schemes. Since the PRIs does not exists in the state of
J&K, all the activities are being performed by the respective line departments with the
involvement of various village level committees.
5.5.1. Planning
The constitution of 73rd & 74th amendments mandated local planning at all the three tiers of
Panchayats. People’s participation in planning is the key indictor & a major function of
governance of a democratic local self government .Thus planning is an important function of
Panchayats.
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It was felt that, though, there is a need of integrated local area plan which should be based on
the need of that area, the scope for planning at grass root level is limited the reason being
lack of manpower, low fiscal base & limited authority. Moreover the schemes & funds
devolved brings along with it strict guide line thus limiting the scope of need based planning
Role of State RD & PR Dept.
Planning is a decentralized activity in J&K state. The state follows a bottom-up approach for
the planning purpose. Every year a guidelines / notification is sent from the State Rural
Development department to all districts to start preparing their plans. Accordingly preparation
of draft plans starts in the month of September/October. However, the complete planning and
allocation of funds etc are handled by respective line departments. The state RD & PR
department plays little or no role in the planning of other department schemes except for the
schemes executed by RD & PR department like BRGF, TSC, etc.
Role of the PRI
A decentralized planning mechanism is being considered as the most desirable system to
promote people views in shaping official policy. The felt needs of the peoples can not be
brought out unless they participate in plan formulation and implementation at grass roots level.
The basic objective of planning at Halqa Panchayat level is to identify the felt needs and
aspirations of the people which are to be jointly shouldered by the people and their
representatives in Panchayats.
Such a process of planning expected to be useful in identifying the local problems/ needs and
local resources, ascertaining the growth potential of the Panchayat in light of their resources,
choosing schemes from the shelf of projects and sequencing them properly in such a way that
forward and backward linkages are established.
Accordingly, Panchayats have been given responsibilities to plan and implement schemes for
economic development and social justice in the merging Panchayati Raj System in the state.
Under these changing circumstances, Halqa Panchayat has necessarily to develop the
capacity to prepare plans and such plans are to be based on the felt needs of the people.
Such a planning mechanism has to fulfill two conditions viz. (a) it must encompass the
development needs of the Halqa; and, (b) it must be ensured that it is based on the felt needs
of the people.
Even though the elected members of the PRIs are not available, each Gram Panchayat is
responsible for preparing plans, implement programmes and schemes pertaining to all the
activities related to local level development and socio economic development of the villages.
Even though the elections are not held in the state, the planning is still being carried out the
gram Panchayat level in the state of J&K.
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Each Gram Panchayat makes its own plans in the Gram Sabha after prioritizing its plans in
concurrence with the participation of village communities and in the presence of state govt.
officials. Since BDC does not exist, the plans received from various Panchayats are
consolidated and compiled at the block level in the BDO Office. Further to that, these plans
are compiled at the office of Assistant Commissioner Development, at the district level and
under the Chairmanship of DDC, the plans are approved for a particular district and the
approved plans are sent to the State department.
Schemes planning process for Halqa Panchayat and Block Development Council
GP Plans
BP Plans
DPDB Plans
It was also observed that the government at any level is not using any IT application
or software application package for the making the plans for any of the scheme.
Recently, a presentation was made by Chandigarh based organization i.e. CRRID for
using the PlanPlus software developed by NIC in making the plans for the BRGF
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The consultant team observed that further to the 73rd & 74th Constitutional Amendments, the
focus should have been more on the local level planning along with the setting up of District
Planning Committees (DPCs). The setting up of the DPCs and the process of district planning
are inherent parts of the Constitutional Amendments, since the district planning is a
constitutional responsibility. While the mandatory provisions have been implemented, such as
holding local elections and creating various local bodies, there is a great deal yet to be done
with regard to proper division of functions, proper devolution of funds and proper undertaking
of local-level planning.
It was also observed that the state government has considerable delay in the setting up of the
DPCs. The consultant team feels that local planning is essential because effective planning
rests on inputs from the bottom up, starting from a family to the community to the village to the
state &, finally, the national decision-makers. National planning can be appropriately designed
by the government in power and there can be proper devolution of funds only on this basis.
5.5.2. Monitoring & Implementation
Role of the State RD& PR dept.
The Government of India has been pressing hard for vigorous monitoring and systematic
evaluation of different developmental program and circulated guidelines for the same. The
state is making efforts for online monitoring for various schemes. The RD & PR department is
not involved in the implementation and monitoring of all the schemes except for the schemes
executed by them. As mentioned in the planning section, the respective departments are
responsible for the implementations and monitoring for their schemes.
Role of the PRI
Though, The J&K State Panchayati Raj does not have a three tiered Panchayati Raj System
with the elected bodies at Gram, Block and District Panchayat which helps in effective
implementation and better monitoring of various rural development schemes, the Govt. has
issued the orders for constitution of Village Monitoring Committee and Vigilance Committees
and the Govt. has from time to time specified the role of these committees in respect of the
programs, schemes and other activities to ensure properly coordinated and effective
implementation of such programs, schemes and activities.
The monitoring by the Block level is done by a way of preparing monthly progress Reports
which are sent to the DPDB and further to the State govt. The committees that have been
formulated in place of the Gram Panchayats are responsible for the monitoring of various
schemes and other activities at village level. Gram Panchayat records the progress and
quality of work and DPDB Coordinator monitors all the implementations works at BDO and
Halqa Panchayat level.
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A social audit performed by the VLWs and other committees at Haqa panchayat after
completion of sanctioned work. The BDO is mainly involved in Physical and Financial
Progress monitoring. Gram Sabha is also conducted that includes various prominent citizens
of the village to list out the development works that have been completed and are under
progress at their Gram Panchayat.
Monitoring becomes a very challenging task for PRIs in collection of relevant information
relating to the Development Programes being implemented in the village by traveling when the
distance between village to village is large and the topography makes it even worse.
Challenges in monitoring
��� Lack of supporting staff and awareness and lack of literacy in rural citizens increased
problems in execution of these schemes and Lack of technical manpower
��� Due to low population density and scattered habitants into smaller groups and long
distances are to be covered while traveling from one village to another, creates lot of
problems in providing emergency services to pregnant women and children
��� Due to vast distances it is very difficult to provide employment/work to rural populace
near to his village/ Panchayat and Lack of Public transportation, Difficult terrains
��� The problems are also like monitoring and maintenance of water sources like hand
pumps, diggies etc.
��� Delay in Funds transfer and Per Child very low cost of Budget/ expenses
��� Lack of resources for preparation of meals like improper Kitchen, chullas.
��� NREGA workers / labours: Lot of time is consumed in getting payment withdrawal from
their Bank a/c or Post Office due to distances and lack of public transport.
It was observed that Govt. of J&K is not using any IT applications/ tools for the
implementations and monitoring of any schemes, however, in some cases because
of strict guidelines from government of India like NREGA, the MIS is prepared and
uploaded at the block level, through the CICs (functional). In case of BRGF, the
departments/ PRIs are expected to update the execution status against the plan in
the PlanPlus software.
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5.5.3. Accounting
SCHEME
Role of the State PR dept.
The Rural Development Department in the state of J&K follows the single entry method of
accounting for most of the schemes. No software is being implemented for the purpose of
accounting. The state receives MPR and QPR for various schemes. The state RD& PR
department does not maintain the accounts of the schemes rum by other line departments,
however, it maintains the accounts of the schemes run by them.
Role of PRI
As per the Panchayati Raj Act 1989, the custody and administration of Panchayat funds shall
be the responsibility of Halqa Panchayats. The accounts of all income and expenditure of the
Panchayat funds shall be maintained in Form 12. The account shall be closed and balanced
at the end of every month and shall be examined/passed by the Panchayat at the meeting in
the next following month. The act also mandates to close any cash transactions in Cash Book
that same day, balanced and signed by the Secretary of the Halqa Panchayat who shall
submit the same to the Sarpanch for his counter signatures. The Panchayats do not use any
IT infrastructure for maintenance of books and follow Single entry, Cash basis of accounting.
Every Panchayat has got their accounts that are presently being operated jointly by the Village
Level Workers and Block Development Officer. At the time of the functioning of the
Panchayats, the accounts were operated by the Sarpanch and the VLW. The share received
from the State is maintained in double entry accounting system and the one received from the
Center is maintained in single entry accounting system. All the expenditures that have been
incurred by them are recorded in the books accounting. Six Tiers of classification of Head of
Accounts are being used in Panchayat Accounts.
Table 7: Details of Heads of Accounts
Sr. No. Tier Name of Heads
1 I Sector
2 II Major Head
3 III Minor Head
4 IV Sub-Head
5 V Detailed Head
6 VI Object Head
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Others
Role of the State PR Dept.
The accounting for all the non-plan funds is done by single entry system at the state level. The
state follows 6 tier accounting system with 16 digits and mostly depends on Monthly Progress
Reports and Quarterly Progress Reports. The state is maintaining 9 registers for non-plan
funds. They are:
��� Cash Book
��� Ledger
��� Office Expenditure Register
��� Contingencies Book
��� Petrol Register
��� Telephone Register
��� Cheque Register
��� Travel Expenditure Register
��� Pay Acquaintance Roll
Role of PRI
At the Block level, the accounts are maintained by the BDO for any kind of transactions. The
department maintains three accounts i.e. Civil Accounts, Forest Accounts and PWD Accounts.
The civil accounts follow the Treasury system, which means the accounts are sent to concern
Accountant General by the Treasuries and the latter two follow Cheque System and are self
compiling authority. The Halqa Panchayat does accounting by maintaining Cash Book. No
software is being used at any level of the PRI.
Facts & Findings:
The officials of accounts section at Block and at the BDO Office and at Gram Panchayat level
are not professional accounts personnel. The post of Accounts officer is lying vacant since last
few years. At GP level the accounts is maintained in a register in hand written. Because of
non availability of domain knowledge expert, the accounts are not maintained properly and the
government is not aware of the actual funds utilization at the ground level and financial
progress report is not being sent on time thus causing a great delay.
5.5.4. Extent of PRI involvement in Schemes
This part of the chapter deals with the extent of PRI involvement in the schemes in core G2G
Functional Areas. Detailed description of each of the schemes is available in the Scheme
templates that have been filled. Each scheme has a soft copy folder with the filled scheme
template workbook, along with supporting documents such as photos and scans of documents
that are in state specific formats.
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In Jammu & Kashmir, the involvement of PRIs is negligible. Due to the nihility of the PRIs,
they are not being necessitated into the governance. This has affected the delivery
mechanism for various schemes and services as well. The role of the PRI presently is being
played by few committees like Village Level Committee, Forest Committee, and Sanitation
Committee etc. that involves the ex-members of the Panchayats and prominent citizens from
the local village.
The role of these committees is mostly limited to planning, implementation and monitoring. In
some schemes the Village Level Worker is the only person concerned in the execution of
various activities of the schemes. When Panchayats were functioning properly, they were fully
drawn in all kinds of developmental activities, but after their dissolution, their role was played
by the ex-members itself, however, they could not execute their powers in the same manner.
Resulting which the PRI could not perform a crucial role in the schemes. The Budgeting,
Accounting and other major decisions are taken at higher level of domination.
5.5.5. Participation in Committees
In the state of J&K, since the Halqa Panchayats are non-functioning from the past three years,
all the work and responsibilities that have been carried out by them are presently being carried
out by a handful of committees that have been constituted as per the orders issued by the
government as a substitute of Halqa Panchayats till the next elections are held and
responsible members are elected who would resume the activities of the Panchayats.
��� Selection of members: These committees are formed at Gram level and the
members of these committees are selected by the people of the village at the time of
Gram Sabha by following the method of raising hands.
��� Details about the members: These committees constitute members from the ex
Panchayats like ex-Sarpanch and ex-Naib Sarpanch etc. It also includes the social
workers especially female workers, one or two citizens who fall under the category of
SC/ST etc. All these members are chosen by the consent of all the village people.
Some committees also involve professional departmental officers to advice, guide in
regard to matters specified by the Panchayat.
��� Role of the committees: The committees formed at the Gram level are Village
Education committee, Forest committee, Vigilance Committee, Monitoring Committee
etc. Basically, the main role of these committees is monitoring and implementation of
various schemes. These committees directly interact with the citizens and act as a
medium of communication between the citizens and higher authorities. Any work to be
proposed in the village is done with the help of these committees.
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District – DODA
Table 8: Committees in District DODA
Sr. No.
Committee Name
Purpose PRI
Level
No. of PRI officials Involved
Designation of PRI Official
1.
Village Education Committee
Middle secondary (up to class 8
th)
i. To look after the implementation of various schemes of education like Mid-day meal.
ii. To look after the school
iii. To utilize the funds that are granted for the school maintenance and other purposes
iv. To take care of the Attendance of the teachers and students
v. To provide the students with free uniform and books.
GP 8-10
1) Sarpanch
2) Panch
3) Social Worker
4) 2 Persons from SC/ST category
5) Female worker
6) Head of institute
7) Ex-teacher
2. Vigilance Committee
i. To keep a watchful eye on the work being done,
ii. To check the records for the actual work done by visiting the sites
GP 7
1) Sarpanch
2) Namabardar
3) Social Worker
4) Female citizen
5) 2 Persons from SC/ST category
6) Ex-serviceman
3. Forest committee
i. To make sure that any kind of illegal damage of forest is not there
ii. To get proper fencing done
iii. Construction of ponds etc.
GP At least 8
1) Sarpanch acting as chairman
2) Block Forest Officer as Secretary
3) Sarpanch
4) Panch
5) Social worker
6) 2 Persons from SC/ST category
7) Retired forest official
4. Monitoring Committee
i. To maintain Labor records
ii. Monitors the implementation of various schemes
iii. Keeps a check that whether the work is being done as per the sub-standards
GP 8
1) Sarpanch
2) Namabardar
3) Chowkidar
4) Social Worker
5) Female citizen
6) 2 Persons from SC/ST category
7) Ex-serviceman
8) Any other prominent citizen from the village
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Sr. No.
Committee Name
Purpose PRI
Level
No. of PRI officials Involved
Designation of PRI Official
5. Watershed Committee
i. To make plans at the village level basis
ii. Identification of the work i.e. leveling, plantation, construction etc.
iii. To execute the scheme IWDP
GP 8-10
1) Chairman (elected)
2) JAA (Agri Dept.)
3) 6 men (elected locally)
4) 3 women (elected locally)
6. Sanitation committee
i. To monitor and implement the TSC scheme
ii. To maintain the beneficiary data
GP 7
1) Ex-Sarpanch
2) Education Institutions
3) School Head
4) ASHA Worker
5) Social welfare Employee
6) Village Panches
7) Any retired person
7. Farmer’s Committee
i. Implementation and reporting about the National Horticulture Technology Mission scheme
ii. Act as interface with the Tehsil
GP 5-6
member/hectares
1)
8. Village Health Committee
i. To execute the National Rural Health Mission scheme of the Family welfare Department
ii. To spend the funds on sanitation, health etc.
GP 6-7
1) Health Worker
2) ASHA Worker
3) Anganwadi worker
4) Any self help group/any prominent lady
5) NGO Mahila Mandal
6) Village Head
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5.6. Best Practices & Key Learning related to PR Governance
In spite of the non-existence of the Panchayats, the ex-Panches, Sarpanches and the Village
Level Workers have been participating enthusiastically in the developmental activities of the
state. They have been closely involved in the day to day affairs of the Panchayats in spite of
its non being. Despite of the prevailing conditions of militancy and violence in the State, the
state government has been invulnerable to the intimidation and has shown the readiness to
embark on bold new ventures by formulating the Panchayati Raj Institutions.
Within India various states have implemented various e-Governance initiatives. The initiatives
implemented by various states which can be of guidance to the state of J&K for better
implementation of PRI is as under:
��� Orissa: The step has been taken by the Orissa Government in providing the
connectivity for Panchayats with District Panchayats and block Panchayats have
interlinked electronically with the state headquarters. Project Monitoring is undertaken
through RURALSOFT, which is a package developed by the NIC, Account monitoring
is also undertaken by PRIASOFT, the NIC’s standard package for rural MIS. PRAMIS
(Project accounting and monitoring system) has also been developed. In Orissa
capacity building of the elected representative is undertaken through the satellite
training. Direct Reception Satellite is available in most of the Gram Panchayats.
