Microsoft may aid panchayat e-governance

The government hopes to rope in Microsoft to equip panchayats to come on the e-governance platform, according to minister for panchayati raj, Mani Shankar Aiyer.

He said that the national e-governance plan envisages that panchayats of different states should be able to communicate with each other. Referring to the example of Karnataka, the minister said the state has already built a model which will allow e-connectivity to be extended to every block by the end of this fiscal. He also said for e-governance to happen at the grass-root levels, there is also a need for a language centre in Delhi, which would provide distance training. It would create interaction between panchayati raj institutions of different states. The minister also emphasised on the importance of activity maps for different levels of the panchayati raj system. Such maps providing clarity of delegation of work has been absent, so far. While Kerala has recently revised its activities, Karnataka is following suit and Punjab will also finalise its activity map by the end of this month. Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are also expected to prepare such maps soon. The minister also said that finances have to be devolved simultaneously while implementing the activity maps. For this, he mentioned the importance of a panchayat sector window in state budgets. The ministry has also started work on evolving a devolution index for which it has roped in the National Council of Applied Economic Research.