New Delhi:
The
Panchayati Raj Ministry on Tuesday gave away the
Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Awards to 16 best performing gram
panchayats and honoured 170
panchayats with
Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar on the third National
Panchayati Raj Day in New Delhi.
V Kishore Chandra Deo, Minister of
Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs, gave away the awards at a function which also saw the presence of Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh.
In his address, Mr Deo said that "the accountability to the people and participation is a significant aspect of good governance and these
gram sabhas and
gram panchayats have set an example for the country."
The Minister said that "the 12th Plan will address the strengthening of
panchayats in a holistic manner through the
Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Abhiyan (RGPSA)".
Mr Deo also said that under the Thirteenth Finance Commission grant, funds have been made available to
panchayats in an untied form through the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF).
"BRGF has strengthened decentralised, grass-root level planning," Mr Deo said.
Mr Deo also said that Panchayat Enterprise Suite (PES) has been developed under e-Panchayat scheme. The PES comprises of 11 applications that address all aspects of panchayat functioning.
The applications include Accounting Software (PRIA Soft), Plan Plus, National Panchayat Portal (NPP), Local Governance Directory (LGD), Service Plus, Asset Directory, Action Soft, Training Management, Social Audit and Area Profiler, he said.