��� Karnataka: The initiative for e-governance in Karnataka came from Panchayats
themselves, With Bellandur Panchayat pioneering its own system for dealing with the
requirements. e-Governance in Karnataka has largely progressed as the bottom up
approach. So far, most of the Panchayats in Karnataka have procured their own
computers, using a combination of developed funds from the finance commission, their
own revenue receipts and funding from externally aided projects. Software packages
used by the Panchayat include Aasthi, software designed for tax assessment in
Panchayats, Samanya Mahithi, a database of resources and details of Panchayats,
which is also web-enabled.
��� Andhra Pradesh: Andhra Pradesh has implemented its e-Panchayat Programme
which uses NIC developed software and connectivity backbone for its operation. The e-
Panchayat software provides a number of services typically delivered at the Panchayat
level, such as births and Deaths, House Tax, Trade licenses, issue of pensions,
beneficiary related data and internal modules for accounts, details of Panchayat,
meetings and listing of their properties.
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��� The connectivity provided permits web-based interface between citizens and their gram
Panchayat through kiosks. A state level portal has been developed, which gives details
of Panchayat Raj Acts & GOs, government programmes, welfare schemes, application
forms for downloading, information on citizen charters, Panchayat profile, status on
applications submitted to Gram Panchayat, status on House Tax etc. e-Panchayat has
already been operational in most of the Panchayats covering various districts of Andhra
Pradesh
��� Chhattisgarh: The website of Chhattisgarh Government opens up to vast range of
data available on Panchayats. All 16 Districts and 146 Blocks of the state are
connected through V-SAT and computers. Data entry operators are posted in all 146
Blocks and 16 Districts, thus making data available on the internet for planning. In and
interesting experience, hand held devices are been provided to Sarpanches of all gram
Panchayats for data collection and better performing their functions. Software
development for Panchayats in Chhattisgarh has also started work on priority basis on
Panchayat level data bases, accounting and delivery of services
��� Gujarat: Gujarat is well among top contenders in the race to take e-Governance to all
Panchayats in the state. Computers have been provided to a majority of gram
Panchayats in the state and are in the first instance, being used to provide revenue
records to people. The highlight of Gujarat’s approach is the fact that is being
supported by connectivity to all gram Panchayats through V-SATs. All District
Panchayats and all the Gram Panchayats including the Block Panchayats have been
connected through Gujarat state wide area network.
��� Rajasthan: Rajasthan’s ‘CARISMA’ initiative looks at an important one aspect of the
Panchayati Raj, improving the internal housekeeping of Panchayats. The focus of
CARISMA is on accounting of Panchayats that is AG-complaint and developing a
village information system for better local planning and management.. The system act
as means of improving internal management and efficiency of PRIs and eventually
ensure better and speedy delivery of services to the citizens of rural areas of state. The
unique feature of CARISMA is the twin model for providing connectivity.
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Overall Analysis
PR governance is strategic area of improvement for improving the function of PRIs in J&K.
The Panchayats when in existence lacked basic infrastructure and resources for exercising
their legal powers. The PRIs had limited role in implementation and monitoring of schemes
and negligible role in planning and accounting. The reason analyzed that was responsible for
this was inadequate autonomy.
For involving the PRIs in good governance, the first and foremost requirement would be to
form the PRIs and empowering them with more and more authority to plan & implement for
various developmental activities. The funds that have been received by the Government of
J&K exclusively of Panchayats have been kept on due since the Panchayats are non-existent.
At present, the Panchayats are only involved in the monitoring activities and moreover, the
committees have been constituted as their replacement since their term has been ended.
Every year new committees are formulated to perform the functions of the Panchayats.
However, the team feels that instead of forming committees and complicating the processes,
the J&K govt. should hold the elections of the PRIs at the earliest possible.
As soon as the elections are held and PRIs come into the picture, the government is required
to make resolution in sanctioned strength for different positions & augments the strength of
these positions, otherwise, it will be difficult to render the functions even if complete devolution
done with current strength.
The Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat act has not recognized the Halqa Majlis (Gram
Sabha) as an institution, which are the foundation of local self governance. A positive
aspect about the act is that it makes it mandatory for the Halqa Panchayats to ‘lay for
sanction’ its plans and budget to a ‘meeting of voters’. However, this ‘meeting of
voters’ and its mode of functioning have not been clearly defined. Also, the act does
not state that the recommendations given by the Halqa majlis are binding legally and
can not be tampered with.
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6. Information and Services Needs
In this section Information & Services Needs of the key stakeholders in e-PRI MMP has been
identified. It is based on the interviews conducted on field and the observations the team made from
multiple perspectives. This section presents finding in terms of expectations, challenges, issues and
requirements of PRI, citizen and line departments.
In this phase, data collection toolkits in the form of questionnaires & checklists for each level were
developed for capturing & analysing the data. On the basis of these questionnaires, primary study
was undertaken. Data was captured through interviews, meetings & discussions with eminent govt.
officials. Team studied various processes and the related information flows in all key functional areas,
current technology usage in various departments and understood the technology infrastructure being
used currently. This study will help in defining the gap between the existing stage and the desired
stage so that a right roadmap can be shaped in the further phases of the e-PRI assignment.
Team interacted with state PR department, NIC team and various eminent officials from line
department which are involved in the PRI establishment. After having a brief and fare idea at state
level, project team moved to district, block and village level respectively and understand the complete
implementation of existing process, schemes and other initiatives from RD department. All the
officials were welcoming the initiative of MoPR and provided all possible support and information
available. Most of the line departments are expecting an efficient, errorless, automated monitoring
and reporting system as a part of e-PRI project. They expect the team should understand end to end
approach of implementation of schemes and service. Broad level expectation of State Govt. from e-
PRI initiative can be categorized in two broad areas:
Governance and Management: More transparent process, effective people participation,
Management of large amount of information and data effectively, Swift and secure communication,
Efficient, errorless, automated monitoring and reporting are major needs from the project.
Citizen Service Delivery: Efficient, cost-effective and approachable model of service delivery,
convenient services to citizens, greater access to public information, establishment of accountability
in delivery of services to citizens are few key expectation in service delivery part. While analyzing the
requirements articulated by the various stakeholders either explicitly or implicitly, it becomes evident
that there are a few dominant aspirations that are common are mentioned as under:
��� Encourage decentralized information management and reporting
��� Automate workflow and smoothen information flows
��� Enable convergence in execution and information capture
��� Foster transparency and social accountability
��� Create awareness and knowledge by capacity building
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6.1. Information needs of line departments
Figure 16: Meeting with line departments
In general it was found that,
most of the government
departments and related
establishments are waiting
in-fact to have the modern
tools and technology to aid
in the process of plan and
policy implementation,
management and
monitoring. In the absence
of modern automated tools
like ICT, man power
resources, etc are further
delaying the execution of the various programmes, schemes, etc
During state level study, study team met with eminent govt. officials including State RD and
PR Secretary, secretaries, commissioner and directors of other line department involved with
the various schemes execution. Team captured their vision and expectations of benefit from
the project. Study of schemes running by the line departments and the issues/challenges face
by them during implementation was also a key focus area of the team. It was observed by the
consultant team that there is lack of clarity of roles and responsibilities as mentioned in the
government orders. It was also brought to the team that there is huge gap in participation of
PRIs in governance and scheme implementation at the grass root level and also the
awareness level is very low, at the time when PRIs were in existence, may be due to the first
term of the elected members and non experience in handling these type of activities.
Many line departments feels that the new initiative of MoPR, GoI, to introduce e-Governance
in the PRIs could go a long way in improving data capture and information flow the village
level itself leading to faster and transparent planning, even for the schemes where the PRIs
currently are not involved. The important and common need which ahs been expressed by
most of the line departments is that of capacity building of the officials, elected members and
other staff of the PRIs at all the tiers. The ex-elected members of the PRIs are quite
unsatisfied with the quality of plans and policy implementation across various sections of
governance and particularly relating to poor village people.
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Basis interaction with various stakeholders at the state level, the following information needs
arises:-
Table 9: Information Needs of line departments
Challenges / Issues Expectation from e-PRI
Social Welfare Department
Management of applications received at lower
level is not effective. It has been conveyed that
there are frequent cases of lost/misplaced
application
Online application management and workflow based
application system which can help the welfare department
to get the information about the number of eligible students
and the amount being disbursed.
Timely & accurate availability of beneficiary data. Delay in availability of base data may deprive some
recipient from actually availing the benefits of different
Government schemes
Incorrect reporting and fund management:
Misleading reports from lower level and improper
handling of released fund is a major challenge
Online payment and MIS options
Revenue Department
Historical data: Land records are very old and in
most dilapidated condition and the burden is on
the Tehsildar for issue of any kind of certificate
Online recording for the land records and easily accessible
Large scale of applications: Applications for
obtaining Nakal, khasra, B1, other certificates like
caste, domicile, income etc. are received in a very
large scale by department. Management and
delivery based on those applications is key
challenge for the department
Data digitization and management of the application
(submission, approval, reporting, MIS etc.) can be done
Education Department
Transparency on physical utilization of mid day
meal.
Real time data on midday meal shall ensure appropriate
usage of fund as this could be monitored on a daily basis
For proper planning for education, real time data
of in school & out of school children. Every child of
the state should have basic elementary education
is the mandate of the Government.
Availability on real time basis at all levels of governance i.e.
Physical & financial progress on expenditure. Early & real time availability of progress report shall ensure
accurate & proper planning.
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Challenges / Issues Expectation from e-PRI
Horticulture Department
Education to Villagers: Illiteracy among the
farmers regarding the uses of various types of
fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides, urea, etc.
Awareness about the advantages about urea etc.
can be given to the people.
Data can be collected at the village level itself on Area &
production of fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices & medical
plants.
This data can be used to monitor the trend in production,
data can be shared with merchants (Market creation ) for
bulk purchase and can also be used for planning of the
scheme
Agriculture Department
Information receipt on different schemes of
agriculture is delayed which in turns delays
planning & monitoring.
Connectivity between ZP,BP & GP can facilitate to prevail
over the challenge
Information dissemination is from soochna Kendra
to GP.
Information dissemination on market price, crop disease,
subsidies etc can be attained on availability of connectivity
between subdivision & GP.
PHE Department
The data is collected manually: The data is
collected manually resulting in unnecessary delay
in the delivery of the services
Better communication flow for registration of complaints
Easy accessibility to the citizens for getting new
connections
Electricity Department
i. The data is collected manually
ii. The concerned officer has to go to the far flung
areas for meter reading
The data can be checked and fed online by the Panchayat
Officials themselves
Common Challenges across Department
Accountability of field functionaries. Proper system in place to monitor the visits and activities of
field functionaries can facilitate to know the conduct &
efficiency of field functionaries.
Accuracy of data For precise planning & monitoring accuracy of data is very
vital. This can be achieved very well by data entry at source
itself.
Timely availability of data. For timely decision making data should be available
instantly. Presently due to lack of infrastructure and trained
manpower at grass root level this could not be achieved.
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Challenges / Issues Expectation from e-PRI
Physical & Financial progress through real time
data.
Real time data on Physical & Financial progress shall help
to identify discrepancy at a very early stage. It will be easy
to rectify it then and there itself.
Information on expenditure against each head. Utilization of fund can be known from utilization certificate.
But to know consolidated procurement item wise is very
difficult. A system in place which can be updated instantly
as and when any new procurement happens.
Information on assets at ZP,PS & GP level It is difficult to know the assets at different tiers. An asset
management system for all the three tiers which should be
updated regularly shall suffice the need.
Shortage of manpower: Inadequate manpower
at the state, district and even at the block level to
create awareness regarding various schemes and
at the same time implementation and monitoring
of the various programmes
Create more awareness in planned manner about the
schemes and the data can be made easy accessible at
village level
Better monitoring facility through the portal itself
Challenges on implementation of schemes:
Incorrect and delayed reporting leads to improper
planning and execution of the services/schemes.
Fund flow monitoring is also not effectively
monitored in current system
Efficient, errorless, automated monitoring and fund
utilization reporting
Insufficient Funds: Not able to cater to the needs
of all the people due to shortage of funds
Timely funds from the Central & State Government as per
the plan may be released to suffice the actual requirements
Unauthentic data provided to department from
various agencies: Before annual planning
department need multiple of information like
census data, disease related data, BPL data, and
so on. Such information needed for planning is
sought from various agencies that are doing these
surveys and collecting information. However, this
data is not always a good indicator of situation on
the ground. In many cases the data is old and
outdated and doesn’t tally with similar data from
some other source. The planning done on such
mismatched and imprecise information is generally
proves to be inadequate and full intended benefits
do not reach to all deserving candidates.
A central database of all information, which can be
accessed by all the departments who need it, is required.
Any survey done by any department can be uploaded here
for use by other departments
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6.2. Information Needs of state RD&PR department and PRI ( ZP/BP/GP)
This section articulates the Information Needs of State RD& PR department & PRIs. It is a
compilation of needs of all the functionaries in GPs, BDO’s office, DRDA & DP.
In J&K state, Panchayat Raj System does not exist in the physical form since the elections
were not held since last three years. In the present system, Block Panchayat is the Block
Development office of Rural Development department, since the BDC was never formed and
Halqa Panchayats are various village level committees constituted by government and the Zila
Panchayat is DPDB. Below are some expectations from the state PR Department, Zila
Panchayat, Block Panchayat and Gram Panchayat with respect to planning, implementation
and monitoring.
Table 10: Information Needs of State PR Department & PRIs
Challenges / Issues Expectation from e-PRI
Department of Rural Development & PR, Govt. of J&K
Planning & Budgeting
Non availability of real time data from ZP / BP
and GP for planning and budgeting of schemes:
During the planning data is sought from the grass
root level consolidated at BP level and then at ZP
level. The entire process is manual
Real time data being entered at the grass root level
can help in easier consolidation of data and planning
Data entry being done at Block Level makes the
process cumbersome and error prone: With the
current ICT infrastructure available with the
departments, data entry source for information is at
block level over burdening the system and leading to
data inconsistency
With proposed ICT infrastructure at place in e PRI
MMP data entry points will be at GP level
streamlining the process increasing the data
reliability
Unavailability of data on time: In many cases data
provided at state level is old and hence planning
done using such data is ineffective. Because of poor
connectivity with state servers, data entry takes
much more time than expected. This creates huge
backlog of data entry. For example, in NREGA
backlog of data entry is more than 6 months. This
backlog of information gives a distorted picture about
scheme being run and future planning is not
according to exact level of work done in last year
since much of the information is still to be updated.
Data entry at lowest level will reduce load on upper
tiers and data entry can be much smoother, correct
and on time. Further a demand assessment may be
carried out to ascertain the optimum server
processing capacity and network and bandwidth
capacity.
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Challenges / Issues Expectation from e-PRI
Manual collating of the various plans / data:
Different GP/BPs have different data collection
methods, formats for data representation and
different coding system.
An online data compilation and application package
can be used for planning purposes
Implementation & Monitoring
Non transparency of works being carried out:
Transparency of works being carried out is one issue
which can be addressed very effectively by use of IT
Digitization of data is less vulnerable for
manipulation and all manipulations can be tracked.
Since, online data is accessible to all and is
available all the time. This makes data manipulation
difficult since there are many people who might be
observing. Hence, use of IT and digitization of data
will improve transparency of system
��� Due to low population density and scattered
habitants into smaller groups and long distances
are to be covered while traveling from one
village to another, creates lot of problems in
providing emergency services to pregnant
women and children
��� Due to vast distances it is very difficult to
provide employment/work to rural populace near
to his village/ Panchayat and Lack of Public
transportation, Difficult terrains
��� Delay in Funds transfer and Per Child very low
cost of Budget/ expenses
��� Lack of resources for preparation of meals like
improper Kitchen, chullas.
The possible solution to this situation can be training
of IT to staff to handle ICT work efficiently and thus
reducing their workload and paper work
ICT enablement will allow state and central
departments to monitor progress of their scheme on
a real time basis. Issues can be highlighted quickly
and any course correction required can be done thus
enhancing the overall effectiveness of scheme being
implemented.
Inadequate Staff: One of the major challenges is
about shortage of staff at all the levels of PRIs and
specially at the GP level
The PRIs should have the sufficient number of
technical/ non technical domain knowledge experts
to cater to the needs of the citizens
Delayed reporting: Erroneous and delayed reports
are a huge challenge for the department. Planning
gets the biggest hit because of incorrect reports.
Dependency on the VLWs for every kind of progress
reporting because the actual real time reports
originates from the field level
Efficient, errorless, automated monitoring and
reporting. Receipt of accurate and timely information
regarding physical & financial progress of schemes
like IAY etc.
With e-PRI, Data can be entered at lowest level
which would be authenticated and available at all the
levels
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Challenges / Issues Expectation from e-PRI
Bulky reports and huge data make further
analysis of data difficult: Monitoring of various
schemes and activities is done through reports those
are made at all levels. These review reports along
with accounting reports make the reporting system
that is used to monitor and record the progress of
scheme year on year. These reports are bulky and
on paper, making it difficult to analyze and store
them. In case past reports are required for some
analysis it becomes very difficult to locate and
review them
Digitization of whole accounting and reporting will
make process fast, more accurate and storage and
retrieval of reports easy and speedy. Digitized
reports can be analyzed easily in case some issues
come up and need in-depth investigation.
Manual Reports makes accounting and audit of
data a cumbersome and error prone: In
accounting, keeping tabs of so many account heads
and huge amount of paperwork makes the whole
process slow and error prone. Auditing such reports
is also a demanding task and spotting problems in
account is relatively more difficult in paper.
Use of ICT enabled tools which are networked
across all tiers can reduce the burden of making
vouchers, manual entries and multiple verifications.
It will also make accounting transparent in the sense
that at all levels officials can review the account
anytime. Auditing of online accounts is much easier
when compared to paper based accounts.
General expectations of RD & PR Department
Capacity Building: One of the major concerns
about IT initiatives is to train the entire workforce and
make them capable to use the IT systems.
Provision for end to end training for each level of
officials involved in the program.
Political issues: The dilemma of Central ministry on
how to prioritize the programs and utilize the meager
funds just for laying down infrastructure for ICT when
basic amenities are still not being provided to
citizens in terms of schools, hospitals, healthcare
There is need on part of the government to develop
an overall strategy to take the ICT to the masses.
Ministry should consider all the possible roadblocks.
Unskilled manpower: Implementation ownership
lies with persons who are not enough capable on
handling the systems developed in new technology.
Inadequate staff to support Panchayati Raj function
at the state level
Provision of end to end training for each stakeholder
in the new system on using the new technology
Citizen involvement: Due to poor level of
education, citizen at villages are generally not aware
of the technology benefits and they scare of using it.
Awareness among citizen has to be increased. Local
PRIs can take initiative of running awareness
campaign to make the whole project a success.
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Challenges / Issues Expectation from e-PRI
Zilla Panchayat ( District Planning & Development Board)
Planning & Budgeting
Collection and collation of Project Plan for Annual
Work Plan is a manual process which consumes lot
of time
Lack of information system support for activity
planning and implementation
Online submission and collation of Project plan.
PlanPlus Software is now being used for planning in
two schemes
Work estimation and budget estimation ICT enabled work estimation module and software
for budget preparation
Delay in Fund Flow leading to delay in
implementation
Online status of fund flow and automation of fund
transfer
Implementation & Monitoring
Irregular and untimely submission of Utilization
Certificate and lack of account and book keeping
Facility of online reporting of utilization reports
Data can be entered at lowest level which would be
authenticated.
Incorrect and delayed reporting from lower level
leads to improper planning and expectation
management
Efficient, errorless, automated monitoring and fund
utilization reporting.
Online information about schemes, beneficiaries and
Online submission and receipt of government order.
Irregular and untimely submission of Utilization
Certificate and lack of account and book keeping
Facility of online reporting of utilization Reports
Data can be entered at lowest level which would be
authenticated.
Block Development Office, Bhadarwah
Planning & Budgeting
BP plans are prepared manually by collating village
plans which are received in manual format
Planning software can be implemented
Collection and collation of Project Plan for to make a
district plan
Online submission and collation of project plan
would be possible through e-PRI project
Implementation & Monitoring
Difficulty in physical monitoring since, mode of
transport has not been provided at BP level and
also because of the hilly terrains and difficult bad
roads
Facility of online monitoring can be provided to
facilitate supervision, which can further improve the
quality of the work being carried out at various sites
Delay in fund flow/sanction from higher level which
further
Workflow based transparent system
Irregular and untimely submission of Utilization Facility of online reporting of utilization reports.
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Challenges / Issues Expectation from e-PRI
Certificate and lack of account and book keeping Computerized account and record keeping system.
The work load on the BDO is in excess due to non-
formation of the PRIs inadequate manpower to
support the administration in terms of domain
knowledge experts
Facility of online reporting.
Data can be entered at lowest level which would be
authenticated.
Shortage of manpower: Inadequate manpower at
the block level to create awareness regarding
various schemes and at the same time
implementation and monitoring of the various
programmes
Augmentation of manpower is very urgent vis-à-vis
the transfer of various functionaries to PRIs at each
level
GP, Khallaini & Dhrudu
Planning & Budgeting
Planning is being done through the involvement of
non elected members of the Panchayats and
approved in the Gram Sabha
Elections of the PRIs may be conducted at the
earliest
GP plans are manually made and sent to BP level
which at compiled and collated to form District plan,
which is time consuming and cumbersome process
If BP and GP plans are entered into a planning S/W,
the same can be complied electronically at ZP level
to form District plans
Panchayat is not involved in providing any kind of
service to the citizens of the district. Services are
generally being handled by the concerned
government departments.
No regular staff is provided.
Lack of skilled professionals
Facility of online reporting.
Data can be entered at lowest level which would be
authenticated.
Implementation & Monitoring
Village level monitoring committees constituted for
monitoring
Due to defunct Panchayats, the persons are working
voluntarily resulting in lack of seriousness
Technology awareness/ Unskilled manpower Provision for end to end training for each level of
officials involved in the program.
Delay in Fund Flow leading to delay in
implementation
Online status of fund flow and automation of fund
transfer
General expectations of PRIs at all level
Lack of information on functions, roles and
responsibilities.
Regular training has to be given on the Roles,
Responsibilities and functioning of PRIs
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Challenges / Issues Expectation from e-PRI
Limited Infrastructure and communication resources: The proposed solution should take care of the
limited resources at village level to make the
program a great success
Road connectivity is not there which consumes a
lot of time
Hilly and difficult terrains makes the situation even
worse
Providing application forms (for certificates, old age
pension etc.) for senior citizens and physically
challenged personnel at Panchayat
Level
Lack of systemic resolution of grievances of
people, gram Sabha and Halqua Panchayat
Online and multi-modal system of Grievance
Management may be included with the e-PRI
Non - availability of administrative staff:
Administrative and decision making authorities
have limited time to interact with the villagers
Workflow based transparent system which clearly
define and establish accountability
Lack of information on functions, roles and
responsibilities
Regular training has to be given on the Roles,
Responsibilities and functioning of PRIs
Lack of infrastructure –IT and Non IT, Lack of
skilled manpower- Planners, Engineers,
Accountants, Clerical staff etc.
Skilled manpower and infrastructure have to be
provided
Whenever Central Line Ministries mandate online
information sharing via websites, the staff at Block
Development office and the staff at the Halqa
Panchayat like VLWs, MPWs has to run from pillars
to post for data entry, since they are not well
versed with computers and use of web services/
portal
Capacity building for managing scheme specific data
entry by functionaries such as NREGA, NRHM,
ICDS, etc where Central Line Ministries have
provided online monitoring systems, but adequate
training has not been imparted for efficient use of the
systems
Recordkeeping- All registers are manually
prepared, challenges in easy look and retrieval of
information captured
Records can be maintained in databases
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6.3. Information Needs of Citizens
This section articulates some of the stated needs during the Voice of Citizens meetings held
across various places and interacting with various groups including NGOs.
The citizens are the backbone of every democratic system, and so are the rural citizens when
we talk about the rural governance. The government department plays an important role in
making the policies and delivering the required services to citizens as and when required. The
citizens constitute the largest customer segment and the most frequent users of the majority of
services offered by the Panchayat/ Government Offices. Different citizen centric services
offered by PRI are follows:
��� Access the departmental services like issue of various types of certificates, etc.
��� Access the departmental services like disbursement of various types of pensions, etc.
��� Access the various Citizen Convenience / Utility services such as payment of Govt.
taxes
��� Use the government infrastructure
��� Access the various types of information
��� Take benefits of different Social Security Services of various Govt. Departments
��� Avail the services of other line Departments through PRI
In order to gauge the intensity of the information needs of the citizens with respect to various
services which can be delivered across the PRI framework, Consultant team along with the
local administration conducted Gram Sabha at two different places in the Bhadarwah block of
the Doda District. The villages were Dhrudu and Khalleni. The objective of conducting two
Gram Sabhas were to have a better understanding and better need assessment of the citizens
in the state and also to apprise the people about the objective of the ePRI and how it can be
helpful to the citizens.
The participants of the Gram Sabha were Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers, Teachers, Ex-
Sarpanch, Panchayat Secretary, Block Development Officer and various other prominent
citizens. The methodology used to interact with the citizens was Gram Sabhas and one on one
interaction. The soul objective of the discussion was to gauge the efficiency of services
provided, take their suggestions to improve the existing service delivery and also to
understand their expectation of new services that they wanted to have at Gram level. The
Panchayat Secretary or the Village Level Worker plays crucial role in educating the people
about various schemes.
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During the time of Gram Sabha at Dhrudu, the consultant team found out that the citizens
were not much aware about the roles and responsibilities of the Panchayats. They were more
or less dependent on the Block Development Officer for deriving any kind of benefits.
However, the people had sufficient knowledge about various schemes that were in operation
and had projected their needs and requirements to the Team.
GRAM SAHBHA AT DHRUDU
Figure 17: Gram Sabha Dhrudu
Citizens discussing about their needs After Gram Sabha discussion with citizens
Team with citizens outside Panchayat Ghar Team in discussion with the citizens
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GRAM SABHA AT KHALLENI
Figure 18: Gram Sabha at Khallaini
Expectations of Rural Citizen are availability of Government Services at their doorstep in a
convenient manner at a low or minimal cost. Appropriate and reliable information on market
price of agricultural produces, job opportunities and various welfare services is highly essential
for them. Besides that the citizens are more concerned about the awareness regarding the
process of delivery of services like finding the right application form for the particular services
which is a very difficult task for majority of people living in the rural areas since most of them
are illiterate. The other demand from the citizens was regarding payments of utility bills such
as electricity, water, telephone etc.
Senior citizens at the Gram Sabha
Team gathering details about the village profile
Team with BDO addressing the gathering
Discussing about the needs of the citizens
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Table 11: Gram Sabha Findings (Information Needs of Citizens)
Challenges / Issues Expectation from e-PRI
Citizens (Including Gram Sabha Members)
Citizens are not aware about the roles &
responsibilities of PRIs and also on Gram
Sabha
Creating awareness about roles, responsibilities and
accountabilities of PRIs and Line Departments and also on
Social Audit. Sharing proceedings of GP’s monthly meetings
and Gram Sabha on notice boards will help.
Farmers not aware about information on
allotment of seeds & fertilizer for there
village as society not located in village
Information on Stock of seeds & fertilizer allotted to village
through the societies can be made available to GP through
online portal
Villagers not aware of all Government
Schemes
Kiosk can be implemented at GP level to provide information
or other means of providing information can be road shows,
announcement or advertisement in villages/ portal can also
provide information on services/ Citizen Charter can be
displayed at GP
Information on alternate delivery points for
the services
Service directory can be created and uploaded on
Panchayat portal , which can provide information on delivery
channels
Tracking of Status of application of schemes Create provision in the Panchayat portal for checking the
status of application
Ex-Sarpanch
The decisions made at the Gram Sabha, are
modified as they move to the higher levels
The plans once made at the GramSabha in the presence of
citizens from all walks of life , government officers, self help
groups and other social organization should not be changed
The working executives in the Panchayats
are not being rewarded with any kind of
Traveling allowances or special allowances
The compensation withhold by the Government may be
released as soon as possible
Funds not directly being transferred to the
Panchayats Accounts
With the e-PRI in place and sufficient domain knowledge
expert assigned to the Panchayats, the flow of funds can be
tracked and timely release of funds to the Panchayats
Delay in processing of pension applications The applications for pension schemes should be processed
through the lowest level i.e. the Halqa Panchayat
Panchayat Ghars are not available With the delimitation of Panchayats, more number of
Panchayat Ghars would be required
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Challenges / Issues Expectation from e-PRI
Focus Group – Woman & Child
The Anganwadi workers are not being paid
their compensations regularly. The payment
is mostly done twice a year and sometimes
not in totality.
The payments can be made online directly to their salary
accounts
Focus Group –Senior Citizens
i. The pension amount is too meager
ii. Long procedures of getting bank account
opened and attain other benefits
i. The pension can be directly disbursed from the Gram
Panchayat
ii. The pension can also be transferred online
Other general expectations of the villagers with respect to the e-PRI
i. The levels of education are declining due
to unskilled teachers and mentors.
ii. Difficulty in commuting due to high
terrains and bad roads
iii. Not aware about all the schemes and
their purposes
iv. Banking and postal services not
available in all the villages
v. Villagers have to travel to the Block and
District for getting the various kinds of
certificates like Caste, income etc.
vi. The elected members of the Panchayats
are not educated
vii. Villagers have to wait for the Patwari to
get the land records
viii. No training for the various schemes is
given to the concerned person
ix. Traveling to far flung places for collection
of pension
• Issue of Licenses to shops, tea stalls, hotels, kirana
stores, medical stores or for any business activity.
• Issue of Income & Character Certificate
• Details of benefits/subsidies being availed by a person in
panchayat.
• Availability of Application forms for schemes at the
Panchayat level
• Application for inclusion in BPL list, which requires data
in specific format.
• Information on schedule of health camps, Immunization
schedule and reports.
• Information about various subsidies being provided by
the government for purchase of seeds, fertilizers,
chemicals, pesticides
• Availability of drinking water test data and soil testing
facility.
• Facilitation of Grievance redressal at Gram Panchayat
level Health Camps
• Monetary assistance for treatment for major illness for
members of BPL.
• Routine health and eye check ups at village level for
senior citizens. Currently the facility is available at Block
level.
• Availability of street lights
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Other Demands of the Citizens
��� The citizens of the village feel that the funds under the NREGS are very less. The
private hirers pay an amount of Rs. 133 minimum per day, whereas in the NREGS the
funds are only Rs. 70. The people want that the amount of daily wage should be raised
to at least Rs. 130-140.
��� The payment to the Anganwadi workers is being done after a gap of 3-6 months. They
should be paid at regular intervals without delaying their salaries.
��� The citizens want that every village should have an Anganwadi Center, and the helpers
and workers should be from that same village itself.
��� The citizens face difficulty in coming from far flung places for opening a bank account
and receiving pensions. They want that the nearest branch of the bank should be
utilized and if possible the payment of pension should be made through Panchayats.
��� The education levels are going down, hence the people want that the education level
should be raised by providing quality education so that people don’t have to rush to
private schools. The education should be made free and compulsory for all.
��� The citizens also demand that the services delivery levels should be reduced so that
the services are delivered at faster pace with less hurdles.
��� The most common problem being faced by people is that of commuting from one place
to the other due to difficult terrains. Better road connectivity.
��� The issue of honorarium to Panch and Sarpanch: One of the ex-Sarpanches during an
interview said “right now only the rich can contest for Panchayat elections”. What he
meant by this was basically that as Panch and Sarpanch individuals have to travel to
block and district headquarters and have to put a lot of their personal work aside that
gives them an income. But someone who is a wage laborer for instance will not be in a
position to lose wages for many days in the work of Panchayats. Therefore if the
Panchayat representatives like any other functionary has to work full time towards
development of Halqa Panchayat compensation of their time has to be done
adequately. The Jammu and Kashmir Panchyati Raj Act has made a provision
(Chapter 2, point 10) for this and therefore it is a mere matter of implementation.
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6.4. Service Needs of Citizens
Table 12: Service Needs of Citizens
Challenges / Issues Expectation from e-PRI
Citizens (Including Gram Sabha Members)
Villagers have to travel to far off villages pay electricity & telephone bills
Online portal (ePanchayat) can be enhanced to provide utility bill payment services like electricity and telephone bill
Villagers have to wait to patwari to visit village to get land records
Land record system can be used to provide land records at GP level
Villagers have to travel to tehsil office for getting various like Income, Caste, etc.
GP can provide banking and postal services by tie with banks & postal departments
Delay in processing of Agriculture & Horticulture department services for farmers
ICT can be used at GP for application filling & track the status of applications for these services
Banking & Postal services not available in village
Create provision in the Panchayat portal for checking the status of application
Disbursement and Monitoring of funds under IAY, as there are case where in beneficiary have availed the benefit but not utilized it for construction of house
This scheme monitoring and disbursement of funds should be rested with the GP
Overall analysis of expectations from e-PRI project:
The I&S needs of the line departments gathered from the meetings with the departments
basically details about the followings:
��� Real time tracking of the physical and financial progress of works
��� Convergence of departments
��� Progress reviews and reporting of the information to the higher management.
The I&S needs of the PRIs details about the followings:
��� To have timely information from the concerned line departments about the Centrally
Sponsored schemes, its guidelines and proceedings related to these.
��� Clarification of roles and responsibilities of different tiers of the PRIs.
��� Addressing their training needs to handle the CSS and its services.
��� Mechanism for reporting the physical, financial progress and manpower related issues
to the concerned officials.
��� Proper office or premises to carry out responsibilities.
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The I & S needs of the citizens are as follows:
��� Roles of responsibilities of Panchayats in their localities.
��� Information about the Centrally Sponsored Schemes and its benefits.
��� Grievances handling mechanism.
��� Citizen centric services which can be delivered by the PRIs.
The majority of the citizens J&K are in the interest of the elections of the Panchayats to be
conducted as soon as possible without any political interference with transparency and
accountability. They also feel that more and more powers should be delegated to them, so that
effective local development could take place. What they mean to say is that effective
devolutions of all the three F’s i.e. Functions as per the 11th schedule may be transferred
immediately to PRIs framework and the Functionaries may be identified from all the line
departments and may be put to the disposal of the PRIs and last but not the least is that the
sufficient funds should be transferred to PRIs for effective amalgamation of the 3 F’s.
The Panchayats should be treated as separate entity and be given all the powers to utilize the
funds as per the needs and wants of the citizens. All the decisions made at the Gram Sabha
should not be changed at any level. Citizens are unaware of most of the Central Sponsored
Schemes, as there is lack of communication from PRIs and Government departments.
Citizens wants that more power should be given to PRIs in order to solve the ground level
problem in time and effectively.
There is a need for the awareness program that should be organized from the government
departments or PRIs to keep the citizens updated about the development activities happening
in the region. In the district development of basic amenities like roads, electricity,
communications, schools, sanitations etc is required, in order to get the desired results. There
is need to an effective complaint mechanism which can improve citizen services and get rid of
their grievances.
To conclude, due to lack of funds and resources and infrastructure the PRIs are
handicapped to provide services to the citizens at the grassroots level. The PRIs, whenever
comes into existence, would require proper premises or offices and regular staff to make
them functional and accountable
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7. e-Governance Readiness
This section examines the current state of ICT infrastructure in place and identifies the challenges
and way forward. In the state of J&K, the e-Governance is in the nascent stage.
As per the study conducted, team found out that generally most of the line of departments in the
district does the reporting work manually due lack of skilled professionals, inadequate training and
poor connectivity which takes lot of time in the completion of work.
In the blocks, earlier Community Information Centres (CICs) were functioning which are now almost
non functional in most of the places due to non availability of the policy decision on the annual
maintenance contracts and a viable business model to run these CICs. These centres are connected
through V-SAT systems. The state of J&K also faces the lack of basic problems like electricity,
connectivity through roads or railways and communication which makes it really difficult to set up
centres at distant blocks and villages.
Department of IT, GoI, through NIC has established Community Information Centers (CIC) at each
Block in the State of J&K. The complete funding of the project for the establishment of IT and Non-IT
Infrastructure except for the civil Infrastructure was provided by the GoI including the salaries of the
manpower recruited for the period of 5 years. At present, the responsibility of managing the CICs has
been transferred by NIC to state Government.
The CICs are basically planned to be a self sustaining unit wherein the revenue generation is
envisioned based on the various courses to be launched through the CICs. Besides, that the CICs
are also been used for the various e-Governance activities like data entry of various CSS, CSS, SAS
and for monitoring purposes.
DIT has funded the project and has the responsibility of overall monitoring and management. NIC
was the Implementation agency. Application Software development and Training of CIC Operators
are a part of NIC’s responsibilities. The State Governments were entrusted with the mandate of site
selection, preparation and maintenance, manpower recruitment and identification and creation of
content for various services/applications to be delivered through the CICs.
As per the arrangement, DIT/NIC has provided the manpower support and technical and
maintenance for the period of five years along with satellite connectivity through the V-SATs.
However, the consultant team observed that, further to the handing over of the CICs to the state
governments, most of the CICs are non-functional either because of not having the proper AMC with
the vendors or because the state governments could not evolve a viable business model to make the
CICs self-sustaining during these five years.
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7.1. Initiatives for computerization of PRI
The Government of J&K is very keen on implementing e-Governance in the State. However,
there are not many initiatives taken by the department as far as Computerization of PRI is
concerned. The main reason pertaining to this is that J&K has been under militancy for almost
two decades because of which elections of Panchayats could not be conducted. Nevertheless,
after seventies elections were held in the year 2001 under the provisions of Panchayati Raj
Act 1989 and the rules made there under. This was a major step forward at that critical
juncture due to the adverse security scenario prevailing in the State. However, further to the
expiry of the term of Panchayats, the fresh elections could not be held due to various reasons
across state. Also when the Panchayats were in existence, the three tier PRI structure was
never formed. The government has also not taken any initiative for computerization of PRI.
NIC is playing the major and important role in introducing the e-Governance in the state of
J&K, though the Govt. of J&K itself has till now not taken any significant initiative in
encouraging IT usage in the any tier of Government, this may be because of various critical
issues where the Government has to concentrate more and in a way not focusing or
understanding the importance of IT on account of good governance.
7.2. Extent of integration of NeGP initiatives with PRI
Under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of Department of IT, GoI, three Mission Mode
Projects have been identified to facilitate the speedy implementation of computerization across
all the States. These projects are:
��� State Wide Area Network (SWAN)
��� State Data Centre (SDC)
��� Common Service Centre (CSC)
These infrastructures make all government service accessible to the common man in his
locality, through common delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of
such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man.
The current status of the following infrastructure is as follows:
Common Service Centers:
The Jammu & Kashmir e-Governance Agency (J&KeGA), is the State Designated Agency
(SDA) and has been responsible for the execution of the project. J&K Bank has been selected
as a Service Centre Agency (SCA) for the establishment of 1109 No. of CSCs in the J&K. As
on 31st Aug 2009, 50 CSCs have been commissioned and the expected date of completion is
June 2010.
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The Jammu and Kashmir Bank on 19th Feb 2009 has signed a Master Service Agreement with
the government of J&K to act as a Service Center Agency for implementing the CSCs. The
CSC scheme of the e-Governance plan envisages setting up of 1106 Common Service
Centers through eligible Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) in all the 22 districts of the state.
The PP model is being followed wherein the J&K Bank is financing the amount required for
getting the franchisees of the CSCs.
The service centers will be provided with adequate IT infrastructure for providing various
governmental, educational, health and financial services to the rural populace of the state. The
J&K bank is the only bank in the country which has been entrusted with the job of
implementation of the scheme. The Bank will also finance the prospective entrepreneurs for
setting up of State of the art centers.
Figure 19: NeGP MMPs Integration
CSC
SWAN SDC
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State Data Centre:
The State Data Center also one of the MMPs under NeGP, has not been implemented in the
state of Jammu & Kashmir till now. Government of J&K has just started the process for
preparation of RFP, through the consultant. The deadline to complete the work is Jan – March
2010.
State Wide Area Network:
The modalities for the establishment of SWAN are under progress. The stakeholders for this
prestigious project are:
��� Department of IT (DIT), Government of J&K
��� National Informatics Center (NIC)
��� Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL)
��� SeMT (State e-Mission Team)
The NIC is the facilitator and DIT, Government of J&K has appointed SeMT as Consultant
team for drafting RFP, DPR and SLA.
Overall Analysis: It is evident from the above picture that the integration of all the three
MMPs are of paramount importance where the concept was that the CSCs in the rural areas/
villages will work as a front end delivery points for the delivery of various government services
and the information flow would be possible from the database of various departments stored
at the State Data Centre along with various applications through the State Wide Area
Network.
Since the government of J&K is still in the process of implementation of the NeGP MMPs,
the integration with the e-PRI MMPs is possible in better way. e-PRI MMP can lay the strong
foundation of e-Governance by leveraging the core infrastructure i.e. SWAN, SDC and CSCs,
which are being planned for implementations by the government. An integrated framework
is expected to improve efficiency of the department functioning which will eventually lead to
a significant improvements in the quality of services provided to the citizens
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7.3. ICT Infrastructure Assessment
The Department of Rural Development, Govt. of J&K, is deficient in terms of proper ICT
infrastructure. The department has not yet thought about the implementation of ICT in the
different levels of authority. The department is in the process of developing application
software for the online monitoring. The RD department is not having any separate IT cell to
cater the need of the various branch offices and the IT spending by the department is
negligible.
Community Information Centre
During the ICT assessment at the block and discussions with various officials, it has been
bought out that most of the CICs are non functional because of improper maintenance of the
ICT infrastructure available at the CICs and not having any policy in place for entering into the
AMCs. It has also been observed that most of the officials are lacking in knowledge about the
usage and benefits of Information Systems.
Table 13: IT Infrastructure Assessment of CICs at Block level
Sr.
No. PRI
IT
Manpower Server
Desktop
Computer Printers UPS Connectivity
Gener
ator
1 Distric
t
NIL
2 Block 270 135 810 270 270 V-SAT(135)
Router (135) 135
3 Gram NIL
7.3.1. ICT Assessment of PRIs:
Since the PRIs i.e. the DPDB, BDC, DPC etc. does not have any physical structure, the usage
of ICT in the current framework is also not applicable. Neither the Halqa Panchayats have any
IT infrastructure nor the any other level of PRIs..Only CICs are available and that too at the
block level, however, these are also non functional because of reasons mentioned above.
Even the Rural Development department does not have the adequate IT infrastructure at their
disposal.
Overall Analysis: As per the study conducted in the district the team found out that there is
no ICT infrastructure implementation at any of the district offices or at any level of PRIs.
Department officials generally do the manual reporting and maintenance of records, due to the
lack of skilled professionals who can handle computer systems and ICT infrastructure. At the
district level, there is no proper infrastructure at any tiers of PRIs which can support the ICT
implementation.
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During the ICT assessment at the block and discussions with various officials, it has been
bought out that most of the CICs are non functional because of improper maintenance of the
ICT infrastructure available at the CICs and not having any policy in place for entering into the
AMCs.
It has also been observed that most of the officials are lacking in knowledge about the usage
and benefits of Information Systems. At the time of the visit to the two Panchayats at Khalleni
and Dhrudu, it was brought to notice that there is no availability of computers at the village
level, however, it was told to the team that provisions are being made for computerizing.
7.4. Civil work Assessment
Panchayat Profile:
The profile of the Panchayats in the state of Jammu & Kashmir as per the recent data7 after
the dissolution of the PRIs is as under:
Table 14: Panchayat Profile
Sr. No. Panchayat Profile Particular
1 No. of Districts 22
2 No. of Tehsils 82
3 No. of Blocks 143
4 No. of Panchayats 4139
5 No. of Panch constituencies 29797
6 Average area per Panchayat 25 sq. kms.
7 Average population per Panchayat 3022
8 No. of Panchayats with Panchayat Ghars 1817
9 No. of Panchayats without Panchayat Ghars 2322
7 Source: Presentation given by IMPA to the 13
th finance Commission in June 2009.
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Findings by the team:
While visiting the site of the two Gram Panchayats in the state of J&K, the 3i-infotech team
observed that at both the places Dhrudu and Khalleni the Panchayat Ghars were in good
shape and were frequently used to conduct Gram Sabhas and other meetings. Yet, the
number of Panchayat Ghars is not sufficient to fulfill the purpose.
Out of 4139 Panchayats notified as per the Government regulations, there are a total of 232
Panchayats in Doda district. Of all the Panchayats in Doda only 94 of them have managed to
get a Panchayat Ghar for themselves and the construction of 18 Panchayat Ghars are in
progress or held up due to varied reasons, whereas, there is a need for 120 more Panchayat
Ghars. The identification of suitable spaces for these Panchayat Ghars is yet to be done.
Prior to establishing ICT state require electricity and civil works construction to be provided for
conducive ICT environment. The administration has taken only a few initiatives to computerize
the line of departments and the PRIs are not trained or provided any infrastructure for ICT
usage.
Figure 20: Panchayat Ghar Status
Panchayat Ghars in Doda
41%
0%
51%
8% No. of PanchayatGhars owned by thegovt. in DodaNo. of PanchayatGhars rented
No. of PanchayatGhars Required
No. of PanchayatGhars in progress
As per the study that was conducted in the Doda District, it was found out that of 232
Panchayat Ghars 40 percent of Panchayat Ghars are owned by the government in Doda and
none of them is rented. The percentages of Panchayat Ghars that are required to be
constructed are 52 percent and 8 percent are still under construction as shown in the figure
above.
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8. State Capacity Assessment
The existing Panchayat Raj staff at each level can be categorized into following groups for purpose of
discussion
��� Elected Body
��� Administrative staff
��� Establishment and Accounts staff
��� Technical staff for administrative department
��� IT staff
��� Other support staff
Since the PRIs do not exist in J&K, all the positions are vacant at all the levels of PRIs. Without the
adequate supporting manpower placed at the disposal of the PRIs at each level, the PRIs will not be
able to efficiently delivery the services and perform the regular activities such as planning, accounting
etc. The officials of the Rural Development department are handling additional responsibilities related
to the PRI activities. The state of J&K has 22 districts, 143 blocks and 4139 notified Panchayats.
8.1. Capacities
Capacities of PRI personnel:
At the district level, the District Planning & Development Board (DPDB), the structure of the
equivalent body compared to the Zilla Parishad as per the Panchayati Raj exists, but that is on
the paper only, however, the physical structure does not exists till now. The first and the most
important thing required for the implementation of PRI in the state is to have the physical
presence of the DPDB and its staffing including the Administrative, Accounts, Finance,
Technical Support staff. Besides that, unless the IT cell is created at the state level, the e-
Governance implementation and monitoring would not take place at the faster speed.
Technical Professionals
Rural Development department does not have the separate IT cell to provide technical
support. State NIC provides them with technical support whenever needed.
Capacities of administrative officials
Most of the administrative work is done on manual basis. Shortage of computers and lack of
computer skills leads to manual processing of all associated data and file system.
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Table 15: Capacity Assessment of State PR Dept
Sr. No. Designation Sanctioned
Post Vacant Post
1 Secretary 1 Nil
2 Addl Secretary 2 Nil
3 Joint Director Planning 1 Nil
4 Section Officer 1 Nil
5 Deputy Secretary 1 Nil
6 Under Secretary 1 Nil
7 FA/CAO (Education) 1 1
8 Director 2 Nil
9 Director RS 1 Nil
10 ACD 14 4
11 SNO 1 Nil
12 DPO 16 4
13 Deputy Director 2 Nil
14 Assistant Director Sanitation 2 Nil
15 BDO 119 27
16 BDO Head Quarters 16 2
17 ADO 2 Nil
18 Editor Dehat Sudhar 1 Nil
19 Field Officers RS 2 Nil
20 Panchayat Supervisor 2 Nil
21 Headquarter Assistant G-I 6 Nil
22 Lady Project Officer 1 Nil
23 Headquarter Assistant G-II 8 3
24 Co-Operative Extension Officer 2 Nil
25 Panchayat Inspector G-I 41 15
26 Panchayat Inspector G-II 80 16
27 Plantation Ranger 3 1
28 Mukhya Sevika 25 8
29 Gram Sevika 125 55
30 Village Level Worker 1455 244
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Sr. No. Designation Sanctioned
Post Vacant Post
31 Multi purpose Worker 1446 315
32 Driver 99 33
33 Plantation Supper wiser 59 26
34 Plantation Watcher 324 77
35 Malies 13 4
36 Mirabs 63 14
37 Audio Visual Operator 4 Nil
38 Katib 2 Nil
39 Photographer 2 Nil
40 Section Officer 2 Nil
41 Senior Scale Stenographer 2 Nil
42 Statistical Officer 3 Nil
43 Head Assistant 17 6
44 Senior Storekeeper 1 Nil
45 Panchayati Auditor – Cum Head
Assistant 9 2
46 Junior Scale Stenographer 4 Nil
47 Statistical Assistant 14 4
48 Accountant
49 Senior Assistant 64 8
50 Store Keeper 10 4
51 Steno Typist 15 4
52 Accounts Assistant 131 46
53 Junior Statistical Assistant 27 6
54 Medical Assistant 1 Nil
55 IEC (Worker) 4 1
56 Junior Assistant 249 39
57 Orderly 414 89
58 Chowkidar 86 33
59 Attendant 2 Nil
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Findings by the team:
It was observed that the department is overloaded with various activities, however, the staff is
inadequate to cater to the needs. During the discussions with officials, following was bought
out:
��� Manpower in the rural development department is inadequate far short of its
requirements.
��� With the workload having increased manifold no further addition in manpower.
��� Professional input not available in the desired manner & JE approximately handles a
portfolio from Rs.1.00 Cr to Rs.1.50 Cr. & approximately more than 200 works in a
year.
��� 24 Blocks set up through internal adjustment since 2001 not having been provided staff
thereby over-stretching existing manpower and these Blocks serving as a dis-incentive
in the far flung and backward rural areas.
��� 1/4th posts of Engineers usually remain vacant despite requests made to Public Works
Department for placement of officers on deputation.
��� On an average out of 650 Junior Engineers posts, 100-120 posts usually remain
vacant.
��� Posts in DRDAs are also vacant which causes its own peculiar problems.
��� As against 4139 Panchayats, presently posts of MPWs/ VLWs/ Gram Sevikas who is
also Secretary Panchayat works out to only 2770.
��� VLW, a key functionary of the department, is generally a matriculate and is tasked to
perform varied and complex tasks disproportionate to his capacity.
8.2. Skills and Capabilities
Except for the data entry and printing of the reports at some locations in the state of J&K, no
software applications is used either for Planning, Monitoring and Accounting of various
schemes at by PR officials at District or even at the Block level. At the block level, CICs are
carrying out the data entry related to various schemes.
During the interaction at various levels in the state with different officials, it has been bought
out that there is need of extra training to be provided at all the levels of governance and the
efforts are being made to provide training to maximum officials.
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Institute of Management, Public Administration and Rural Development undertakes the
training, research, action research and consultancy functions in the rural development sector.
The training programmes are intended to create knowledge base, develop skills and
understanding of various dimensions of rural transformation. IMPA has conducted various
training programmes for the elected members when the Panchayats were in existence from
the year 2002 to 2007 mainly on the following topic:
��� Orientation Course for Elected & Official Functionaries of Panchayati Raj
��� Panchayat and Development
��� Relation between DRDA and PRIs
��� Orientation Course for Panchayat Secretaries
��� Role of NGOS and Panchayats in management of Natural Disaster
��� PR and Rural Development
��� Awareness on Functions of District Planning & Development Board (DPDB)
��� Awareness on Functions of Block Development Council (BDC)
��� Awareness on Functions of Halqa Panchayat
8.3. Training Needed
Basic Computer training at GP/BP Level
Basic computer training needs to be provided for officials of GP and BP. This would help them
in application form filling, data entry, information gathering and report viewing.
Advance Computer training at BP/ZP Level
Advance computer training needs to be provided for officials of BP and ZP. This would help
them in, data entry, information gathering / information dissemination and report generation.
This would also help them in better planning, initiating, implementing, executing and
monitoring the schemes and services via several tools and applications.
Refresher Course for GP/BP/ZP
Refresher course should be organized at regular interval to enhance the IT related skills of
PRI officials.
��� Refresher curse on capacity building of elected Panchayat leadership, especially
women and scheduled castes and tribes. These representatives, whom Panchayat Raj
has empowered, can become truly change agents in their local contexts as their
struggle for leadership in itself signals a break from traditional dominance structures of
caste, class and patriarchy.
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��� The nature of capacity building needs to be more focused, sensitive, therefore, to
ensure that Panchayats are not seen as the lowest unit of government functioning but
an autonomous domain of self-government. Capacity building has to focus on
strengthening the Gram Sabha for direct democracy to function as a watchdog of
representative democracy.
Challenges related to Capacity Building
The challenges related to capacity building in the state of J&K are as under:
��� Since majority of the elected members are both first timers and illiterate too at times,
they need to be sensitized about different facets of Panchayati Raj system. Also,
enable them to equip themselves with proper attitude, skills and knowledge as these
would ultimately contribute to effective implementation of developmental programmes.
In this context the biggest challenge is to take care of specific requirements the elected
representatives of PRIs who form an important part of the clientele group while drawing
action plans and modules in a professional manner.
��� Modules and training programmes need to be designed to redress regional imbalances
in development and the capacity building which the RD training institutions need to tap
by formulating appropriate proposals and adopting suitable methodology.
��� Training programmes need to be custom designed in order to achieve the desired end
results. Use of IT is gaining momentum but appropriate software with local variations
needs to be designed.
��� Most important is the due to lack of networking the existing training infrastructure falls
short of the requirements to meet the training load.
��� A serious attempt needs to be made prepare training material in local vernacular to
identify certain domains.
��� Many studies of effective decentralization reveal an interesting paradox—that it needs
a visionary leadership above to ensure decentralization process. Panchayat Raj
Institutions supervision through Gram Sabhas (all voters in the village participate in the
decision making process) also offers opportunities to make governance transparent
and accountable to the citizen. They have the potential to combine grassroots power of
Panchayats with advances in information technology to radically alter governance and
service delivery mechanisms.
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��� PRIs also enable people to voice their grievances and ensure access to basic services
like education, health, nutrition, safe drinking water supply and sanitation and social
security. Female-headed households, aged and the infirm, destitute and all such
vulnerable categories depend on the social security framework. This is a task that can
best be done by local governments supported with funds from the central and State
governments for accelerating development and social justice.
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9. Citizen Service Delivery
Initiatives by PRIs
The state of J&K has not taken any extraordinary initiatives for the citizen service delivery,
since the state was under turmoil for more than three decades. Now, since the condition on
the whole is improving in the state, the Govt. of J&K is very kin on implementing the PRI in
totality and holding the long pending elections of Panchayats in the month of Oct/ Nov 2009.
Despite being in the adverse condition six years back, the Govt. of J&K was successful in
establishing the Panchayats in the maximum part of the state.
Even after the dissolution of Panchayats two years back, the state govt. has issued an order to
constitute various committees to oversee the developmental activities in the state and also
make sure that community participation is there in the planning process across the state.
Initiatives by State impacting service delivery to rural populace
The Govt. of J&K has not taken any initiatives for betterment of service delivery to the citizens,
except for the establishment of Common Service Centers (CSCs) in the state. However, an
approximate time of another 6 to 8 months is expected for CSCs to become operational in
J&K. Apart for the CSC, no other model of providing is envisaged by the Government of J&K.
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10. Way Forward
The long journey always starts with the first step. The J&K Govt. has already taken the first step
which is very encouraging and commendable of holding the election in J&K amidst vulnerable
situation. As told by the Govt. of J&K that the state is in the process of holding elections for Halqa
Panchayats in the month of Oct/ Nov 2009, the study and understanding in Doda district tender
certain course of action as under for strengthening the process of devolution in Jammu and Kashmir:
The first and the most important subject are to constitution of 3-Tier Panchayati Raj System in
the state as envisaged in the Panchayati Raj act 1989. The physical presence of DPDB, BDC
and DPC is very much required in order to implement the Panchayati Raj system in true spirit.
Without the physical presence the basic objective of the PRI gets defeated.
In order for Panchayats to function more comprehensively is to have the access to more plan
and non plan funds. Since Halqa Panchayat in Jammu and Kashmir would be going towards
its second term of office after the elections they may not be equipped yet to deal with large
scale resources. But all the same for Panchayats to function as a competent planning and
implementation they require sizeable fund devolution. And this devolution of funds can happen
in a phased manner and probably there are lessons to be learnt from the experiences of other
states in the country like Assam, Gujarat, Kerala, etc.
The mere devolution of funds by itself will not result in improvements in the functioning of
Halqa Panchayats. Equally important is the need to build those capacities of elected
representatives to handle these funds, plan and implement programmes in Halqa Panchayats.
Like in most states, in J&K as well, IMPA/SIRD has taken up the initiative to train the elected
representatives to Panchayats. These trainings are not one time effort but they are an ongoing
process with well developed modules for training. The continued efforts of capacity building
have paid off and the elected representatives equipped with authentic information and skills
are making Gandhi’s dream of Gram swaraj true.
The issue of building workable linkages between the village, block and district level
governing bodies that allows smoother transfer of funds and coordination of functions.
Again most states in India have taken up the exercise of activity mapping. Activity
mapping helps the functionaries at various levels to know the core of roles and
responsibilities that they have to discharge.
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But the activity mapping has to be taken up by each concerned line department and they also
have to issue appropriate government orders to give official recognition to activity mapping.
Article 243G (Eleventh schedule) provides for the transfer of powers to Panchayats so that
they can be effective institutions of local governance. The constitution has listed down 29
matters that are open for the devolution. The Government of Jammu and Kashmir through
order No. 21 delegated the list of areas and activities that would fall under the purview of
Panchayats. Initially 9 subjects were transferred to the jurisdiction of Panchayats and
subsequently this list has grown to include 15 subjects.
The next step in e-PRI MMP is to analyze As-Is process, evolve To-Be process, and prepare
Business Process Re-engineering report. The BPR would eventually lead to the final phase.
The final outcome of the study would be preparation of state specific and a national DPR
which would be shared with the states to enable them to directly undertake implementation of
e-Governance in Panchayati Raj Institutions. The brief details of next phases are as under:
Phase III: Business Process Re engineering
Key Activities
��� Study As-Is service portfolio
��� Re-engineer existing processes
��� Create To-Be process maps for new services based on I&S needs assessment report.
Key Deliverables
Process Re-engineering Report: This report would include an 'As-Is' report detailing how the existing
services are being provided by the Panchayats, 'To-be' report detailing how the existing services may
be provided using e-Governance, and a 'To-be' report for processes for supporting new services/
services that are required by citizens but are not being provided currently by the Panchayats.
Phase IV: Preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR)
Key Activities
��� Estimate ICT requirements for Ministry and state
��� Define strategy for roll-out
��� Define project management & M&E structure
��� Define communication plan
��� Define change management strategy
��� Determine total budget requirements for e-PRI MMP
Key Deliverables
Detailed Project Report (DPR) - This would be a report providing a detailed roadmap for the
transformation of Panchayati Raj system from existing state to e-PRI.
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10.1. Services finalized for Process re-engineering
In Jammu & Kashmir, since Panchayats do not exist in the state, all the services that have
been identified are the new services. However, the process mapping of the existing services
has been done. These services are presently being delivered through long and tedious
procedures that are required to be re-engineered. Most of the services that have been
identified are being delivered through the Tehsil Office. The inclusion of Panchayats is
negligible present but the situation will improve once the Panchayats are in place.
Table 16: List of Identified Services
Sr. No.
Existing Service Reason for selection Vol. of
transactions per year (approx.)
Old Age Pension 4200
Widow pension 1620
1 Pension Service
Handicap
(1) High Volume of transaction
(2) Demanded by the citizens during
Gram Sabha
**Due to difficulty in approaching
the Block because of hilly terrains
(3) High no. of pendencies
**Due to delay in payments
1770
2 Birth Mandated Service 130
3 Death Mandated Service 120
4 Unmarried/Married Mandated Service 1500
5 Unemployment Critical Service 1000
6 Permanent Resident (1) Mandated Service
(2) High Volume of transactions 7500
7 Income (1) Critical Service
(2) High Volume of transactions 7200
8 Caste Mandated Service 3600
9
Certificate
Handicap Mandated Service 500
10 Soil Testing
(1) The farmer has to go to the
Block for getting the soil tested
(2) Lack of awareness
6000 samples
11 New Water
connection Basic necessity 150
12
Application
New Electricity
connection Basic necessity 360
13 Registration &
Job Assignment Job(NREGS)
(1) Muster Sheet is maintained
fortnightly
(2) Payments get delayed.
**Due to shortage of staff
6500 since inception
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Sr. No.
Existing Service Reason for selection Vol. of
transactions per year (approx.)
14
Application
acceptance &
Issuance
NOC Critical Service 1200
15 Land Records Issue of Land
Records
(1) High volume of transaction
(2) Demanded by the citizens in the
Gram Sabha
(3) The procedure of obtaining land
records is very long
**The farmer has to approach the
Patwari and then the Tehsildar
13000
10.2. New Services
Identification of new services was based on interaction with PRI, line departments and
citizens. In order to capture the specific needs of all sections of society, interaction was done
with focus groups of women, physically handicapped, youth, senior citizens etc. The team also
interacted with DIO and IT department to better understand the feasibility and ease of
automation of the services. After analyzing the requirements of all the stakeholders five
services were finalized for detail study and TO BE process map creation. Following
parameters were considered for service selection:
��� Citizen needs
��� Extent to which process can be improved with help of technology
��� Impact that the service creates in terms of prospective number of transactions
��� Ease of implementation measured on basis of alignment with existing initiatives, alignment with state’s vision etc.
Table 17: List of New Services
Sr. No. New Services
1 BPL Certificate
2 Agriculture Credit Services
3 Provision of all forms
4 Payment of electricity bill
5 Issuance of ration card
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11. Annexure
11.1. List of Interview
Table 18: List of Interviewees
Sr. No. Name Designation Department
DISTRICT LEVEL
1 Mr. Sharief-ud-Din Deputy Commissioner Revenue Department
2 Mr. Riaz Ahmed
Choudhry
Assistant Commissioner
Development
Rural Development
Department
3 Mr. Pradeep Kumar BDO-Headquarter Rural Development
Department 4 Mr. Ghulam Rasool
Ahmed
Tehsildar Revenue Department
5 Mr. Ghulam Hassan
Bhatt Naib Tehsildar Revenue Department
6 Mr. Farooq Ahmad Head Assistant, Doda Education Department
7 Mr. Taiul Krishan Senior Assistant, Gundoo Education Department
8 Mr.Vinod Sharma Senior Telecom Operation
Assistant
BSNL
9 Mr. Rajeshwar Singh RTO Transport Department
10 Mr. Abdul Hamid Deputy Director Employee Engagement
11 Mr. Mangat Ram Sharma Deputy Director Youth Services and Sports
12 Mr. Arshid Hussain Tehsil Supply Officer Food & supply
13 Mr. Prithvi Raj Bhagat Area Dev. Officer Agriculture Department
14 Mr. Farooq Project Officer DRDA
15 Mr. Arshad Hussain AEEE Electricity Department
BLOCK LEVEL
1 Mr. Kalyan Singh Parihar SDM Revenue Department
2 Mr. Anil Thakur BDO-Bhadarwah Rural Development
Department 3 Mr. Kean Tehsildar Revenue Department
4 Mr. Mohammad Amin Patwari Revenue Department
5 Mr. Asif Basin JE PHE
GRAM LEVEL
1 Mr. Ashok Sharma Ex-Sarpanch NA
2 Mr. Afzal Ahmed Ex-Sarpanch NA
3 Mr. Ahsan Panchayat Secretary NA
4 Mr. Om Raj Inspector Panchayat NA
5 Mrs. Ujla Anganwadi Worker NA
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11.2. List of Questionnaires
The questionnaire has been divided into various sections, wherein each section focuses on a specific
aspect of scheme execution & interaction with PRIs and contains a category of related questions.
State Questionnaire Summary
Section A PR Governance
Section B Services
Section C Schemes
C1 PRI Involvement
C2 Planning / proposal preparation of schemes
C3 Budgeting for schemes
C4 Fund flow and Allocation
C5 Implementation and monitoring of schemes
C6 Accounting and reporting for schemes
Section D ICT Assessment
Section E Capacity Assessment
Section F Planning
Section G Accounting
Section H Transparency and Expectations
H1 Transparency Assessment
H2 Expectations from e-PRI
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Section
Question No.
Question Target
Audience
Response
Data Collected
Remarks
A PR Governance
A1 What is the vision of the State PR department for PRIs in the State?
Secretary - State PR Department or
equivalent official
A2
What are the committee's in which the state PR department has representation? 1. What is the purpose of the committee? 2. Which ministry/department has established the committee?
State PR Department-
Secretary/ Director
A3 Devolution of powers - Funds, Functions, Functionaries
A3.1 What functions (from the 29 functions defined in the 11th schedule of constitution) have been devolved to the DP/BP/GP level?
1. State PR dept (for initial understanding)
2. Other Line departments (for
validation)
A3.2 What functionaries have been devolved to DP/BP/GP?
1. Initially to state PR dept.
2. Validate at DP/BP/GP
A3.3 Fund Devolution / Sources of funds State PR dept
A3.3.1 Is there a provision of "Panchayat Window" in the State Budget? If Yes, what is the percentage of allocation
A3.3.2 If breakup of Panchayat window is available, then provide the break (DP/BP/ZP)
A2.3.3 Is the "Panchayat Window" fund Tied or Untied? If tied, what are the types of conditions for utilizing this fund
A3.3.4
What % of Assigned revenues is allocated to PRIs. What is the distribution of these assigned revenues across the three tiers of Panchayat?
A3.3.5 What is the revenue collected in the last 3 years?
A3.4 What are the best practices being implemented in the state to empower PRI and Local Self Governance?
State PR Department - PR Secretary /
Director
A3.5
What are the major challenges / roadblocks faced in implementing the ideal PR governance scenario in the state? (e.g Operational, Capacity, Political, Infrastructure etc.)
State PR Departm
ent
A3.6 What are the components of the District Plan? Are panchayats plans currently being included in District plans?
A3.7 What is the expectation of the State PR Dept. from the MoPR for empowering the State PRIs?
State PR Departm
ent
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Section
B Services to be studied
B1 Service Name Delivery Tier (DP/BP/GP)
Delivery Channel (Office, Website, CSC)
Mode of Delivery (Manual / IT Enabled)
Roles and responsibilities (Designation / level of officials involved)
Documents / Formats being used / produced
Service1
Service2
Service3
…… Service n
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response Data Collected Remarks
C PRI Involvement
C1 Present State of Involvement of PRI in the Schemes
Line department officials (initial Data) State PR Department ( to validate)
Scheme 1
Scheme 2
Scheme 3
……Scheme n
C2 Planning / Proposal Preparation for Schemes
C2.1 Who are the stakeholders/officials involved in the planning process?
1.Line department (Initial data) 2.State PR department (Validate)
C2.2
For which Scheme Planning / Proposal Preparation is done at which PRI level (DP/ BP/ GP) and what is their specific role
Scheme 1
Scheme 2
Scheme 3
C2.3 What is the data source for Planning / Proposals at the State level for these schemes?
C2.4 Who are the stakeholders providing the data?
Scheme 1
Scheme 2
Scheme 3
C2.5 What are the challenges faced in collection and collating the Plans / proposals at the State level?
C2.6
Which is the nodal department of State PR involved in the planning process for these schemes?
C2.7 What is the involvement of the nodal department in the planning process for these schemes?
C2.8
Are there other agencies involved in the planning process? If yes, then What are these agencies?
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response Data Collected Remarks
C2.9
What ICT tools (Software Applications) are being used at the State level for the Planning / Proposal Preparation? Is PlanPlus S/w developed by NIC being used? If Not, any reasons
C2.10
What ICT tools are being used at the PRI (DP/BP/ GP) level for the Planning purpose? If yes, what are the data entry points?
C3 Fund flow and Allocation
C3.1
For which scheme are the PRIs involved in the fund flow mechanism? Till what level is the PRIs are involved then which level of PRIs are involved (DP/ ZP/ BP) and what is their specific role?
Scheme 1
C3.2 Scheme 2
… Scheme N
C3.2
Which are the various agencies involved in the fund flow process and what are their roles? In what form is the fund transferred across these agencies? (Treasuries, directly to dept accounts etc.)
Scheme 1
Scheme 2
Scheme N
C4 Implementation and Monitoring for Schemes
C4.1
For which Scheme is the Implementation and Monitoring done at the PRI level? If PRIs are involved then which level of PRIs are involved (DP/ ZP/ BP) and what is their specific role?
Scheme 1
Scheme 2
Scheme N
C4.2
What is the data source for Physical Progress Monitoring and Financial Progress Monitoring for schemes where PRI are involved
Scheme 1
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response Data Collected Remarks
Scheme 2
Scheme 3
C4.3
What is the electronic data entry point for these schemes? And since which year is the electronic data is available for various schemes?
C4.4
What are the challenges faced in receiving and collating the Monitoring reports at the State level
C4.5
What are the involvements of the State PR department in the Implementation and Monitoring process for these schemes?
C4.6 Are there other agencies involved in this process? If yes, what are these agencies?
C4.7
What ICT tools (Software Applications) are being used at the State level for the Progress Reporting?
C4.8 What ICT tools are being used at the PRI (DP/ZP/ GP) level for the Monitoring purpose?
C4.9 Who is the recipient of the funds released by the State for each of these schemes?
C5 Accounting and Reporting for Schemes
C5.1
What kind of Reports are prepared for the schemes at the State level / District Level / Block level and Village level
C5.2 Are there any IT enabled MIS tool available for reporting? If yes, what is the tool or URL
C5.3 What is the frequency of reporting for these reports
C5.4
Are the prescribed format being used or is there any state specific customizations in the prescribed formats used for reporting?
C5.5
How has the PR department planned or is planning to utilize the funds provided under 11th, 12th Finance commission, State Finance Commission, BRGF-Capacity Building grant, 4% administrative sanction by MoRD in context of e-Gov in PRIs
C5.6 How is the funds utilization tracked till the lowest level?
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response Data Collected Remarks
C5.7
What is the frequency of reporting the Utilization Certificate to the Central Ministry? Is this frequency being adhered to? Are there any reasons for not adhering to the desired frequency (if applicable)
C5.8
Is PRIA soft used for accounting purpose? If yes, any challenges faced in using the software. If Not, any other tool used and any reasons for not using PRIA soft.
C5.9
Are the formats prescribed by GoI / CAG being used or has the State customized these formats? What are the major, minor & sub- heads being used for PRI accounting?
C5.10
Which accounting system - tier 4 / tier 6, Single entry / Double entry, Cash / Accrual is being used for PRI accounting?
C6 Overall extent of involvement of PRIs in Schemes
1) Line department Secretary 2) Director responsible for the schemes implemented by that dept.
C6.1
Do you foresee strengthening of your scheme if PRIs are provided with the adequate ICT infrastructure?
C6.2
If PRIs have the adequate ICT infrastructure, what benefits does the line department sees for their respective schemes / programs?
C6.3
Even though the role of PRIs is not envisioned, currently, If PRIs have the adequate infrastructure; will this line department be inclined to involve PRIs in your scheme?
C6.4 Do you see any possible utilization of proposed ICT infrastructure at Gram Panchayat in data management of your scheme even if GP has no role in governance of the scheme? If yes, how
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response
Data Collected
Remarks
D ICT Assessment Dept of IT, IT manager in PR/RD dept.
D1
To what extent CSC is functional in the State? And what are the kind of services extended through these CSC (if applicable)
D2
What is the model of integration of CSC's and Panchayats? 1. If yes, get the details of the arrangement (Cost / Transactions) 2. If no, what are the reasons of not being utilized 3. Is there any vision envisaged by Panchayats to leverage CSC ICT infrastructure for service delivery?
D3
What is the status of SWAN integration / Connectivity till DP and BP level? How do you see PRIs can leverage this connectivity infrastructure (if applicable)
D4 Is connectivity at all BPs available? If yes, is it through SWAN?
D5
Is providing connectivity to GP's envisioned? 1. If yes, then by when and through which mechanism (SWAN or other service providers)
D6 Are there any overlap in services extended by the e-district and those delivered through the PRIs
D7
What is the state of ICT infrastructure in terms of Hardware at all levels of PRIs and the state PR department (e.g. No. of Computers at each level, No. of printers and supporting Hardwares)
D8 What is the model used for providing computers to PRI? (e.g. Leased/owned etc).
D9 What is the Maintenance Model used to maintain the hardware?
D10 What are the Software Applications used at various PRIs and State PR departments and their purpose?
D11 What are the roadblocks / challenges in to adoption of usage of existing softwares
D12
What is the state of Civil works to support the ICT infrastructure needs? What are the future requirements perceived at all levels
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response Data
Collected Remarks
E Capacity Assessment Director level officials in PR/RD dept, IT officials in PR/RD dept
E1
What is the organizational structure/ staffing structure at each level of PRI? Is there any technically skilled (Computer literate) manpower available at each level? If yes, What are their skill sets?
E2
What trainings have been conducted for the PRIs and State PR department? What are the kind of topics covered in these trainings (Specific Applications, Use of Internet, Basic Awareness of using computers etc)
E3
How many people (Panchayat officials) have been trained? What model has been adopted to impart training? What is the cost of training per person?
E4 Is the training conducted in-house by the department or by any external agency?
E5
What is the state of availability / provision of training resource center / trainers for PRI and State PR department
E6
Has any training been conducted for PRIs on Women empowerment, State Panchayat Act, Plan Plus Software, National Panchayat Portal etc.
E7
What are the training needs at all level to support the functions of PR department and to effectively extend the desired services to the citizens
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response Data
Collected Remarks
F Planning Director level officials in PR/RD dept, IT officials in PR/RD dept
F1
Has the state planning dept. Issued notification for planning workflow for panchayats? If yes, give details. About the process flow as well as the notification
F2
Are there standing committees at DP/BP/GP level? If yes, what are the names of these committees? How many members are there in each of the committees? What is the composition of each committee?
F3 What funds are received by panchayats at all levels for which they prepare plans?
F4 Do the panchayats plans become part of district plan?
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response Data
Collected Remarks
G Accounting Director level officials in PR/RD dept, IT officials in PR/RD dept
G1 How many tiers (levels) of classification of Head of Accounts are being used in Panchayat Accounts?
G2 What are the names of each tier (starting from the highest?)
G3 Do the Panchayats use Cash or accrual basis of accounting?
G4 Do the panchayats use single or double entry system of accounting?
G5
Are the panchayats using any software for accounting purposes? If yes, who has developed it? What is the platform (Microsoft/Open Source)? Is it web-based or stand alone?
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response
Data Collected
Remarks
H Transparency Assessment State PR secretary / Director level officials in State PR/RD dept
H1
What measures have been taken by the State PR department, to inculcate practices to be adopted by State PR officials and PRIs to enhance transparency in operations.
H2
Is the state department and the PRI's updating the State Specific PR portal and National Level PR portal to provide transparency to operations?
H3 Have the State department and PRIs been using State Specific PR portal and the National Level PR portal
H4 What are the best practices in the state at all levels of PRIs to promote transparency?
H5 What are the roadblocks encountered in grievance redressal / RTI’s? What are the procedures currently followed?
H6 What is the process of Conducting a social audit concerning PRI functioning and progress.
H7 Expectations from ePRI State PR secretary / Director level officials in State PR/RD dept
H8 How can ePRI project facilitate the involvement of PRI's in decentralized planning?
H9 What are the Data/ Information requirements of the State PR dept. from each level of PRIs
H10
What ICT interventions is the State PR department looking at to enable the PRI to be empowered to function effectively and efficiently (Future Needs in terms of Software, Hardware and Connectivity)
H11 Others
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The questionnaire has been divided into various sections, where in each section focuses on a specific
aspect of scheme execution & interaction with PRIs and contains a category of related questions. This is
the questionnaire for the District visit in Phase II.
District Questionnaire
Section A PR Governance
Section B Schemes
Section C Services
Section D ICT Assessment
Section E ICT Data Gathering
Section F Capacity Assessment
Section G Planning
Section H Accounting
Section I Transparency and Expectations
I1 Transparency Assessment
I2 Expectations from ePRI
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response Data
Collected Remarks
A PR Governance
A1
What committees are formed at District/Block/Gram level? 1. What is the purpose of these committees? 2. Are any Panchayat Officials involved in this committee? If yes what is the role of these officials?
A2
Have Village Water Supply, Health and Sanitation committees been constituted? 1. What is the purpose of these committees? 2. Is there only one composite committee for all these or there are separate committees? 3. What is the composition of these committees? 4. Are these committees at Village level or Panchayat Level? 5.How are the committees related to GP? Are they part of the GP or any member of the GP is part of the committee?
A2 Devolution of powers - Funds, Functions, Functionaries
A2.1
What functions (from the 29 functions defined in the 11th schedule of constitution) have been devolved to the DP/BP/GP level?
1.Validate at DP/BP/GP from inputs of State Questionnaire
A2.2 If the identified functions have not been devolved, reasons for the same?
State PR Dept.
A2.3 For each of the functions, which functionaries have been devolved to DP/BP/GP?
1.Validate at DP/BP/GP from inputs of State Questionnaire
A2.4 What are the issues / bottlenecks in devolving functionaries?
State PR Dept.
A2.5
Is there an 'Activity Mapping' document available? If yes, for how many devolved functions is it available? If activity mapping has not been done for all the identified functions, why has it not been done for the rest of the functions?
State PR Dept.
A2.6
For the functions for which activity mapping has been done. 1. Is there a citizen interface? if yes, please specify details 2.Which activities are the most important for computerization? 3. Are there any problems in implementing the same?
Verify the activity mapping at ZP/BP/GP level
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A2.7
For each activity for which activity mapping has been done, what is the work performed by DP/BP/GP?
Validate at ZP/BP/GP level
A2.8
What are the powers provided under relevant State Panchayat Act for generating resources for the Panchayats? To what extend are these being used?
A3 Total number of Panchayats (GP/BP/ZP)
A3.1 Number of Panchayats having own premises / offices at GP/BP/ZP level
A4 Sources of funds Validate at DP/BP/GP from inputs of State Questionnaire
A 4.1
What percentage or portion of funds of panchayat window from the state budget is received by Panchayat (DP/BP/GP)
A 4.2
Is the "Panchayat Window" fund conditional? If conditional, what are the types of conditions for utilizing this fund?
A 4.3
What are the sources of funds (such as own taxation, Central/State Finance Commission Grants, Scheme money, BRGF etc) and what % of funds are allocated to DP/BP/GP?
ZP/BP/GP
A4.4
What taxes are collected by the panchayat? How much is the annual collection under each type of tax?
ZP/BP/GP
A 4.5 What quantum (range) of money, annually do the Panchayats handle?
ZP/BP/GP
A4.6 Mechanism for fund transfer (RTGS, ECS, any other)
ZP/BP/GP
A 4.7
Is any budget prepared by the panchayat? 1. If yes, how is the budget prepared? 2. When does the budget preparation start? 3. What is the duration? 4. What are the difficulties in the preparation of the budget?
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Section Question
No. Question Schemes
B Schemes
B 1
For which schemes are plans/proposals prepared by the PRI? Which schemes are implemented (but not planned) by the PRI Are there any challenges faced by ZP/BP/GP in planning, implementing & monitoring of schemes?
SSA NRHM ICDS …….. …….. NREGS
B2 Do the Funds form a part of Panchayat Account
B3 What is role of PRI in functioning of schemes
B4 What is the Top down fund flow mechanism from Centre to PRI / Village committees
B5 Who appoints the ASHA workers
NA NA NA NA NA
B6
If there are any physical assets (e.g. computers, table, chair) created via schemes, what is the tracking mechanism of these assets?
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Section C Service Delivery Mechanism
Sr.
No
.
Cit
izen
Se
rvic
e N
am
e
Th
e t
ier(
ZP
/BP
/GP
) in
wh
ich
th
e a
pp
lic
ati
on
or
req
ue
st
is
acc
ep
ted
Wh
at
are
th
e m
od
es a
va
ilab
le t
o c
itiz
en
s t
o a
pp
ly/r
eq
ues
t fo
r th
e s
erv
ice?
(B
y h
an
d,
Inte
rnet,
By k
iosk
, B
y p
os
t o
r a
ny
oth
er)
Ag
en
cie
s in
vo
lved
De
liv
ery
Tie
r (D
P/B
P/G
P)
Deliv
ery
Ch
an
nels
(C
SC
/ P
ost
off
ice/
Kio
sk/
Inte
rnet/
oth
ers
)
Serv
ice
Deli
ve
ry M
ec
han
ism
(t
o b
e c
ap
ture
d a
t d
istr
ict
an
d b
elo
w)
Wh
at
info
rmati
on
/do
cu
men
ts a
re e
xch
an
ge
d (
sen
t/re
ceiv
ed
) w
ith
th
e o
uts
ide a
ge
nc
y?
Is t
here
an
y S
LA
defi
ned
? I
f yes
, W
ha
t is
S
LA
( Id
eal)
fo
r eac
h s
tag
e o
f s
erv
ice
de
live
ry p
roces
s
SL
A (
Actu
al)
fo
r ea
ch
sta
ge
of
serv
ice
de
liv
ery
pro
ce
ss
Es
cala
tio
n M
atr
ix in
cas
e o
f n
on
ad
here
nc
e t
o S
LA
Reven
ue
Mo
de
l o
f th
e S
erv
ice p
rovid
er
Rev
en
ue
Mo
del
for
Sta
te
Se
rvic
e M
od
el
(e.g
PP
P,
BO
O,
BO
OT
etc
or
Go
vt
Ow
ne
d)
Reven
ue
Sh
ari
ng
Mo
del
betw
een
Sta
te &
SC
A
Co
st
to c
itiz
en
( S
erv
ice R
ate
s / T
ran
sa
cti
on
Ch
arg
es)
Pa
ym
en
t m
ech
an
ism
(c
as
h, c
heq
ue,
inte
rne
t o
r o
thers
)
Paym
en
t M
ec
han
ism
s f
rom
Sta
te t
o P
rov
ide
r
Paym
en
t M
ec
han
ism
s f
rom
Pro
vid
er
to S
tate
Wh
at
pro
ble
ms a
re c
urr
en
tly
be
ing
fa
ced
by p
an
ch
aya
t an
d
cit
ize
ns in
th
e d
elive
ry o
f serv
ice?
Ap
pro
xim
ate
nu
mb
er
of
serv
ice a
pp
lic
ati
on
s r
ec
eiv
ed
in
on
e
mo
nth
Ap
pro
xim
ate
nu
mb
er
of
serv
ice a
pp
lic
ati
on
s r
ec
eiv
ed
in
last
on
e y
ea
r
1
2
3
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response
Data Collected
Remarks
D ICT Assessment
D1
Are there any ICT based initiatives taken by the State PR Depts. to strengthen the PRIs? If yes, what are they?
DIO, ZP/BP/GP
D2 Have the PRIs received computers as part of any other programme or scheme?
DIO, ZP/BP/GP
D3
What is the ICT infrastructure in terms of Hardware at all levels of PRIs (e.g. No. of Computers at each level, No. of printers and supporting Hardwares)
DIO, ZP/BP/GP
D4 Model used for providing computers to PRI? (leased/owned)
DIO, ZP/BP/GP
D5
Are there any prominent projects (govt. funded) undertaken at ZP/BP/GP level for service delivery to Rural population? (e.g Suwidha, e-Mitra, Akshya, Friends etc)? If yes, what are they? What services are being provided by these service delivery units? Is there any interface of these projects with the panchayats?
D6
Is there any vision envisaged by State PR dept or the PRIs to leverage CSC ICT infrastructure for service delivery?
D7
Are there any CSCs operating in the district? If yes, what are the no. of CSCs in the district? How many are functional? What are the services being provided by the CSC?
Both CSC as well as the panchayats should be asked these questions
D8
How are CSC's and Gram Panchayats integrated? Please specify the model as below 1.CSC situated inside Panchayat Ghar 2.CSC situated in GP area 3.CSC not present in GP area 4.Gram Panchayats possess their own computing infrastructure 5. Any other
Both CSC as well as the gram panchayats should be asked these questions
D9
What are the reasons for not integrating the CSC with the Gram panchayat or not utilizing the services of the CSCs?
D10
Obtain the details of the arrangement between the GP and SCA (Cost / Transactions, ownership, who pays whom? etc.)
D11 What is the status of SWAN The DIO
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integration / Connectivity till DP and BP level? How do you see PRIs can leverage this connectivity infrastructure (if applicable)
would be the ideal respondent for this.
D12 Is connectivity at all BPs available? If yes, is it through SWAN / Broadband/Leased Line/fiber etc?
DIO
D13
Is there connectivity till GP level in your district? 1. If yes, then by when and through which mode (SWAN or other service providers)
ZP,BP and DIO
D14
What is the status of implementation of e-District project? What services are being provided through e-district? Are panchayats involved as part of the re-engineered e-district processes? Are there any overlap in services extended by the e-district in your district and those delivered through the PRIs in your district at DP, BP and GP level? What are they, if any?
DIO, ZP/BP/GP, District Collectorate
D15 What are the Software Applications used at various PRIs and their purpose?
DIO, ZP/BP/GP
D16 Do the panchayats face any problems/challenges in the adoption of usage of existing softwares?
DIO, ZP/BP/GP
D17
What is the state of Civil works to support the ICT infrastructure needs? What are the future requirements perceived at all levels
D18
Is there any initiative taken by State/PRI for Data Digitization? If yes, since when is the data available in digitized format? What is the kind of data digitally available? What is the kind of data that has not been digitized yet.
D19
What technical problems are perceived in introducing e-Governance in panchayats?(Climatic/terrain conditions which may inhibit the induction of certain technologies)
DIO
Expectations from ePRI
D20 What is the expectation of the Panchayat (ZP/BP/GP) from Computerization (ePRI Project)?
D21 Which activities/services does the panchayat want automated?
D22 What problems does it foresee in computerization?
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Data Gathering Template for As - Is IT Infrastructure of PR Department
Section E
Quantity
State PR Department
District Panchayat
Block Panchayat
Gram Panchayat Item Name
Nam
e
(Ma
ke,
Mo
del,
C
on
fig
ura
tio
n
etc
.)
Ind
icati
ve
Co
st
Per
Un
it
Re
ma
rks
High-end Server
Database Server
Web Server
Application Server
Production Server
Development Server
Testing / Training Server
Low-end Server
File server
Application Server / Db Server
Antivirus (AV) Server
Patch Mgmt Server
Personal Computers
Client Type I (configuration 1)
Client Type II (configuration 2)
Simputer/ PDA
Laptop
Computer Accessories
Laser Printer I
Line Matrix Printer
DMP
Scanner 1
Bio metric device (Finger print scanner)
CD Writer No
. o
f O
ffic
e
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External Storage Devices (Pen drives etc.)
Web Camera
Digital Signature
Miscellaneous
Touch Screen
Token Display Board
Generator
AC
Smart Card Reader
Photocopier
Power Backup
UPS 10KVA
UPS 5 KVA
UPS 2 KVA
UPS 1 KVA
UPS 500VA
UPS 200VA
Software
Licensed Software
OS Server
OS Client
RDBMS
AV Server
AV Client
Mail Server
Mail Client
Office Suite
Open Software
Open OS (Linux)
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Open Office
<Open Application Software1>
<Open Application Software2>
<Open Application Software3>
Connectivity Hardware
Router I
Router (Low end)
Switch (Layer 3)
Switch (Layer 2)
Modem (LL)
Modem (Dial-up)
IP Phone
Rack
Firewall
NMS
IT Users
Total No. of Employees
No. of IT Users
Deployment of Applications
<Application 1>
<Application 2>
<Application 3>
<Application 4>
IT Readiness
Networked Panchayat Offices
Computer Room
Server Room
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response Data
Collected Remarks
F Capacity Assessment Director level officials in PR/RD dept, IT officials in PR/RD dept
F1 What is the organizational structure/ staffing structure of PRI in your district?
ZP/BP/GP
F2
Is adequate manpower available at each level of PRI to extend the desired functions & services?
ZP/BP/GP
F3
Is there any technical skilled (Computer Literate) manpower available at each level? If yes, What are their skill sets?
ZP/BP/GP
F4 Training Information
Training Topics
Name of training Agency Involved (in-house dept or external agency
Training conducted for ZP/BP/GP
No of official trained
Designation of officials trained
No of days of training
Topic 1
Topic 2
Topic 3
Topic 4
F5 What is the state of availability / provision of training resource center / trainers for PRI
ZP/BP/GP
F6 Are there any vocational training centers available at GP/BP/ZP level
F7
Has any training been conducted for PRIs on Women empowerment, State Panchayat Act, Plan Plus Software, National Panchayat Portal etc.
ZP/BP/GP
F8 What are the training needs at all level to support the functions of PRI and to effectively extend the desired services to the citizens. Suggest topics.
ZP/BP/GP
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response Data
Collected Remarks
G Planning
G1
Has the state planning dept. Issued notification for planning workflow for each level of Panchayat? If yes, give details. About the process flow as well as the notification for each Panchayat
G2
Are there standing committees at DP/BP/GP level? 1.If yes, what are the names of these committees? 2 What is the purpose of these committees 3.How many members are there in each of the committees? 4.Which sectors are looked after by each of these committees (committee-wise info)? 5.How many times or when does the committee meet? What is their role? (in plan preparation and approval)
ZP/BP/GP
G3
What funds are received by Panchayats at all levels for which they prepare plans and what are its allocation? (Central Grants(Schemes), State Grants, Own Resources etc)
ZP/BP/GP
G4
Are there any plans/proposals, prepared by DP/BP/GP If yes, how it is planned and what are the different components of plan?
G5 Do the Panchayats plans become part of district plan?
ZP/BP/GP
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Section Question
No. Question
Target Audience
Response
Data Collecte
d Remarks
H Accounting
H1
Is there an Accounts Code (or Rules/ Administrative guidelines etc) prescribed for three tiers of panchayats? Is this code or are these rues/ instructions common to the three tiers or do the vary across three tiers?
H2
Have Panchayats adopted 'Code of Classification"( Charts of Accounts)? If yes, which version( 2003 or 2007) is being followed?
H3 How many tiers (levels) of classification of Head of Accounts are being used in Panchayat Accounts?
ZP/BP/GP, DIO
H4 What are the names of each tier (starting from the highest?) e.g. Major Head, Sub Major Head etc.
ZP/BP/GP, DIO
H5
What accounting system is used by each level of PRI? ( Single entry cash basis, Double entry cash basis, Single entry Accrual basis, Double entry Accrual basis)
ZP/BP/GP
H6 Do Panchayats maintain their own Account?
H7 Is this activity outsourced?
H8 Challenges faced / key learning from outsourcing of Panchayat Account maintenance
H9 What are the various taxes collected by the panchayats?
H10 Is there any system in place to monitor expenditure & receipt vouchers till the lowest level?
H11
Are the panchayats using any software for accounting purposes? If yes, who has developed it? On which accounting system the application is based ( as mentioned in G)? What is the platform (Microsoft/Open Source)? Is it web-based or stand alone? Has it been implemented fully?
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Section Question
No. Questions
Target Audience
Response
Data Collected
Remarks
I Transparency Assessment State PR secretary / Director level officials in State PR/RD dept
I1 What overall measures have been taken at the DP level, to enhance transparency in operations of Panchayats?
I2 Is the panchayat using its portal available as part of the National Panchayat Portal?
ZP/BP/GP
I3 What are the best practices at the DP level and below PRIs levels to promote transparency?
I4 What are the roadblocks encountered in grievance redressal / RTI's ? What are the procedures currently followed?
I5 What is the process of Conducting a social audit concerning PRI functioning and progress.
Expectations from ePRI
I6 What are the Data/ Information requirements of and from each level of PRIs
I7 How can ePRI project facilitate the involvement of PRI's in decentralized planning?
I8
What are your expectations from ICT infrastructure development to enable you to function in a more efficient and effective manner?
I9 What are the overall expectations of citizens from PRI (DP/BP/GP)
i.e new services, improvement in service delivery, shortening of SLA etc
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This is the questionnaire which was administered to the citizens in the Gram sabha.
Gram Sabha Questionnaire
Section A Awareness
Section B Information
Section C Service Delivery
Section D Development
Section E Focus Groups
Section Question No.
Question Target
Audience Response
Response from Pradhan
Data Collect
ed Remarks
A Awareness
A1 Are you aware about the roles, responsibilities of Panchayat
A2 Are you aware about the relevant schemes & services extended by Panchayat?
B Information
B1 What type of information is disseminated by Panchayat?
B2 How does the Panchayat provide the information to you?
C Service Delivery
C1
Leading question - Reference to services provided at Panchayats in other States. Are any of these services provided in your Panchayat
C2 What are the services being provided to you by Panchayat?
C3 Is Panchayat able to cater to citizens needs in terms of service delivery?
C4 If not, what are the problems you face while availing
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services?
C5 What are your expectations from Panchayat in terms of service delivery
C6
Are any of the listed services (services identified at State / District level, if any) provided to you by the Panchayat?
C8
What is the average no. of visits, that you make to the Panchayat office, before the application for service delivery is processed
C9 Are you satisfied with the charges for availing a particular service?
C10 Are you satisfied with the existing services delivered?
C11 If you are not satisfied with existing services, what are the reasons
C12 What are new services which you would want to be delivered at Panchayat
C13 Are the officials responsive to your needs, requests, expectations etc.
D Development
D1
Are you aware about roles & responsibilities of Gram Panchayat for local area development
D2 Does community planning takes place while project planning
D3 What type of development work is undertaken by Panchayat in your area (if any)
D4 Are you satisfied with the extent of local area development in your gram?
D5 Is Gram panchayat able to cater to your demands regarding development
D6
Are there any new areas which should be undertaken by Panchayats for development work?
D7 Does Panchayat collect taxes / fund for local area development
D8 Are you willing to contribute in development fund if it is proposed
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E Focus Groups
E1 Women & Children - What specific services are delivered for Women & Children by the Panchayat?
E2
Special sections - What specific services are delivered for SC/ST/OBC and other minority sections by the Panchayat?
E3 Senior citizens - What specific services are delivered for senior citizens by the Panchayat?
E4
Rural Artisans - Is there any specific scheme / plan for development of rural artisans and industry
E5 Physically disabled - What specific services are delivered for Physically disabled section
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11.3. Minutes of key meetings held
Minutes of the Meeting of the National Horticulture Technology Mission
Objective: To get understanding on the working of Horticulture department and their schemes.
Date:1st July 2009 Location: Horticulture Department,
Srinagar
Scheduled Time Actual Time
Start Stop Total Hours Start Stop Total Time
10:00 am 10:00 am 12:15 am 2.15 hr
Attendees
Mr. M.S.Qasba (Director, Horticulture)
Mr.Manzoor Ahmed (DSMS, Horticulture)
Mr. Shailesh Gabhane(3i-infotech Ltd.)
Ms. Parul Batra (3i Infotech Ltd.)
Handouts/ Documentation Shared
Presentation about Horticulture Department (Softcopy and Hardcopy)
Citizen Charter, Kashmir
Organo Gram
Discussed Items
1 The Overall functioning of the Horticulture department was discussed
2
The scheme specific part of the questionnaire was also addressed by Mr. Manzoor and Mr. Qasba
providing clarity on the process of Planning, funding, implementation and Reporting that was
received and recorded.
3 The organizational structure of the Horticulture Department
4 The state of present and potential land under cultivation
Follow up Action Points from previous meetings (if any)
Follow up Action Items Responsibility Target Date Status
Based on the discussion the following line of action has been decided:
Action Items Owner Due Date Requirement
To validate the
questionnaire with
Mr. Qasba
3rd July 2009
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Minutes of the Meeting of the Social Welfare Dept.
Objective: To know about the services being offered by the Social Welfare Dept to the citizens
Date:16th July 2009 Location: Social Welfare Dept., Doda
Scheduled Time Actual Time
Start Stop Total Hours Start Stop Total Time
10:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m. 4 hr
Attendees
Mr. Phulail Singh (Head Assistant, SW Dept.)
Mr. Shailesh Gabhane (3i Infotech ltd.)
Ms. Parul Batra (3i Infotech ltd.)
Mr. Junaid (3i-infotech ltd.)
Mr. Siraj-ud-din (NGO, Kashmir Humanity Foundation)
Mr. Rafeem-ul-salam (NGO, Kashmir Humanity Foundation)
Handouts/ Documentation Shared
List of number of pending cases of pension
Pamphlet of all the schemes of the dept.
Application form of Financial assistance under IGNOPS
Application form for J&K Contributory Social Security Scheme (CSSS)
Application form of assistance to children affected by communal caste, ethnic or terrorist violence
Application form of rehabilitation of victims of militants in J&K
Application form of Financial assistance under National Family benefit scheme
Application form for grant of post-matric scholarship
Application form of Financial assistance under ISSS
Discussed Items
List of services that can be offered through the Panchayats
Overview about various schemes being executed by the dept.
Services offered at the Nari Niketan, Doda through Social Welfare Dept.
Follow up Action Points from previous meetings (if any)
Follow up Action Items Responsibility Target Date Status
Meeting continued till
tomorrow from 10 a.m.
regarding the details of the
schemes
All the team members 17-07-09 To be done
Based on the discussion the following line of action has been decided:
Action Items Owner Due Date Requirement
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Minutes of the Meeting of the Gram Sabha, Dhrudu
Objective: To give detailed description about the ePRI project and discuss the needs and problems of the
citizens G2C services
Date:25th July 2009 Location: Panchayat Ghar, Drudho
Scheduled Time Actual Time
Start Stop Total Hours Start Stop Total Time
3:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. 5:30 p.m. 2.5 hr
Attendees
Various prominent citizens from nearby villages like Namabardar, Village Level Worker, Inspector Panchayat,
Teacher, ASHA Workers, Anganwadi Worker, Ex-Sarpanch etc.
Mr. Pradeep Kumar ( BDO, Doda)
Mr. Anil Thakur (BDO, Bhadarwah)
Mr. Shailesh Gabhane (Principle Consultant, 3i-Infotech ltd.)
Ms. Parul Batra (Senior Consultant, 3i-Infotech ltd.)
Mr. Junaid Hashmi (Senior Consultant, 3i-infotech ltd.)
Mr. Siraj-ud-din (Junior Consultant, NGO, Kashmir Humanity Foundation)
Handouts/ Documentation Shared
Discussed Items
Details about the objective of ePRI
Present situation of the Panchayats in the state
Needs and problems of the citizens wrt G2C Services
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12. Brief Profile of Jammu & Kashmir
General Information: Jammu & Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the
Himalayan Mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the People's Republic of China to the
north and east, the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and the Pakistani-administered
territories of Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas, to the west and northwest respectively. Formerly a part of
the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, this territory is disputed among China, India and
Pakistan. Jammu and Kashmir is referred to in Pakistan as Indian-occupied Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir consists of three regions: Jammu, the Kashmir valley and Ladakh divided into 22
districts. Srinagar is the summer capital, and Jammu, its winter capital. While the Kashmir valley, often
known as Paradise on Earth, is famous for its beautiful mountainous landscape, Jammu's numerous
shrines attract tens of thousands of Hindu and Muslim pilgrims every year. Ladakh, also known as "Little
Tibet", is renowned for its remote mountain beauty and Buddhist culture.
The total population of J&K is 10,143,7008 with density of 100 /km2 (259 /sq mi). Largest city of J&K is
Srinagar. The languages that are spoken in the state are Urdu, Kashmiri and Dogri. The chief minister of
the state is Mr. Omar Abdullah. The website of J&K is www.jammukashmir.nic.in
Demographics:
Jammu and Kashmir is the only state in India that has a Muslim majority population. Though Islam is
practiced by about 67% of the population of the state and by 97% of the population of the Kashmir valley,
the state has large and vibrant communities of Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs. In Jammu, Hindus constitute
65% of the population and Muslims 31% and Sikhs, 4%; In Ladakh, Buddhists constitute about 46% of the
population, the remaining being Muslims. The people of Ladakh are of Indo-Tibetan origin, while the
southern area of Jammu includes many communities tracing their ancestry to the nearby Indian states of
Haryana and Punjab, as well as the city of Delhi. In totality, the Muslims constitute 67% of the population,
the Hindus about 30%, the Buddhists 1%, and the Sikhs 2% of the population. The tabular representation
is as follows:
Division Population % Muslim % Hindu % Sikh % Buddhist/Other
Kashmir (53.9%) 5,476,970 97.16% 1.84% 0.88% 0.11%
Jammu (43.7%) 4,430,191 30.69% 65.23% 3.57% 0.51%
Ladakh (2.3%) 236,539 47.40% 6.22% – 45.87%
Jammu & Kashmir 10,143,700 66.97% 29.63% 2.03% 1.36%
8 Source: As per the census 2001
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Location: Strategically located Jammu and Kashmir State constitutes the northern most extremity of
India. Situated between 32.17 degree and 36.58 degree north latitude and 37.26 degree and 80.30
degree east longitude, the total area of the State is 22,22,236 sq. kms including 78114 sq kms under the
illegal occupation of Pakistan and 42,685 sq kms under that of China, of which Pakistan illegally handed
over 5130 sq kms to China. The State is bounded by Pakistan, Afghanistan and China from the West to
the East.
History: The area known as Jammu and Kashmir came into existence when the Mughal Emperor Akbar
invaded Kashmir in 1586, led by his aide Ramchandra I. The Mughal army defeated the Turk ruler Yusuf
Khan of Kashmir. After the battle, Akbar appointed Ramchandra I as the governor of the Himalayan
kingdom. Ramchandra I founded the city of Jammu, named after the Hindu goddess Jamwa Mata, south
of the Pir Panjal range.
Geography: The geographical area covered by J&K is 101387 sq. kms. The place is home to several
valleys. The most beautiful and densely settkled valley is Kashmir Valley. The Jhelum River is the only
major Himalayan River which flows through the Kashmir valley. The Indus, Tawi, Ravi and Chenab are
the major rivers flowing through the state. Jammu and Kashmir is home to several Himalayan glaciers.
With an average altitude of 5,753 metres (18,870 ft) above sea-level, the Siachen Glacier is 70 km (43 mi)
long making it the longest Himalayan glacier.
The climate of Jammu and Kashmir varies greatly owing to its rugged topography. In the south around
Jammu, the climate is typically monsoonal, though the region is sufficiently far west to average 40 to 50
mm (1.6 to 2 inches) of rain per months between January and March. In the hot season, Jammu city is
very hot and can reach up to 40 °C (104 °F) Srinagar receives as much as 25 inches (635 millimetres) of
rain from March to May.
Political & Government: Jammu and Kashmir is the only state in India which enjoys special autonomy
under Article 370 of the Constitution of India according to which, no law enacted by the Parliament of
India, except for those in the field of defense, communication and foreign policy, will be extendable in
Jammu and Kashmir unless it is ratified by the state legislature of Jammu and Kashmir. Subsequently,
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India over Jammu and Kashmir has been extended.
Jammu and Kashmir is also the only Indian state that has its own flag and constitution, and Indians from
other states cannot purchase land or property in the state. Designed by the then ruling National
Conference, the flag of Jammu and Kashmir features a plough on a red background symbolizing labour
substituted the Maharaja's state flag. The three stripes represent the three distinct administrative divisions
of the state, namely Jammu, Valley of Kashmir, and Ladakh.9
9 Source: http://jkgad.nic.in/statutory/Rules-Costitution-of-J&K.pdf
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Since 1990, the Armed Forces Act, which gives special powers to the Indian security forces, has been
enforced in Jammu and Kashmir.10 The decision to evoke this act was criticized by the Human Rights
Watch.
Economy: Jammu and Kashmir's economy is predominantly dependent on agriculture and allied
activities. The Kashmir valley is also known for its sericulture and cold water fisheries. Wood from Kashmir
is used to make high-quality cricket bats, popularly known as Kashmir Willow. Kashmiri saffron is also
very famous and brings the state a handsome amount of foreign exchange. Agricultural exports from
Jammu and Kashmir include apples, barley, cherries, corn, millet, oranges, rice, peaches, pears, saffron,
sorghum, vegetables, and wheat, while manufactured exports include handicrafts, rugs, and shawls.
Horticulture plays a vital role in the economic development of the state. With an annual turnover of over
Rs. 300 crore, apart from foreign exchange of over Rs. 80 crore, this sector is the next biggest source of
income in the state’s economy. The region of Jammu is known for its horticulture industry and is the
wealthiest region in the state. Horticultural produce from the state includes apples, apricots, cherries,
pears, plums, almonds and walnuts.
The Doda district has deposits of high-grade sapphire. The government has spent a lot of money in order
to boost foreign direct investment. Seen here is a multi billion dollar rail link, 2nd highest in the world.
Tourism forms an integral part of the state's economy. The Government of India has been keen to
economically integrate Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India. The state is one of the largest recipients
of grants from New Delhi, totaling $ 812 million per year. It also has a mere 4% incidence of poverty, one
of the lowest in the country.
10
Source: The Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act, 1990
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13. Brief Profile of Doda District
Doda District was carved out of the Erstwhile District Udhampur in the year 1948 and lies amidst in the
middle and outer Himalayan ranges of Jammu region of J&K State. In view of the vastness of the District
and inconvenience being faced by the people living in far flung areas besides making whole area
manageable , the State Govt. in July 2006 trifurcated the District thereby creating two new Districts
namely Ramban and Kishtwar. On its north is Anantnag and is surrounded by District Kishtwar in north-
east, Chamba area of Himachal Pradesh in south. District Kathua and Udhampur in South and South-
west and District Ramban in West. The total geographical area of the District is approximately 4500
Sq.Kmts.
The District is endowed with vast wealth of natural beauty and extensive rich forest areas. The region is
surrounded by snow clad lofty mountains from all sides and mighty river Chenab flows through it. The
entire District is hilly and mountainous with a few plain and low lying areas. The climate is temperate in
places like Bhadarwah and Gundoh and sub-tropical in areas like Doda and Thathri.
In this District the State Govt. has recently created Bhadarwah Development Authority in the year 2006
and various tourists spots have been developed by the authority like Gatha Resort, TRC Amiranagar, Jai
and Khellani resorts due to which the tourists are visiting this destination which is also the part of District
Doda. After visiting this District, the tourists are intending to visit this destination (District Doda) again and
again. The total population of new District Doda as per 2001 census is 3.20 lacs comprising of 1,65,720
males and 1,54,280 females. The literacy rate for the new District as per 2001 census breakup stands at
53.55%.
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Administratively Doda District has been divided into two Sub-Divisions viz, Bhadarwah and Gundoh, 4-
Tehsils viz, Doda, Bhadarwah, Thathri and Gundoh, 8 Rural Dev. Blocks namely Doda, Bhagwah, Assar,
Marmat, Thathri, Gundoh, Gundna and Bhadarwah which in turn comprises of 232 Panchayats and 408
villages. Out of the total population of 3.20 lacs, there are 42071 as Schedule Caste population and 28400
as Schedule Tribe population.
Table 19: Registers at Gram Panchayat
Gram Panchayat Office Sr. No. Records
1 Gram Sabha
2 Panchayat Meeting
3 Cash Book
4 (a) NREGA
5 (d) BRGF
6 Supervision Register
7 NREGA Fund Register
8 Complaint Register
9 Rojgaar Register
10 100 Days Register for NREGA
11 Job Card Register
12 Assets register
13 Payment Register
Khalliani
14 Work Register
15 Muster-roll verification
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Table 20: Village Profile Khallaini Village
Sr. No. Village Profile Details
1 Name of Village/ GP Khallaini
2 Block Bhadarwah
3 District Doda
4 Total Population 1109
5 Population Distribution SC-321, ST-10, others-778
6 Total Families/Household 218
7 Wards 6
8 Name of Sarpanch (Ex) Rajinder Kumar
9 Name of Up-Sarpanch (Ex) Ghulam Haider
10 Name of Panchayat Secretary Lakshmi Chand
11 Aanganwadi Snehlata
12 Primary Schools 1, only for girls
13 Middle School 1
14 Hand Pumps No
15 Panchayat Building 1
16 Electricity in Houses yes – all
17 APL 103
18 BPL 115
19 Irrigated 70%
20 Unirrigated 16%
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14. Glossary
Sr. No. Abbreviations
1 AMC Annual Maintenance Contract
2 BDC Block Development Council
3 BDO Block Development Officer
4 BP Block Panchayat
5 CEO Chief Executive Officer
6 CIC Community Information Centres
7 CLM Central Line Ministries
8 CSC Common Service Centre
9 CSS Centrally Sponsored Schemes
10 DDO District Development Officer
11 DIO District Informatics Officer
12 DP District Panchayat
13 DPC District Planning Committee
14 DPDB District Planning Development Board
15 DPR Detailed Project Report
16 DRDA District Rural Development Agency
17 G2C Government to Citizens
18 G2G Government to Government
19 GoI Government Of India
20 GP Gram Panchayat
21 ICDS Integrated Child Development Scheme
22 ICT Information Communication & Technology
23 INS Information Needs & Services
24 J&K Jammu & Kashmir
25 LAHDC Laddakh Autonomous Hill Development Council
26 MMP Mission Mode Project
27 MoPR Ministry of Panchayati Raj
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Sr. No. Abbreviations
28 MPR Monthly Progress Reports
29 NFSM National Food Security Mission
30 NGO Non Government Organisation
31 NIC National Informatics Officer
32 NICSI National Information Centre Services Inc
33 NOC No Objection Certificate
34 NREGS National Rural
35 PEU Project Execution Unit
36 PHE Public Health Engineering
37 PR Panchayati Raj
38 PRA Participatory Rural Assessment
39 PRI Panchayati Raj Institutions
40 RDD Rural Development Department
41 RKVY Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana
42 SCA Service Centre Agency
43 SDA State Designated Agency
44 SDC State Data Centre
45 SDM Sub-Divisional Magistrate
46 SFC State Finance Commission
47 SIO State Informatics Officer
48 SWAN State Wide Area Network
49 TFC Twelfth Finance Commission
50 VLW Village Level Worker
51 VO Village Organisation